How High Can You Get? 5n261r

For some reason whenever I see the name of this blog, I want to scream out... "SO HIGH!"

That is all.

And please legislation , so we can make mad loot again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsojt7iEcTQ

Word up. Online poker in the USA is awful. I stopped playing sometime around Spring or Summer due to lack of games on Carbon and lack of motivation. Also, the rake is a killer. Even at micros, I feel like you really got to be on your game and/or have some megafish to overcome it. I fired up some games recently just to scratch that itch and mainly to get back in shape for live poker. Tunica WSOP is around the corner. There's an off chance I may go to Vegas in February, too.

I thought about playing on Bovada because the number of players looks pretty good, but I'm pretty reluctant because (1) I've heard nothing but sketchy things about BoDog/Bovada over the years (2) the anonymity rules they have seems like a deal breaker - poker is all about reads and history (3) I love my HUD too much to have to use a different one or none. I really like Carbon, but the traffic is a problem.

It's been quite the journey post Black Friday for this leg of the trip which took place at $10NL on Carbon part of the Merge Network. Honestly, when they got rid of rakeback, it really killed my motivation to play. When you're used to something good, losing it can have a negative affect on you. It happened on Black Friday with just playing poker in general and then again with no rakeback at Merge. But, inevitably after some time away, I get that itch to play and just have to scratch it.

The rake on Merge is bad even with rakeback. It's really tough without it. The rake is siphoning off about 10bb/100. So, before you take a seat or get dealt a card, you're down that much. Plus, it's post Black Friday, so there aren't as many games, there are more nits and players who know what they are doing, and there are less fish. This is a challenge, too. Plus, to get from $10NL to $25NL, you have to earn extra buy-ins because $25NL is 2.5 times more than $10NL instead of the usual 2 times more. The end result is that it took me more hands than I had hoped to play to traverse this level and my winnrate was much lower than I would have preferred - 98k hands @ 4.23bb/100 winrate. But, I did make it and there's a saying that I use at work often and is apt for this situation, too: "Alls well that ends well".

I'm late in posing this. I started around 01/15/2013 took a break from MayISH through all of November. I started back December 1st and finished 12/26/2013. I started $25NL 12/27/2013 and have been playing at that level ever since.

There's not much insight to convey other than the games are tougher but there are thankfully at least games there to play and they are beatable and there are fish. And, if you can get by $10NL, you can start playing at $25NL where the money starts to look half-way meaningful in of how you could use it in the real world. The main enemy is the rake and trying to move up as fast as you can so the rake has less of an impact. The real killer as far as rake goes is the CAP. They take out a penny for every 18 cents which equates to 5.55% but they don't CAP it until $4.00. So, the rake does not CAP until the pot reaches $72. That basically never happens at $10NL or $4NL and even at $25NL it's not particularly common either. There's enough fish at $4NL so it's not as noticeable but at $10NL, it's noticeable imo.

My $10NL HEM graph:


Summary

Good luck on the grind!

I think I read some old post and responded to it and ten realized it was an old post.. so now editing it out haha.

Thank you for this update. First time I stumbled upon this thread and took 2 hours to read it while grinding some micro donkments.
Really enjoyed the read and you disciplined take on poker / life .
You are a source of inspiration and damn, you made it look so easy in 08 and 09.
Best of luck to you.

enjoyed the read.
No doubt Bovada sucks with it being anonymous/wemi-readless tables but am wondering if the player pool there being so weak/fishy that once a player got used to it (it > just looking at numbers instead of names etc.) if it wouldn't perhaps be better than the other US-friendly sites? (comparatively faster withdrawals) ... idk as I rarely play on Bodonk but do know a bunch of players who aren't that good & do quite well on there.
What about the 'winning network'? Have you checked it out? (ACR, True, B)

Originally Posted by Poker Orifice

enjoyed the read.
No doubt Bovada sucks with it being anonymous/wemi-readless tables but am wondering if the player pool there being so weak/fishy that once a player got used to it (it > just looking at numbers instead of names etc.) if it wouldn't perhaps be better than the other US-friendly sites? (comparatively faster withdrawals) ... idk as I rarely play on Bodonk but do know a bunch of players who aren't that good & do quite well on there.
What about the 'winning network'? Have you checked it out? (ACR, True, B)

To me, a poker site is analogous to people you hang out with in real life. There's some people in life you stay away from because they just give off a bad vibe. There's other people you're drawn to because they're good people and you connect with them. I originally always played on Stars because it just felt right. Everything about the site seemed right. The seemed to know what they were doing for the most part and just made common sense good decisions more times than not.

Full Tilt, while not as bad as some, always felt a little scummy to me. It was hard to put my finger on it, but I'd hear stories of people's s randomly getting shut down or whatever. I also thinking if I ever had to withdraw my roll, I'd be holding my breath hoping everything worked. I NEVER played on UB or Bodog and other sites because I heard so many bad things.

The same applies today. Carbon just feels right or at least the best compared to what's available. Bovada/BoDog just doesn't feel right. Anonymous tables are not poker imo even if the play is soft or I could win a lot of money. I thought about the winning network, too, but the software is not nearly as good and I don't think the traffic is better either.

Right now Carbon is basically meeting all my needs. Certain times of days are better than others as far as game selection, but for the most part, I can grind whatever I need to grind - 5 to 7 tables usually. Now, there will be problem if and when I get to $100NL because there is typically only 1 table maybe 2 tables of $100NL full ring ever running. But, that's going to be a problem at EVERY site that allows American players. That's just the nature of Black Friday. If I can max out my winrate at $50NL with the occasional table of $100NL and maybe sneak in a juicy 6max or HU table if I can ever find one, then my hope is that will be good enough and float me until some legislation is ed either in my state (Tennessee) or at the Federal level.

Originally Posted by kingmotan

Thank you for this update. First time I stumbled upon this thread and took 2 hours to read it while grinding some micro donkments.
Really enjoyed the read and you disciplined take on poker / life .
You are a source of inspiration and damn, you made it look so easy in 08 and 09.
Best of luck to you.

