Welcome back to me I guess, not blogged for a while quite simply because I haven't been playing.
Since I heard about the FTP news I decided I would take a break from poker and focus on my training in MMA. This has been great and I feel much more invigorated which is good news for sure. With full tilt being back online I have transferred my bankroll across and am grinding away on Rush.
The injection of wealth into the Poker economy is fantastic, and the promotions offered by FTP at this time are fantastic:- Auto rake back, week long happy hours and some pretty nice items in the store. Add to this the player pools being bigger than Zoom and the games being softer (for now) and it makes for one happy gentleman [that's me]
I have a week off work, some of it will be spent with my friends in Nottingham, and a ridiculous amount will be gym time. However I am hoping to average 4 hours a day at the tables.
See you on the felt.
Kyle
Saturday 10 November 2012
Sunday 5 August 2012
Ongame.....yea
Well its been a piss poor start to the month, running 5 BI below EV. Keep getting it in good and getting out binked. But hey thats poker right?..
On the plus side, I remembered you fishy ongames PLO was. Winning multi stacks there :-)
On the not so plus side the grind squadron is minus a man at the moment. With UKpro becoming UKnotsopro for a lil while. Here's hoping it's only a temporary set back and you are back in the game soon.
Mean while the Dr SirBoomtime is struggling to find traction in Zoom land, so it looks like Pokerstars has had it in for all of the grindsquad. Hopefully it's just a test, and that magical place "fantasy island" where you always win the 70/30s is just around the corner.
Time to get back on the grind
On the plus side, I remembered you fishy ongames PLO was. Winning multi stacks there :-)
On the not so plus side the grind squadron is minus a man at the moment. With UKpro becoming UKnotsopro for a lil while. Here's hoping it's only a temporary set back and you are back in the game soon.
Mean while the Dr SirBoomtime is struggling to find traction in Zoom land, so it looks like Pokerstars has had it in for all of the grindsquad. Hopefully it's just a test, and that magical place "fantasy island" where you always win the 70/30s is just around the corner.
Time to get back on the grind
Sunday 29 July 2012
Ongame update
So, I recently got an email offering me a bonus at Ongame network. Seeing as I have cleared my Stars bonus I figured it's free rakeback, why not? So stuck $100 on there to qualify for the max bonus and....well I think I done gone and done a nanonoko
This works out to be 45bb/100 or 30bb if adjusted for EV, however it is worth noting that since the Zoom patch, HEM2 has been displaying incorrect EV lines. Not to worry, seeing as last time I was playing Ongame I ran 24stack below EV. I figure I am due some run good.
I have tightened up my opening range compared to Zoom where I was playing position and being much more aggressive. I am essentially value farming, with my only bluffs being either c-bets or double barrels on good turn cards. I am like never bluffing with 3 barrels. My only tricky bluffs (F.P.S win) is when it's a reg that I have a lot of hands on from before and know he/she is capable of folding.
The rest of the grind squad have moved themselves over to Stars after I have been telling them it is the way to go. We all managed to dump $300+ off within the first week of depositing, god knows how. However 2/3 of us then went on to scoop over $1k in the first month after said run bad. So hopefully by the end of the month, grind squad member #3 will have done the same. I guess going from Ipoker, where we all used to play to Stars is a big jump in terms of opponents and your skill edge relative to the game. Factor in how different Zoom plays from ring games as well and you have a super steep learning curve. Hopefully the advice of the predecessors is heeded and all will go according to plan.
Super duper excited atm as we are in the planning stages of a business trip / vacation and have locked in August-October as our window of opportunity for Vegas, and just need to ensure that the full time members of the squad obtain Supernova before we leave. For us people with normal jobs.....well I just have to have been satisfied with the number of souls I have crushed and lives I have ruined. Which at 25NL is gonna be tough but hey, there are some fish out there.
So I will leave you with this pearl of wisdom that I heard the other day.
When you find yourself in a tough spot in life you must always remember.
Violence is never the answer...but the threat of it works wonders.
Run good.
Kyle
Wednesday 25 July 2012
Settled in, cruising
Hi folks, I realize its been a while, but moving house is a busy time. My usual blog time (weekends) has been packed full of awesome stuff. My mate joined the RAF so we had a going away party, one of my best mates turned 21, that was a good party. My other best mate turned 22 and we went drag racing, sunburn city.....worth it.
