$200 $220

My net winnings up until now, after I just won another two more $5 SNGs. Of course, a substantial part of this has been won with bonuses, and I have spent some of this money on poker books. Still, I am quite happy with this, especially after my net winnings were only $40 three weeks ago...

In this last game I paid particular attention to two weaknesses of mine: ignoring reraises and betting too high on winning hands, chasing everybody out. In fact there was only one reraise I think, but since I held (bottom) two pair at that point (in contrast to last time, when I had top pair, weak kicker) I decided to call anyway and I also bet out after a harmless turn. The river gave me a full house, so I will in fact never know what my opponent had in that hand. Value bets also worked out reasonably well.

How much did I bet to make this profit? Well, I don't know how much I bet in ring games, but my profit (at least what is stored in PokerOffice) is $58 (party) -$10 - $51.20 - $50.5 = about -$50. For tournaments, it looks like this.

Since April 15th: bet $122.12. (I started a new PokerOffice database at this point).
Before April 15th: bet $282.10 (Pacific) + $11 + $483.40 + $66 + $221.60 = $1,065.

Wow that is really a LOT, I never added it all up before... Of course there is a lot of money that is being counted double here. In total I did not put more than about $60 on poker sites.

Anyway, so my net profit on tournaments (including bonuses!) must be about $250. That is not bad at all, 25% ROI. Cool :-)

Patience is a virtue

Wish I had more of it.

I seem to be falling into an old, bad habit: I've stopped believing people when they raise, especially when I have a good or reasonable hand myself. I really need to accept that I am beaten more often, and fold. Now I have lost two $5 SNGs again. I also lost a $2.50 SNG, but that was a more difficult situation: I had J9 and flopped a straight: KQT. I kept betting, the turn was another 9 and I was left with one caller. The river brought a third diamond and my opponent went allin. Now, the problem was that he might well do this on only a Jack. But I have to say that I did not take the flush possibility at all serious and simply called, I was more worried about him possibly having AJ.

This left me with 45 chips, level 15/30. I decided to stick around for a while as I registered for another SNG, and just a few hands later I actually got JJ. I lost that hand to pocket queens! So I do not feel too bad, even if I had folded my straight I most likely would have lost a lot of chips on JJ vs QQ (the board was all low cards).

Fortunately I did win the next SNG (though I needed a river J during the heads up phase). This has brought my total to eight first places in two weeks! I have never had such a sequence before. In total I have now made a net profit of $140 since buying the Harrington books - the best investment I ever made...

Nice

I managed to win a $5 SNG yesterday! It went quite nicely, by the time there were three players left I already had 9000 chips (out of a total of 12000). I also reached third place in another SNG. Let's see if I can keep this up. I did not go over the tournaments yet, I will post it later if I find some interesting hands.

There were definitely some dubious plays. In one of the SNGs, I got JJ pretty early on in late position. An early player raised from 20 to 100 and got called by a second player. I went all-in... I can't really explain this move, I was just scared of an ace appearing on the flop I guess. I suppose that I should have just made a reraise to 300 or something. Anyway, I got a huge scare when the BB called my bet! However, (as a result I guess) the two original bidders decided to fold, and BB had AK I believe; I won the race.

It is clear that the level of competition is higher here. (Although you might not be able to tell from this example.) Still, I am already making a profit on average, so let's see how it goes from here. The increased competition also makes the game more interesting of course.

What I find most remarkable about the Harrington books is how much easier they make the game. Of course poker remains highly complex, but there are so many concepts and ideas that he discusses, that I have a far better idea of how to think about a poker hand than only two weeks ago. As just one example: he explains that if you do proper hand selection, you have far less to think about after the flop, because you often have either at least top pair, strong kicker or nothing. This seems so obvious to me now, but I never realized that I was making life so difficult for myself by giving myself so many hard decisions (not that I was playing all that loose, but still). I only realized that it was probably costing me some money to play too many hands.

