Rough Start to Feb. Ends
Babygrand, Feb 11 2008
WOW it was a rough start to the month. Started down almost 20k between cash games and tourneys. Just can't catch a break, whether the money gets in good or bad. I know when I am running bad when every time I shove a FD I get called by the over fush draw. But anyways, I cashed in the $215 Sunday HU Match tourney for $10,752. I chopped 1st with Kenny Rap, obviously one of the top online pros.
Also I signed up for rakeback on Full Tilt a few days ago, so I might be taking my cash games over to them. We'll see what my rakeback is per month, right now it looks around $7500, which isn't too bad.
Lastly, I finally developed some BR management skills. I have decided to not play a game unless I have 50 buy-ins for that game. Trying to reduce the variance and make some real money this year, instead of living on the edge all the time.
Weekly Update
Babygrand, Feb 02 2008
Had another fantastic week and just wrapped up a good 16 hour round the world session (I was all over the place with game selection). Took some more late tourney beats this week, but pwned the cash games. Cashed out about 20k this week and 50k all of January. This month we are going to really push with tourneys and try to get a couple big scores. We are trying to get some money on FTP, so if anyone wants to swap us please PM me. I have definitely stopped myself from tilting off 20k in an hour by cashing out excess of 4k every day. However, this month I think I am going to build my roll up to 25k. I want to start playing higher limits regularly. The limit hold'em game is just so weak, I would like to establish a nice 50/100 roll. Having a competent partner has really helped my money management, which should allow us to build a couple 25k+ accounts. Also I played really well at 10/20 this month and would like to continue that throughout the next few weeks.
Lesson of the Week
Instacall-- Increases odds of turning outs dramatically.
Go Spartans!
Heads Up Tilt Control
Babygrand, Feb 02 2008
Anyone who knows poker knows that HU is truly the purest form of poker. The person who can combine all of the arts of poker (grinding, value betting, bluffing, aggression, acting weak) is the most dangerous person, every single hand. There are some very fierce HU competitors on Pokerstars. I consider myself among the top, but there are still those that I won't play. Not because they are profitable, but because they are fierce. A lot of the players I play are profitable players. I don't mind that. I am not looking for an opponent I can run over or that I can get paid by every time I hit a monster. There are not very many of those players (although when they are available I sit in a hurry). I am looking for opponents that can get set off on bad beats or big hands. It is hard to make big money against opponents who do not get rattled. I agree, almost everyone gets rattled. However, fierce opponents use this "rattled" state of mind to their advantage, adding another element to their game and making it almost impossible to go on runs against.
Playing a rattled opponent is the biggest edge in all of poker. Value bets become huge, sometimes even well over the size of the pot. Today I value bet an entire buy-in with the nut straight and got called by high card king. The pot should have been around 25 big bets, but because my opponent was rattled it cost him over 150 big bets. A pot of over 300 big bets.
I have played thousands of players HU, but there are only a few rock solid players that rattle only lightly. In recent memory I only remember being rattled three times. I got rattled by gp333, who hooked up nuts a ridiculous amount of times on the flop. Just prior I got rattled by t0mson, who kept coolering me on the river and c/ring all in, which i made deepstacked folds to, until about the 4th time. I also got rattled by WhinniePie, but that was probably 4 months ago. These guys each cleaned me out for over 4-6 buy-ins.
I learned from these mistakes I made. I confronted my flaws. It is not easy to stay calm and collected. I, in fact, still do hardly that. I get extremely pissed and energetic during a match. But I can control myself. I know when to push a hand hard because I look rattled. I know when to lay hands down because the opponent knows I am rattled. I am not saying I am a model player and know exactly what to do nor am I bragging about my skeeelz. I am saying that I am learning how to control these emotions that tie into the game. Tilt is an awful awful part of the game. But it can be used to your advantage. If your opponent thinks you are rattled, he thinks he can VB the garbage out of you and make ridiculous pot sized calls with marginal hands.
I spend a lot of time watching matches. Finding out which regulars tilt and which do not. I remember in my mind who can be rattled, who cannot, and what players tend to do after losing big pots. Right now there are about 10 players that come to mind that I won't play. There is no reason. I can find other matches. I can rattle other players.
The more big pots I lose, the easier the next one becomes. If you ask me which player would be better in a heads up multi-table match, I would bet on the one who has taken the most bad beats.
Decent Weekend
Babygrand, Jan 20 2008
Minus being sick as a dog, we had a pretty good weekend here at Michigan State. I got diced in some cash games late in a session friday night, but other than that, fun weekend.
