A bad session (Just venting!)

This month has been swingy to say the least. After 40k hands I'm up about $1200. I played a session Saturday night across $2-$4, $3-$6, and $5-$10 nl and nothing went right. To be honest it wasn't a disaster because I've had worse sessions before (in terms of money lost) but I'm just going to post some beats I took...well, just for the heck of it and to show I run worse than anybody!! (jk of course). First my graph of the session...























Now a couple of things I'll point out is that I did win a few hands to avoid a really bad night, including this hand where I was gifted some money...

No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($369.80)

UTG ($580.20)

MP ($412.40)

CO ($578.70)

Hero (Button) ($1909.95)

SB ($412)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9, 10

UTG bets $20, 2 folds, Hero calls $20, 2 folds

Flop: ($46) 7, 7, Q (2 players)

UTG bets $40, Hero calls $40

Turn: ($126) 3 (2 players)

UTG bets $80, Hero raises $200, UTG raises $440.20 (All-In), Hero calls $320.20

River: ($1166.40) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $1166.40

Results:

Hero had 9, 10 (flush, Queen high).

UTG had 2, 4 (one pair, sevens).

Outcome: Hero won $1163.40


The other point is that it was really a night of not just running below ev ($3500 below ev) but the hands where I got coolered that weren't even shown in the ev line because most of the money went in at the river, including these (again really no educational purposes, just venting!)...

No-Limit Hold'em, $6.00 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($1173.85)

Hero (MP) ($1165.05)

Button ($633)

SB ($609)

BB ($1760.35)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 7, 7

1 fold, Hero bets $15, 2 folds, BB raises $54, Hero calls $45

Flop: ($123) 6, Q, 7 (2 players)

BB bets $75, Hero calls $75

Turn: ($273) 8 (2 players)

BB bets $174, Hero calls $174

River: ($621) J (2 players)

BB bets $405, Hero raises $856.05 (All-In), BB calls $451.05

Total pot: $2333.10

Results:

BB had Q, Q (three of a kind, Queens).

Hero had 7, 7 (three of a kind, sevens).

Outcome: BB won $2330.10


Kinda standard but sucks we were about 200bbs deep. I could've just called at the river but I tend to err on the side of aggression, so whatever.

No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($1184)

UTG ($123.70)

MP ($237.90)

Hero (Button) ($472.50)

SB ($987.60)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 6, 5

2 folds, Hero bets $10, 1 fold, BB calls $6

Flop: ($22) 5, 6, 5 (2 players)

BB checks, Hero bets $15, BB calls $15

Turn: ($52) 7 (2 players)

BB checks, Hero bets $38, BB raises $84, Hero calls $46

River: ($220) 6 (2 players)

BB bets $118, Hero raises $363.50 (All-In), BB calls $245.50

Total pot: $947

Results:

Hero had 6, 5 (full house, sixes over fives).

BB had 6, 7 (full house, sixes over sevens).

Outcome: BB won $944


I guess I'll just point out villain's turn raise is pretty bad because there's really nothing he can beat if I'm calling there. It's ok because for some reason he got rewarded for it.

These next 2 are doozies...

No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($515)

Button ($98.50)

SB ($1348.90)

BB ($227)

Hero (UTG) ($902)

MP ($491)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, A

Hero bets $12, 1 fold, CO raises $34, 3 folds, Hero raises $70, CO calls $48

Flop: ($170) 5, A, Q (2 players)

Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($170) J (2 players)

Hero bets $100, CO calls $100

River: ($370) Q (2 players)

Hero bets $370, CO calls $333 (All-In)

Total pot: $1036

Results:

Hero had A, A (full house, Aces over Queens).

CO had Q, Q (four of a kind, Queens).

Outcome: CO won $1033

Again this is the same session....