Outstanding. Glad you enjoyed and thanks for the well wishes.

Lack of FR tables is not just an american problem , ipoker and microgaming is virtually dead above 10nl for FR.

Originally Posted by Keith

Lack of FR tables is not just an american problem , ipoker and microgaming is virtually dead above 10nl for FR.

Interesting. I wonder why that is? I assume on PokerStars, tables are hopping from $25NL to $200NL, right?

Thank goodness for $25NL. After trekking through the desert that is $10NL, $25NL was a sight for sore eyes. I similar behavior my first go round at Stars - $10NL felt like a rocky nit garden and then $25NL it just seemed to open up. My theory is that $25NL is the first stakes where the money starts to have a semblance of meaning. So, you've got the lowest stake @ $4NL and it's easy because there's a lot of donks and people who don't care about losing $4 and then there's $25NL where the money starts to mean something. $10NL is right in between them and the rake is horrible and you have to earn so much more money before you can move up. Anyway, to make a long story short, it didn't take long to earn the buy-ins to move up and play $50NL.

Being on Christmas break holiday and vacation definitely helped me put in the volume of hands I needed (33k) to do this in a mere 20 days plus a winrate of 10bb/100 doesn't hurt either. The last time I had a winrate HIGHER than that at any one stake was way back the first time I finished $25NL on Stars on 7/18/2009.

Looking back, there weren't any major revelations. It feels like the same line-up of players but the fish have more money to splash around and there are perhaps even a few more of them. I guess there are also better regs obviously, but I try to focus on the fish more than them. It's possible I was just on a heater because I had two pretty big spikes on my graph and maybe my true winrate is not that good, but regardless I still think it's a much better landscape than $10NL.

Because I was a little late posting the last update, I was also a little late with this one. I started adding some $50NL tables to the rotation on 01/16/2014. I had pretty much eliminated $10NL when I moved up to $25NL, but at $50NL, they don't run enough tables, so I will have to mix in some $25NL to supplement my volume. Sadly, this gets much worse at $100NL where I usually only see a table or two of Full Ring and sometimes none.

I've tried several times unsuccessfully to get my 6max game in order to improve my table selection. I will periodically try again at $4NL and $10NL when I can. I had one good session recently at 6max where I ONLY played 6max tables and no full ring ones. That type of subtle change might be the breakthrough that will help. What is irritating is that I'm usually very effective at playing HU or 6 handed on full ring tables but actually playing on HU or 6max tables often poses problems.

I'm also headed to Tunica next weekend for some WSOP cash game action. Hopefully some donkament players will find their way to my tables

My $25NL HEM graph:




Summary:

I am a little late again in posting this but I started $50NL on 1/16/2014 and made approximately 30 buy-ins or $1500 by 02/23/2014 after playing 31k hands winning @ 9.51bb per 100 hands. I started $100NL in early March and unfortunately the games don't run as often as I would prefer. Usually I can start a table and get it going but not always. I think the most I've played at once is 3 or 4. So, it will likely take a while to even be able to get in the hands necessary to "beat" $100NL but I'm always trying and will report back if I am able to do so.

My only complaint with $50NL is that there aren't more tables running. There's just about always a game running and after I start my own tables, I can usually get 5-8 tables going, so it's not a huge issue. It's very similar to $25NL but you can make twice as much money. Since I've moved up to $100NL, I stopped playing $25NL. I may change my mind about that, but at the moment, trying to reconcile two different stake pre-flop raises is enough for me.

I got a Netspend card and took advantage of the February reload bonus and plan to do the same for the March bonus. Those bonuses are worth about 6% rakeback and I'm already getting 15% from the VIP program. Based on the stakes and volume I'm putting in, that equates to about $420 of just bonus money per month, which is pretty sweet in this tough post Black Friday environment for an American player like myself. This year at my day job, I'm on track to make $87k and if I keep having the poker year I'm having so far, this could be my first 6 figures year. Although, I'm careful not to get too cocky as something always seems to derail my poker plans through either the poker site, government, or just general burnout. I'm planning to go to a WSOP stop in April for live cash. I may check in sometime after 1st quarter for a status report.


My $50NL HEM graph:



Summary:

Originally Posted by Jason

I'm also headed to Tunica next weekend for some WSOP cash game action. Hopefully some donkament players will find their way to my tables

Hey, what happened in Tunica?

Three days of $1/$3 and I made $11. Better than losing $11. Heh. But, I'm planning another WSOP stop in April.

First quarter of the year is in the books. I banked $5,209.99 which I'm damn happy with in this post apocalyptic black Friday poker world we live in. I never thought I'd get near this close to where I was before without legislation. Although, I'm careful to get too excited because I've heard rumors some players on Merge are getting capped at 4 tables and some players have been removed from the VIP program. Either one or both of those would be a big blow. It also seems like any time I finally get my poker hourly to something I'm happy with, it gets snatched away. Just reading my blog throughout the years I've been stymied by UIGEA, 50bb max tables on Stars, Black Friday, and removal of rakeback on Carbon.

The breakdown of my 1st quarter profit/loss:

Online - $4761.99
Casino - $11.00
Home Games - $437.00
Total - $5,209.99

Due to Merge theatrics, I've signed up for Bovada and Black Chip Poker with rakeback. I'm going to check one or both of those sites out so I have some contingency plans in place if needed. For the record, I love Carbon and hope things stay good there. If I could figure out the secret handshake to get into their 35% exclusive VIP tier, I'd really be a kid in a candy shop.

I'm also planning to hit my local casino more often starting this weekend. By local, it's an hour and 45 minutes away. But, my wife and I are saving up for Prius and if we get that, it won't be as big of a strain on the gas front.

I'm up 10 buy-ins so far at $100NL. Unfortunately I just don't get to play as many tables as I'd like - between 0 and 3 usually. However, Merge finally did institute a good change to desegregate some of their networks and last night I was playing 4 tables for the first time in a while, so maybe that'll help AND theoretically those networks had fish, too, which would be icing on the cake.

Good job man, keep it up!

