I just got instant messaged by a member of the band Jive Aces, whom I got the name for the blog from. He said that it might confuse people who were looking for the band site, and if it would be possible for me to change the blog name. I compromised with a disclaimer underneath the title, as you can now see.
It's kinda cool, though. Random dude from a reasonably successful swing band just up and IMs me out of the blue. Not an everyday occurance for a random guy out here in Connecticut.
Incidentally, after posting my last blog, I joined a 1.10 turbo hold 'em 45 person sit n go, and it's down to the final four. Guess posting about my bad spree ended it.
..and there I go in fourth. Ok, then. Picked up a $3.90 profit, still, so not bad.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Triple Draw Success (and some other less successful things)
I've had tremendous success at the Triple Draw 2-7 1.10 sit n gos on pokerstars. I wish I could see my stats for that specific game, but I don't have a sharkscope account so I can only get the general picture of all games in one statistic right now. Which, by the way, is improved:
Username Games Played Av. Profit Av. Stake Av. ROI Total Profit
Wlokos .........47 .......... $0 ........$1..........3% ........-$5
I know, I know, $-5 is nothing to be proud of. But, hey, my ROI% is officially a positive number, and the profit was worse before. Maybe soon I'll actually get it up to a positive number too.
But, anyway, the sad part of the story is that I'm still down in the bankroll department from the last time I blogged. My current bankroll's a mere $8.21 or so, which is around four dollars worse than last time (and I'm too lazy to check exactly what I had last time). This is because, despite the fact that I'm placing first or second (mostly first) in around 90% of the Triple Draw Sit n Gos I join (more on that later), I proceed to lose it all in other games. I've lost two $2.20 heads up Omaha Hi/Lo games and a couple of texas hold 'em sit n gos. I'm not sure why that is - I don't think I'm particularly weak in hold 'em, though I suppose that I could be wrong. Same with the omaha, but that was heads up, which I am less experienced in, so that probably explains that.
So, I'm working on trying to improve my hold 'em play, because I shouldn't have trouble at such low stakes.
And then there's the Triple Draw. The low stakes sit n gos for this one are so weak that it's almost guaranteed money. My strategy is pretty simple - I try to only be putting money in the pot for two reasons: A: It's shorthanded and I think I can steal the pot, or B: I think that I'm getting better odds to make my hand than my opponent. As in, he drew three and I drew two and improved to a one card draw for next round. That kind of thing.
I've been spending around two hours a day at home (including sleep, which has mostly but not in great quantity happened elsewhere), so I'm not working up to full capacity. Thus, this post is a bit shorter and less interesting or well thought out than the last few, but I wanted to post something. I'd been almost a week since my last post, after all.
Username Games Played Av. Profit Av. Stake Av. ROI Total Profit
Wlokos .........47 .......... $0 ........$1..........3% ........-$5
I know, I know, $-5 is nothing to be proud of. But, hey, my ROI% is officially a positive number, and the profit was worse before. Maybe soon I'll actually get it up to a positive number too.
But, anyway, the sad part of the story is that I'm still down in the bankroll department from the last time I blogged. My current bankroll's a mere $8.21 or so, which is around four dollars worse than last time (and I'm too lazy to check exactly what I had last time). This is because, despite the fact that I'm placing first or second (mostly first) in around 90% of the Triple Draw Sit n Gos I join (more on that later), I proceed to lose it all in other games. I've lost two $2.20 heads up Omaha Hi/Lo games and a couple of texas hold 'em sit n gos. I'm not sure why that is - I don't think I'm particularly weak in hold 'em, though I suppose that I could be wrong. Same with the omaha, but that was heads up, which I am less experienced in, so that probably explains that.
So, I'm working on trying to improve my hold 'em play, because I shouldn't have trouble at such low stakes.
And then there's the Triple Draw. The low stakes sit n gos for this one are so weak that it's almost guaranteed money. My strategy is pretty simple - I try to only be putting money in the pot for two reasons: A: It's shorthanded and I think I can steal the pot, or B: I think that I'm getting better odds to make my hand than my opponent. As in, he drew three and I drew two and improved to a one card draw for next round. That kind of thing.
I've been spending around two hours a day at home (including sleep, which has mostly but not in great quantity happened elsewhere), so I'm not working up to full capacity. Thus, this post is a bit shorter and less interesting or well thought out than the last few, but I wanted to post something. I'd been almost a week since my last post, after all.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
The Slow Climb Upwards
Along with a couple unremarkable ventures into the world of Triple Draw 2-7 sit n gos, from which I've probably made all of a dollar of profit, I've taken part in two Limit Stud Hi/Lo tournaments, at the stakes of $1+.10. Not exactly the most thrilling stakes, but really, what more could I have done with a bankroll of $6?
Prior to this, I'd mainly done No Limit and Pot Limit for tournaments, so it was a bit of a change - and it taught me a few things about the limit stud MTTs:
-From the middle rounds and onward, you'd better be real careful.