So poker, I have cashed out over £1k in the last 2 months, which considering I play part time whilst working 40hour weeks, is pretty nice. It pays for my holiday / business trip to Vegas next year. I also lost my biggest pot.....ever (in online land) playing 25NL I was 800bbs deep, as was the villain. I flatted a 3b from the BB with TT (I was in CO and fish on BTN had flatted my open) I flop top set on T62 BB bets 2/3 pot, I flat BTN (short stack moves in) BB reshoves [presumably thinking I have a fairly weak hand and wanting to ISO the BTN] Obv I snap call with the nuts. Up against 66 from BTN and JJ from BB (who has me covered somehow he is $280 deep). Turns is Jh and I weep. So anyways, I am taking a break from zoom. After that my heart was just not in the game.
So what next for the maker of keys? Well I got an email a few weeks ago for a $100 bonus at Ongame, so currently clearing that. Going to continue playing on Stars once I finish with it.
In the next 2-3 month I will be booking my Vegas trip, looking at staying at the MGM Grand, £800 for a week incl. flights. Which is pretty sweet, until then just gonna study a load and catch up with new releases on Deuces Cracked.
Until next time
Kyle
So poker, I have cashed out over £1k in the last 2 months, which considering I play part time whilst working 40hour weeks, is pretty nice. It pays for my holiday / business trip to Vegas next year. I also lost my biggest pot.....ever (in online land) playing 25NL I was 800bbs deep, as was the villain. I flatted a 3b from the BB with TT (I was in CO and fish on BTN had flatted my open) I flop top set on T62 BB bets 2/3 pot, I flat BTN (short stack moves in) BB reshoves [presumably thinking I have a fairly weak hand and wanting to ISO the BTN] Obv I snap call with the nuts. Up against 66 from BTN and JJ from BB (who has me covered somehow he is $280 deep). Turns is Jh and I weep. So anyways, I am taking a break from zoom. After that my heart was just not in the game.
So what next for the maker of keys? Well I got an email a few weeks ago for a $100 bonus at Ongame, so currently clearing that. Going to continue playing on Stars once I finish with it.
In the next 2-3 month I will be booking my Vegas trip, looking at staying at the MGM Grand, £800 for a week incl. flights. Which is pretty sweet, until then just gonna study a load and catch up with new releases on Deuces Cracked.
Until next time
Kyle
Sunday 17 June 2012
Moving on up.....no out. Im moving out.
After much turmoil which has resulted in much stress and difficulty in my life I am moving out from my current abode. I still haven't heard back regarding my promotion yet which sucks, however I can't wait any longer as the people handling the receivership of the property are selling it, so all tenants RAUS!!!
Therefore on Monday, which some greatly appreciated help from my Father, I will be moving. I have done packing and am currently sat in Cafe Nero, once again, with a hazelnut latte and caramel waffles. Had a pretty decent upswing of late, managing to scoop myself 6 BI in 2 days, and recovered from my 4 stack losing session of Thursday, so all in all life is good. Not back at work until Friday, then got Saturday morning then Saturday afternoon/Sunday off. So life is looking pretty sweet for the near future. This should give me a good shot at retaining my Gold Star status on Pokerstars, which I was super worried about losing given that for 1/2 the month I have had no internet. However thanks to the magic of the cloud and my phones wireless hotspotting I have managed to accumulate 1040 VPPs so far this month. Which considering I can only 2 table Zoom on my netbook is pretty damn good. I need another 1.95k VPPs this month to hit Gold. 6 hours of 4 tabling Zoom for 3 days should easily be enough to satisfy this.
I haven't done a well presented hand review for a while and there was a super interesting hand that I played yesterday that I am fairly proud of, and that is super profitable in zoom. Most of you know that back-raising is super profitable, and with certain hands is an easy move. In spite of this it is hardly ever done in Zoom (At 25NL at least) and so when I found a spot where it was a viable option I thought it would make a good post and review, if for no other reason than to reinforce to myself how profitable it is to do this in Zoom land, and that when a spot such as this arises that back-raising should be done.