No-Limit Hold'em, $10.00 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($1000)

Hero (UTG) ($1832.25)

MP ($6599)

CO ($1470)

Button ($2051.50)

SB ($1005)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, A

Hero bets $30, 4 folds, BB calls $20

Flop: ($65) A, J, 10 (2 players)

BB checks, Hero bets $45, BB raises $110, Hero calls $65

Turn: ($285) Q (2 players)

BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($285) J (2 players)

BB bets $189, Hero raises $1692.25 (All-In), BB calls $671 (All-In)

Total pot: $2005

Results:

BB had J, J (four of a kind, Jacks).

Hero had A, A (full house, Aces over Jacks).

Outcome: BB won $2002


Yeah so I just want to say Aces can suck it! And so can poker! (for now anyways) :)

The well; Also pwned by a machine in poker

Just wanted to say I'm doing a well at Cardrunners, which is basically a Q&A regarding my thoughts on poker and life. If any of you guys have questions regarding poker, or life as a poker player, feel free to go there and ask and I'll respond to all the questions. The link is

http://www.cardrunners.com/cr_forums/showthread.php?92311-The-Well-Nicolak&p=858134#post858134

This past week has been busy for me w/ the CR stuff and making my 1st video. I haven't had a chance to play much poker online but I did head over to the Bellagio and played some $40-$80 mix and won about $500 tonight. I forgot about the WPT main event going on at the Bellagio and wish I had remembered in time to sell some of my action so I could've played in it. I don't like forking over $10k of my money for 1 tournament. Anyway I'm going to try to sell some action in future main events in Las Vegas so I can give myself a shot to take down a major live tournament. I'll be posting in the 2+2 marketplace in the future for those and will blog about it if anybody out there wants to buy a piece. Gl to my buddies that made it to day 2 of the event.

Finally I was over at the Bellagio last night as well and played on these HU limit hold'em machines for real money.

http://www.slotmachinesforum.com/showthread.php?5792-Texas-Hold-em-Heads-Up-Poker-%28IGT

You play vs. the actual machine. There is no rake and the machine does not adjust or adapt. Also you can check it's hole cards once the pot is awarded. Pretty valuable info. to see how it's playing. Seems like free money for winning limit hold'em players and to an extent it is. The highest stake you can play is $2-$4 but the action is pretty fast, as fast as you want it to be. The machine, though inflexible in being able to adapt, is surprisingly pretty tough, capable of bluffraising on any street including the river. I'm sure this is about a tough of an ai that can be created to play limit hold'em hu.

W/ that said after awhile you can figure it's game out enough that you should not lose in the long run. Initially I was stuck $240, mostly from a bunch of suckouts, but once I got a read on it's tendencies, played almost a variance free style of poker where I won back $170 before I quit. I'm sure I would've gotten it all back but tbh is not worth my time to win my projected hrly in that game vs my hrly in my normal online games. That's why they capped it at $2-$4, because the great limit hold'em players won't think it's worthwhile to make the guaranteed money.

Now you may ask why they would even have it on the casino floor in the 1st place. I'm pretty sure lots of casual strollerbys get curious and play it and lose. It is placed right next to the poker room, and considering most poker players are losers, most will lose in this game, probably more than the small # of winning players win out of it.

Anyway I got pwned by the machine for $70, but my wife managed to crush it for $100. Also my buddy Joe T won $200 playing it right next to me. It helped expedite the learning curve by having all 3 of us playing next to each other talking about it's tendencies.

Finally I brought my ipad because I thought I may play some actual live cash and set it down next to the hu machine and forgot about it when we left. DOH! Unfortunately I wasn't lucky enough to have an honest guy take it so he can return it to me (or lost and found). I'm not sure what's more embarrassing though, getting pwned by a poker playing machine for $70, or being stupid enough to forget about my $800 ipad.