Although I wanted to avoid it, I finally did break down and put some money on Bovada. The main reason for this is that Merge has been randomly removing players from the 15% VIP program AND capping some players at 4 table max. I've spent too much time getting back to this point to have another monkey wrench thrown at me, so I think adding another site makes sense. So far, everything is normal for me at Carbon. Maybe by cutting back my tables and playing on Bovada, I can try to stay under the radar or at least the bad radar.

I've read from numouers sources that Bovada has more traffic and softer games BUT the tables are anonymous and using a HUD is sketchy. I'll definitely have to make some adjustments to my normal play playing a more rote ABC style, less table dynamics, less need to worry about image, and so on. I'm not happy about it, but many players say they make money there, so hopefully I can have similar success. I deposited $750 so I could potentially make that in just bonus money over the next 60 days depending on how much I play and clear. Hopefully 15 buy-ins is enough to not go busto

Unless you are punting stacks left and right then 15 buyins should be more than enough , stick to basics and just observe your table . You can gain quite a bit of info even with the anonymous tables just from the weird buyins and all the limping lol . GL and see you at the tables

This time I'm on time with my posting. For the third time, I've "beat" $100NL winning 30 buy-ins. This time on Merge over 36k hands winning at 8.31bb/100. Despite playing probably a million hands in my lifetime, my perspective of poker keeps evolving. I would have never thought it would be realistically possible to get back to a similar position online that I was in before Black Friday, without the aid of regulation that is, but I'm pretty close. My hourly is around $37 at the moment, although according to my all-in EV, I'm running hot for the first time I can ever , so perhaps that rate is not entirely accurate, however, I'm just now starting to play $200NL, which should help me if I can win, plus I'm also playing on Bovada which should also theoretically help. And, I couldn’t have added them at a better time because soon after I did, Merge took away the VIP program, which will cost me between $300 and $450 a month. If they take that money and get more fish on the site and make the games better, I’m not entirely opposed to it, but if it’s a money grab, they’ve already lost half of my rake.

In my opinion, what has changed the most about online poker since Black Friday, at least as far as the US serving sites go is that the barrier to entry is MUCH higher than it was before. BEFORE, $2NL was like printing money. Granted, it wasn't a lot of money, but you could have some pretty insane win-rates because the play was so bad. The difference between $2NL and $200NL online was STARK. Now, the differences are not as pronounced. This go around $4NL was not nearly as easy as it should have been nor was $10NL, but the difficulty didn't really change much as I've moved up. The fish stay the same or get better. The only difference is regs get a bit better but even they aren't worlds different between each stake.

I have yet to win 30 buy-ins at $200NL despite two previous tries. The first try I was derailed because Stars changed their cash game default buy-in to 50bb and I moved to Full Tilt. Then, at Full Tilt, I hit a major burnout spell and just wanted to stop playing poker for a while to recharge my battery. I resumed at Stars when they fixed their table structure, but Black Friday hit and that threw my poker train off the tracks. This attempt will be challenging because I usually only see 1 if not 0 tables of $200NL running. Since the network desegregated, I have seen 2 tables running some, but it’s definitely not the volume I’d prefer, so getting the hands in could be challenging. I'm playing at Bovada now, too, so if I'm able to win there as I have at Merge, it'll be interesting to see what their traffic is like at $200NL. It seems like they have more traffic PLUS I don't think Merge offers full ring games higher than $200NL, but Bovada does.

Due to some family obligations, I did not make the WSOP tour stop as I had planned. I did have a home game session from Hell, though. It felt like a practical joke getting the 2nd best hand every time and having the worst table image and having to fold constantly because of bad cards or missing all my draws. And all this happened against pretty inferior competition IMO and just 50cent/$1 blinds. It could have really got out of hand against some competent opponents and higher stakes. I also played at Hollywood Hard Rock in Florida while visiting in-laws. I left broke even, however, I was happy considering I had a chance to be up $800 when I got my AA all-in preflop against two villains. Unfortunately QQ got there and left the table less than an orbit later. I kept my composure though and was able to win back the 300bb's I lost in that pot.

I bought HEM2 but haven't installed it yet or looked at it. It's on my todo list since HEM1 is no longer ed. I also got to figure out how to get my Bovada hand histories and do anything meaningful with them. Playing there feels so primitive with the anonymous tables and lack of HEM. There’s much more hoping when I get to showdown: hoping it’s a fish who puts money in the pot light versus hoping it’s not a reg who will surely have me beat otherwise.

It could be a while before I have anything to report on $200NL but I'll try to pop in for at least a quarterly breakdown at the end of June if nothing noteworthy happens before then.


My $100NL HEM graph:





Summary:

You're killin' it, just like the old Jason (pre-BF). I guess you plan to keep playing 100NL along with 200NL, just to keep the volume up. Was wondering if you're going to try to withdraw or if you have any worries about that.

Thanks. Yes, I'm definitely going to play a mix of 100NL and 200NL so I can get volume. I'm usually playing 4 tables on Merge 100NL/200NL and 4 on Bovada 50NL all full ring. My bankroll is high enough where I can make my first withdrawal. There's a thread on 2+2 about withdrawing funds and, for the most part, everyone gets paid without problems via a check 90 to 95 percent of the time. For whatever reason, a small percent of the time, people do have a problem and usually just providing proper documentation to and getting a new check fixes the problem. So, I just hope I'm in the majority of people who can cash without a problem.

from my guide for US players in the bc

All tables are anonymous with HUDs banned . A working hud is available via Holdem Indicator but is of limited use as it will only work for that player on that table that day. All hands that you play can be ed the following day with all hole cards revealed. The hands can then be converted using a hand converter from http://acepokersolutions.com/Bovadahandconverter.htmlwhich costs $14.99 .

CongratsJAson. I love to see post BF doing well on poker still. Very motivating

Originally Posted by Keith

from my guide for US players in the bc

All tables are anonymous with HUDs banned . A working hud is available via Holdem Indicator but is of limited use as it will only work for that player on that table that day. All hands that you play can be ed the following day with all hole cards revealed. The hands can then be converted using a hand converter from http://acepokersolutions.com/Bovadahandconverter.htmlwhich costs $14.99 .