PokerStars Zoom No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button ($15)
Hero (SB) ($31.31)
BB ($13.30)
UTG ($25)
UTG+1 ($12.90)
MP1 ($25)
MP2 ($77.76)
MP3 ($28.01)
CO ($11.40)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 8, 8
4 folds, MP3 bets $0.75, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.65, BB raises to $2.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $20, 1 fold
Total pot: $5.75 | Rake: $0
There are a few important factors to consider here, firstly how aggressively does the 3 bettor defend his blinds. In this case over 200 hands BB was 3b 19% and ofc 88 is crushing a 19% range. He often has 1 over, but can't often call off unless he has AJs or AQo+ and even then it's close. Also it's important to consider whether or not the 3b thinks you are capable of flatting oop with a monster. In 25NL there is very few regs thinking on this level and in this case villain definitely isn't. However he is going to be scared to get his stack in with a medium Ax or some suited broadways. We can assume given how aggro he is going to be 3b a merged range. This is because when a fish at low stakes 3b super aggro it is usually because they overvalue their hand. "I have KJs, I can't just call his steal" We know this is shit thinking, as it is too good to turn into a bluff and vs a standard 3b calling range it is usually dominated.
Given that his range is going to be merged a lot here we can jam and get him to fold down to the nuts. When we consider that a 19% range consists of very few hands that can call here we rate to collect a lot of dead equity (and avoid paying rake....win!!!) but most importantly we collect a lot of dead equity which is obv fantastic with a hand like 88.
Anyway my coffee is going cold. So until next time.
K3ym4k3r signing off.
Therefore on Monday, which some greatly appreciated help from my Father, I will be moving. I have done packing and am currently sat in Cafe Nero, once again, with a hazelnut latte and caramel waffles. Had a pretty decent upswing of late, managing to scoop myself 6 BI in 2 days, and recovered from my 4 stack losing session of Thursday, so all in all life is good. Not back at work until Friday, then got Saturday morning then Saturday afternoon/Sunday off. So life is looking pretty sweet for the near future. This should give me a good shot at retaining my Gold Star status on Pokerstars, which I was super worried about losing given that for 1/2 the month I have had no internet. However thanks to the magic of the cloud and my phones wireless hotspotting I have managed to accumulate 1040 VPPs so far this month. Which considering I can only 2 table Zoom on my netbook is pretty damn good. I need another 1.95k VPPs this month to hit Gold. 6 hours of 4 tabling Zoom for 3 days should easily be enough to satisfy this.
I haven't done a well presented hand review for a while and there was a super interesting hand that I played yesterday that I am fairly proud of, and that is super profitable in zoom. Most of you know that back-raising is super profitable, and with certain hands is an easy move. In spite of this it is hardly ever done in Zoom (At 25NL at least) and so when I found a spot where it was a viable option I thought it would make a good post and review, if for no other reason than to reinforce to myself how profitable it is to do this in Zoom land, and that when a spot such as this arises that back-raising should be done.
PokerStars Zoom No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
Button ($15)
Hero (SB) ($31.31)
BB ($13.30)
UTG ($25)
UTG+1 ($12.90)
MP1 ($25)
MP2 ($77.76)
MP3 ($28.01)
CO ($11.40)
Preflop: Hero is SB with 8, 8
4 folds, MP3 bets $0.75, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.65, BB raises to $2.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $20, 1 fold
Total pot: $5.75 | Rake: $0
There are a few important factors to consider here, firstly how aggressively does the 3 bettor defend his blinds. In this case over 200 hands BB was 3b 19% and ofc 88 is crushing a 19% range. He often has 1 over, but can't often call off unless he has AJs or AQo+ and even then it's close. Also it's important to consider whether or not the 3b thinks you are capable of flatting oop with a monster. In 25NL there is very few regs thinking on this level and in this case villain definitely isn't. However he is going to be scared to get his stack in with a medium Ax or some suited broadways. We can assume given how aggro he is going to be 3b a merged range. This is because when a fish at low stakes 3b super aggro it is usually because they overvalue their hand. "I have KJs, I can't just call his steal" We know this is shit thinking, as it is too good to turn into a bluff and vs a standard 3b calling range it is usually dominated.
Given that his range is going to be merged a lot here we can jam and get him to fold down to the nuts. When we consider that a 19% range consists of very few hands that can call here we rate to collect a lot of dead equity (and avoid paying rake....win!!!) but most importantly we collect a lot of dead equity which is obv fantastic with a hand like 88.
Anyway my coffee is going cold. So until next time.
K3ym4k3r signing off.
Saturday 16 June 2012
AKo Misplayed?.....i think so
Here is a HH from a session I played last week.
