I moved up to 1/2 Limit today at Full Tilt because the tables looked better and I have the bankroll for it. Basically a break even session with a lot of up and down swings. I was down 15 BB and then up 15 BB in about a 5 hand period at one point. Lot of stupid people and lot of cutesy slowplaying where the idiots could have made more money off me if they knew my actual hand.

Key Hands:
- Lost 5.5 BB w/ [Kh] to [7c] on [2d][Ad] flop. He got a little out of hand with his TPNK on the flop, but sucked out with the backdoor flush. I was only 83% on the flop.

- Open-raised [Tc] in MP2 and lost 4.5 BB to BB on [4h][5h] flop. He waited to c/r on the turn with his [Ac]. This was the 2nd time that he slowplayed me and if he knew what I actually had would have made more money or just as much by betting out.

- Won 5.38 BB w/ [Qh] vs [2d] (not in the blinds haha) on [9h][Jc] flop. We both hit the gutshot on the turn. It's nice having someone raise you dead on the turn.

- BEST JJ HAND EVER -
UTG+1 raises, I 3-bet [Jh], Button cold-calls 3, SB cold-calls 2.5 bets, UTG+1 caps, all call.
[Jc][8s] Pot 17SB
Checked to me, I bet, Button calls, SB raises, UTG+1 folds, I 3-bet, Button folds, SB caps, I call.
Pot 13 BB
SB bets, I raise, he calls
Pot 17 BB
I'm thinking quads might kill my action, but he bets into me again and calls a raise. He had [4h] and got exactly what he deserves for calling a 3-bet with pocket 4's. +12.5 BB

- Lost 4.5 BB w/ [Ts] vs player who bet into me and called a raise with [Ac] on [5c][7c] board. Didn't even hit the flush, but the on the turn and on the river.

- Won 12.5 BB again at the same table w/ [7h]
UTG & UTG+1 limp, I limp, MP2 raises, CO cold-calls, Button, both blinds, and all limpers call.
[7s][Kh] Pot 14 SB
BB bets into raiser, UTG calls, I call, MP2 raises, Button calls cold again, BB 3-bets, I call as does raiser and button.
Pot 13.5 BB
My hand is obvious, but I get 2 more BB out of BB with a set of 7's. Ironically the same guy that slowplayed his Aces vs my Tens before.

- Lost only 2 BB when an imbecile who turned a boat checked behind vs my TPNK from the blinds.

- Lost only 4.5 BB with [Kc] on [2c][As] flop when [8c] in the SB waited until turn to c/r. He coulda bet out anywhere, gotten raised, and then 3-bet, but that's fine with me if you wanna get cute w/ 2 pair on a flush board.

- Lost another 4.5 BB w/ [Qh] vs a [2c] EP limper on a [2s][Qs] flop. He caught slowplay-itis and waited until the turn to raise, probably costing himself a bet.

- Lost 4.5 BB with [Jh] in a blind vs blind battle. I flopped top pair and he hung on thinking I couldn't bet 9-high to catch his runner-runner gutshot straight then makes a comment afterward about how he loves it when his flopped gutshot turns into a double belly buster on the turn. Well, if your in the habit of calling small pots with gutshots and no overs I guess that's nice. I'm not an idiot so I don't really know.

Like I said, break even (-$2.75) over 278 hands. Some things that are really irking me about Full Tilt though and I wonder if anyone else has noticed. These things seem to be true in both tournaments AND cash games.

1 - 44 turns into a set about 50% of the time or more. It's sick. I've actually started playing 44 stronger in position in NL games and MTT's and I actually have pretty good numbers with 44 on this site.

2 - Any Ace dominating hand loses more than half the time. In other words if I have AK and call a push (MTT) or raise something like A4s (cash game), the AK (or better starting hand) almost always seems to lose. If they are all-in pre-flop, the weaker hand just always seems to hit their kicker. If not, AK or AQ hits top pair of Aces while the lower hand hits 2 pair.

3 - The number of SItting Out players hogging up seats. It seems that a lot of the tables I end up at have 2 or 3 players sitting out. I was playing at one table today that had a long waiting list, but 5 players were sitting out. I was at one the other night where 7 players were sitting out. Unless your just on a bathroom break, get the EFF UP AND LEAVE! Don't wreck my game!

