Well, im fairly new here and dont post too much so I will introduce myself.

My name is Mark, and I live in Washington. I actually live in West Virginia but its about 80 minutes from DC and if i say that i live in west virginia people would probably assume i have a mullet and have sex with farm animals (I currently do not). I work for a homebuilder as a project manager (in training) and enjoy it.

As far as my poker history i started playing in college at penn state and quickly learned to take all my friends money. I found party poker my junior year and was hooked. I would deposit $50 and play at 25NL until it was gone. After several times I started to get a hang of it, but never practiced any kind of bankroll management, and i would cash out way too early and too much and eventually go broke. Overall, I have won money playing poker online, but i have never really taken it seriously.

After taking a break from poker, i deposited $200 back into poker stars and ran it up to about $1500 playing NL100 and 200 and then lost it (playing 2/4) all the way down to $150. I decided that i needed to be serious or quit soon i bought poker tracker, downloaded pokerEV, and started reading Xaston's posts.

Since then I have been doing well at 25NL 4 tabling, im up to a BR of about $600 and am playing at 7PTBB/100 over about 15000 hands. Playing at this limit however is kinda boring and my goal is to move back up to 400NL with the proper bankroll skill and experience. Maybe this journal will help. I hope somebody reads it.

When i played at higher limits one table at a time i probably played more like 28/15/2 but at 25nl i think it pays to play a little tighter. Sometimes i think i limp too much but you win a bunch of big pots at this level with flushes and straights against people that cant fold top pair.

GL with the move up to 400NL.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) from (Format: Bet The Pot)

CO ($37.30)
Button ($25)
SB ($28.15)
Hero ($25.90)
UTG ($40.90)
MP ($25.25)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
1 fold, MP raises to $1, CO calls $1, 2 folds, Hero raises to $3.75, MP calls $2.75, CO calls $2.75.

Flop: ($11.35) , , (3 players)
Hero bets $9, MP folds, CO raises to $33.55, Hero calls $13.15 (All-In).

Turn: ($55.65) (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($55.65) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $55.65

He has JJ of course. Oh well what are you gonna do...i was doing well before this hand, and right afterwards i did this:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (3 handed) from (Format: Bet The Pot)

Hero ($26.40)
SB ($16.80)
BB ($57)

Preflop: Hero is Button with , .
Hero raises to $0.75, 1 fold, BB calls $0.50.

Flop: ($1.60) , , (2 players)
BB bets $0.75, Hero calls $0.75.

Turn: ($3.10) (2 players)
BB bets $1, Hero raises to $3.5, BB calls $2.50.

River: ($10.10) (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5.75, BB calls $5.75.

Final Pot: $21.60

When one of these guys bets into my PFR weak like that ive learned they usually dont have a great hand. I thought he had maybe a J with a weak kicker or a 10 so i figured he would fold to a turn raise especially when the flush card comes out, but i may not have raised enough. Bet on the river was stupid cause he isnt folding trips here and may even think his 10 is good with the J pairing.

I dunno i thought it was a good move when i did it but doesnt look so good now. He had JQ,

im gonna take a break

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (4 handed) from (Format: Bet The Pot)

Hero ($23.60)
UTG ($11.60)
Button ($54.95)
SB ($37.10)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
UTG calls $0.25, Button raises to $1, 1 fold, Hero raises to $3, UTG calls $2.75, Button raises to $9, Hero folds, UTG raises to $14.35, Button calls $2.60.

Flop: ($29.05) , , (2 players)

Turn: ($29.05) (2 players)

River: ($29.05) (2 players)

Final Pot: $29.05

Results in white below:
UTG has Ks Ad (straight, ace high).
Button has As Ah (two pair, aces and queens).
Outcome: UTG wins $29.05.

Am i wrong to make this fold? I am thinking that the button's range (he is running 22/20 after 100 hands) is about AA KK the other two queens and AK and sometimes JJ. I dont think that i am ahead very often at all. Also, the UTG player limp/calls 12BBs? No idea what he has.

Anyways how about the flop?