PS. About "interesting hands": I did once fold AJ in third position (from 9) at level 25/50, stack 1275. Pretty strange. And yes, I would have won that hand. Shortly afterwards, I flopped two pair against one opponent and bet the pot. Smooth... At level 50/100, I flopped a set with 77 and bet 200 into a pot of 300. Very smooth! It is good that the opponents were so cooperative, especially the one with KQ who went allin for 3000 on a board showing AAKKx. I had AQ :-)

School of hard knocks?

You know what, maybe it is not such a great idea to switch to a higher level immediately after a big win, after all... It seems that the combination of better opposition and (let us say) "optimistic" play does not work out so great for my bankroll.

The first $5 SNG actually started out OK, after 25 games I had a stack of 1500 (you start with 1200). Then I found 66 as SB, and the player two places before me went allin for 365 after there had been one caller. I folded without thinking about it much, and the flop came (of course) 6xx. The allin guy only had A4. Now, I had to put in 340 to win a pot of 490. I suppose that easily justifies a call (10% bluffing, 55% times 60% = 32% two high cards, 15% times 80% = 12% lower pair than mine, total odds 52% so I am even a slight favorite here). This was too bad, since this turned out to be my last good chance in a while. (Though I did manage to steal the blinds on the very next hand with 95.) It seems I was unwilling to try anything with some "reasonable" hands right after this (JTo, A8) but on the other hand there was an aggressive player behind me who made it difficult to try steals. When I finally did raise with QT, I got raised by the short stack who went allin for 500 and beat me with A3. That put me down to 850. A few hands later I managed to get lucky with KJ vs 22, got a straight on the river.

Then I made an idiot move, I guess. As BB I had A6, all players fold, the SB raises to 400. I decide not to believe him and go allin. He has A9...

In the next SNG, I called with KT in middle position and was fortunate enough to have everyone after me fold up to the blinds. Pot 90, flop A99, all check and I raise 60. One caller, who after the turn J bets ... 20? Unfortunately I had not yet reached volume II of Harrington at this point, so I did not realize that I simply had to raise strongly here. I just called and did this again to his 20 bet on the river. At least I could have raised there... He had K2 so we shared the pot.

Then the last hand. My stack was 1000. With AJh as SB, I raised to 150 (level 25/50) after one caller. The SB and OC called, flop KJT, two spades. With an inside straight draw and medium pair, I raised 200. I got one caller and no luck on the turn. I checked and then he bet 150. My stack was down to 640 by now. This is where I should have definitely let it go, for some reason I thought that I got reasonable pot odds. But no, and then to complete this I raised his river bet allin. Of course he had a K.

In the third game, I dutifully folded AJs after a raise in front of me. It turns out he had A6 and the guy who called him had A9, so I would have won this game (with some luck though: there was AQ9 on the flop, but a Q on the river counterfeited the 9). Later I called with 99 after there had been a raise (to 100, level 25/50) and a call in front of me. A very bad idea, as my stack was already down to 900.

Down to 500 as BB (level 50/100), I found KQ. There was only one caller (let's call him X) in front of me, so I went allin and got called by 67o (naturally). This hand I managed to beat somehow. Then on the next hand, X called again (he acted before me) and I had JJ as SB. I decided to go allin to see if he would join me again. I was basically expecting his call and indeed, I got it. This time he had T9s! On the hand after that, OTB with AT, I could not resist going allin again after everybody folded in front of me. X, now down to 350 from 2300 two hands ago, called me again as BB, but this time unfortunately with AJ. Still, even after this I was up to 2170, so things were looking up.

And then it happened. I got QQ, a hand that has brought me a lot of grief in the past. I did a minraise to 300 and got two callers, T8 (X) and Jc9h (BB). Flop 78Tc. X bet 300 (from a stack of 600) with his two pair. BB went allin for 3300 with his straight. I called with my flush draw (I had Qc) and overpair. Now, immediately after this hand, and when I started to compose this post, I was sure that this had been a complete idiot's move, especially when I saw that BB had a made straight (I was not expecting that and did not think for very long before calling). But looking at it now in PokerOffice, I see that I had to put in 1870 (my stack) to win a pot of 3370 (since X called, of course). So my odds are not even that horrible, even considering that only the flush would win for me and that I have only 7 outs. Why only 7, do you ask? Well, 5 clubs are accounted for, and the nine of clubs is no good to me (look at the flop and BB).