4 - The play at 1/2 limit seems to be worse than the 50/1 game. Bunch of idiots who want to slowplay everything until the turn. This doesn't really bother me, but I do have to needle when I actually suck out because they give me free cards by typing in stuff like, "Was that a slowplay? Very nicely done."

I have to say, I look fwd to your entries man.

You have a strange way of looking at things that makes your stuff a great read with my morning coffee.

good job

I can't really complain too much about FT overall after I've looked at the numbers. When I went back and read my last post, it looked like a total rant, but it really wasn't. The last couple of things were just things I've noticed since I started playing there which have worked for me sometimes as well as working against me. In the month and 1 week I've been at FT, my stats are:
-$15.60 over 4376 hands of limit HE (.5/1 and 1/2)
+$176.55 over 5030 hands of NL$25
+$485.69 over 55 MTT/SNG's (I have 8 $26 tokens)
+$120 bonus cleared
-$7.80 in the new Mixed cash games (no PT so I'm not sure how many hands)

I thought maybe I was being a little over-dramatic about the 4's and the dominated hands, so I kept track tonight in the 2 tournies I played and the results were sick, sick, SICK! 8x there was an AI and a call before the flop where one hand dominated the other. 6x the dominated hand won. 6X THE DOMINATED HAND WON AND 1X THERE WAS A TIE!
AK lost to KQ 2x - there was one tie (guess who the KQ was on the tie)
AK lost to AJ
K9 lost to 98
KT beat T9
AK lost to AQ
AQ lost to AJ
That's just freakin insane!!!

Bubbled in my 1st tournament today. Got my money in good with Tens, lost to AQs with an Ace on the river.

Cashed in the Midnight Madness again. Finished 86th out of 1152. Went out when I pushed vs and EP raise from the chip leader. I had AK, he had.......KQ. Q on the flop.

Played about 2 hours of break even $25NL and 50/1 HOSE tonight too. Eeked out about a $2 profit on the day. Waste of time?

I had been running at 6PTBB/100 at both nl$100 and $50 and about 6.7ptbb/100 in a relatively big sample there. After the 12 buy ins I am still at about 4ptbb/100 if i can recal correctly. But the way I lost all those buy ins was amazing. Everything is documented in PT.

Proof I Watch Too Much Poker
Last night I had this really, really wierd dream. I was playing in a big game (not sure whether it was tournament or cash) and sitting at my table were Phil Helmuth, Eli Elezra, and Daniel Negreanu. Now anytime you have a dream, even a poker dream, where Eli Elezra makes an appearance, you know you may have a problem. So anyway the table we are playing at is outside for some reason. There are other unknown players at the game too and Helmuth is having one of his fits because every keeps stealing his blinds. He tells everyone that next time he is in the blinds he is re-raising anyone who is in the pot. Sure enough, next BB for Phil, Eli limps in. Phil immediately announces raise, but he's acting out of turn as myself and Daniel have yet to act. We are all enjoying Phil flipping out when I look down to see 8To (don't remember the suits). For some odd reason I get the bright idea to raise. Daniel follows up behind me with a re-raise, Phil calls, and Eli re-raises all-in. I'm ready to fold when I look down and see that almost all my chips are gone. They just disappeared and now I am pot committed and have to call. It's a 4 way all-in preflop and just as everyone goes to turn over their hand a hurricane-like wind sweeps across and knocks everything off the table and even turns the table upside down. We end up having the millionaires chasing their cards and chips all over the place. That's where the dream either ended or switched directions or scenes, as dreams often do. I don't remember anything after that. Just weird and I have no idea why I decided to share that other than for humorous effect.

As I said in my last post, I had a great session today and beat up on the Limit 1/2 tables for $45.75 + $20 bonus in 223 hands or +10.26 bb/100. They were some of the worst players I had ever seen.
- At one point I had 2 players at one table over 90 VP$IP and many were over 50.
- I had one player limp in from EP, call a raise, then call me down w/ Q6o, no draw, no pair, and hit a Q on the river. I had AJ and flopped TPTK. I typed, "That's so funny, nh." He replied, "ty".
- I won a decent pot with the nut flush vs a 53/15/42 player at showdown. He turns over T8s for a smaller flush perhaps just to show me had a hand. Why? Cause now I'm supposed to start thinking you play quality cards after you show me that? Like all the other hands you played were flushes too?