Ya I am playing on Bodog and was thinking about doing this, but HI is a fairly costly program for the limited use you will get on Bovada/Bodog

Regarding Bovada, I do already have the HI software and may get the hand convertor at some point in the future likely after I get HEM2 working.

After just 10 days, I was on pace to shatter my record for most profits in a month ... until I went to my local casino for some $1/$3 last Saturday that is. Actually, I'm still on pace to have my best month, just not shatter it ... although, the month is only a third over, so I guess there is still time to have my worst month

I'm on a bit of a downswing in live play cashing up in only 1 of my last 7 outings at casinos. I was card dead more than usual it seemed and the few times I could manage a good hand, the villain had a better one. Some of the more memorable hands:

Hand 1: Raise preflop with AK. Flop King on a dry board, I bet, he calls. Turn is blank. I bet, he calls. River is queen. I check. He bets. I call. He turns over KQ.

Hand 2: Q9 limped pot. Flop is Q92 two diamonds. Villain overbets small pot. I call thinking he's on a flush draw or maybe just a queen. Turn is ace. He bets something reasonable. I call. River completes flush. He checks. I check. He turns over AQ. I thought people raised AQ preflop live.

Hand 3: QQ I raise. Flop is 942 rainbow. I bet and get raised by KQ guy from hand 1 who I also saw bluffing in another pot. I'm generally not crazy about calling a raise but I think a call is appropriate since I don't have a lot of reads. Turn is a 9. I generally think this is a good card because I'm afraid of sets and this effectively took one of those combinations away (I always discount quads). I guess he could have had top pair and now has trips, but reraising my pre-flop raise with a pair of 9's seems like an odd line. I'm hoping he has AK, AQ, 55-88, possibly TT/JJ or some draw like A3/A5, and I'm worried about sets and possibly slowplayed AA/KK or something like 98 or 9T. I check. He bets. River is a blank. I check. He bets again. Both were like 50% to 60% of the pot or something - nothing too crazy. He turns over A9.

Hand 4: Q7 limped pot. Flop is Q42. Small villain bet. I call. Turn is Queen. Bigger bet. I call. This guy seemed reasonable and I think he saw me as reasonable, too. I figured he most likely had a queen and I actually thought about folding, but river could be a 7 or pair another board card, or maybe my 7 is good. River is 10. He bets some more. I call. He has AQ. AQ again no raise? Different villain than the last AQ. Apparently these guys don't raise AQ.

This was the hand that could have erased all the card deadness and 2nd best hand madness that plagued me ...

Hand 5: AJs (hearts) MP. Table was getting looser and more aggressive. I raise to $17 and get at least 5 calls. Pot is at least $85. Flop is KQ9 two hearts. I have the nut flush and straight draw. Villain donks into me for $50. Another villain calls. I call. Another villain behind me calls. Pot is at least $235. Turn is a blank 8. Villain donks $100. Villain calls. The pot is at least $435. For all I know at this point, even an ace river MIGHT give me the best hand the way this game is going. I call. Villain behind me raises all-in for an extra $140. Villain who had been donking folds. Villain in front of me calls. Pot is at least $815. I know an ace isn't going to win it for me now, but a ten and I split worst case and a heart I scoop plus IF I call I still have like somewhere between $100 to $150 left I might be able to get all-in against villain to my right. I call the $140. River is a blank 4. Villain checks. I check. All-in won with a straight. And, all those bets add up to $955, which I think is off because that guy had like $1100 in his stack after he stacked it, so I might had some of the bet values off a tad or missed a villain or two pre-flop or flop, but that's the gist of it.

Anyway, that's poker. Maybe I could have or should have played some of those hands better, but I think at $1/$2 and $1/$3, it's better to try to pot control than try to make big folds in marginal situations. And, in the first 4 hands, neither myself or villains got allin. If the situation is more polarized or if I have better reads, I can make big laydowns, but just waiting for the nuts isn't going to be profitable.

Between the $800 pot I lost in Florida when I got AA allin preflop to two villains and lost to QQ (only 2 cards in the deck to help him) and that last hand this weekend where I have 12 cards that can help me win and miss, that's a $2000 swing. Unfortunately, I am not able to make it to the casino that often, but hopefully I can turn it around next time or at least not lose as much. Losing two buy-ins that session drained 1/3 of my career "casino" profits. I've only been to the casino only 24 times total, though.

Grrr ... heads up can be so frustrating sometimes. First hand was like one of the first hands against a villain that session who normally plays pretty tight when the table is full. Second hand is against a player I don't consider very good and doesn't usually buy in full. My notes are only "mostly micro stakes - seems bad".

I don't know what the deal is but there's a big difference between my heads-up #'s and full ring ones. Granted, I play many more hands full ring, but to be honest, MOST of the time HU, a fish sits down. My stats ATM:

HU
$25NL -1 buyin
$50NL -7 buyins
$100NL -5 buyins
$200NL -5 buyins (small sample size)

Full Ring
$25NL +21 buyins
$50NL +50 buyins
$100NL +40 buyins
$200NL -2 buyins (small sample size)

That is DOWN 18 buy-ins HU versus being UP 109 buyins Full Ring. I am not up at any stake heads-up from 25NL to $200NL ATM. I still think it's worth it to get tables going, but I'm wondering if I have some major flaws in my game or something. If so, what? Maybe I'll renew my DC hip and go over some HU series again. I've been playing HU and starting tables FR for YEARS starting @ $50NL on Stars the first time I came up. Plus, I specifically spent time studying it. I thought I'd at least be marginally winning by now. Ah well ... /rant I guess.