AKo in CO
Interesting spot with AKo
I have 300 hands on villain who is a 10/8 so he is fairly nitty pre he is in early mid position
and typically have a 14% open from there. It is worth noting that he rarely raises from the blinds
(sub 2%) and because of this his PFR may be skewed slightly. His flop cbet is 60% and turn barrel is 50%
so his double barrels are typically strong.
On AhThAs he cbets slightly over 1/2 pot, this is fairly standard on this type of board, and I believe he
makes this cbet with all of his KQ/KJ/QJhh as well as with any Ax TT-KK, I am crushing the majority of this range,
If I had the Kh I would be blocking his Str8/FD combos, with the Kh I will almost never raise the flop as there are
few - 0 hands that he can 3bet bluff the flop. Although it is unlikely this villain with bluff this kind of board.
Without the Kh I feel as though I can profitably raise the flop more often and get action from his combo draws KQhh KJhh.
However this is such a small part of his range that I figure it is not worth raising the flop. Turn is 9h, and he barrells again
for a similar just over 1/2 pot bet. Again this is unlikely to improve his range unless he binked a FH. Similarly
he also has a very low double barrell %, it is possible he double barrells KK/QQ for value. Again I opt to flat, as
when I raise I never get called by worse. River is as bricky as it gets. 6s
And he barrells again and he bets 2/3 pot. I was really torn here, for such a nitty player to triple barrell here it was really strong.
However given that he only had a 33% W%SD I figured he could well be value owning himself
with AJ/AQ, however there are only 8 combos between them and 3 combos of AK.
So I think that the river call was pretty bad. If he checked to me then a 1/2 pot B/F would be the post omptimal play as I can get crying calls from AJ/AQ/KK/QQ/JJ but thats aboot it.
thoughts?
AKo in CO
Interesting spot with AKo
I have 300 hands on villain who is a 10/8 so he is fairly nitty pre he is in early mid position
and typically have a 14% open from there. It is worth noting that he rarely raises from the blinds
(sub 2%) and because of this his PFR may be skewed slightly. His flop cbet is 60% and turn barrel is 50%
so his double barrels are typically strong.
On AhThAs he cbets slightly over 1/2 pot, this is fairly standard on this type of board, and I believe he
makes this cbet with all of his KQ/KJ/QJhh as well as with any Ax TT-KK, I am crushing the majority of this range,
If I had the Kh I would be blocking his Str8/FD combos, with the Kh I will almost never raise the flop as there are
few - 0 hands that he can 3bet bluff the flop. Although it is unlikely this villain with bluff this kind of board.
Without the Kh I feel as though I can profitably raise the flop more often and get action from his combo draws KQhh KJhh.
However this is such a small part of his range that I figure it is not worth raising the flop. Turn is 9h, and he barrells again
for a similar just over 1/2 pot bet. Again this is unlikely to improve his range unless he binked a FH. Similarly
he also has a very low double barrell %, it is possible he double barrells KK/QQ for value. Again I opt to flat, as
when I raise I never get called by worse. River is as bricky as it gets. 6s
And he barrells again and he bets 2/3 pot. I was really torn here, for such a nitty player to triple barrell here it was really strong.
However given that he only had a 33% W%SD I figured he could well be value owning himself
with AJ/AQ, however there are only 8 combos between them and 3 combos of AK.
So I think that the river call was pretty bad. If he checked to me then a 1/2 pot B/F would be the post omptimal play as I can get crying calls from AJ/AQ/KK/QQ/JJ but thats aboot it.
thoughts?
Friday 15 June 2012
Moan-athon
This blog is going to be a bit of rant, and very little poker related content.
So this is your first, and final warning look away now.
Work is destroying my soul at the moment. I read a super Phil Galfond (pboh) article a while back I am 58.4% certain that I posted it in an earlier blog, however don’t take that as gospel, about the life/poker balance. In his scenario poker was work. For me it’s a little more complex I have the Work/life/poker balance, and I have a pretty jam packed day already. As most of you know I work 9-5 for the bank, this can be strenuous at the best of times, as of late it is beginning to stress me out in ways that work has never gotten to be before. We are short staffed in the extreme due to various reasons, but mainly long term sickness, we have no cover or temps to replaces said colleagues and as such the excess workload falls to the remaining staff. We are a small team to begin with and 25% of us are on long term sickness, add to this the holiday leave that people are entitled too and all of a sudden we are running at ½ strength. On days like today when certain tasks are required to be completed that require a set number of people to do it leaves a small number of us for customer interaction. In a customer facing business this leads to difficulties. Combine this with people demanding extra jobs get done and we still have the output of a fully staffed branch and you rapidly start to fatigue. On top of this due to us being short staffed we have fallen short of targets meaning I do not qualify for a 1/4ly bonus despite smashing my personal target by over 25%. To add insult to injury my 1/4ly review rating was “partially achieving” meaning that despite out preforming all my targets I am not doing my job to an acceptable level. The excuse for this… the branch isn’t meeting its target therefore we cannot give anyone an achieving rating. Almost a month later and I have managed to get this overturned and get a semi-fair rating but still no remuneration.