This all brings me to a new theory.

Table Selection
Most, if not all, poker sites give us the same 3 stats for cash games in the lobby.
-Average Pot
-Players per Flop (in terms of %)
-Hands per Hour
It has been written and said that players should look for tables with the most hands per hour and the most players per flop because it is generally thought that the looser the table, the worse the quality of the cards they are playing and therefore the worse the players at that table. The more hands you can get in per hour vs bad players, the better. I accept that as truth, but where I'm going to start to disagree now is way we go about finding those tables.

Everytime I would put myself on a waiting list for the tables with the highest players per flop, I would finally get to the table and it would be nothing like advertised. I would end up sitting among a bunch of 17/8/20 players. In limit this just meant that every hand was a blind steal from the button. So lately I've started to rethink my reasoning. When I see a table with 45% Plyr/Flp and a waiting list more than 2 deep I asked myself 2 questions:
1 - Who is on that list?
2 - Who are they going to replace?

The fish don't care about table selection. They just want to sit down and play and have fun in most cases. They aren't looking at table stats. They are looking for the 1st available seasts. The people we see on waiting lists are the people looking for the fish, just like us. When a seat opens up, they sit down and the table gets a little tighter and tougher.

Who are they going to replace? The fish who lost his money! By the time I got to the table, the dynamics had completely changed. The fish are gone and the table is full of TAG's and Rocks.

So today I just decided to go for the 1st open spots I saw or put myself on waiting lists only if there was nobody else on the list. I ended up at 3 tables between 28-31% Plyrs/Flp in the lobby stats. Through my 1st 30 hands at each of the 3 tables I was at, the following are the VP$IP/PFR/WTSD of each player at the tables:
Table A...
16/9/30
34/16/33
35/12/38
38/0/42
45/7/20
24/4/8
45/0/48

Table B....
52/18/42
26/8/32
20/5/30
24/6/50
31/5/32
33/15/44
38/8/33
31/0/38

Table C....
22/6/33
17/0/25
31/0/33
90/25/38
70/23/35
21/3/50
22/5/50
22/11/21

So naturally what happened was the stats for these tables increased, the waiting lists grew, and as the bad players eventually lost their money, they left and were replaced by the same 2 or 3 TAG's and Rocks. Similarly, this is how the same 3 tables looked when I left about a half hour later.

Table A....
26/12/17
42/8/100
17/9/35
13/7/25
21/0/27
45/7/20
14/5/21

Table B....
11/3/17
26/8/32
2 new players
31/5/32
new player
14/6/21
31/0/38

Table C....
22/6/33
14/6/21
90/25/39 (down to last $3)
21/0/27
22/5/50
22/11/21

Slightly different dynamic, right? So it is now my contention that best table selection theory dictates that you just take the 1st available table no matter what the stats and avoid long waiting lists for "better looking" tables because the fish are just looking for the 1st available table as well and won't be on those waiting lists either. And because by the time those waiting lists are clear, or up to where you would have gotten a seat, the fish have since departed (read: probably lost their money) and you are looking at a vastly tighter and tougher table that advertised.

Thoughts?

Manufactoring a Winning Streak
I think it was Mike Caro who wrote about this. Lately I've been finding myself planning on playing for about 2-3 hours and getting up and leaving after about an hour and a half if I'm up a decent amount because I don't want to lose it back. It seems that everytime I've overstayed my welcome I end up running into a big loser just before I leave. Today I tried to battle that notion as I spent most of my session comfortably up a stack and told myself that I should stay because I was still playing well. No sooner did I unclick the "Autopost blinds" button when I get dealt KK on one table while getting dealt AA on the other table. My 2nd Cowboys of the session and my 1st rockets. So naturally, the following happened.....

[Ks] in CO. There was 1 new player posting in middle position then it was folded to me. I had been fairly active in LP, but hadn't been winning at this table. I was doing well at the other table. I raised to $1 with $19.85 behind. Only the BB called.

Flop [6d][3h] Pot $2.35

I bet $2 and BB calls. BB had been playing a fairly tight game and had been giving up his blinds to me either preflop or on the flop unless he had something on a pretty regular basis. His call told me he had something and with that pretty much rag flop I was thinking it was probably something big. I was ready to check the turn or even give it up if I was bet into.