I do have one thing I want to complain about, and all you tourney players should be on board with me here and writing PS support. I got involved in a hand late in a tourney on Friday in the 100 rebuy at the FT. There were only 3 of us left and I set my opponent up for a bluff and he bit. I was just making sure the board was clean enough for him to not have made a hand and logically justifying the call when, BOOM! Time bank balance was up. I had no idea. It ran out when I accidentally left for a bathroom break 1 hand before one of the breaks actually started. So I didnt know that I had used it. The hand would have most likely won me the entire tournament. 2/3 of the entire tournament's chips were in the pot. My mistake and my misfortune, but this is all beside the point which I am going to make. Should PS not renew a 60 second time bank at a FT? An entire new tournament begins at that final table. I need not really go further, I think you all understand the argument here. Final tables should completely renew the time bank for obvious reasons. Write support and they will change this eventually.
Other than that here are my lessons for the week...
Limit poker is still awesome. However, sharky waters may not be as clear as once thought. I have realized that there are several players who are sharks that I thought were total fish.
Overaggression is not a great idea in midstake games and an even worse idea in high stakes.
Tournament poker is where its at, I just have to stop running bad in them.
Ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch
Babygrand, Jan 16 2008
The East Lansing crew has taken quite a few late tourney bad beats this week. Almost all of them were KK. Let's hope last night was the final one. Pykesgoinpro reached the final table of the nightly hundred on stars and lost KK to JJ for right about the chip lead with 8 to go. That was the toughest one, but we have had quite a few. We r just waitin to break loose and win one of these.
Until then, I guess I will keep on grindin' away. We had a few University of Michigan boys over last night for some mid-stake action. I took almost a thousand out of the game. Made a nasty call...
The Wolverine raises cut-off, I call with AJ. He checks 752 flop. I bet $25, he makes it $75, I call (I set him up to do this cuz it was my 4th position bet in a row, so now I have to call down). Turn 7. He checks, I bet $50, he calls. River 8. He bets $200, I fast call and flip the cards over. Ballzy move. But knew where I was. Luckily he didnt have me outkicked or quads, woulda been real embarassing.
In other news, we are all goin to Cabo for SB now. It will be kind of ridiculous.
Also I am thinking about buying a new laptop. I already have a desktop, which I enjoy thoroughly, but I play offsite probably 30% of the time. Any suggestions?
Lessons of the Week
Babygrand, Jan 10 2008
Tuan Lam is really really really really really bad.
Elky is the man.
The 25/50 NL game is very boring.
Limit holdem on stars is pure donkaments and might be my new game.
In live poker it is wayyyyy easier to make a bluff if you tell the other player what they have. Made a deep stack bluff against a kid this week, set when river flushed, all-in.
Most important lesson... Don't play with all of your bankroll when you are wasted. Kind of a bad idea. Bad results.
The High Stakes Learning Process
Babygrand, Jan 08 2008
This last two weeks has been quite the poker camp for my buddies and I in East Lansing, MI. We have played so much poker I can't even see straight. We have pretty much learned every lesson in the book. How to create a bankroll from nothing. How to lose a bankroll from the top. How to win at full ring games. How to tilt off winnings. How to win heads up. How weak limit hold'em is on Stars. Overall, it was a very fun and progressive couple weeks. The biggest take I got from this past week is how weak the 10/20 game is on Stars. I have developed my game specifically for the uber aggression that takes place on those tables. For example:
I am sitting on button with AA. Guy in cut-off makes it $80 to go. I smooth call, knowing there are two aggressors behind me. One of the aggressors makes it $400 to go. The original raiser calls. I instastick. Both players call. One with AJ and one with QQ. 6k pot. These are plays that will never, ever work at limits below 2/4. There is just not enough action preflop. The higher limits allow you to add one big element to your game: preflop uncertainty. Lower limit players don't care what you are holding and don't ever attempt to make plays based on what two cards you have. Make hands, that is how to be profitable at low limit. I constantly disguise the strength of my hands. And I play enough garbage for players to pick off tons and tons of pots off of me and me to do the same thing, without them picking up on the fact that I am setting them up. Another thing is I am not afraid to shove any two cards in preflop. (Not call, shove). A couple days ago I shoved all in over the 3rd bet with 89dd and got a fold. I have gotten a call as well, but I kinda sucked out. (10 7dd v AQ). I don't want players to think that every time I raise garbage they can make money off of me by reraising. I want them to know that I will come back and often, when the time is right.
High stakes players have one thing going for them. They are fearless. This sucks for the average player. When you are staring at an all-in on the turn and you only have top piece, it is tough to make big calls. But we can definitely use this fearless tool against them. Set them up in big hands. Look across the table when you are holding big ones and think, is this guy going to make a reraise here. Utilize shortstacks, do not reraise them out of hands. When they push their chips in and you come over the top, it disguises your hand strength because it looks like an isolation move and not a value shove.