Hand #1
Merge Network $1.00/$2.00 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BB: $218.40
Hero (BTN/SB): $200.00

Pre Flop: ($3.00) Hero is BTN/SB with A A
Hero raises to $4.00, BB raises to $16.00, Hero calls $12

Flop: ($32.00) 3 7 5 (2 players)
BB bets $19.00, Hero raises to $45.00, BB raises to $185.00, Hero calls $139 all in

Turn: ($400.00) 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($400.00) Q (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $400.00
BB shows 4 2 (Seven High Straight)
Hero shows A A
BB wins $398.00
BB wins $1.00
(Rake: $1.00)

Hand #2
Merge Network $0.50/$1.00 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN/SB: $85.83
Hero (BB): $100.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with A Q
BTN/SB calls $0.50, Hero raises to $4.00, BTN/SB calls $3

Flop: ($8.00) 8 Q Q (2 players)
Hero bets $4.00, BTN/SB raises to $8.00, Hero calls $4

Turn: ($24.00) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $15.00, BTN/SB raises to $73.83 all in, Hero calls $58.83

River: ($171.66) 2 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $171.66
BTN/SB shows 8 8 (Full House - Eights over Queens)
Hero shows A Q
BTN/SB wins $170.66
(Rake: $1.00)

why did you not 4bet in H1?

why did you donk the turn in h2?

I'm generally not a fan of 4bet shoving unless there's a particular situation where I think it's beneficial such as:
- It's against a particularly low 3bet villain who I can put on KK/QQ exclusively
- I'm against a particularly good villain and want to take away post flop decisions

I just feel like my hand is face up many times and I lose value plus I feel obligated to have a 4bet bluff shoving frequency, which I'm not thrilled about.

On hand 2, I'm trying to get the money in and I feel like checking back will give villain a chance to pot control and check behind, which I think would be a good move with a lot of hands he could have that I'm trying to get value from: AA/KK/JJ/TT/99, KQ, and A8.

Yesterday, the first day of the month I've played poker, I reached a couple of memorable poker milestones in my world. With basically 7 months of poker left to play, 2014 (assuming I don't lose it before 2015) is my most profitable year ever AND I have ed the $10k mark for the first time ever.

Total: $10,174.54

Year ---> Month ---> Cashout ---> %
2014 ---> 1 ---> $518.59 ---> 5.1%
2014 ---> 2 ---> $2,053.53 ---> 20.18%
2014 ---> 3 ---> $2,637.87 ---> 25.93%
2014 ---> 4 ---> $1,896.78 ---> 18.64%
2014 ---> 5 ---> $2,425.73 ---> 23.84%
2014 ---> 6 ---> $642.04 ---> 6.31%

My previous best year was 2010. Hopefully I can withstand burnout and keep the train headed in the right direction. My online hourly rate since 03/01/2014, when I started playing $100NL for the first time, has been $32.50. I am still working the system at Bovada having started with all $50NL and am now playing two tables of $100NL and two of $50NL. I hope to be able to play at least all four $200NL. If I can pull that off, there is definitely some hourly rate boost available for the future or even just 4 tables of $100NL would help.

Year ---> Profit ---> %
2014 ---> $10,174.54 ---> 27.38%
2013 ---> $1,806.50 ---> 4.86%
2012 ---> $-68.26 ---> -0.18%
2011 ---> $5,729.52 ---> 15.42%
2010 ---> $9,880.10 ---> 26.59%
2009 ---> $8,947.17 ---> 24.08%
2008 ---> $-57.41 ---> -0.15%
2007 ---> $30.00 ---> 0.08%
2006 ---> $567.42 ---> 1.53%
2005 ---> $135.38 ---> 0.36%
2004 ---> $15.00 ---> 0.04%

Amazing job man, keep it up!

How many hands you grinding a month? that's great!

Thanks. I haven't done a good job keeping track of my Bovada hands and, frankly, with anonymous tables, I'm not sure what good they would do me other than knowing how much volume I played. At any rate, I typically play 4 tables of Bovada and 4 to 6 of Merge - 8 to 10 total. I looked at the month of March which was the last month I only played at Merge and I played 36k hands so I'm guessing I'm probably putting in the neighborhood of 40k to 50k hands a month between the two sites. I make sure that I always have a Merge table going in HEM so I can accurately calculate hourly rate. I just add up all my profits/losses on Merge and Bovada, including bonuses, and divide it by the # of hours played.

Originally Posted by Jason

I'm generally not a fan of 4bet shoving unless there's a particular situation where I think it's beneficial such as:
- It's against a particularly low 3bet villain who I can put on KK/QQ exclusively
- I'm against a particularly good villain and want to take away post flop decisions

I just feel like my hand is face up many times and I lose value plus I feel obligated to have a 4bet bluff shoving frequency, which I'm not thrilled about.

On hand 2, I'm trying to get the money in and I feel like checking back will give villain a chance to pot control and check behind, which I think would be a good move with a lot of hands he could have that I'm trying to get value from: AA/KK/JJ/TT/99, KQ, and A8.

4bet shoving would be bad yeah. I was referring to 4betting a normal amount.

Posting my $10k milestone may have acted as a doom switch . Immediately after that, I had a decent downswing. There's been some bad luck, some bad play, and I haven't been able to put in the volume I would normally prefer for both last month and this month. My wife took an accelerated stats class and has been hogging the computer preventing me from playing. Although, I did get to play a lot of MarioKart 8

We are also in the process of adopting a 4 year old girl. Her mother, a friend of my wife, has terminal cancer and we agreed to adopt her daughter. That has taken a lot of our time and attention. To top it off, the dog that my wife and I got together when she moved in when we were dating has had health problems needing two surgeries that weren't cheap. So, the stress level hasn't been conducive to be able to play or be on my "A" game.

Mid-year results:

Total: $8,180.42

Year ---> Month ---> Cashout
2014 ---> 1 ---> $518.59
2014 ---> 2 ---> $2,053.53
2014 ---> 3 ---> $2,637.87
2014 ---> 4 ---> $1,896.78
2014 ---> 5 ---> $2,425.73
2014 ---> 6 ---> -$1,352.08

At the moment, I'm up a bit for July. Hopefully with my wife's stats class now over, most of the adoption details taken care of, and our dog has been doing well so far, things will settle down back to how I like ... hopefully .

I'm also planning to get a new PC so if my wife ever needs one, she'll have one and I'm ready for a new one anyway. I just updated to HEM2. It took some doing, but so far so good. I need to learn the skinny on Notecaddy. It looks like a worthwhile tool.

