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Very short session yesterday, as I was very fatigued, & could not focus properly, or concentrate. I was making a ton of mistakes, but variance being the fickle beast she is, I made a good profit, so it seemed sensible to draw stumps early, & get to bed.
It's all going a bit wrong this month, despite a goodly profit so far. I need to get to 3,000 Reward Points, but things keep getting in the way. Monday, quite unexpectedly, I had to go out to that Awards thing, so that cost me 200 Reward Points.
Tuesday I did the Show, so I planned a big session last night. And managed 8 games.....
Doing the Show tonight, so that's another night missed.
It's all a bit frustrating, but with any luck, three big sessions on Friday, Saturday & Sunday will make up some of the leeway. The plan was to reach 1,000 Reward Points by Sunday, no chance of that now, but we'll see, maybe I can re-set the daily Target & find a way to get there.
Just a thought whilst reading through your summaries:
What would be more important to you?
Hitting your Reward points target
or
Keeping your win rate above 60%
Hope you're feeling better this morning.
Oh and as for the beard, i have noticed they seem to becoming more fashionable recently.
Lots of footballers have them and even guys in ads on TV's are sporting them.
Setting the trends again sir !!
Have a good show tonight.
Regards
Mick
I felt so weird last night. I was incredibly tired, so had an hours nap when I got home. Which became 3 hours.
When I awoke, I felt groggy & nonplussed, & just wanted to go back to bed. I soon had 6 Tables on the go, but I was really struggling to focus properly, & felt totally out of sorts.
I started my session, but was not "with it", & was making terrible mistakes galore. I threw one £5.50 away by sheer lack of concentration. I had Raised with a decent two way hand, & had double average. The other Big Stack, a perpetual Caller/station, then RE-RAISED me. He can ONLY do this with Aces. But I still got the lot in, & did 80% of my stack. An unforgiveable mistake, & I was livid with myself. It was a trivial fold, the simplest of folds.
Then I did an unforgiveable thing, a beginners error, & I think Vespa may have been in the same pot. (Post to follow).
So I just decided to give up for the night.
So I then watched a bit of TV to calm myself down & unwind, it was about an orphaned Elephant named Aisha, & the lady who looked after her, Daphne, this lady....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_Sheldrick
How about that for a real-life hero?
Anyway, she manages to save Aisha (the baby, orphaned elephant) from death, & he started to grow up & become a regular elephant. He was perfectly lovely. But then.....
....the elephant died.
FFS, I ended up in floods of tears.
I've not forgotten your earlier questions about optimal strategy (I may disagree, & side with Gelders actually...) or the question about NL Omaha. That's an interesting & intriguing one....
Just a bit busy at the mo, what with this & that. Need to do tonight's Show thread, & I'm up to my neck still in UKPC & other stuff. I've no idea how I will die, (I actually think about that a lot these days) but it won't be from boredom, that's for sure.
All good, except the bad. Why did Aisha have to die? It's all wrong.
After i called the turn i realised i can only be splitting the low.
Thoughts?
That was the hand Mick, yes, but I thought I had made a bad mistake, but now I can see it again, in fact I played it OK. You never made a mistake, or not that I was aware of. (Well, now I can see the hand, yeah, you needed to fold the flop as you were on half at best, & doubtful even for that).
The coup here is like this....
When we are 3 way, & have a player all-in, & there is a dry side pot, we should NEVER force the other player with chips to fold IF there is a possible Low. So we should just check it down, even though I have the nut high Full House.
By forcing the other guy with chips (you, in this case) to fold, we MAY allow the all-in player to hit his low, & get half the pot, & so survive. An unforgiveable crime.
As it happens, I can now see I had nut-nut, so in this case, me betting, & forcing you out, was not so bad really, in fact, I think it is the correct play.
See, I did not even know I was doing the correct thing, that's what a mess my bonce was in.
Would have been horrible if I filled up with a spade, that woulda been a right cooler for Mick.