Because, with five rounds of betting in each hand, all it takes is one hand to really set you back or take you out completely once the stakes start to escalate. Combine that with the fact that people were being very stubborn about not losing once we were down to around 150 people (from 310 and 360 respectively), and it was really easy to mess up that one draw that didn't connect and all of a sudden end up with 4000 chips at 500/1000 stakes. Considering that I might have been pretty comfortable with my chipstack prior to such a hand, it was a bit of a shock during the first tournament to realize how easy it was to lose those chips. I tightened up a bit on the draws and the 'I have a shot!' sort of lost hands that I need to fold regardless of the situation during the second tournament - and it made things a bit easier.
-It's annoying as hell to try to double up once you're at the desperate chipstack level in a hi/lo game.
Seriously, I'd get something like AKT with the ante eating me alive and push my money in as quickly as the stakes allowed me, only to end up against someone with a lovely A2458 low that would return my half of the pot right back - only a few hundred anted chips richer than before. I did that several times from short stack situations, and it was really getting annoying towards the end of my run.
-People can last forever despite the rising stakes.
I must've spent at least twenty minutes (in super fast internet poker hands) waiting for the last two people to lose that would push us into the money during my second tournament. Incidentally, I used that time to double up once or twice, which was nice, but it was a bit disheartening to continue to check how many people were still in and see that number refuse to budge at all. On the plus side, I was the one to knock out #42, and #41 quickly followed.
-I have some kind of knack for limit hi/lo stud.
In the first tournament of 360 people, I placed 11th for a $3.50ish profit. One day later (tonight), I placed 15th out of 311, netting a similar profit. That said, three hours of play does not end too happily when I lose so close to the final table and have only $3 to show for it, but it's still nice to place back to back in reasonably high positions. Plus, in my current attempt to climb my way up the bankroll ladder, any profit is a good profit.
Speaking of that bankroll, I've improved quite a bit since my last blog. Let's see if I can keep it growing.
Current Bankroll: $13.22.
Prior to this, I'd mainly done No Limit and Pot Limit for tournaments, so it was a bit of a change - and it taught me a few things about the limit stud MTTs:
-From the middle rounds and onward, you'd better be real careful.
Because, with five rounds of betting in each hand, all it takes is one hand to really set you back or take you out completely once the stakes start to escalate. Combine that with the fact that people were being very stubborn about not losing once we were down to around 150 people (from 310 and 360 respectively), and it was really easy to mess up that one draw that didn't connect and all of a sudden end up with 4000 chips at 500/1000 stakes. Considering that I might have been pretty comfortable with my chipstack prior to such a hand, it was a bit of a shock during the first tournament to realize how easy it was to lose those chips. I tightened up a bit on the draws and the 'I have a shot!' sort of lost hands that I need to fold regardless of the situation during the second tournament - and it made things a bit easier.
-It's annoying as hell to try to double up once you're at the desperate chipstack level in a hi/lo game.
Seriously, I'd get something like AKT with the ante eating me alive and push my money in as quickly as the stakes allowed me, only to end up against someone with a lovely A2458 low that would return my half of the pot right back - only a few hundred anted chips richer than before. I did that several times from short stack situations, and it was really getting annoying towards the end of my run.
-People can last forever despite the rising stakes.
I must've spent at least twenty minutes (in super fast internet poker hands) waiting for the last two people to lose that would push us into the money during my second tournament. Incidentally, I used that time to double up once or twice, which was nice, but it was a bit disheartening to continue to check how many people were still in and see that number refuse to budge at all. On the plus side, I was the one to knock out #42, and #41 quickly followed.
-I have some kind of knack for limit hi/lo stud.
In the first tournament of 360 people, I placed 11th for a $3.50ish profit. One day later (tonight), I placed 15th out of 311, netting a similar profit. That said, three hours of play does not end too happily when I lose so close to the final table and have only $3 to show for it, but it's still nice to place back to back in reasonably high positions. Plus, in my current attempt to climb my way up the bankroll ladder, any profit is a good profit.
Speaking of that bankroll, I've improved quite a bit since my last blog. Let's see if I can keep it growing.
Current Bankroll: $13.22.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
The Micro Stakes and The Freeroller
I was on pokerstars, trying to freeroll up some kind of bankroll. At first, it was damned near impossible - anybody who's ever played in a freeroll on pokerstars knows how the tournaments tend to have 8000 people vying for 27 spots in a tournament that actually has cash prizes, where you fight with another 2000 people. It's not worth it whatsoever.
Luckily, a friend of mine had an account with some money, and he tossed me $3. This was two days ago. I've had success on other sites with the whole freerolling thing, along with playing a pretty good amount in real life at random games with people I know, so this wasn't the first time I'd played with real money. Just my first chance at pokerstars. The first thing I did was hit the omaha hi/lo .01/.02 table, and then a hold 'em table, and pull myself up to $6ish.
