first, i want to tell you how much i LOVE the number of hands you can get in at sh nlhe. i was getting in a bout 300/hr with an mtr of 3.4. it would take about twice as many plo8 tables to get the same number of hands in. knocking back 900 hands was stupid easy.

second, i played very badly, but was down very little (less than a buy in). i chose to ignore some tell-tale signs that i was running into monsters and ended up taking a bath.

let's start with the big winners... nothing special, but i like starting on a postive note:

--------------------------------------------------------------

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
6 players


Stack sizes:
Kuso: $16.40
UTG+1: $25.70
CO: $29.25
Button: $16.40
SB: $56.45
BB: $8.05

Pre-flop: (6 players) Kuso is UTG with
Kuso calls, UTG+1 calls, 2 folds, SB calls, BB checks.

Flop: ($1, 4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Kuso bets $1, UTG+1 raises to $2, 2 folds, Kuso calls.

Turn: ($5, 2 players)
Kuso bets $2, UTG+1 raises to $5.25, Kuso raises all-in $14.15, UTG+1 calls.

i can't recall why, but i knew this guy overplayed hands, so i was ok getting it all in with tptk.

River: ($33.3, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $33.3)


Results:
Final pot: $33.3
Kuso showed Ah Qs
UTG+1 mucks Qc Kc

--------------------------------------------------------------

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
5 players


Stack sizes:
Kuso: $23.45
CO: $29.25
CO: $25.10
Button: $25
SB: $14.50
BB: $25

Pre-flop: (5 players) Kuso is UTG with
Kuso raises to $1, 2 folds, SB calls, BB folds.

Flop: ($2.25, 2 players)
SB bets $0.75, Kuso calls.

Turn: ($3.75, 2 players)
SB bets $1.5, Kuso raises to $5, SB raises to $8.5, Kuso raises to $12, SB raises all-in $12.75, Kuso calls.

i think villain overplayed his hand a wee bit.

River: ($29.25, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $29.25)


Results:
Final pot: $29.25
SB showed Ah Ks
Kuso showed Qs Td

--------------------------------------------------------------

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
5 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $32.40
Kuso: $10.30
Button: $2.80
SB: $24.70
BB: $18.50

Pre-flop: (5 players) Kuso is CO with
UTG calls, Kuso raises to $1, Button folds, SB calls, BB calls, UTG calls.

Flop: ($4, 4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG bets $0.25, Kuso calls, SB raises to $1.25, 2 folds, Kuso calls.

Turn: ($6.75, 2 players)
SB bets $12, Kuso calls all-in $8.05.
Uncalled bets: $3.95 returned to SB.

at first i thought that this was a real donkey play by villain, but then i realized that it would be tough to call without the str8. i'm not sure why he didn't think i had it myself, but it was an interesting line.

River: ($22.85, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $22.85)


Results:
Final pot: $22.85
Kuso showed Ks Qc
SB showed Ac 6s

--------------------------------------------------------------

i was making quite a few moves like this, but usually the pots were smaller. usually they would check behind and i'd take it on the turn.

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
6 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $25.65
UTG+1: $25
CO: $60.30
Button: $24.40
SB: $22.70
Kuso: $15

Pre-flop: (6 players) Kuso is BB with
2 folds, CO calls, Button raises to $1.5, SB folds, Kuso calls, CO folds.

Flop: ($3.35, 2 players)
Kuso checks, Button bets $2, Kuso raises to $6, Button folds.
Uncalled bets: $4 returned to Kuso.

Results:
Final pot: $7.35




[edited for formatting purposes]

i've decided to chop these HH posts up a bit so they're not too terribly long...



the donkey plays were pretty bad:

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
4 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $24.50
Button: $30.90
Kuso: $15.50
BB: $26.60

Pre-flop: (4 players) Kuso is SB with
2 folds, Kuso calls, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.5, 2 players)
Kuso bets $1, BB raises to $2, Kuso calls.

i can't believe i got sucked by the min-raise. actually, i think this is an easy fold at these tables.

