Had the day off today, so was able to get in a fair number of hands. Spent most of the day hovering around the +1/2 BI mark, then went on a nice rush my very last session to finish the day off nicely - almost 3 BI up.



This was my biggest hand of the day - villain was having so much fun betting that I didn't want to spoil it with a raise...

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at

Stacks:
UTG ($126.55)
CO ($86.10)
BTN ($65.90)
SB ($99.35)
Hero ($237.40)

Pre-flop: ($1.5, 5 players) Hero is BB [Kc]
UTG raises to $3.5, 2 folds, SB calls $3, Hero calls $2.5

Flop: [Qc][5c] ($10.5, 3 players)
SB bets $10.5, Hero calls $10.5, 1 fold

Turn: ($31.5, 2 players)
SB bets $31.5, Hero calls $31.5

River: ($94.5, 2 players)
SB goes all-in $53.85, Hero calls $53.85

Final Pot: $202.20
SB shows: [Jc]
Hero shows: [Kc]

Hero wins $200.2 ( won $100.85 )
SB lost -$99.35
UTG lost -$3.50


And here's the hand that gave me the big stack for the first hand -

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at

Stacks:
UTG ($108.00)
UTG 1 ($70.93)
Hero ($100.00)
BTN ($132.05)
SB ($97.85)
BB ($116.00)

Pre-flop: ($1.5, 6 players) Hero is CO [Jd]
2 folds, Hero raises to $3.5, 2 folds, BB raises to $10, Hero calls $6.5

Flop: [Jh][8c] ($20.5, 2 players)
BB bets $20.5, Hero calls $20.5

Turn: ($61.5, 2 players)
BB goes all-in $85.5, Hero goes all-in $69.5

River: ($200.5, 2 players)

Final Pot: $200.50
Hero shows: [Jd]

Hero wins $197.5 ( won $97.5 )
BB wins $16 ( lost -$100 )

I had already tangled with villain a couple of times before this - enough to know that he 3-bet very lightly and would keep firing if he hit any part of the flop. I was waiting for a good hand to stack him with, and this one fit the bill nicely.

Current Bankroll: $3700.75

Not entirely sure why, but I was just "off" tonight. I should have quit a lot earlier than I did...

There weren't any really big mistakes, just lots of little things that didn't go my way -
- calling a 1/2 pot bet with TPGK when the flush hit the river
- 2-barreling on a button steal that whiffed.
- lots of pre-flop raises that get called by calling stations where I whiff the flop - every. single. time

On the plus side, I only had 2 hands the entire night where I netted more than 10BB -

- called a maniac's 3-bet shove with AQs and won the flip against his JJ (I was honestly shocked to see a hand as good as that when he flipped it over)
- QQ where someone just called by c-bet - didn't fold or check-raise like all my other c-bets.
- AA wins the blinds; KK wins the blinds; etc...

Current Bankroll: $3591.70

We went to my brother's house in San Ramon tonight, so I didn't play a whole lot - I was able to win back most of what I lost yesterday, so I guess that's good.

Current Bankroll: $3676.26

After some encouragement from the senior members of this forum, I played a couple of short $200NL sessions on Cake. So far, everything they said about the $200's being as soft as if not softer than the $100's seem to be true.

Here's my one big hand from the first session -

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at

Stacks:
UTG ($218.00)
CO ($203.85)
Hero ($195.45)
SB ($395.90)
BB ($204.75)

Pre-flop: ($3, 5 players) Hero is BTN [Kc]
2 folds, Hero raises to $7, SB raises to $25, 1 fold, Hero calls $18

Flop: [Ad][8s] ($52, 2 players)
SB bets $37, Hero raises to $74, SB goes all-in $370.9, Hero goes all-in $96.45

Turn: ($392.9, 2 players)

River: ($392.9, 2 players)

Final Pot: $392.90
Hero shows: [Kc]

Hero wins $390.9 ( won $195.45 )
SB wins $200.45 ( lost -$195.45 )

I couldn't come up with a good size for the flop raise - I think shoving would have been too big of a bet (if he bets pot, shoving makes a lot more sense), and even a normal raise would have been close to 2/3 of my remaining stack - the min-raise seemed like the best way to build the pot while hoping he had an Ace to 3-bet me with. Villain was more than happy to oblige with his AJs.


And here's my big hand from the second session -

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at

Stacks:
UTG ($127.75)
CO ($203.00)
BTN ($338.05)
Hero ($234.25)
BB ($43.89)

Pre-flop: ($3, 5 players) Hero is SB [5c]
UTG calls $2, 2 folds, Hero calls $1, BB checks

Flop: [9c][6c] ($6, 3 players)
Hero bets $6, BB calls $6, UTG calls $6

Turn: ($24, 3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG bets $24, Hero raises to $75, BB goes all-in $35.89, UTG calls $51

River: ($209.89, 3 players)
Hero goes all-in $151.25, UTG goes all-in $44.75

Final Pot: $299.39
Hero shows: [5c]
BB shows: [Kc]

Hero wins $403.89 ( won $169.64 )
BB lost -$43.89
UTG lost -$127.75

UTG was one of my "Easy Money" guys from the $100's.

The first pot easily eclipses my previous biggest pot ever - $239 and change at the $100's.

I think my first "real" day at the $200's went ok.



Obviously I don't want to draw too many conclusions from such a small sample, but I definitely saw plenty of fish at my tables - both ones that I identified as fish from the $100's as well as new fish.

And it was only 12 short days ago that I was celebrating breaking the $3k bankroll barrier.

Current Bankroll: $4121.40

Let's see - started off the day dropping 3 BI at the $100's -

- QQ vs AA in 3-bet pot - all-in on 7-high flop
- AK vs button opener who shoved over my 3-bet - AA again
- 70BB or so on a 3-barrel bluff that didn't work

Then, got it all back in time to go watch a basketball game.

Came back from the game and dropped $100 playing a mix of $100s and $200s.

Was just about to call it a night, but played one more session at the $200's - won $109 in about 25 minutes.

All in all, +$25 and change for the day (after donating $10 to the guy who wrote the Cake hand converter)

Current Bankroll: $4120.81