It's funny that this is now my 3rd shot at $200NL and last I checked, I have an 8 buy-in discrepancy in my all-in EV. According to HEM2 all-in EV, I would expect to be UP 3 buy-ins but I'm unfortunately down 5. I wish there were more tables running more often as I usually only have one, maybe two, but I guess one or two is better than none. The rest of the tables I'm grinding are $100NL on Merge and $100NL on Bovada. Bovada has been really swingy. I've cut back from 4 tables there to 2 or 3 until I get the hang of it and that seems to have helped. I deposited $750 and between the welcome bonus and table profits, I've got my to $2k for the moment.

Lol nice thread title, good luck!

I don't go off-topic often but I wanted to for something special. My wife's good friend who is only 19 years old has cancer (estimated weeks left to live). She and her 4 year old daughter have been living with us. She wants to go on one last trip with her daughter. It'll just be her, her daughter, and my wife to assist as a caretaker. I was asked if I wanted to go, but declined because I want the focus to just be on Savannah and her daughter to create one last yet lasting memory.

http://www.gofundme.com/e8f7mk

I was so happy to see so many people have donated just a day or so since she asked. Some have given a little, some a lot, but every bit helps.

If you could either donate, share (FB, Twitter, etc), or both, it would mean a lot to me and them. Sharing definitely helps because they've received MANY anonymous donations.

Originally Posted by Jason

If you could either donate, share (FB, Twitter, etc)

Posted on my FB page. Man, I hope they have the best time!

Thanks so much. It has been so uplifting to see the influx of donations. She even made the news on two local stations. We just hope that she can manage her health enough to make the trip. We are trying to work with the doctors and a Hospice team to get it done.

ABC
http://www.wkrn.com/category/175880/...autostart=true

Fox
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJxw9fP2fYY

2014 Started with a bang but ended with a fizzle.

Total: $6,531.42
Year ---> Month ---> Cashout
2014 ---> 1 ---> $518.59
2014 ---> 2 ---> $2,053.53
2014 ---> 3 ---> $2,637.87
2014 ---> 4 ---> $1,896.78
2014 ---> 5 ---> $2,425.73
2014 ---> 6 ---> $-1,352.08
2014 ---> 7 ---> $265.64
2014 ---> 8 ---> $1.51
2014 ---> 9 ---> $577.13
2014 ---> 10 ---> $0.00
2014 ---> 11 ---> $223.09
2014 ---> 12 ---> $-2,716.37

Unfortunately, some serious real life issues got in the way of poker most of the second half of the year when my wife and I agreed to adopt a little girl whose mother (my wife's good friend) was dying plus my grandmother, who was an avid poker player, died a bit unexpectedly, too. Twice, I got my yearly profit above $10,000 - once in June and then again in November, but I had a nasty downswing and December was my worst month of poker ever in of just money won or lost.

I spent a lot of time looking at my game to try to figure out what might have contributed to such a bad December and came to several conclusions:

1) I was playing too many tables > 9 at times
2) I wasn't taking good enough notes
3) I wasn't paying good enough attention to hands - especially hands I had folded
4) I am losing too much money on tables where the total players is between 2 and 6
5) I haven't been studying as much as I need to
6) Bovada sucks - too slow, bad software, can't get reads on opponents, etc.

So, I've recently been making these adjustments:
1) Keeping max # of tables played at one time to 9
2) Take better notes and take them more often
3) Pay better attention to hands even if I'm not in the hand
4) I'm generally going to limit my heads-up to shorthanded play UNLESS the number of fish is greater or equal to the number of regs
5) I renewed my DC hip, started using LeakBuster, and have been studying more often
6) Stopped playing on Bovada

It's early going, but 7 of my last 8 sessions online have been winning ones, so hopefully I can keep the ball moving in the right direction.

And, not to throw a pity party, but I have been running pretty poorly, too. At $200NL, with around 70k hands played, I'm currently down half a buyin but the all-in EV says I should be up 15 buyins ($3,000). $200NL has been so swingy. At one point I've been up 10 buyins, I've been down 8 buyins, but my allin EV line has been consistently way ahead of actual results. Then, add in the coolers. 88 flops 899 and loses to quad 9's. JJ flops AJA and loses to AJ, AA versus reg KK get it allin preflop and have to split it because a 5 card straight hits the board. There's been others but those are a few recent ones that jump to mind. Ah well, that's poker. Maybe I can hit $10k this year.

2015 is off to a rousing start. The first 3 online sessions have all been big winners and I started back my biweekly home game and I had my biggest cashout ever @ that game @ $400 (2nd largest ever cashout profit of anyone from my game) which is pretty decent for a $1 big blind game. My wife had her 2nd biggest cashout on the same night. Of course, the month has just started so there is plenty of time for everything to go South.

I've realized it's kind of hard for me to set poker goals because of the poker landscape always changing plus real life can get in the way. However, I would like to try to manage my time better this year and be able to consistently play every month if possible. Even if some months are better than others volume wise, I want to make sure I don't go a month and not even play a hand like I did last year. It would also be nice to break $10k total profits (and keep it) and achieve an hourly rate of $20 or more. We shall see ...

If real life doesn't get too much in the way, I'll try to at least do quarterly updates if not other random updates when appropriate.

One more thing: I lost this hand at my last home game but still managed a healthy profit by the end of the night. It was ~$130 pot (I probably contributed $50 or so). I was very lucky she wasn't full stacked or deep as I would have gone broke and had about $400 in my stack when the hand started. Turn card was 2. River card was 4. Third villain folded to my allin on river had king high flush.

nobody held 44? live poker ain't as rigged as i thought it was

I was sticking to my "don't play HU strategy" pretty well until the full ring table broke down and I had a fish HU with a 6ptr rating and the stats and play to back it up. These two hands are a metaphor for my HU life. Players hit monsters against me in 3 bet pots with hands I can't get away from and they catch up when they're behind. Funny thing is that even if I do suck at HU, I should still have "upswings" and stretches of good "luck" but I'll be damned if I can having one.