Friday 7th March
Played 43
Won 29
Lost 14
Split....
£3.30 - Played 25, Won 17, Lost 8
£5.50 - Played 12, won 8 lost 4
£11.00 - Played 6, won 4, Lost 2
PROFIT/LOSS on Day £38.70
PROFIT/LOSS per game £0.90
REWARD POINTS = 195
BANKROLL at close of Play = £1,268.30
REWARD POINTS at close of play = 461 (= £4.61)
March to date........
Played 99
Won 65
Lost 34
Win-rate, January, 65.65%
PROFIT/LOSS in March, £129.74
Profit/Loss per game February = £1.31
A really strong set of numbers last night, felt completely in the zone, played well, & crucially, ran well.
Still have a problem with Reward Points though, been a very stop & start week, but 461 Reward Points by 7th March is not enough, & I need to try & crack on this weekend. Never seem to feel comfortable until I get to 2,000 Points, after which 3,000 seems relatively achievable.
Plenty of games running last night, & the chat & banter ewas excellent, though one or two individuals - relative strangers - were running their mouth when they lost a hand. I suppose it was always so, some folks can't take a beat. Pretty sad, really.
How do these things happen?
I ran well all evening apart from Games 19-23 incl, where I lost 5 on the bounce, which included 2 @ £11, & so this dented the numbers badly, but that apart, everything went just as I'd wish, with a strong start & end, winning 11 of the first 15, & 15 of the last 18, so I can't complain at all.
Even so, on the very last game, an £11er, I needed to win to lock up a £40 profit on the night, but only £20 if I lost, so I applied full concentration & focus.
And it all went wrong......
Early doors, two "call every hand" chaps BOTH doubled up by busting others, so we were 4 handed in Level 1.
I had 1,900, Alexis the same, & the two Chippies both had about 4,000, so this was an awkward situation.
Neither of them would pass to any bet pre, so I had to keep one eye on Alexis, (doubtless doing the same to me), & see if I could outlast him.
I could not find a spot, or a hand I was happy to go to war with, & just blinded down & down.....
Eventually, I was down to about 600 @ 150-300, going 200-400 next hand, (or nearly so) which would be my BB. Ugh.
And then the strangest thing happened - the two Big Stacks went to war!
Raised pre, called, on the flop, Bet, 3 bet, re-raise, call. And one of them BUSTED.
How on earth do these things happen? Why would they do that, knowing I had 1.5 Bigs?
I run good.
Saturday 8th March
Played 35
Won 24
Lost 11
Split....
£3.30 - Played 23, Won 15, Lost 8
£5.50 - Played 8, won 5 lost 3
£11.00 - Played 4, won 4, Lost 0
PROFIT/LOSS on Day £56.10
PROFIT/LOSS per game £1.60
REWARD POINTS = 149
BANKROLL at close of Play = £1,324.40
REWARD POINTS at close of play = 610 (= £6.10)
March to date........
Played 134
Won 89
Lost 45
Win-rate, January, 66.42%
PROFIT/LOSS in March, £185.84
Profit/Loss per game February = £1.38
Hi lo was my saviour!! Some interesting chat too.
Off to play some tennis now, have a good Sunday Tikay
]
Wow, proper heater this.
We all try to play our best all the time, sometimes no matter what we do, we end up losing. but right now, I'm enjoying the mother of all heaters.
I lost the very first game when my flopped nut flush ran into a flopped straight flush, ooh-er, but recovered to win 10 of the first 15 games, then 11 of the next 15, only blotting my copybook by losing 2 of the last 5. Played 4 @ £11 & won all 4. That's called run-good.
Decided to end the session early - hit & run merchant, me - as the traffic, which had been amazingly high all evening, dropped to a trickle just after 10pm. These days, I don't play so good when I only have 2 or 3 Tables on the go, my concentration suffers, I've become an action junkie, so I decided to quit, & in the process, lock up a lovely profit.
Interesting chat? Err, yes, see next Post.