A few things I've noticed about the micro stakes internet tables:
-Your bluff is worth nothing.
Well, this isn't entirely true. You can bluff, and you can sometimes pull it off if you deem your table tight enough, but it's not worth it. The amount of times people fold will not make up for the amount of times that they call. Don't bother.
-You encounter some strange situations.
One table I was at had a guy who went all in every hand. I've seen this in freerolls, but at a normal table? He made some ridiculous beats to get up to around $6 from his first dollar, then me and one other guy who hung around at the table when everybody else'd left proceed to wait for the right hands and call him until he lost all of his money.
-It's really hard to avoid thinking 'well, I'm down $2/up $1/whatever'
In real life, those chips in front of you don't count themselves down to the exact cent after every hand. It's easy to avoid thinking about whether you've made or lost money so far, which is a good thing - because, unless you're losing hundreds of dollars and need to stop playing before you lose more, you don't want to be thinking about if you're down or up. Otherwise, you start to feel like you don't want to leave until you've gotten back that $10 you lost... And that never leads to strong play.
Online, you always know exactly how much you have. You can't avoid it, it's right there next to the cards you're playing. And it's really easy to fall into the trap of 'well, maybe I'll fold rather than fall into a loss for the session..'. Obviously, that sort of thinking needs to be squashed for any serious success.
-There's a lot of profit to be had by being selective about which tables you play at.
Online, there are so many different options of where to play, and it's so easy to watch them for a little and see which table you want to select. You shouldn't ignore that advantage. If you observe a table for a bit and see some solid play, find a different one. There are always, at least at the stakes I've been at so far, weak tables that are just waiting to be cleaned up. Finding those tables makes the job of actually playing the cards much easier.
My current bankroll on pokerstars is $6.70. Let's see if I can get this thing to grow into something worth playing with.
Luckily, a friend of mine had an account with some money, and he tossed me $3. This was two days ago. I've had success on other sites with the whole freerolling thing, along with playing a pretty good amount in real life at random games with people I know, so this wasn't the first time I'd played with real money. Just my first chance at pokerstars. The first thing I did was hit the omaha hi/lo .01/.02 table, and then a hold 'em table, and pull myself up to $6ish.
A few things I've noticed about the micro stakes internet tables:
-Your bluff is worth nothing.
Well, this isn't entirely true. You can bluff, and you can sometimes pull it off if you deem your table tight enough, but it's not worth it. The amount of times people fold will not make up for the amount of times that they call. Don't bother.
-You encounter some strange situations.
One table I was at had a guy who went all in every hand. I've seen this in freerolls, but at a normal table? He made some ridiculous beats to get up to around $6 from his first dollar, then me and one other guy who hung around at the table when everybody else'd left proceed to wait for the right hands and call him until he lost all of his money.
-It's really hard to avoid thinking 'well, I'm down $2/up $1/whatever'
In real life, those chips in front of you don't count themselves down to the exact cent after every hand. It's easy to avoid thinking about whether you've made or lost money so far, which is a good thing - because, unless you're losing hundreds of dollars and need to stop playing before you lose more, you don't want to be thinking about if you're down or up. Otherwise, you start to feel like you don't want to leave until you've gotten back that $10 you lost... And that never leads to strong play.
Online, you always know exactly how much you have. You can't avoid it, it's right there next to the cards you're playing. And it's really easy to fall into the trap of 'well, maybe I'll fold rather than fall into a loss for the session..'. Obviously, that sort of thinking needs to be squashed for any serious success.
-There's a lot of profit to be had by being selective about which tables you play at.
Online, there are so many different options of where to play, and it's so easy to watch them for a little and see which table you want to select. You shouldn't ignore that advantage. If you observe a table for a bit and see some solid play, find a different one. There are always, at least at the stakes I've been at so far, weak tables that are just waiting to be cleaned up. Finding those tables makes the job of actually playing the cards much easier.
My current bankroll on pokerstars is $6.70. Let's see if I can get this thing to grow into something worth playing with.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
The Beginning
I was googling 'razz strategy' to look for some tips prior to a small online tournament, when I came across an article in a poker blog entitled 'Take The F Train'. I checked out some more of his posts, and then some other poker blogs, and I was pretty interested in the whole concept of a poker blog. I've been playing for quite a while, and having developed my game to at least a decent level, I thought it might be a fun project to undertake, both for the sake of helping out others and discovering some of the trouble spots in my own game.
So, this is the result. A little poker blog with a name lifted from a UK swing band. Hopefully I can have some fun and help some people out in the process.
Adios for now, maybe I'll actually get a poker related blog up soon.
So, this is the result. A little poker blog with a name lifted from a UK swing band. Hopefully I can have some fun and help some people out in the process.
Adios for now, maybe I'll actually get a poker related blog up soon.
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