Done for 2011

Life stuff

Away from the tables Xmas was great, got to see my family again and got some awesome presents, including an espresso machine so I can caffeinate myself with unparalleled efficiency. Going back to Bristol on New Year's Day, then I have a day off to chill before going back to work...

Poker stuff

After a bit more grinding over the past few days I'm finally done for the year! December giraffe with obligatory Xmas downswing:

December 2011

Table winnings: +$1k
VPPs and Stellar rewards: +$500
Total: +$1.5k

Meh... marginally better than a kick in the balls I guess. I don't have all my 2011 hands available at the moment so I can't produce a yearly graph but I think I'm up about $14k on the year, which is decent given Black Friday massively screwed everything up. I also ended up building a roll from just FPPs (now about $4.5k) over the last few months so as expected it's been a bit slow lately.

In terms of profit, December wasn't that good a month but it was significant in that I realised a lot of things about my game:
- I prefer being a BR nit
- I don't like switching limits all the time
- I prefer playing more tables, as I find it really hard to cope with the long, drawn-out downswings that come with only playing 4-6 tables
- I can beat 6max, but only if I feel comfortable with my game and don't do anything too ridiculous

These things in mind, I'm switching back to playing more tables (probably 10-12) which should give me a higher hourly and reduce the standard deviation of my monthly WR by about 30%. I'm also changing my BRM:
- Grind a stake until I have 50BI for the next stake
- Take a 10BI shot at the next stake
- Move back down if I drop below 40BI for the stake I'm taking a shot at

e.g. grind 50NL until I have $5k, then take a $1k shot at 100NL. This should result in a lot less switching between limits, which I found pretty frustrating. Being able to take a larger shot also means I can focus a lot better without constantly being distracted by my bankroll.

As for 2011 goals, I'm still undecided... with Stars tinkering with the rake system (read: fucking everyone over) I'm not sure I wanna commit to any VPP goals, or whether I'll even play all my volume on Stars. I think a big factor will be how strong FTP is looking when it returns... we'll have to wait and see I guess.

For profit and volume targets, I'm going to provisionally say $30k total profit after RB/bonuses, and 800 hours played - I managed to squeeze in about 70 hours this month with quite a few distractions so hopefully it shouldn't be that hard.

Hope you've all had a good 2011, and Happy New Year in advance.

- HappyPixel

Back at 100NL

Life stuff

Today I had the day off work so I treated myself to a good lie-in, then got the train back to my parents' house in Surrey... thought it was gonna be packed but it was practically empty so I guess everyone else is either travelling really early or really last minute this year.

I'm in quite a good mood at the moment - looking forward to Xmas and everything's been going great lately. Finally winning some $ this month, got my degree results (distinction with 90% in my dissertation ^_^) and won employee of the week at work last week which I was pretty chuffed about. So it's shaping up to be a very merry Christmas this year!

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Poker stuff

Finally had a few good sessions and made it back to 100NL, BR is sitting at around $4.2k I think. Also just hit Platinum Star so I should be making reasonable RB next year - not sure if I'll go for 200k VPPs but at my pace for this month it should be doable if I play a decent amount of 200NL next year. Anyways here's my December graph so far:

December 2011

Could be better, could be worse, meh. Sucks to think it could come crashing back down like the start of the month but I was thinking on the train today... as much as poker players bitch and moan about how bad they run and how stressful it is, how many people can say they make 4 figs (or more for some) a month from a hobby? Not many, and if putting up with a bit of variance is the price you have to pay, then so be it.