Turn: ($4.5, 2 players)
Kuso bets $3, BB calls.

River: ($10.5, 2 players)
Kuso bets $6, BB raises to $12, Kuso folds.
Uncalled bets: $6 returned to BB.

Results:
Final pot: $22.5

--------------------------------------------------------------

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
6 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $15
UTG+1: $56.65
CO: $24.90
Kuso: $10
SB: $28.10
BB: $30.65

Pre-flop: (6 players) Kuso is Button with
UTG (poster) checks, 2 folds, Kuso raises to $1, 2 folds, UTG calls.

Flop: ($2.35, 2 players)
UTG checks, Kuso bets $2, UTG raises to $4, Kuso raises all-in $9, UTG calls.

i thought this guy was FoS, but the min-raise says he's not afraid of what i'm bringing. i can't really believe he called since my line looks like a big pocket pair, but my tens are good here <5% here (maybe close to 0%).

Turn: ($20.35, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $20.35)


River: ($20.35, 1 player + 1 all-in - Main pot: $20.35)


Results:
Final pot: $20.35
UTG showed Jd 9h

--------------------------------------------------------------

Poker Stars
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
5 players


Stack sizes:
Kuso: $11.95
CO: $15.55
Button: $24.55
SB: $27.30
BB: $26.45

Pre-flop: (5 players) Kuso is UTG with
Kuso raises to $1, 3 folds, BB calls.

Flop: ($2.1, 2 players)
BB checks, Kuso bets $1.5, BB calls.

Turn: ($5.1, 2 players)
BB checks, Kuso bets $3, BB calls.

River: ($11.1, 2 players)
BB checks, Kuso is all-in $6.45, BB calls.

i played this like a complete and utter blufftard.

Results:
Final pot: $24
BB showed 3h 6h
Kuso showed Ts Qc

--------------------------------------------------------------

here are some marginal all-ins i played (and lost):

forum/viewtopic.php?t=22486


here's where i ran into quads:

forum/viewtopic.php?t=22491

i also ran KK into AA and 2pr into a better 2pr (it's the alexmr switch).

oh yeah, i was 33/17/3 over about 900 hands. i think the af would be higher except that i was letting some blufftards bet into me at one table, so i was calling a lot. i'm thinking 30/15 to 30/20 will be a natural sweet spot for me, but i'll have to see how it works out when people will actually play back at me with less than top 5 hands.

I'm looking forward to this as well, since I plan to switch over to SH play sometime this year, hopefully June-ish. So make all my mistakes for me.

thanks for your comments, rhound.

the QT hands has some interesting poker baggage in it. in the omaha games, a flop raise would almost always kill the action unless you're tied, so you slowplay hoping to induce a semi-bluff from a set or 2pr on the turn -- a raise would kill the action. in HE, i can see betting out much more often since a raise is not necessarily the nuts. as for the raise, i normally wouldn't raise this kind of hand for "value", but this particular table was so freaking tight, i was raising just about every hand i would play and then taking it down on the flop with a CB. if they called the CB when i whiffed it meant they had a hand 90% of the time or more, so i was usually done with the hand unless i somehow caught up.

i love the comments on my "gross" and "bad bad and worse" hands... these kinds of comments help me focus on not making the same mistakes again.

as for the TT hand, i was kind of right that he was FoS since he did have a pretty weak hand (what exactly did he think he was beating here?), but these players can't fold weak hands like this, so.... i think i just need to wait for decent hands and stack them that way. this is precisely the kind of "intuition" i'm looking to develop at the 25s. i imagine that things will change as i move up, but the 25s are the foundation of donkiness, so it's best to learn from the worst, imo.

i coolers.