Enjoy your Sunday, & your Tennis.
A man of few words
Geezer in one game played EVERY hand, & run up a huge stack very early, 5,000+, & we were 5 handed in Level One.
He was showing up with a really interesting array of eclectic starting hands, this was "range-balancing" hardcore.
Suddenly, he loses a hand, & immediately types in the chat box.
donk
"Tom", who takes his beats like a good 'un, a really splendid chap, never moans or groans, was the recipitent of the chips.
I was always ahead though, pre flop, flop, turn & river.
donk
A few hands later, Tom flops a monster draw, & gets there.
donk
I had nut low draw, nut flush draw, straight draw, & top two
donk
A few hands later the 2 of them get the lot in, Tom has a lovely 2 way hand & flops the world.
donk
But I had everything mate, could never fold.
donk
Our man busted a few hands later, getting it all-in pre with the rustiest spanners you ever saw.
Silence in chat box. Total silence.
Moments later, all 4 players type the exact same thing in the chat box.
donk
Logically, trying to keep the win-rate north of 50% ought to be the only target, but I seem to be equally fixated by the Reward Points thing.
The thing is, all things being equal, I can just about make 3,000 Reward Points on a regular month, & that is worth £45 to me. Based on the starting 'roll of £200, £45 is a lot of money.
In truth, of course, it is only £15 extra really, compared to, say, 2,950 Reward Points.
Bit silly really, but having targets really helps me. Carrot & donkey, I suppose.
Been a really stop start week.
Monday I had to unexpectedly go out for the evening, Show on Tuesday, Wednesday I was unwell, did the Show again Thursday, but Plan B was soon in place, have a monster weekend, Friday to Sunday, & try to get 600 Reward Points & get back on target.
Was rattling along nicely last night at about 9pm, profit asured, & the Sunday session still to come, BOOM, soon be back on target.
And then......I got a text. Stu Rutter is unwell, would I do the Show tonight?
Well my policy is NEVER to say no when the Bosses ask me to do something, so the answer was "yes, of course, thank you". In truth, I'm a little tired & jaded, what with UKPC, flu, & this week has been really heavy, with 2 Shows done already.
So, no poker tonight, boo!
Anyway, I'll get some kip this afternoon, & try & be fresh, bouncy & zingy tonight. Don't even know who the Presenter is. Dear Lord, please don't let it be Orford.
We all have our crosses to bear and yours i'm afraid is Mr Orford......... anyway only played a few last night as I have had a horrible week and a bit on the dym tables. After having some success at 5.50 and 11.00 nlh suddenly just unable to win a game coupled with paying way to much to get into the 30k game sunday and throwing it away early (just being an idiot and I was to blame no one else) I felt that playing some plo8, which I enjoy but am still struggling with was the way to go. my Problem seems to be not knowing what hands to play with when the blinds go up and my stack is being withered by blinds.
In one game I was lucky got on top kept getting obvious starting hands and got a large stack only to see it all go and in the end I only just finished in the top three.
I appreciated your answer in the chat box last night when I asked about calling a small amount even with nothing trying to bust the small stack so do you have any advice on starting hands later on?
I watched you with interest in that game - you had over 4,500 chips, over 5,000 even, very early. I know how badly you wanted to win it, & I watched, almost in horror, as your stack just got smaller & smaller, & eventually you were Billy Low Stack I think. Fortunately, you held your nerve, hung in, & got the win. BOOM!
Starting hands later on, when the Blinds are big?
Well personally, I think it's a combo of starting hands, "situational awareness", & making a rule to try to be FIRST to act whenever possible.
Starting Hands.
We want 2 way hands, just in case. If we have something like A-K-2-4 we are rarely in terrible shape, even if we bump into Aces, we still have a shot.
Very rarely (only if I am very short) will I play a Low Only hand. It is a very bad thing to commit our DYM to a Low Only hand, we can be in so much trouble if it comes all high.