Cardrunners

I am officially a pro at Cardrunners. I'm happy to be joining their team, especially considering they're the #1 instructional site out there (in terms of membership at least). My first video will be out tomorrow and it's me 4tabling 6max $5-$10 nl. Times have changed w/ $5-$10 being considered high stakes. For the longest time I thought it was mid stakes because that's the game I grinded the most and I always thought of myself as a mid stakes guy. I guess w/ the games getting tougher and a trickle down effect from higher stakes that game seems to be the highest game that runs on a daily basis so I see why it's considered high stakes nowadays.

Before I talk about Cardrunners I wanted to mention another site where I participated at, albeit on a lesser scale. I had crossposted this blog at LeggoPoker and have become friendly w/ the guys over there including the guys that run the site. They're a really good group of guys and they have some top notch video producers and coaches. It was a really tough decision on deciding between them and CR to join but ultimately decided to join CR.

Now as an "employee" of CR I will give my best effort in trying to promote the site and helping it retain it's #1 status. Hopefully my videos will offer something to the paying members but I'm confident I'll be able to offer some value to members, whether it be teaching how to play in midstakes games today or how to go about winning at poker over the long run.

I was hesitant in joining an instructional site for the longest time for a couple of reasons. 1st the the pay wasn't worth it compared to my hourly playing poker and 2nd, and more importantly, I didn't want to give away my game or have any of the regs I play vs. on a daily basis pick up any reads on my game. I changed my mind for a couple of reasons. I'm satisfied w/ the deal we reached on and lately I've felt like I wanted to contribute in some way to helping out others get better at poker especially since I don't coach (I may change my mind on that in the future). Also one of my strengths in poker is being able to adapt and make adjustments vs. opponents so I think I'll be ok if my opponents were to utilize what they've seen in my videos against me. We'll see about that, but I don't mind a challenge. Anyway I'm excited to be joining CR and I hope to bring something to their site and their members.

Downswingin' (because it happens)

I'm eating my words now. Right after I wrote last time about how it's kinda "easy" for me to make money whenever I want I go on an $8k downswing. I was illustrating why I get lazy though, not necessarily that poker is easy to make money at, because it isn't, especially in today's games. Anyway I started off the month up about $8500 and have lost it all since. It's been at least a couple of months since I had any sort of downswing. Just like anybody else would, I started to feel like the game was "easy" because of my consistent winning sessions. A couple of rough losing sessions in poker will remind me that poker is not that "easy" and I need to be constantly thinking about the game and trying to fix my leaks.

I guess I'm used to losses more so than most having played poker for well over a decade as a primary means of income. No matter how many losses I take though, it never feels good, and I'm always looking to kick my cat if she's around when I lose (jk...sorta).

Not only was I losing tonight but I was playing on my desktop w/ the dsl line directly connected. Had 12 tables going, involved in a few hands then my internet goes out. It's weird because my internet never goes out so right away I think the direct line might've gotten disconnected somehow, and I go check and find out my kid disconnected the line (hooks up to a phone jack) to connect the fax/copy machine (for some reason she thought she needed to connect the phone line to make copies). Anyway having been up $2k, then being in the midst of a $4k downswing in the session, I refrain from blowing up at my kid in the heat of the moment. I just tell her calmly not to do that again because daddy's working. It took every ounce of discipline to keep calm at the moment but I knew that she did it by accident and I know my losing should not affect my life outside of poker, especially w/ my family.

I guess the point I'm making is don't let losing affect your life outside of poker. I do a pretty good job of that (believe me, even I have emotions and am not happy when I lose) but I see guys lose and take it out on their gfs, wives, kids, and/or pets (feel free to break as many mice as you want though).