Best of luck, can't worry about the flop in that hand. You made the correct decision at the correct time and that's all that matters. Believe it or not the way most random number generators work (which is what the sites use to determine the distribution of the cards) basically means you can't view what happens as if it were a real deck. Only Party and I believe Absoloute poker use what would be considered to be a "pre-shuffled deck" Sometimes a fraction of a second difference on when you click on the action for example, can completely change what the cards are/will be.

I used to go to WV every summer for the last 4-5 years or so.... Snowshoe Mountain. Familiar with it?

So you are saying that the RNG doesnt run until its time for the flop, turn, etc and the results can change based on the time that it is run. I guess that makes sense but it still sucks when you make a tough laydown with QQ and you see the other 2 Qs on the flop.

No, i am not familiar with snowshoe mountain. Not even sure where it is.

Played more hands tonight than i think i have in one day before, about 2400. Got a little unlucky overall but still ended up $43. Bankroll almost up to 700.

Pretty good day today...






and for the month:





bankroll is up to $778. I am planning on making the jump to NL50 when i get it up to $1000. Ive played at NL50 before and i dont remember the players being much better there than at NL50. Hopefully i can hit 1k BR in the next week or two.

Question for anyone reading: Do you think that my aggression on later streets is too low? I think that I may be losing some value on the river, as i find myself check/calling with the best hand a lot OOP and also checking behind with the best hand. 1.39 river AF just seems a little weak.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) from (Format: Bet The Pot)

SB ($23.15)
BB ($32.45)
UTG ($20.40)
MP ($25.35)
Hero ($25)
Button ($55.90)

Preflop: Hero is CO with , .
UTG calls $0.25, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.25, Button calls $0.25, 1 fold, BB checks.

Flop: ($1.10) , , (4 players)
BB bets $1.25, UTG folds, Hero calls $1.25, Button calls $1.25.

Turn: ($4.85) (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $2.75, Button calls $2.75, BB folds.

River: ($10.35) (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $8, Hero calls $8.

Final Pot: $26.35

Results in white below:
Hero has Qd Jd (flush, queen high).
Button has Td 7d (straight flush, ten high).
Outcome: Button wins $26.35.

Is a better line here to bet/fold the river? Or did i lose the minimum there?

just played 1500 hands and won $4. Nice.

Raise preflop. Bet bigger on the turn, I'd go 3.5-3.75. You have 2 callers and want to get value from someone who slowplayed a set or two pair even. I'd bet the river and fold to a raise from a nit or a solid player. (Maybe I'm wrong? ) You lost the least on the hand, true, but you shouldn't play to "lose the least"--play to win the most. Button played his hand poopie.

+4 after a shit session will feel better once you have a few of these kind of days that result in you being down several stacks.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (5 handed) from (Format: Bet The Pot)

BB ($3)
UTG ($54.50)
MP ($24.10)
Hero ($28.75)
SB ($9.40)

Preflop: Hero is Button with , .
UTG calls $0.25, MP calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.25, 2 folds, UTG calls $1, MP calls $1.

Flop: ($4.10) , , (3 players)
UTG checks, MP checks, Hero bets $2.5, UTG raises to $5, MP folds, Hero calls $2.50.

Turn: ($14.10) (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks.

River: ($14.10) (2 players)
UTG bets $3, Hero raises to $14, UTG raises to $25, Hero calls $8.50 (All-In).

Final Pot: $59.10

Results in white below:
UTG has As 2s (four of a kind, twos).
Hero has Kh Kc (full house, kings full of twos).
Outcome: UTG wins $61.60.


WTF...really didnt think he could have limp-called with A2 off

I clicked at the wrong time a lot tonight. im also terrible at poker



i really need to stop get better at deciding when NOT to play. I was already feeling pretty dowksn on poker tonight and then i decided to play some more and about 2 minutes in i lose the Ks full to quad 2s and then lose another buy in on stupid hands.

Ugh nice start to the month.

great session of nit-tastic poker tonight...only ran at about 13/10 over 775 hands and won about $40 (10PTBB/100)

There is no need to raise with junk or SCs for image at NL25 at least as long as i can play against these players...thanks stoneburg

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1545514

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1545524

Maybe NL25 isnt that bad after all