Turn Pot $6.35

Well thank god for miracles. I didn't even think about playing this slow as I knew I was getting c/r'ed. He had me covered so I bet $4, he min-c/r'ed and I put him all-in. He had the 6's and I re-sucked.

As for the Aces.....

[Ac] in the SB. I have everyone at the table covered with a double stack. UTG+1 raises to $.75 with a full stack. MP1 calls with just $2.40 left. I re-raise to $4.50.

As soon as I made that raise I told myself that I was going all the way with this hand if called. If UTG+1 called he was putting 1/5 of his stack in. That gives him 6/1 odds if he stacks me which isn't what he needs to play for a set. No matter what happened, I had made him make a mistake under the fundamental theorem of poker. Thoughts???

He did call and had $19.60 behind. I didn't have much of a read but he had been a tight player through 3 orbits. Other player folded.

Flop [8s][Kh] Pot $10

This flop didn't scare me. If he had KK I figured the money would have gone in preflop. Most likely he had QQ/JJ/AK or even TT. I believe he would have folded anything else. I bet $7.75 and he calls. I immediately put him on AK.

Turn Pot $25.50

I check, with no intention of folding. I already knew that I was playing this for my whole stack. I just didn't want him to have second thoughts and fold if he had put me on QQ or JJ.

River Pot $25.50

I bet $8.50 and he pushes for $11.85 and shows me the set of Kings. I was pretty shocked, but then realized that this is what usually happens when I over-stay my welcome. I lose a stack with a big pair.

So by some 2 out miracle on the turn I end up splitting KK vs 66 and AA vs KK just before I leave and only end up losing $5 between the 2. Still finished up for the session, but I gotta start learning to just push the damn Aces and Kings pre-flop. That's the only chance I have of winning a decent pot with them.

This was my favorite hand of the day though....

[Jh] OTB (only my 3rd hand at the table).1 limp, MP2 min-raises, I re-raise to $1.50 (or 3x his raise). MP2 is only caller.

[9s][Js] Pot $3.60

He bets $1, I raise to $4.25 and he calls. Basically I need to tell you that I'm not afraid of anyone who min-raises after a limper in NL. Even if he has the flush I have outs. I'm only in terrible shape against one hand.

Pot $12.10

Beautiful. We both check.

Pot $12.10

He checks ($15.30 left). I push for $19.50. It might look like a bluff and either he has something or he doesn't. Lot of possibilities on that board so no sense in going for the small bet. He called w/ [Qd]. Great decision to check and let him catch his gutshot or another spade on the river. I'm not sure he would have called a big bet on the turn without the .....or maybe he would have.


On a brigher note, I think I'm finally starting to learn some of the finer points of playing winning poker and extracting money on marginal to very good, but non-nut hands. I've already mastered losing a big stack with 2 pair or TPTK hands so I figure if I'm not going to fold them anyway against certain opponents, then why not just be a little patient and make some money off them. Cases in point....

Hand 1:
I raise [Kc] UTG to $1 (4x). SB re-raises to $3 and I call. He has $17.45 left and I have him covered.

[Ad][Td] Pot $6.25
He checks. In the past I would have just bet my Ace and only gotten called, and lost a whole bunch, if he had Aces. Now I figure....

If I have an Ace and there is an Ace on the flop, it's very unlikely that he has the other 2 Aces. More likely he has KK, QQ, or possibly even JJ. AK is possible but also unlikely for the the same reason AA is unlikely. If he has KK or QQ he is going to most likely fold to my bet and I win a small pot. So I basically going to lose a big pot if he slow plays a set of Aces or win a small pot when he folds to my bet. I finally realize that I have much more to lose than I do to gain by betting this flop. So I check.

Pot $6.25
He bets $3. So now he thinks that Ace may have scared me as well. He knows I don't have Aces or I would have re-raised preflop. He now thinks I may have something like Jacks. Right now Tens and 9's beat him too. So he can't make that bet with Jacks himself because Jacks don't beat anything. Now I raise to $7.25 because I know he's probably not going to bet again or call a river bet with anything I beat. At this point I figure his only possible holdings are AA/AK/QQ. (I should point out that this is only against a competant opponent, which there are some at $25NL believe it or not.) He calls.

Pot $20.75
Now I go for the small bet because that's the only thing I think QQ will call at this point. He does call and he does have QQ. So I already knew how to lose a big pot with that flop vs a hand that beats me. I used to be proficient at getting them to fold hands i beat on the flop, but now I have finally learned how to get some money from hands I beat there.