High Only hand? A-K-K-J, that sort of thing? Well better than a Low Only hand, for sure.
But ideally, a two way hand.
So, in order of preference.
Two way hand
High only hand
Low only hand. (Only if really desperate).
Situational Awareness
Look around the table ALL the time.
Are there shorties who may be getting desperate?
Is someone limping in out of a 5 BB stack? (Likely to go Busto).
Do we HAVE to play this hand?
Just try to avoid risk, really, let the others fight it out if our stack permits.
NEVER limp or call at this stage. Raise or fold, ideally being first to act.
By being the Raiser not the caller we give ourselves TWO ways to win the hand, as most of the time the others will pass when we bet.
I would jam with, say, A-J-5-2 if nobody opened in front of me. But if someone Bets first, or even just limps in, I'm now throwing my hand away. It's a very odd thing that from a short stack, some players will limp, then call a shove, they are playing their hands backwards, only giving themselves one way to win the hand. Two ways beats one way, all day & night......
My ideal spot, the DYM "sweet spot", is with blinds at 150-300. A pot sized bet is now 1,050, & nobody (in their right mind) calls a bet of that size. If they re-raise, so be it, we have to call.
150-300 is "move time", & in fact, I often don't play a SINGLE hand until Blinds are 150-300. This is the crucial Level, that seperates winners from losers. Forget 25-50, we ain't interested in winning pots at that stage. 150-300 is where we start to play.
It is MUCH harder at 100-200, as we can only bet 700. That might get called. We don't want a call really, if we don't see a flop, we can't lose.
At 200-400, now we must widen our range a lot.
At 300-600, we now have little choice, any half decent hand - ideally ANY 2 way hand - & we must pot it. We rarely get called, anyway.
Bet, don't call.
I played 35 games last night, & 43 on Wednesday. I never limped in ONCE.*
*Except for, maybe 4 times in total, over those 78 games when I was in the SB & had a good hand at medium blinds & so I "made up". I would not do this after the 100-200 Level though. Just let the BB have your SB, we don't need to fight him out of position. People "making up" the SB at 100-200 upwards is the daftest thing ever.
Actually, I DID limp in once, I had 8 Tables going, & must have misclicked. The whole chat box came alive - "TIKAY LIMPED", lol.
We can peel a few hands (in position) though. Not many, mind, but a few.
Hope some of that helps, & let me know how you get on, please.
Put it another way, it's deffo not the sort of Low hand I'd ever play!
But then lots of pots won't even have a Low half to the pot, so you want a higher chance of winning the part of the pot that will 100% be there, and I'd imagine in the late stages of a DYM even a chop is a very welcome outcome
Interested in the game and would of course only be able to play it for fun atm as oppose to actually expecting to win money but all your advice on this thread has been really great. Obviously a lot of the advice is DYM specific things about survival etc. This is probably a really newbie question but how do you find PLO8 cash, is it a game that ever really gets played? Does the rake in PLO8/the number of chopped pots not make it really hard to beat?
Melty mentioned PLO8 & NL08 Cash a few days back & I've yet to reply.
I've been having a look at it, &, to my astonishment, I've noticed that over on 'Stars, NL08 (NO Limit, not Pot Limit) Hyper SNG's have seen an astronomical rise in traffic recently.
If Sky Poker introduced them, or have something similar already, in fact any form of NL08 DYM or SNG, I'll maybe give them a whirl soon.
Not so sure about NL08 Cash, or even PLO8 cash, I suck at Cash these days, though again, I suppose I ought to try.
The problem is I'm making a steady little profit, month after month, in these PL08 DYM's, & I'm content with that, in truth. £150 to £200 a month is like a little pension to me, I could, if I retired, (or get the tin tack) & was able to play more hours, maybe increase that to £300 to £400 per month, & that'd do me, job done.
I have no aspirations to win big money Online. What would be nice is to use my profit (if I still have it) to enter a couple of PLO8 WSOP Events this year. Now that would be epic!