Merge, $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 2 Players
Hero (BB): $220.53 (110.3 bb)
SB: $338.15 (169.1 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K K
SB raises to $4, Hero raises to $14, SB calls $10

Flop: ($28) 2 7 T (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $28, Hero calls $28

Turn: ($84) T (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $63, Hero calls $63

River: ($210) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, SB bets $105, Hero calls $105

Results: $420 pot ($1 rake)
Final Board: 2 7 T T 2
Hero showed K K and lost (-$210 net)
SB showed T 8 and won $419 ($209 net)






Merge, $1/$2 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 2 Players

Hero (SB): $208.12 (104.1 bb)
BB: $538.15 (269.1 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K A
Hero raises to $4, BB calls $2

Flop: ($8) A K 4 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $4, BB raises to $20, Hero calls $16

Turn: ($48) 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $28, BB raises to $514.15 and is all-in, Hero calls $156.12 and is all-in

River: ($416.24) 3 (2 players, 2 are all-in)

Results: $416.24 pot ($1 rake)
Final Board: A K 4 3 3
Hero showed K A and lost (-$208.12 net)
BB showed 3 K and won $415.24 ($207.12 net)

ed the 20 buyin EV discrepancy threshold tonight sitting @ 22 difference when my AA loses to KK allin preflop (not to mention a different hand my KK runs into an AA but of course that villain holds), but not the boring flop a set victory ... oh no, the 4 cards of his suit to get a flush kind. And, multitabling reg on the flop decides to 4 bet (I bet, he reraise, I re-reraise, he shoves) my cbet on K63 2 tone. I've got AK no suits. He has A3 drawing to the nut flush and binks it on the turn. Maybe the next 80k hands will be better with that kind of thing.

KK hand - why go into c/c mode from the flop? I suppose it's ok if he's wide (which it would appear he might be), and very aggressive.

AK vs K3 hand is lame!

I've demonstrated a lot of bad results HU/SH, so my thinking could be flawed, but he seemed like the type of villain who would for sure stack off with JJ, QQ, and any Tx hand. On the flop, I check because I KNOW I'm getting bets from those stack off hands and I'm trying to maximize value to make SURE I get bets from the AK, AQ, AJ, and Ax hands. I guess there's an argument for reraising or leading out to protect against trips, two pair, or flushes on the turn, but I felt KK was the nuts in a 3 bet pot against a fish and showing too much strength would result in lost value as I thought non-s were also a big part of his range and I want him IN the hand and putting money in the pot which was happening.

On the turn, I was a little worried about a random flush or maybe an AT/TJ/T9 kind of hand. The fact he called my 3bet and bets out strong with T8 I think somewhat validates my thinking. Perhaps he shuts down if the turn or river doesn't improve his hand but I doubt it. I think only an ace would have caused him to put on the breaks. Despite the bad luck of him getting trips on the turn, I still had 2 outs to a full house and 8 more to the 2nd nut flush that doesn't give him a full house but no dice.

The river may be spewy as there's an obvious flush and one of two cards to a full house, but even that's debatable against a fish IMO because he might be thinking he's tied for the best hand with a random ace and doesn't want to split it or thinks he still has the best hand with JJ/QQ/KK or even 33-66, 88, 99.

Tx is very vulnerable and won't be able to value bet all in on many runouts (except perfect ones like 22 and even still thin). It will more have to put in more money on the flop facing a check raise and stack more frequently therefore c/r is almost certainly more profitable than c/c

also re: AK hand definitely reconsider your flop sizing strategy as the preflop raiser on this board texture

haha I still I can play as high as 5K NL but now I just play micro stake, accomplish some missions at pokerstars for fun.
High stake online game is dead now so sad!

Sorry I haven't posted sooner. I've been super busy but I have been playing poker and the downswing from Hell last Fall that wiped out almost half my profits for last year seems to be gone for the moment and we're off to a decent start in 2015:

Year ---> Month ---> Profit/Loss
2015 ---> 1 ---> $2,118.93
2015 ---> 2 ---> $3,600.45
2015 ---> 3 ---> $2,730.67
1ST QUARTER ---> $8,450.05

It took a lot longer than I expected and maybe should, but the third time was a charm and I finally beat $200NL. One night a few weeks ago I actually ed the 30buyin or $6k profits point during a session and took a snapshot, but ended up a little below it at the end of the session and then hit another hellacious downswing. I played 151k hands and made $6.1k @ 2.03bb/100 BUT my allin EV says I should have made $8k :/ - My allin EV line never seems to be where it should, but the games are good. My play is good. I'm getting better everyday.

The bad news is that there are no more full ring levels to move up to on Merge. I am considering sitting in some 500NL 6max games IF they are juicy enough to justify it. I'm thinking 3 fish and 2 regular regs with good position might be the ideal scenario. I've sucked so badly though with shorthanded and HU that I'm a bit apprehensive about it. But, the thought of stagnating is also fearful.

I've also sured the $10k mark with profits for the year. I'd like to hold that and go even farther, but the bad news is that historically the remaining months have not been kind to me. Part of the reason is I usually put in less volume and part of the reason is that the game aren't usually as good. But, I'm going to try to stay focused and even keeled. I should have a 2nd quarter report at the end of the month.

Profit by Stake and # of Players



My $200NL graph


Summary

Although it wasn't exactly how I envisioned it would transpire, I had my first somewhat earned session of official midstakes action last night. Using PTR, I did reconnaissance on all the Merge players in the $2/$5 6 max games as that is the next step up from $1/$2. There are NO full ring games higher than $1/$2, so I haven't really earned the right to play 6 max so to speak, but my hope is that I can overcome my limitations playing shorthanded through bum hunting and also studying more. I was basically looking for a minimum of 3 fish and maximum of 2 regs. I did find one table and played a mostly uneventful and marginally profitable session winning $180 or so - only 36bb's for this stake. I definitely wasn't doing any light 3 betting or anything out of line. I did get aces a couple of times winning a decent pot against a fish once. I got a set once and won only a smallish pot against a reg. I had a ten high flush using both cards on an unpaired board that lost to a bigger flush against a fish - I almost shoved to try to get the rest of his 40bb $200 stack, but after consideration I determined his range would likely be comprised of higher flushes, so I was able to save some $. As soon as one of the fish left and was replaced with another reg, I sat out my next blind and left the table.