QQ < JJ aipf
AQ < AJ aipf
AK does not improve against KK aipf (see below)


i played a little over 300 hands on full tilt, and the texture of the games was very different. i'm sure it had a lot to do with the fact that it was saturday "night" (late late), but the tables seemed pretty juicy. i was able to 6-table, but my reads suffered greatly, so i reduced it to 4.

i really don't see how people play 8 unless they already have solid reads against a bunch of regulars. the mechanics are easy, but nlhe is so much more of a mind game than a card game, so i can't imagine playing without decent reads.

i think playing on the weekend nights requires a different style. play tighter and let the aggros bluff into you. unlike yesterday, i found that i could check call and get a lot more out of my made hands than if i was aggro.

anyway, i ran about 21/14/2 and lost a buy-in and change.

******* Hand 1 ********

should i get away from this? i think not since lesser aces and lower pocket pairs are often in the mix, but the cap with a deepish stack makes me wonder if i should tread more lightly if i get a read that this guy is solid (i did not have a decent read, yet). keep in mind that these are the 25s.

one thing i noticed in plo8 was that deep stacks didn't push without REALLY big hands, while short- and medium-stacks needed a lot less. same for nlhe?

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
5 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $0
CO: $64.90
Button: $49.30
Kuso: $14.55
BB: $24.15

Pre-flop: (5 players) Kuso is SB with
CO raises to $1, Button folds, Kuso raises to $3.5, BB folds, CO raises to $16, Kuso calls all-in $11.05.
Uncalled bets: $1.45 returned to CO.

Flop: ($30.8, 2 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: $29.35, Sidepot 1: $1.45)


Turn: ($30.8, 2 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: $29.35, Sidepot 1: $1.45)


River: ($30.8, 2 players + 1 all-in - Main pot: $29.35, Sidepot 1: $1.45)


Results:
Final pot: $30.8
CO showed Ks Kh
Kuso showed As Kd


******* Hand 2 ********

this guy was running over the table, so i just decided to play back. i assume he hit. once i figured out his style, i just check-called him and let him bluff off his chips -- the scarier the scare card, the more he liked to bluff.

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
6 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $48.10
UTG+1: $24.50
CO: $13.25
Button: $27.25
Kuso: $17.10
BB: $31.95

Pre-flop: (6 players) Kuso is SB with
4 folds, Kuso calls, BB raises to $0.75, Kuso raises to $2.4, BB calls.

Flop: ($4.8, 2 players)
Kuso bets $3, BB calls.

Turn: ($10.8, 2 players)
Kuso checks, BB bets $12, Kuso folds.
Uncalled bets: $12 returned to BB.

Results:
Final pot: $10.8


******* Hand 3 ********

i had been run down before this hand, so i was really low. i should have pushed the flop (cat was crawling in my lap, so i forgot my stack size), but i doubt the result would have been different. the turn call was about break even in terms of EV (i'll run twodimes in a sec), but with the small stack size, i was willing to put it in.

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
4 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $24.40
Button: $13.50
Kuso: $31.95
UTG: $48.1
SB: $42.10
Kuso: $5

Pre-flop: (4 players) Kuso is BB with
UTG folds, Button calls, SB calls, Kuso checks.

Flop: ($0.75, 3 players)
SB bets $2, Kuso calls, Button calls.

Turn: ($6.75, 3 players)
SB bets $6.75, Kuso calls all-in $2.75, Button raises all-in $11.25, SB calls.

River: ($32, 1 player + 2 all-in - Main pot: $15, Sidepot 1: $17)


Results:
Final pot: $32
SB showed Kh 8h
Kuso showed 6s 7h
Button showed Jc 8c


more to come...

here are some of the better hands


******* Hand 4 ********

this was a nice way to get a cs to pay me off. he didn't last long. i really need to find more of these kinds of guys.

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
5 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $24.75
CO: $33.70
Button: $36
Kuso: $10.45
BB: $32.70

Pre-flop: (5 players) Kuso is SB with
UTG folds, CO calls, Button folds, Kuso raises to $1, BB folds, CO calls.

Flop: ($2.25, 2 players)
Kuso bets $2, CO calls.

Turn: ($6.25, 2 players)
Kuso bets $4, CO calls.

River: ($14.25, 2 players)
Kuso is all-in $3.45, CO calls.

