Another Moving Up Blog - Rush NL2++

Going to reserve this as an index spot. Might not ever be needed, but oh well.

Hi there comit007 and welcome to blogs.

Well I'm sorry about your back being so bad, I hope the surgery works and you're up and about as soon as it's safe to do so. My friend has been waiting for surgery for ages and you can see the pain she's in.

As for the poker and you not knowing what the difference is this time, perhaps you came to a similar conclusion as i did, that playing is fun, but playing and winning is more fun - not that I'm winning lately of course! ♦

Anyway, good luck with climbing the limits and make sure it stays fun!

Mal.

Thanks Gadget for the welcome. The winning might be part of it, another part of it is that I've always been competitive. In the past I've gone out and played sports (mainly paintball) to get my fill, I can't really do that now. I guess I might need something to fulfill the competitive desires.

Didn't do much so far today. I played about 200 rush hands while changing around my table and HUD settings. I did ok, 84 bb/100 or a little less than a stack and a half.

Sure hope that keeps up before breakfast every time I play...

Had a bit of a rough session this morning. Ended up going a little down (about 3 BI's I think). Some of my play was poor-ish, but there were other situations that I honestly couldn't put villain on anything that should be in his range.

In the evening session I ran like god for the first 350 hands. Hell I ran good after that as well, just not to the same extreme.

My first 350 of evening session. A mere 164 bb/100

Overall chart for the day.

I total I played 2400 hands today with a profit of $6.77.

That brings my bankroll up to: $55.33

Only have another $5 to reach my bankroll goal for the month, only have to maintain it...

Played another session for this morning, ran ok, got another couple stacks in the bankroll. With a week to go I've broken my first goal for February, my bankroll is at $62.76

I'm about on target for my 10k hands per week goal as well. My 90 minute sessions tend to be around 1k hands, so that works out to about 10k hands per week.

Here's the graph for last week (Feb 16-22)

I've flagged some hands for later evaluation, I'll post them up tonight and maybe get some sort of conversation going. However as it stands, I'm fairly happy. I'm not sure if I will be able to clear my goals for February, as my Bronze -> Silver status is going up slower than I expected, but I'm faily happy with the rest of it.

Ok so I said I'd post some hands for evaluation, here they are:

#1:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php

MP ($2.07)
CO ($2.26)
Hero (Button) ($3.25)
SB ($2.19)
BB ($2)
UTG ($1.89)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J, J
1 fold, MP raises to $0.06, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.18, 2 folds, MP calls $0.12

Flop: ($0.39) J, 5, 9 (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $0.19, MP calls $0.19

Turn: ($0.77) 10 (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $0.38, MP calls $0.38

River: ($1.53) Q (2 players)
MP bets $0.76, Hero folds

Total pot: $1.53 | Rake: $0.07

Results below:
MP didn't show
Outcome: MP won $1.46

I wasn't really pleased with this fold, but the only hand I could put him on were either AK, KK, AQ or QQ. This was near the end of a bad run of hands, and when that queen hit, I was all but done with playing at that point. The fold was mostly frustration, but I don't think he's betting anything but the straight in that situation.

#2
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php

BB ($1.94)
UTG ($2.02)
MP ($0.95)
CO ($2.28)
Button ($2.57)
Hero (SB) ($2.01)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 7, Q
2 folds, CO raises to $0.04, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.03, BB calls $0.02

Flop: ($0.12) 9, 7, 3 (3 players)
Hero bets $0.08, BB calls $0.08, 1 fold

Turn: ($0.28) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.19, BB calls $0.19

River: ($0.66) 10 (2 players)
Hero bets $1, BB raises to $1.63 (All-In), Hero calls $0.63

Total pot: $3.92 | Rake: $0.19

Results below:
Hero had 7, Q (flush, Queen high).
BB had K, J (flush, King high).
Outcome: BB won $3.73

A typical example of my day, and I'll be honest, I considered folding it. Spidey senses were tingling I guess. I just couldn't make myself do it, even knowing I was about to lose. Oh well, I guess I only have to guess wrong once to make up for quite a few correct right guesses and bad calls.

And for Monday. Monday blues I guess. I may go back for a late night session, but today marks my first losing day in a while. Only half a buy-in, but as you can see by the graph, it was a day of swings.

It seems since that massive start to the other day, the start of each session starts on a downswing that I need to crawl out of. At the end of my morning session I was about 3 BI's down, swung that 3 BI's up in the afternoon and dropped it to about 1/2 BI down for the evening.

Graph says yuck....

As an example of my day:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.com/

MP ($1)
CO ($2.31)
Button ($1.20)
Hero (SB) ($2.30)
BB ($3.56)
UTG ($0.80)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 9, A
2 folds, CO raises to $0.07, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.06, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.16) 9, A, A (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $0.16, Hero raises to $0.32, CO calls $0.16

Turn: ($0.80) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.24, CO calls $0.24

River: ($1.28) K (2 players)
Hero bets $1.67 (All-In), CO calls $1.67

Total pot: $4.62 | Rake: $0.23

Results below:
Hero had 9, A (full house, Aces over nines).
CO had A, K (full house, Aces over Kings).
Outcome: CO won $4.39

Edit: Hmm after looking at this, I'm not sure what I was thinking on the turn. Maybe my read was to keep a heart draw interested? I honestly can't tell you what I was thinking there.