***Fantasy Football Update***

At least something positive happened, that being my ff teams. They went 3-0 and now stand at 2-2, 2-2, and 3-1 (3dime, 1dime, nickel) so I'm in the hunt for a playoff spot. In 3dime my team ended up being high man which is an extra $500 in that league (2nd time this year). It looked bleak early on in the sunday afternoon games. My top 2 wrs (Jennings and Colston) performed poorly in the early games and was looking for Vick, Sjax, Foster, Celek, and Addai to boost my team in the afternoon games. Well Vick gets hurt early, Celek is being shut out, and for reasons nobody knew Foster was held out of the 1st qtr (disciplinary reason). At that point I think I'm dead in my hu match and all my side bets. Somehow Foster comes in and puts up a huge game, SJax does ok, Celek gets a td, and SD def puts up 28pts. I ended up winning my hu match but had a big side for $3k w/ Davone Bess left vs Brandon Marshall in the monday nighter. My opponent was up 1 pt and I was a pretty big dog considering the players involved. Somehow Bess finished w/ 19 pts and Marshall w/ less so I ended up winning high man and the side bet.

I stand in 2nd place for total points for the season right behind edog (his team has to come back down to earth, w/ Orton, Best, McCoy, DMC, Finley, TO among others). Besides all the side bets I have (about $7k/week and $35k in total points bets w/ various teams) 1st place pays $14k, 2nd place pays $4k, total pts winner pays $13k, 2nd total points pays $4k, and weekly high man pays $500. As you can see it's not a kiddie league and guys are really on top of things, picking up players w/ any kind of potential 2-4weeks before they can be realized (James Starks of GB was picked up who I targeted...yeah, guys are researching rookie rbs that are on the PUP list but are due to start practicing in a week or so hoping to find that gem in the rough). It's almost like a full time job staying on top of things in football when this much money is on the line.

As for the nickel league I picked up Z Miller and now have Shiancoe, Miller, Cooley, and Gonzalez. I'm trying to corner the te market hoping to improve my team in other ways w/a team that needs a te via trade. I stand in 2nd place in that league at 3-1 w/ 2nd most total points. I have a few $100/wk and $50/wk bets in that league...pales in comparison to the 3dime league but they add up as well. Finally in the 1dime league I eked out a win w/ Henne and Welker coming thru for me on MNF as well and am poised to make a run (need Fitz and Crabtree to play up to their potential). All in all I'm up about $10k through 4 weeks in ff and am favorite to win all total pts bets (except vs edog, as mentioned he's ahead of me in total pts).

Sept. Results

Last month can be described as a month off than anything else. Some of that had to due w/ the start of football season but mostly it was due to sheer laziness. I'm always fighting my bouts of laziness and sometimes I lose those fights. As a poker player, this is probably my biggest leak (and only flaw?). One of the reasons I put off playing poker is because I feel like I can just play it anytime and win money anytime...maybe it's kind of arrogant but that's the mentality I have, and tbh is not a really good mentality. It might've developed over the years grinding millions of poker hands. At 1st poker was exciting and a fun way to make money, now it seems more like a job, and most of us play poker to avoid the dullness of most jobs. Don't get me wrong though, I know I'm in a very enviable position today and I'm thankful for everything poker was able to provide for my family and myself. Anyway I put in a tad under 40 hrs grinding cash games and ended up around $7500 + $1189 rb. Also I lost $865 in tournaments.














I elected to leave out my limit results because they skew the nl results. Limit winrates are typically lower than nl and pl winrates. Also nearly all my limit action was in omaha hilo so my nonsd winnings looks bad in that game but that's by design of the game. Players end up chasing draws one way or another (or both ways) and don't get there and have to fold for 1 more bet at the river. It happens more often in that game than any other game. Therefore I elected to filter out my om8 results out of my graph as well. Anyway I lost about $700 in the limit games.




















Also I ran slightly above ev but notice that I ran pretty bad in plo, thanks to these 2 hands....

Full Tilt, $3/$6 PL Omaha Cash Game, 6 Players

LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP: $748

CO: $558

BTN: $1,200

SB: $835.75

Hero (BB): $1,200

UTG: $1,942.30

Pre-Flop: 5 A 3 A dealt to Hero (BB)

3 folds, BTN raises to $21, SB folds, Hero raises to $66, BTN calls $45

Flop: ($135) Q 4 2 (2 Players)

Hero bets $110, BTN raises to $465, Hero raises to $1,134 and is All-In, BTN calls $669 and is All-In

Turn: ($2,403) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($2,403) 7 (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $2,403 Pot ($3 Rake)

BTN showed 3 7 4 5 and WON $2,400 (+$1,200 NET)

Hero showed 5 A 3 A and LOST (-$1,194 NET)

That hand occurred during a mix game session. We were both 200bbs deep and when we got it in on the flop I was a 55-27 fav (w/ 18% chance of splitting). Now the next hand needs no description...