Results:
Final pot: $21.15
Kuso showed Jc Kd
CO mucks As Jd


******* Hand 5 ********

this was the maniac from hand 2. this hand was when my read on him solidified (obviously). if i played him now, i'd raise the river, but at the time i wasn't sure if he'd fire three barrels on a thin hand. of course, he wouldn't call here, but he made some really thin call downs against other people.

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
5 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $16.20
CO: $13.20
Button: $56.35
SB: $24.75
Kuso: $15.60

Pre-flop: (5 players) Kuso is BB with
UTG calls, CO calls, 2 folds, 2 folds, Kuso checks.

Flop: ($0.85, 3 players)
Kuso checks, UTG bets $0.75, CO folds, Kuso calls.

Turn: ($2.35, 2 players)
Kuso checks, UTG bets $1.5, Kuso calls.

River: ($5.35, 2 players)
Kuso checks, UTG bets $3.75, Kuso calls.

Results:
Final pot: $12.85
Kuso showed 9c 6s
UTG showed Qs Jc


******* Hand 6 ********

this guy always bet small with a weak hand or on a steal. i pwned him like this a few times.

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
6 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $45.25
UTG+1: $25
CO: $11.95
Button: $27.15
Kuso: $14.40
BB: $40

Pre-flop: (6 players) Kuso is SB with
4 folds, Kuso calls, BB raises to $0.75, Kuso calls.

Flop: ($1.5, 2 players)
Kuso checks, BB bets $1, Kuso raises to $2.5, BB folds.
Uncalled bets: $1.5 returned to Kuso.

Results:
Final pot: $3.5


******* Hand 7 ********

same guy as hand 6 above, same result.

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
6 players


Stack sizes:
Kuso: $11.90
UTG+1: $24
CO: $2.90
Button: $14.15
SB: $53.70
BB: $25.25

Pre-flop: (6 players) Kuso is UTG with
Kuso raises to $1.25, UTG+1 folds, CO calls, 2 folds, BB calls.

Flop: ($3.85, 3 players)
BB bets $0.25, Kuso calls, CO folds.

Turn: ($4.35, 2 players)
BB bets $1, Kuso raises to $3.5, BB folds.
Uncalled bets: $2.5 returned to Kuso.

Results:
Final pot: $6.35


******* Hand 8 ********

this was a classic case of where i think i should have slowplayed. this was a really dry board, and this guy had shown tendencies to be aggressive when checked to. i was hoping that he had a big TP hand or 2pr, but i guess he didn't. thoughts?

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.10/$0.25
5 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $1.65
CO: $14.15
UTG: $45.25
Button: $20.25
Kuso: $17.70
BB: $24

Pre-flop: (5 players) Kuso is SB with
2 folds, Button calls, Kuso calls, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.75, 3 players)
Kuso checks, BB bets $0.75, Button folds, Kuso raises to $2.5, BB folds.
Uncalled bets: $1.75 returned to Kuso.

Results:
Final pot: $2.25

this is what happens when you read the weak turn bet incorrectly. cheers to this guy if he outplayed me, but i'm thinking this was more of a milking bet with a set than a weak steal/semi-bluff.

anyway, the reason i made this play on this guy is that he had a w$sd of something like 30%, so i figured he was really weak. i'd much prefer to actually have a hand and show it down, but i wanted to see if i could push him off a weak hand.


[edit: note that this is 4-handed without an sb. i was bb and first to act on every street.]

Full Tilt Poker
No Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.125/$0.25
4 players


Stack sizes:
UTG: $14.40
Button: $6.30
SB: $13.15
Kuso: $16.25

Pre-flop: (4 players) Kuso is BB with
UTG folds, Button calls, SB calls, Kuso checks.

Flop: ($0.75, 3 players)
Kuso checks, Button checks, SB bets $0.5, Kuso calls, Button folds.

Turn: ($1.75, 2 players)
Kuso checks, SB bets $0.75, Kuso raises to $2.5, SB raises to $10, Kuso folds.
Uncalled bets: $7.5 returned to SB.

Results:
Final pot: $6.75