Hand 2:
I have [Jc] in the SB. CO who had been tight, but aggressive in position open-raises 3x to $.75. Button calls, I call, BB folds.
[Qc][8s] Pot $2.50
This is either a very good flop or a terrible flop for me. I'll admit that I'm a little more concerned about the button than CO right now. CO bets $2 and once Button folds, it's an easy call. I have $13.40 left and he has me covered easily.

Pot $6.50
Check, check. And now I'm pretty sure I'm ahead.

Pot $6.50
Normal reaction is to bet out because I have 2 pair and in the past I would normally do this. Now I realize 2 things....
1 - If I bet and he has nothing, he folds and I don't make anything.
2 - If he had a K he probably would have bet the turn, so even with 2 pair it's likely that the only hand that calls my bet is one that beats me, or AT.
So I checked and gave him a chance to bluff, which he did with a $5 bet. He had [2s].

Maybe I am ready to move up.

Ya know, FUCK Full Tilt with this dominated bullshit winning 90% of the time. Last 4 MTT's at Full Tilt.

- EP PFR, I push AK from SB, EP calls. I lose to KQ. Q on the flop, I'm gone.
- JT in the BB on a free 3-way flop. I go AI short stacked on a 2T3 flop. Get called by A6o (WTF?) and 88. Ace on theturn, I'm gone. Now I see why he called.
- Push AQo UTG w/ 50/100 blinds and 710 left. Call by 3050 stack with A9o. I flop a Queen. It's OVER! The dominated hand won!!! He hits a runner runner flush with the . I'm gone.
- MP raise, I push AK, get called by AJ. 96T Flop. Someone says "I folded AJ too." Jack on the river. "Wow lol" I'm gone. Yeah it's fucken hysterical, lol.

Anybody ever win on Full Tilt with a dominating hand All-in in a tournament?

Goddamnit! I must be getting punished for something tonight. Lasted a half hour in the Midnight Madnes. Always fun.....when the most obnoxiou guy at the table makes 2 moronic calls and sucks out on you. Guy would type in "bye" whenever he entered a pot. He limps in UTG and I get it free from the BB w/ J8. Flop T8J. I bet pot and he calls. Blank. I bet pot again and he calls. River 9. I check, he bets half pot, I call and he turns over A7o. Somebody please tell me why he called 2 pot sized bet on that board?

But that's ok I still have a little bit left. I get QQ in CO. I limper, I push, BB has Aces. These big pairs have been murder on me. Just give me 76s or pocket 6's and save the over-pairs.

Apparently as you go up in buy-ins the players at Full Tilt become dumber and dumber, but to compensate for that I get unluckier. Played 2 tournies tonight with $26 tolkens.

$24+2 - 2 table satellite for $75 ticket.
- Playing like a rock due to endless stream of 37o and T4s. Finally limp in with KK and double up against a raise. I am now in the top 3 with 12 left. Pick up QQ soon after and push vs big stack who has been in EVERY SINGLE hand calling raises with hands like A2o and J7s and sucking out. Of course the only person at the table who can eliminate me finally runs into Kings.

$24+2 $15K Guarranteed
- K6o, J5o, KQo (UTG+1), ATo (UTG), 64o, A2o, J9o, K6o, T2o, K6o, 63o, A2s, T7s, 93o, J3s, 92o, KTs (facing a raise), 87o, KTo, 42o.....That's the 1st 20 hands of the tournament. Folded every single one. Haven't seen a flop yet.

So now the rock raises from UTG+1 thinking I haven't played a hand yet, I might get some respect. It's a healthy 4x PFR too.....

Caller from MP. Now you hold [7h] OTB which is usually a folding hand, but the rock in early position raised his first hand of the tourny, so now you MUST call.

Flop [7d][5c]. Rock makes 2/3 pot c-bet. You've caught middle pair so naturally you MUST call. No way the rock is raising from EP with something that beats Q7s at this point.

Please help me understand this mentality and how to beat it when you are card dead. If I have absolutely no cards in a tournament and nobody is paying attention to me being a rock, how do I win? Or should I just beg for my entry money back?

And somebody on FT must be giving lessons on min-raising preflop because 90% of the tournament raises are now just double the BB.