Full Tilt, $2/$4 PL Omaha Cash Game, 6 Players

LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BB: $865.40

UTG: $1,185.15

MP: $2,106.65

CO: $766

Hero (BTN): $400

SB: $672.80

Pre-Flop: 6 Q J J dealt to Hero (BTN)

UTG calls $4, MP folds, CO calls $4, Hero calls $4, SB calls $2, BB checks

Flop: ($24.50) J 2 T (5 Players)

SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, CO checks, Hero bets $23, SB raises to $78, 2 folds, CO calls $78, Hero raises to $336.50, SB raises to $668.05 and is All-In, CO folds, Hero calls $58.75 and is All-In

Turn: ($893) T (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

River: ($893) K (2 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: $893 Pot

Hero showed 6 Q J J and LOST (-$400 NET)

SB showed T 4 K T and WON $1,162.80 (+$764.80 NET)


Those beats are about as bad as they get in plo but I really can't complain because I ran above ev for the month. Speaking of running good, I'm off to a decent start this month...




















I'm leaving for a trip on the 20th of this month to visit a friend in Arkansas for a week so I'm trying to get in some time playing poker before then.

Also I went to play live for a change the other night w/ my wife. We went to Aria and all I had besides a few hundred dollars were Bellagio flags ($5,000 chips). Now knowing that Aria and Bellagio are both part of MGM Mirage, I assumed they would cash the chips for me. Well since I'm not a regular at any of those poker rooms, they would not cash the chips. One of the managers would have to know me in either room to let me cash the chips at Aria. I guess it's for security reasons, protecting against money laundering or whatever.

Anyway I wasn't too happy because I wanted to play in a $5-$10 game w/ a $3000 cap which I heard was juicy when it ran. $3000 seems like the perfect buyin cap because it's plenty of money to play deep w/ while encouraging some action. Believe it or not but when a game is uncapped (buyin any amount you want) sometimes the game plays tight w/ the deep stacks just waiting for the nuts before they commit their stacks. W/ 300bbs, some guys will get in their whole stacks w/ less than the nuts which opens up the game a lot more, which in turn makes it more fun, for me anyways.

So we had to go to Bellagio, which is a short drive from Aria, and I ended up playing some $10-$20 nl (uncapped) and won $800. The game was average w/ a bunch of Vegas regs in the game. I brought my ipad to kill time between hands because I am, after all, used to seeing 30x # hands/hr (advice: do not do like I do...it's best to pay attention to everything when you're not in a hand because that's the best time to see everything that's going on and to get reads on other players). The only interesting hand of note is epr opens to $80 (w/ $1k behind), sb calls, I call (w $6k behind) w A7s from bb, flop Q93 w 2 to my suit, chk, chk, preflop raiser bets $200, sb folds, I shove ($800 more to my opponent), he snapcalls, turn A, riv 7. Now unlike online our hands are still face down so I'm just hoping he doesn't have AQ or a set. He says "set", I think damn that sucks, he opens and shows KT of same suit for a whiffed flush and straight draw. Now he was on the other end of the table and I guess I misheard and he must've said "sh*t" which sounded like "set" to me, maybe because that was the only word I didn't want to hear coming out of his mouth.

I played a little bit longer, talked w/ Jimmy "GobboBoy" Fricke who sat on my right for a little bit, and took my win and spent a nice night on the town w/ my wife. We ended up watching "A Social Network", which is about the founder of Facebook, and thoroughly enjoyed the movie.