5:02am: Today’s live session was definitely not easy money. It was a table full of local sharks, and had it not been for the amount of trouble I went through today in order to play live (which I won’t get into), I would have sooner turned around and went back home for a full heads up sng session.

I decided to stick it out, and in doing so I decided that I was going to have to mix things up a bit today because everyone at the table knew what my usual gameplan is. Today was a day where I only played hands in position, and I picked up a bunch of small pots by playing the button and the cutoff very aggressively. The plan worked to perfection, as no one really caught on to what I was doing.

Then, there was this one hand where I made a “blocking raise” preflop of $15 with Ac9c from middle position. I knew I wanted to see the flop, however I knew if I just limped, someone was going to make it at least $25-$30 to go. Whenever I enter the pot there, I usually get a lot of respect, so everyone (5 people) just called and we see a flop of 7c 5c 2d. The guy first to act folds unprevoked (checked out) and the action was on me. I decide to bet $30. The man to my left (loose/passive) calls $30, one guy folds, another guy folds, and the LAG player on the button makes it $130 to go. I thought about pushing right here, because I did have two overs and the nut flush draw, but I wanted the third guy in too so that I’d have better odds for the hand to hit. For that reason, I decide to just call the $100 and so does the man to my left. The pot is now $480 going into the turn.

The turn is a very beautiful card for me: Jc, giving me the absolute nuts at the moment.

I thought that if I checked it at this point, there’s no way in hell someone else would bet a scary card like that on a flushed-out board without a flush themselves. Even a set would probably take the free card here, and try to pair the board cheaply. Keeping these things in mind, I decided to lead out pretty strong ($300) hoping and praying that someone else had completed the flush OR that someone would figure, “there’s no way he could have a flush here, he would have checked. Who in the hell leads out when they hit the flush?”.

Unfortunately, no one had a flush and no one figured any of that stuff I mentioned above. Everyone folds, and I take down the pot as it stood at that point.

The rest of the night was just maintenance and picking up small pots, as I mentioned above. After a 5.5 hour session, I decided that I was indeed lucky to be up nearly $400 in a very “sharked out” game so I took my loot and left with the intention to continue my session via heads up sngs when I arrived home.

In regards to my online mini-session, there is nothing significant to report other than those who ran better than me, won the match, and those did not, lost. This enabled me to finish 3-2 on the night, and hopefully tomorrow I will be able to play a longer one. Here is the last hand from the last match I played (against a pretty solid player), for those who are interested:

PokerStars Game #18736711128: Tournament #95280719, $100+$5 Hold’em No Limit - Match Round I, Level II (15/30) - 2008/07/11 - 05:58:10 (ET)
Table ‘95280719 1′ 2-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: prodigies (1000 in chips)
Seat 2: trujm (2000 in chips)
prodigies: posts small blind 15
trujm: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to trujm [Qc Js]
prodigies: raises 60 to 90
trujm: calls 60
*** FLOP *** [Kc 3c Ts]
trujm: checks
prodigies: bets 90
trujm: calls 90
*** TURN *** [Kc 3c Ts] [Ad]
trujm: checks
prodigies: bets 240
trujm: raises 720 to 960
prodigies: calls 580 and is all-in
Uncalled bet (140) returned to trujm
*** RIVER *** [Kc 3c Ts Ad] [8s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
trujm: shows [Qc Js] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
prodigies: shows [Qs As] (a pair of Aces)
trujm collected 2000 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2000 | Rake 0
Board [Kc 3c Ts Ad 8s]
Seat 1: prodigies (button) (small blind) showed [Qs As] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: trujm (big blind) showed [Qc Js] and won (2000) with a straight, Ten to Ace

More later..

Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process

2:06am: It was mind over matter today in a complete rebound session from yesterday’s very disappointing outcome. However, the day did not start out well. I dropped my fifth match in a row for the first time in what seems like forever when I was outdrawn by Ac9c, after hitting top pair with AJ. My opponent kept min-raising and min-betting nearly every single street of every single hand. After he made it 40 in the 10/20 blinds with Ac9c, I re-raised with AJ off to 175, and he calls. The flop:

Jc 5h 9h

I bet around 3/4th of the pot on the flop, hoping that he had KJ or QJ and that he would shove. He just calls. I thought the turn was a total blank, but it wasn’t as the 6c hits. I didn’t have many chips left, so I decided that I was probably good and to just push here, and he calls with the 9 and the backdoor club draw. Unfortunately, the club hit the river and I started the day off at 0-1 and dropped my fifth straight.

Things felt rather helpless at this point, and I committed myself to just “weathering the storm”. Everything seemed to go right after that point, however. I went 6-2 the rest of the way to finish 6-3 on the day, which is a good recovery from yesterday’s debacle.

Tomorrow (actually, today because it’s after 12am) I will be putting in a live session. Fortunately, I can do no worse than my last live session because I lost my stop-loss limit the previous time. I’m not content with just improving though, and I hope to turn in not only a winning session but a VERY profitable one.

Will keep you guys updated. More later..

Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process

1:37pm: I never like to report these kinds of sessions, but they happen even to the best of us. Yesterday was anything but a walk in the park, as I finished 1-5 on the day, ending the session with a 4 game losing streak.

The good news is that I only felt that 1 of the 5 losses were due to me getting outplayed. 2 of the other 4 losses involved my opponents running better than me throughout the whole match, and the final 2 losses involved me having both of my opponents down to 400-500 chips a piece, with each of them all in with the worst hand several times, only to have them come back and win the match.

Accounting for your losses and understanding why your session was a losing one is important because if mistakes were made, you need to be mentally prepared the next day to prevent any such thing from happening again. Playing heads up sngs for additional income, or even a living, is just a series of mental adjustments and catching yourself before losing streaks get too bad. You have to focus on keeping the winning streaks alive, and do every single thing in your power to make sure the losing streaks are never as low as the winning streaks are high.

So for me it’s time to put my own advice in to action, and try again.

More later…

11:39am: I’m not as upset as I should be, given the situation and how much I’ve lost tonight. I just put in a 14 hour session at Harrahs New Orleans. Long story short, I was EXTREMELY card dead all night long, and was dwindled down to -$400 to -$600 all night long. With $650 left in front of me, the following hand happened:

AcAs on the button. Two callers preflop. Action is to me, and I want to represent Jacks here, so I raise to $40 preflop - trying to make it look like im afraid of getting a caller or two. That’s exactly how many callers I get (two), and we see a flop of: Js6s4s

The player first to act checks and the second player open shoves for $400. I decide that there’s no way I’m laying this hand down, so I take the thinking out of it, and go all in myself. The first player who checked calls, at which point I figured out I was behind, but it didn’t really matter because even if I was behind, I had pot odds to be in the hand.

Obviously I would have liked to be ahead, but I wasn’t. Both players turned over a set (JJ and 44). I actually liked my hand at this point because they have each others outs to improve, so if I happened to spike the spade it will be slightly harder for them to fill up. I could also win the pot with one of the two remaining aces.

Amazingly, the turn and river blanked out and I was felted, and decided I had had enough and left.

Upon returning home, I decided to play a couple of heads up matches to get the sour taste out of my mouth, and did indeed win both of them rather easily, and will probably call it a night/morning after having done so.

Surprisingly, I’m not upset at all about having lost. Truth be told, I was due for a bad night in some way, shape or form. I just wish it didn’t have to come at so high a price.

This too, shall pass. Good luck guys!

5:45am: Today was a very efficient, all-purpose performace from myself. I was able to but in pretty decent sessions both online and live. I pulled up at Harrah’s New Orleans about 10:45pm and played until 2:30am. The notable hand of the night is as follows.

As10c in the big blind. 7 limpers call the big blind, and eventually I decide to check and let everyone see a flop (isolation moves don’t work at Harrah’s New Orleans, so this was the only line of action IMO). The flop comes:

10sKs9s

Giving me middle pair, top kicker + nut flush draw. I was going to check raise the hand to build a pot, but after 4 people had called a bet of $30 from someone in early/mid position I decided the pot was big enough, and I now had odds to chase cards that would improve my hand. I decide to just call.