Adding to this, is my landlord going bankrupt ( as all people in Northampton seem to) meaning I have to move to a new flat, this is just fantastic especially given that I just applied for a promotion which if successful would see me move to Derby. However throughout the rental market there is a 6month minimum on all contracts, meaning that I would be locked in for 6months when I could be relocating in 2. Fantastic. All of this is leading to a splitting headache and many sleepless nights. It’s times like this that I really want to just quit work and play poker. My sample size and results all indicate that I could crush the games more than a comfortable living. However I don’t have the required savings at present to go on a downswing, so sadly that option is out of the question. I would need to be cashing out £1k per month and that just isn’t possible playing $25nl with a roll just shy of $2k. So that leaves me with no choice but to work for the man.
-------
Friday - 15th
Well this blog never got posted due to my lack of internet so I am sat in Cafe Nero this morning using the free wifi to upload it, and I will piggy back some good new on the end. I have got a new place sorted. It's 1/3 of the price of my old place, only 3 people live there (myself included) and the lounge and kitchen are beautifully kept, best of all not a student in sight. I think I will be very happy there.
So this is your first, and final warning look away now.
Work is destroying my soul at the moment. I read a super Phil Galfond (pboh) article a while back I am 58.4% certain that I posted it in an earlier blog, however don’t take that as gospel, about the life/poker balance. In his scenario poker was work. For me it’s a little more complex I have the Work/life/poker balance, and I have a pretty jam packed day already. As most of you know I work 9-5 for the bank, this can be strenuous at the best of times, as of late it is beginning to stress me out in ways that work has never gotten to be before. We are short staffed in the extreme due to various reasons, but mainly long term sickness, we have no cover or temps to replaces said colleagues and as such the excess workload falls to the remaining staff. We are a small team to begin with and 25% of us are on long term sickness, add to this the holiday leave that people are entitled too and all of a sudden we are running at ½ strength. On days like today when certain tasks are required to be completed that require a set number of people to do it leaves a small number of us for customer interaction. In a customer facing business this leads to difficulties. Combine this with people demanding extra jobs get done and we still have the output of a fully staffed branch and you rapidly start to fatigue. On top of this due to us being short staffed we have fallen short of targets meaning I do not qualify for a 1/4ly bonus despite smashing my personal target by over 25%. To add insult to injury my 1/4ly review rating was “partially achieving” meaning that despite out preforming all my targets I am not doing my job to an acceptable level. The excuse for this… the branch isn’t meeting its target therefore we cannot give anyone an achieving rating. Almost a month later and I have managed to get this overturned and get a semi-fair rating but still no remuneration.
Adding to this, is my landlord going bankrupt ( as all people in Northampton seem to) meaning I have to move to a new flat, this is just fantastic especially given that I just applied for a promotion which if successful would see me move to Derby. However throughout the rental market there is a 6month minimum on all contracts, meaning that I would be locked in for 6months when I could be relocating in 2. Fantastic. All of this is leading to a splitting headache and many sleepless nights. It’s times like this that I really want to just quit work and play poker. My sample size and results all indicate that I could crush the games more than a comfortable living. However I don’t have the required savings at present to go on a downswing, so sadly that option is out of the question. I would need to be cashing out £1k per month and that just isn’t possible playing $25nl with a roll just shy of $2k. So that leaves me with no choice but to work for the man.
-------
Friday - 15th
Well this blog never got posted due to my lack of internet so I am sat in Cafe Nero this morning using the free wifi to upload it, and I will piggy back some good new on the end. I have got a new place sorted. It's 1/3 of the price of my old place, only 3 people live there (myself included) and the lounge and kitchen are beautifully kept, best of all not a student in sight. I think I will be very happy there.
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