There are more donks than I previously thought at higher limits. One in particular absolutely raped me on Saturday night for like 6k. I am not sure if they post here, so I won't say their name, but there is a huge whale at 10/20 and 25/50 tables these days. You have got to know who is the donk and who is the shark. We can make money off of both of their styles, but we have to know who they are. Straaaaate actually tipped me off on this whale when I was watching him at a table and he was talking about this player. I wish he hadn't cuz the whale sucked out big time on me. However, I will find them again. For now, I am going to reload my roll at the midstakes games and wait til I have 60k to play the big ones again. Until then, enjoy the whales.
Fun week
Babygrand, Jan 04 2008
Running good
Babygrand, Dec 31 2007
Guess I didn't need BR management afterall. Just needed a good ole' fashion run of cards. Started chopping with my buddy (pykesgoinpro) and we are up like 40k in 3 days. If it wasn't for a coin flip against Raszi and a few really tough spots, we were up 50 in 3 days.
This one of the tough spots against Raszi:
Submitted by : Babygrand
PokerStars Game #14221759111: Hold'em No Limit ($10/$20) - 2007/12/31 - 05:54:07 (ET)
Table 'Phocaea' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 5: Hero ($4620 in chips)
Seat 6: RaSZi ($3646 in chips)
RaSZi: posts small blind $10
Hero : posts big blind $20
Holecards
Dealt to Hero  
RaSZi: raises $40 to $60
Hero : raises $120 to $180
RaSZi: calls $120
Flop (Pot : $360.00)
  
Hero : bets $220
RaSZi: calls $220
Turn (Pot : $800.00)
Hero : bets $380
RaSZi: calls $380
River (Pot : $1,560.00)
Hero : checks
RaSZi: bets $1120
Hero : folds
RaSZi collected $1559 from pot
RaSZi: doesn't show hand
Summary
Total pot $1560 | Rake $1
Board
Seat 5: Hero (big blind) folded on the River
Seat 6: RaSZi (button) (small blind) collected ($1559)
It could have been bluff, but I highly doubt it. Draws filled and it was the tough sell draw.
Running Good,
Babygrand
Fun Live Session
Babygrand, Dec 19 2007
Last night I had a fun live session. Made 5 buy-ins at a 5/10 game. It is actually quite fun. Me and a couple buddies of mine play in windsor, canada a couple times a week and take some rich canadians' money. They are really cool guys so it is a good break from the online scene.
There is one guy there that plays good hole cards and he will make money at the game, but just not that much. He plays ".50/1 NL" AKA "my cards match the board cards" kind of poker. He is hard to beat but impossible to lose to. He got in a hand with the biggest fish I have ever seen in my life. He is holding 22 and the flop rolls out A T 2 with two diamonds. Now this fish will call pot bets, or overbets, to the river if he can somehow make nuts. But the guy with 22 just soft bets trying to "suck him in."
The turn comes A and he boats up. The fish, again, check calls his small bet. The total pot is about $400, which at the 5/10 game is really really small. The river comes diamond and the fish leads out $300. The idiot with the full house goes, "I just cant raise here, I am not beating anything you call." Each of them had $2500 behind, and I assure you, the fish was not folding. He had a J high flush. But the donk just called and missed a huge opportunity. This of course made me very happy. The guy to my left then said the funniest thing I have ever heard in poker. "If that guy flipped over his cards and had a higher boat, I would still shove my full house all in." Now I wouldn't do quite that, but almost that. A flush is a made hand to a fish and so are trips. There are 100 hands you are beating and only 8 that you lose to. Get it in!!!
The fish ends up getting cracked with KQ on a K high board to a made flush on the turn. He called about 300 big bets on the turn and river. I was sick. However, after he doubled up twice through my buddy and once through me (my KK, my buddy's QQ and set of 55s), he rebuilt up to about $2500 again. It was time he go broke.
I had A8 off suit and limped UTG, trust me, this is okay in this game. It limps around and flop rolls out J84, 3 players. I bet $30 and the fish calls. The pot is $95. Turn comes 6. I check, he checks. River comes a blank 8. I bet $150. He makes it $300. I thought for a second and said, no way is a fish checking a made hand on the turn. His eyes light up like a kid's at a carnival when he hits two pair or better. I know the read. He has a jack or an 8, both of which I can beat. So I repop to $800. He calls fast with the J. $1700 pot with trips, which was only $95 on the turn. Ridiculous.
End of the story, I clean him out when i flop 689 with 57. The game ended there, but it was quite the long road to get there. Another fun session with my canadian buddies.
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