The turn: 10d

Pretty much a beautiful card for me, as the only card that can realistically hurt my hand is a non-spade Jack or a King. I lead out for $50 and get two callers. On to the river…

River: Ah

Really couldn’t have asked for a better series of running cards than this, as the ace on the river gave me tens full of aces. I led out for $150 in case somebody flopped the flush, and sure enough the man acting after me immediately calls. Everyone else folds, and I drag the pot. Turns out I got really lucky, as he actually did flop the flush.

This hand is the perfect example of hands that play great in multi-way pots, and is definitely a solid argument for those who say live action is better than online. Very rarely online are 6 people involved in the same hand, whereas at Harrah’s New Orleans very rarely are 6 people NOT involved in the same hand. Here, you will almost always have pot odds AND implied odds to chase whatever deadly card you are seeking. And yes, you will be paid off.

On to heads up sngs. I played 3 waves of matches today, the first beginning around 6pm CST. I lost my first match to someone who I would consider a total fish, but his wrecklessness paid off for him this one time, and he defeated me in less than 10 minutes. I rebounded to win the next two, however and I took a break to eat with a 2-1 start to the day.

After taking some time to let the food digest, I decided to load up another three games, only to have the same exact course of events take place. I lost the first match when I actually got the money in behind (bottom two vs. top two). However, again I was able to rebound and win the next two matches to bring me to 4-2 on the day.

It was at this point I decided to take off for my live session (see above for results).

When I returned for my live session, I decided to play a 2 game series and won both of them to bring my record to 6-2 overall on the night.

Grand total profit for the day: +$660.

No complaints here. Good luck to everyone grinding this morning.

4:33am: This isn’t easy to do guys, but it’s always nice to celebrate it when it happens. Here’s to staying on top of your ‘A’ game, focusing, and not letting anything stand in your way:

Now bring on the downswing! (just kidding). Happy 4th of July, everyone!

4:11am: I’ve been asking for a session that was, for a change, easy from start to finish without having to start out in a hole and that’s exactly what I got on Thursday night. This is in sharp contrast to what seems like a streak of 9-10 sessions of myself starting at least $300-$500 down, before (almost always) coming back to finish in the +. On the very first hand I played in the post (Ks4s), I flopped top two. The action is as follows:

In middle position, I check the option in the post, and 5 people see the flop (Kc 4c 2d). The blinds check to me, and I bet $25. Two gentleman with position on me decide to call, and the two blinds fold. The turn was a brick for all intents and purposes: Qh. I lead out for $55 this time and both players behind me once again decide to call. At this point, I don’t want to see a Queen or a club on the river. Much to my delight, the river brought the 4d and I decide to lead out once more — this time for $100. The man immediately to my left, who was obviously on a flush draw, instantly folds and the player to his left decides to call. I turn over the boat, and drag the pot.

While it’s almost never a good thing (to be results oriented), it never hurts your psychological mindset when you immediately start a session up — $275 in my case.

The session would eventually end up $525, as I picked up a couple of small pots from this point and one medium sized one. I only lost one hand at showdown all night. All in all, it was a pretty good night that I decided to end early due to being tired and not wanting to sacrifice my quality of play.

In other news, the sixth video tutorial is set to be released on Monday, June 30th. It will feature one of my matches at the $100 level. Stay tuned.

3:11pm: Well, after having played 28 $100 hu sngs, I am happy to report the following observations:

• If there’s a huge difference in skill level between the $100 husng players and the $50 husng players, I haven’t seen it yet.
• People in the $100s take longer to make decisions, and generally fold more than the players in the $50s do - which will open the door for me to be a little more aggressive.
• I don’t feel at all uncomfortable with the stakes, and I feel totally relaxed when playing - which is huge in playing winning heads up poker.
• My guess is that a lot of these people I’m playing are at the end of their bankroll, and are just trying to double up or pack it in, and is causing them to play a lot more cautiously than I thought the $100 players might.
• I am 19-9 so far, with a 29% ROI so far (see graph below). This is definitely not going to hold long term, nor do I expect it to, but it’s a lot better than starting out with trouble.

