6 Months

Is it really over 6 months since I updated this? Utter madness!! My main challenge at the moment is to see what I can turn nothing into. I got off to a great start, winning $60 in my first freeroll. that's now up to about €400, but I've hit a bit of a wall!! You can follow my progress here - GaF's Nothing to Something thread

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 4054416

5000 Hand Review

In the grand scheme of things, 5000 hands isn't many at all!! But my crypto Poker Tracker database now has just over 5000 cash hands stored in it, so time for a quick review...... I have been playing cash at Parbet to get the raked hands required to enter their fortnightly $10,000 raked hands freeroll.

First the good news ..... I aspire to be an Eagle, but usually end up a mouse - the difference being the percentage of pre flop raises - an eagle is greater than 7%, a mouse is less than 7%. Well, over these 5,386 hands I have made it as an eagle, showing pre flop raises of 7.15%, JUST over the 7% threshold. Most of my additional raises have been positional raises when first into the pot on the button or cut off. Overall these seem to have been quite successful (but we will see!!!)

Overall, I have made a profit of $43.27 (2.11 BB/100), not far ahead of break even - but add in my Raked Hands Freeroll winnings and I show a healthy profit!! My $20 investment (deposit) in Parbet 2 months ago in January has allowed me to build my balance to where it is today .... just over $2700!!!!

I have played at 3 levels, and surprisingly my most profitable level was 50c/$1 - but I put this down to small numbers as much as anything.....

50c/$1 - 1130 Hands - $74.33 Profit - 6.58 BB/100
25c/50c - 423 Hands - $81.90 Loss - (38.72) BB/100
15c/25c - 3833 Hands - $50.84 Profit - $50.84 BB/100

Lets start by looking at some specific hands.
AA. Who says they NEVER win? Actually they NEVER lose!!!! I've been dealt AA 18 times and I have won with AA 18 times - a 100% strike rate!! I make a profit of 11.43 BB/Hand with them. Very nice thank-you!! I won 10 times when my opponents folded, 5 times they won at showdown without improving, twice they won as 2 pair and once as trips.
JTs This is my second most profitable hand!!! A bit of a revelation for me - I really feel I'm playing my connectors better these days and am reaping the rewards!! I have been dealt JTs 17 times, winning 41% of the time for an average 5.53 BB/Hand. Having said that, the vast majority of the profit came on one hand where I won 87 BB!!!!
33 My worst hand. Dealt it 24 times for a loss of an average 3.23 BB/Hand. However that is accounted for by just one hand where I flopped a 3 and 44 flopped a 4 ..... no getting away from that so it doesnt worry me at all.

Position
This is where I feel my game has developed most recently, and I've really started playing position!!!
Button: I have won $249.01 / 0.55BB/Hand. I raise pre flop13.5% of the time from here and Vol.Put$inPot 23 % of the time.
Blinds: Overall I have lost $283 in the blinds, BUT have had to pay $395 in Blinds. My play has therefore shown a profit of $112 (over doing nothing), which I presume is ok :)

I'm not alone!!!

I've just discovered I had post moderation on and 22 comments requiring action - how did I miss this before?

Anyway, the great news is I'M NOT ALONE!!!! Thanks everyone who has read the pages here and left comments (yes - even you, the spammers ;) ) - I really did believe I was just typing into a void!!!!

Cheers McGin for the comment on autoimporting hand histories from email for PokerTracker - I'll give it a try (unfortunately I managed to delete your comment with a spammer :-( )- sounds good, though it won't enable "live information"......

I haven't played on Paradise Cash Tables since my last comment - partly due to the Poker Tracker problem and partly due to trying the PokerNightLive Beat The Presenter cash tables (with a degree of success I might add ;) ), but the MTT's have seen my cash balance diminish a bit to $63.14. I'm in need of a win - I don't want to have to deposit at SO again, withdrawals are much more fun ;)!!!!

Session 9 - $85.10 to $77.31

Had my first session on Paradise Sporting Odds tonight - 4 x 5c/10c no limit cash tables. Not good, but recovered a bit at the end to only be $7 down. Will need to reconsider my strategy here I think - the usual wait until I have the nuts or a premium pair pre flop, then massively overbet and get calls from muppets who are well behind doesn't seem to work - the standard of opponent seems higher. Worrying that I no longer seem able to beat 5c/10c games!!!!

A few negatives from the site at first impression:

The bets are only shown as chips - not numerically - so it is difficult to see the size of bets - when you rollover the chips it does show an amount, however ONLY if it is the active window (which when 4 tabling it usually isn't because your last click would have been elsewhere)

I was looking forward to importing the hand history into Poker Tracker for analysis - however this is limited at any time to the last 100 hands (and by email only) - I will have to get into the habit of requesting the hand history every 10 minutes or so - which will be a pain!!! Because it is email, there will be no "live stats" either :-( Having said that, it is more than was available on Boss!!!!

Session 8 - $93.42 to $85.10

90 min session tonight 4 tabling (NLH).

Not going the right way at the moment :-(

Because I'm 4 tabling I'm not really learning too much post game - so I'm not improving - this is where Poker Tracker was invaluable to me when I played cash games on laddies. But because SO doesn't work with PT, I dont work through my hand histories afterwards ......

I don't have the patience to play fewer tables......

Session 7 - $134.92 to $93.42

Disaster Strikes!!!!!!!!

Opened up my session with 2 Omaha Hi/Lo tables - 20 minutes later I left them both with heavy losses ........ basically I am experimenting with a new game at higher stakes than I play the game I know!! I shouldn't be doing it and that was the lesson I learnt tonight - I just dont have the bankroll on SO at the moment to dabble at those stakes...... so I'll be steering clear of those tables until my bankroll is bigger. So I went back to 5c/10c NLH and recovered a little of my losses (4 tabling) .....

Session 6 - $138.76 to $134.92

A 2 hour session - only played 1 table PL Omhah Hi/Lo - only one table available.

Didn't play many hands - I'm probably too tight - have been reading a bit on starting hand requirements and can definitely play more starting hands than I have been.......

Session 5 $139.54 to $138.76

2 hours again - this time multitabling 2 Omaha Hi/Lo tables and playing a freeroll (Holdem). The Omaha - not easy, especially with a couple of PL sharks circling :P (Jaded and Uber)

In the end I broke even, not bad (especially as I started off poorly). But I did finish 5th in the freeroll for $160 (not counted in this bankroll) - so not a bad evenings work!!!

Where are all the Friday and Saturday night drunks/fish though? I dont seem to be coming across any (and if I am I'm not taking their money!!!)