Unfortunately, 9c turned out to be the river card.

Wow

Well, it looks like I reached my goal...

I am simply stunned. I joined a $2-tournament, but started off badly. After 20 games or so I was down to 470 (from a starting stack of 1000) due to some bad/impatient play. Then I managed to double up once, but that was certainly not the end of my troubles. With a stack of about 1000 I twice went allin against the same opponent, and twice we shared the pot! In both cases my hand was dominant postflop. Due to fast increasing blinds (every 5 minutes) my stack soon dropped to 378 (blinds 150/300). I decided to go allin on A4s and got called by... 96s? I missed the flop, the turn was a 6 and that would have been the end of my tournament had it not been for the Ace on the river.

With blinds up to 250/500 and a stack of 1006, I did a minraise of 1000 with QJo. After not one, not two, but three callers, I felt sure that this was the end of my tournament, until the flop showed Jxx. Thus I quadrupled and after this, I never really looked back...

Of course I had my share of good luck, I eliminated several short stacks with lucky river cards. Also it helped when one guy with 16000 left tried to bluff me off of top pair when I had KJ, board K44. I also had 16000 left at that point and did not believe him for a second, he turned out to have A7. That brought my stack to 58000 (blinds were 3000/6000 by this point, I had raised preflop). This happened just after I had reached the final table.

At this point I was looking at the prize structure and saw that each additional place would bring me about another $6. I continued to play conservatively with occasional steal attempts. Then, with 7 players left, I looked down to find 33. My stack was 46000 and the blinds were 5000/10000 by now, so I felt that I had to take a shot here. I did another minraise, to 20000, and got one caller. The flop was T87, two hearts. Here I bet 10k, leaving me with 16k. Looking at it now, I suppose that allin would have been better since I am clearly pot-committed after this bet. However, my opponent went allin himself, I called and he only had AJ. This put me up to a stack of 100k, the second largest stack was 67k at this point.

And then it happened. With four players left, I was BB and posted 15k. UTG with 22k goes allin, button folds, SB goes allin as well for 32k. Given the huge blinds, I simply did not expect these players to have really good hands; they were obviously in a lot of trouble and had to make a move. So I called with my AK. The flop was A54, UTG had KT and the button had A9. Suddenly I was heads-up and already assured of a win of $100 (though I did not look that carefully at the top of the payout structure and thought that first place was $100).

After this I played SAGE and came very close to winning. I was 2:1 up at one point when my A8 lost to K7 on the river. A few hands later I found AK and managed to split this pot with my opponent who had A8, after two pairs landed on the board. The next hand, my allin with QJ was called by 55 and all was clear after the flop was 5xx.

Still, an unbelievable win for me. I won several $5 SNGs in the past, but that is only a net profit of $20, so this was five times as much net profit as I had ever made before.

Now it is definitely time to move back to the $5 SNGs! Wish me luck...

Rake

Of course I am not happy about the rake at Pacific. At the level I play ($2.50) it is extremely high, $0.40 or 16% of the buyin. But I think I have learned the lesson that I need to play at a safe level for me, and if that costs a bit more (relatively), then so be it.

I just won my fourth SNG since buying the Harrington books. That makes four first place finishes out of twelve tries. Remarkably, in the other eight I finished out of the money; it seems that when I make it into the money, I always win! (Tempting fate here, of course). But due to the high rake, this means that my net profit is only $15.20. Still, it is good to be making a profit at all, and I am happy about the way I am playing.

Also, I can't really complain about how the following hand played out...