I am off to play a live 2-5 NL session. Good luck to everyone grinding tonight.

I will also announce the date of the release of the next (sixth) video tutorial when I return from my session tonight, so stay tuned if you’re interested in that.

3:57am: Don’t ask me how I did it, but I finished up nearly $200 on a night where I should have finished down — big time. The bad news was that I was completely card dead all night long. The good news is that because of this, it made nearly all of my decisons really easy and prevented me from losing a lot on any one single hand.

The hand of the night:

Ks3s on the button. 6 people limp preflop. I am the 7th person to enter the pot, and eventually 9 people saw the flop, which was Kc 5s Jd. Everyone checks to me, and I’m relatively sure my King is no good at this point, so I check hoping to spike a 3 or to pick up a spade draw. The turn is 10s. Someone in early position leads out for $35, and 3 people call. I thought about raising, but I didn’t want to scare anyone off in case a spade that puts a 4 card straight on the board hits.

The river is Qs. Everyone checks to me, and I bet $75 — and I get two callers, one of them having the straight as I suspected.

The rest of the night consisted basically of me perfecting the art of picking spots to take down small pots with air, and also perfecting the art of folding pre flop. I can’t remember a single night where my “% of flops seen” was so low in a very long time. The night ended with FINALLY (after 8 hours of play) picking up a pocket pair higher than tens (QQ). I made it $40 on the button, and was called by three people. The flop brought an overcard (King), and everyone checked to me. I checked behind everyone, and hit my set of queens on the turn. Once again, everyone checks and I bet $75 and everyone folds.

When it was all said and done, I counted my chips and to my amazement I was up $185. It’s amazing how bad you can run and still get away with a winning session, as long as you don’t get outdrawn or lose any big pots.

I might finish off the night with a couple of $100 hu sngs — that is, if some players deep in the red register before me. When moving up in stakes, I highly suggest treading lightly and only playing those in which you have a decided edge.

More later…

5:39am: Yesterday was a pretty productive day, as I finished 5-3 in $100 husngs, and +$650 in my live session at Harrah’s. I felt good from the start, despite losing $1,200 the previous night during my live 2-5 NL session. Since that session, my 8-4 record in the $100 husngs and my live winning session tonight have nearly completely erased last night’s debacle.

The live session merely consisted of picking up 6-7 small to medium sized pots. One of those hands included a pretty well executed semi bluff by myself, in position. I had Kh10h on the button, and raised to $20 preflop with 6 callers.

The flop came: Ah 4h 9c.

A loose-passive fish led out for $35, and got one caller. When the action was on me, I made it $120 to go, and only the fish decided to call. At this point, I decided not to look at the turn because I pre-committed to firing 3 hard bullets regardless of what fell, and I didn’t want to even know if I had hit it. As soon as the turn was dealt, he checks to me and I bet $175. After thinking about it for 10 seconds or so, he decides to fold, and I took down a pretty sizable pot for only having King high. After looking at the turn after the hand was over I saw that I had missed.

Going into tonight’s session, I knew had to redeem myself for the night before. While I didn’t ever intend on getting my money back from the night before, I at least wanted to say that I put myself in a position to win tonight. If i was going to lose, it was going to be because of the cards, not because of the way I played. That being said, as I’ve mentioned before, one should never play to “get even” or “to erase deficits”. Always play your game at all times. Whether you’re down $1,000 or up $500, the only way to play winning poker is to not let outside influences affect or change your normal strategy. Poker is an emotional game, but there is a time and a place to express your sentiments. That time and place should almost never be at the table (or computer) for that matter.

I look forward to continuing this positive momentum into tommorow, where I will probably play another mixed session of 2-5 NL and $100 husngs. Look for my results thread right before I start if you’d like to rail. Good luck everyone!