Anyways here's a few 100NL hands from the past week:

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Villain was a reg, I'm not a huge fan of his c/r... I don't have many better hands here but I'm not 3betting many AQ/AJ type hands pre and the board is bone dry apart from the FD. Regardless, felt good to win a 375bb pot especially as I don't play deep tables that often.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em $0.20 Ante - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

Hero (CO): $186.80
BTN: $128.00
SB: $256.85
BB: $109.00
UTG: $224.80
MP: $239.95

Pre Flop: ($2.70) Hero is CO with 8 A
1 fold, MP raises to $3.70, Hero raises to $11, 3 folds, MP calls $7.30

Flop: ($24.70) 3 A 8 (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $16, MP raises to $55, Hero raises to $175.60 all in, MP calls $120.60

Turn: ($375.90) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($375.90) 5 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $375.90
Hero shows 8 A (two pair, Aces and Eights)
MP shows K A (a pair of Aces)
Hero wins $372.90
(Rake: $3.00)

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There aren't that many regs I'd do this against but this guy was 3betting way too much and not folding to 4bets. Sucks to flip with KQs but I think he sometimes ships it with hands like A5s or 33 so I still think 4b/c is better than 4b jamming.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BB: $141.05
UTG: $100.00
MP: $100.00
Hero (CO): $267.10
BTN: $113.75
SB: $107.25

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with 9 9
2 folds, Hero raises to $3, BTN calls $3, SB raises to $11, 1 fold, Hero raises to $24, 1 fold, SB raises to $107.25 all in, Hero calls $83.25

Flop: ($218.50) 8 5 6 (2 players - 1 is all in)

Turn: ($218.50) 2 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($218.50) T (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $218.50
Hero shows 9 9 (a pair of Nines)
SB shows K Q (high card King)
Hero wins $215.50
(Rake: $3.00)

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Villain seemed pretty good - I figured he usually raises turn with 2pr or a set given how drawy the board is, so the river c/r is normally either a hand like K8/K6 or a made hand like 98/87/76/77/54/44 etc turned into a bluff. Lots of combos of those and I feel he's good enough to turn a made hand into a bluff so I think my call is fine.

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BB: $101.00
Hero (BTN/SB): $100.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BTN/SB with K 7
Hero raises to $2, BB calls $1

Flop: ($4.00) 8 6 3 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $3, BB calls $3

Turn: ($10.00) 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $7.50, BB calls $7.50

River: ($25.00) K (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $18, BB raises to $55, Hero calls $37

Final Pot: $135.00
BB shows 3 3 (three of a kind, Threes)
Hero mucks K 7
BB wins $134.50
(Rake: $0.50)

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Sigh, Russian shorties...

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BB: $137.05
UTG: $48.55
MP: $105.05
Hero (CO): $102.30
BTN: $76.95
SB: $39.00

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with A Q
2 folds, Hero raises to $3, 1 fold, SB raises to $8, 1 fold, Hero raises to $102.30 all in, SB calls $31 all in

Flop: ($79.00) 4 2 J (2 players - 2 are all in)

Turn: ($79.00) 3 (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: ($79.00) 2 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $79.00
Hero mucks A Q
SB shows Q A (a flush, Ace high)
SB wins $76.00
(Rake: $3.00)

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Snapped river here, villain's line doesn't make much sense at all... probably only folding spade rivers as I think they make up a large part of his range here

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 2 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN/SB: $100.00
Hero (BB): $101.50

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is BB with 8 8
BTN/SB raises to $2.50, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($5.00) A 5 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN/SB checks

Turn: ($5.00) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $4, BTN/SB raises to $13, Hero calls $9

River: ($31.00) K (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN/SB bets $19, Hero calls $19

Final Pot: $69.00
BTN/SB shows T 7 (high card Ace)
Hero shows 8 8 (a pair of Eights)
Hero wins $68.50
(Rake: $0.50)

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And finally... I wasn't involved in this hand but the chat was absolutely hilarious

Poker Stars $0.50/$1 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

MP: $76.00
Hero (CO): $115.40
BTN: $100.00
SB: $62.10
BB: $100.00
UTG: $193.70

Pre Flop: ($1.50) Hero is CO with 6 J
1 fold, MP raises to $3, 2 folds, SB calls $2.50, BB calls $2

Flop: ($9.00) 6 Q 7 (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, MP bets $73 all in, SB folds, BB calls $73

Turn: ($155.00) 9 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($155.00) Q (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $155.00
MP shows K A (a pair of Queens)
BB shows Q A (three of a kind, Queens)
BB wins $152.00
(Rake: $3.00)

MP: CARE
MP: POKER IS STUPID ANYWAY

- HappyPixel