The pots get pretty big pretty quickly. Just one 3x pre-flop raise plus blinds and a call along with a 2/3rd pot flop cbet and one call and the pot is already a little over half pot bet size away from a $200NL stack. Hopefully I run at least just average and play well. I'd like to be able to take periodic "shots" this way. Otherwise, my only avenue to move past $200NL is to try to play more on another site like Bovada or WPN or live. I don't have the experience or bankroll to just start playing that high on any of those platforms. It is unfortunate, though, that there are usually a handful of regs on every table but there are plenty of fish, too. I'll just have to keep my eyes open.

The 2nd quarter and half the year is in the books. I've been able to stay in the green every month and want to try to continue that trend as long as possible in the 2nd half of the year. Historically, my results in the second half are much worse than the first half. Part of the reason for that is I usually put in less volume so I'm going to try not to fall off the edge of the earth. Another part of the reason is that the games aren't as good in the Summer. I may try to play more live to combat that but my live results have been pretty abysmal lately.

Year ---> Month ---> Profit/Loss
2015 ---> 1 ---> $2,118.93
2015 ---> 2 ---> $3,600.45
2015 ---> 3 ---> $2,730.67
2015 ---> 4 ---> $1,022.69
2015 ---> 5 ---> $728.70
2015 ---> 6 ---> $1,887.26

Total ---> $12,088.70

Right on cue, the 3rd quarter bites me in the ass. I had back to back losing months. Last month (September) was on track to be a record setter. I peaked at $6k but the last two days I played I lost $904.32 on one day and $1302.98 on the last. Since I've selectively moved up to 2/5 6 max and 1/2 6 max, I've had mixed results. I've been up 4 or 5 buyins then down 4 or 5 buyins and then even again. I hate to fixate on it but my allin EV was pretty atrocious during those two losing months. My EV @ 2/5 is currently 4 or 5 buyins ahead of what has actually happened meaning I'm down 2k more than I should be. At 1/2 both full ring and 6max I'm down 3000k relative to allin EV - that's 15 buyins which seems unusually high. It's pretty irritating since, in theory, I could just as easily be UP 15 buyins more than I should be. Since I've moved up to 1/2 and then 2/5 over 100k hands I've NEVER been ahead of EV and ONLY BRIEFLY even. The funny thing about my almost record setting month was that before those last 2 days, I was finally running "right". When I was ahead I stayed ahead. When I was behind I stayed behind. I guess it'll even out in the long run, but it can be taxing to have that "not again" feeling over and over with things out of your control.

I started playing on Bovada again because Carbon is acting shady as hell. They aren't offering Bitcoin to everyone. They are limiting and banning some players. I finally got limited to 6 tables myself after avoiding it all for so long. I can only play 1 table on Bovada because my bankroll is limited but so far so good. I may also check out WPN since I have rakeback there.

Usually the games get better around this time of year. Hopefully I can string together a decent 4th quarter.

Year ---> Month ---> Cashout
2015 ---> 1 ---> $2,118.93
2015 ---> 2 ---> $3,600.45
2015 ---> 3 ---> $2,730.67
2015 ---> 4 ---> $1,022.69
2015 ---> 5 ---> $728.70
2015 ---> 6 ---> $1,887.26
2015 ---> 7 ---> -$3,307.16
2015 ---> 8 ---> -$1,400.33
2015 ---> 9 ---> $3,821.26

Haven't read this thread in ages and am not sure if you're still doing this, Jason, but how's it going after all these years?

Originally Posted by rowhousepd

Haven't read this thread in ages and am not sure if you're still doing this, Jason, but how's it going after all these years?

Last seen 26 Nov 2018, so I doubt you'll ever know.

Originally Posted by dwarfman3

Last seen 26 Nov 2018, so I doubt you'll ever know.

Better late than never, right?

Originally Posted by rowhousepd

Haven't read this thread in ages and am not sure if you're still doing this, Jason, but how's it going after all these years?

Work is a little more stressful than normal but otherwise I guess I can't really complain. I stopped playing online in 2016 because the games were just so bad and sites like the Merge network were banning winning players and limiting them to 1 or 2 tables. It's a damn shame especially when you look back on any of the old threads, like this one for example, and see how great the games were. I switched to live only but could only play a couple times a month. Then COVID hit and it was 0 times a month. But, I have 3 shots and I have recently decided to play again and also moved up to $2/$5 so that's a little exciting and reminiscent of all the times in this thread when I would move up a stake. In live it happens so rarely: this is the first real jump I've made not counting when I just decided to play at the casino.

Who knows if I'll ever make it to $5/$10 or not? If I do, I reckon it'll be a while if not just for the fact that I don't get to play that often PLUS I'd have to get on airplane probably to find a game even spreading $5/$10. And, for anyone who has read my threads, you know I always stick to strict bankroll management so I'll need to win $15,000 at $2/$5 before I even consider sitting in a higher game. However, after my first two sessions of $2/$5 I am fortunate to be up so far:

In my first two sessions at $2/$5 my results were:

+$1130.00 on 1/1/2022

+$1854.00 on 1/2/2022
+$2984.00 TOTAL

Been a hot minute since I've posted anything so here's some live results before I moved up:


Here's a graph of my live winnings which includes cash games of both the casino and home games:
https://i.imgur.com/810XA6e.png


Here's a graph of JUST my live home game winnings:

https://i.imgur.com/yJSr3lt.png

Here's a graph of JUST my live casino game winnings:

https://i.imgur.com/fZqT8sD.png

Here's a breakdown of my winnings by each casino:

https://i.imgur.com/1nyAOgW.png

Here's a breakdown of my winnings by each home game:

https://i.imgur.com/Jhb4H8P.png


Hope all is well with you and anyone else who stumbles on my thread.