***** Pacific Hand History for Game 294181142 *****
$100/$200 Blinds No Limit Holdem - *** 04 19 20:55:40 2007
Tournament #15203664 $2.5 + $0.4 - Table #1 (Real Money)
Seat 9 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 10: Miesque ( $2730 )
Seat 2: Rob1606 ( $1404 ) (something needs to happen soon, the blinds will soon go up to 150/300)
Seat 6: athun ( $1890 )
Seat 8: maffi24 ( $4035 )
Seat 9: mrsmithe ( $1941 )
Miesque posts small blind [$100].
Rob1606 posts big blind [$200].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Rob1606 [ Qc Qd ] (that will do)
athun folds.
maffi24 folds.
mrsmithe calls [$200].
Miesque folds.
Rob1606 goes All-in [$1204]. (radiating weakness, expecting a call from mrsmithe, with whom I've played a few pots just before this)
mrsmithe calls [$1204].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4s, Ad, Ah ]
Rob1606 shows [ Qc Qd ].
mrsmithe shows [ 6c Kh ]. (right... no king! no king! no...)
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ks ] (great)
** Dealing River ** [ Qh ] (wow - I actually hit my 2-outer after he hit his 3-outer...)
** Summary **
mrsmithe shows [ 6c Kh ].
Rob1606 shows [ Qc Qd ].
Rob1606 collected [$2908].

Eighth place after 47 minutes

Wow, I just had the most difficult sit-n-go ever at Pacific. Usually the opposition is not like this. It took 24 games for the first player to be eliminated... I did not catch any hands, eventually minraised with A9 UTG (stack was down to 800, BB = 150). Two callers, among them the BB. Flop misses me but BB checks. I go allin (what choice do I have?) and get called and lose.

Writing this, I suppose an allin preflop might have been the better move. It was probably already far too late for "small" raises. The guy who beat me held K5. Yes, allin preflop was definitely better. Well, hopefully writing this down here will help me in the future.

I know that I should have made a move earlier somewhere, but I am not sure where this should have been! In fact, to be precise, I did make one move, where I raised with AK. The shortstack goes allin, I call, he flips over... AK.

First!

Sorry, it is lame but off the top of my head I couldn't think of a better subject title for this post...

This is intended as a journal of my poker experiences. I have been playing for money for about half a year now with limited success. Currently my net profit is about $50 (though it is negative if you also count the money I spent on poker books...).

I mostly play sit-n-go's. I have played at multiple sites but now mostly play at Pacific, which offer tournaments with very low buy-ins. I do not intend to deposit more money (ever), so I am trying to build up a bankroll. Therefore I mostly play $2.50 tournaments. I have played a lot of $5 tournaments in the past but have found that it was too expensive for me: a few consecutive losses would severely hurt my bankroll.

Last week I received Harrington's first two books and started reading the first one. I cannot recommend this book highly enough! I really thought that I knew a bit about poker by now, but it is clear to me now that I am really still a beginner. So it is good that I am not risking more money (in fact, at the moment I am only risking previous winnings).

Since I started reading this book I have won 3 SNGs, though I have also had a sequence of six losses in between. My last loss was quite stupid: with four players left, I got 99 on the button and went all-in (I was shortstacked). I got called by AT and lost the race. Can happen, you might say, but I did still have a stack of about 2000 vs a big blind of (I think) 300. And what is much worse, when I replayed this hand in PokerOffice, I realized that the player ahead of me (he was the one who turned out to have AT) had actually raised to 900. I cannot explain how I missed that during the game, this is pretty basic.

Had I noticed the raise, I most likely would have folded, expecting at most about a 50% chance of winning this hand. I still had a small amount of time before being forced to make a stand, I think. Probably the problem was that when I saw my hand, I immediately decided to go all-in on it, and simply ignored what happened until it was my turn to bid.

Anyway, my goal is now to reach a bankroll of $75, after which I plan to switch back to $5 tournaments again. Finally, about the title of this blog: I guess I consider myself to be practicing (as in: training) poker. And of course I have heard about the book The Theory of Poker, though I have not actually read that one yet, shame on me.

Comments are of course welcome!