Looking to get back in the winning ways later. On the plus side I did hit a new bankroll high. I mean I lost it soon after, but I got there!

Currently sitting at $67.33 after a midnight session last night that isn't listed here.

My favorite hand from my morning session. I smiled.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.com/

Button ($1.37)
Hero (SB) ($2.06)
BB ($1.54)
UTG ($1.94)
MP ($1.04)
CO ($2.38)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 4, A
UTG raises to $0.08, MP calls $0.08, 1 fold, Button calls $0.08, Hero calls $0.07, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.34) 7, 6, J (4 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $0.27, MP calls $0.27, Button calls $0.27, Hero raises to $1.98 (All-In), UTG calls $1.59 (All-In), MP calls $0.69 (All-In), Button calls $1.02 (All-In)

Turn: ($6.31) 5 (4 players, 4 all-in)

River: ($6.31) K (4 players, 4 all-in)

Total pot: $6.31 | Rake: $0.31

Results below:
Button had K, K (three of a kind, Kings).
Hero had 4, A (flush, Ace high).
UTG had Q, Q (one pair, Queens).
MP had J, K (two pair, Kings and Jacks).
Outcome: Hero won $6

Don't have a lot of time to post analysis of any hands right now, but I'll post the graph for yesterday.

I'll get into the details and some hands at a later date.

Had another good day, so good in fact I decided to take a 1 buy-in shot at NL5 as long as things were going well. It was nearing the end of my evening run, so I didn't get a lot of volume in, but I did turn a profit.

I think it was because I had my rail cheering me on...

The most memorable hand of the day, is also one of the hands that I hate. It's happened to me a couple times, on both sides of the win/loss ledger, and it sucks.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://flopturnriver.com

UTG ($2.04)
MP ($0.54)
CO ($2)
Button ($2.49)
SB ($2)
Hero (BB) ($2.02)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, A
UTG raises to $0.07, 4 folds, Hero raises to $0.16, UTG raises to $0.30, Hero raises to $2.02 (All-In), UTG calls $1.72

Flop: ($4.05) 6, 3, Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($4.05) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($4.05) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $4.05 | Rake: $0.20

Results below:
Hero had A, A (flush, Ace high).
UTG had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $3.85

Oops forgot to mention. Bankroll now stands at $87.82. I may take a 4-5 BI shot at NL5 when I hit $100. NL2 is starting to make my head hurt. It's nice to have a win rate of almost 17 bb/100 over 18k hands, but holy hell the grind is tedious.

Wow. Took an absolute kicking at the tables for my morning session. If I pushed KK it hit AA. If I flopped a straight, villain called down to river to hit a flush. I knew something bad was bound to happen eventually, but it didn't have to happen all at once. ♦

That left me with a bankroll around $80, and I was starting to tilt at NL2 pretty bad, so I took a small break and played a few hundred hands of PLO2 short stack just to try and clear my head and help me get back to thinking about what I might be up against.

I haven't gone back to the NL2 tables yet, but PLO worked out. I ground back about $5, so I'm at $84.94. It's still frustrating, as I was up over $90 at one point this morning and was looking forward to maybe breaking $100 this afternoon.

Well now, that was a fair amount of work. It took me 1600 odd hands to crawl out of the hole I dug for myself this morning, but I did it with a little profit left over.

Today:

Challenge so far:

Currently sitting at $95.87 for bankroll. I want so badly to try and break $100 tonight, but I'm starting to get tired and make sloppy mistakes. I over-rep'd a couple of hands and made a couple of ill timed shoves. If I didn't start to hit auto-pilot in the last hour, I would most likely be over the $100 mark.

Oh well.

Edit: Hmm the images didn't show up. Should be fixed now.

I decided to take a break from grinding NL2 for a little bit, so started playing some satellites for MTOPS tournaments and other misc. things. Ended up winning a MTOPS main event ticket and a couple of $T in a points tournament that I had a ticket for, so decided I was pretty much freerolling down to $85 and just wanted to see where that took me.

I was somewhat disappointed with my lackluster finishes in the other 2 entries of the $400 Guarantee, as I felt I played well enough to deserve a better fate...

Failure #1:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 120/240 Blinds 25 Ante (6 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php

CO (t7,750)
Hero (Button) (t12,705)
SB (t2,160)
BB (t5,980)
UTG (t27,236)
MP (t20,541)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J, J
UTG calls t240, 1 fold, CO calls t240, Hero raises to t1,680, 1 fold, BB calls t1,440, UTG calls t1,440, CO calls t1,440

Flop: (t6,990) 3, 3, 5 (4 players)
BB checks, UTG bets t6,990, 1 fold, Hero raises to t11,000 (All-In), 1 fold, UTG calls t4,010

Turn: (t28,990) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t28,990) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t28,990

Results below:
Hero had J, J (two pair, Jacks and threes).
UTG had 7, 7 (full house, sevens over threes).
Outcome: UTG won t28,990

Failure #2. Villain 47/10:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 30/60 Blinds (5 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://flopturnriver.com

UTG (t1,965)
MP (t3,122)
Hero (Button) (t1,128)
SB (t2,875)
BB (t1,550)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 4, 4
2 folds, Hero raises to t1,128 (All-In), SB calls t1,098, 1 fold

Flop: (t2,316) A, K, 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t2,316) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t2,316) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t2,316

Results below:
Hero had 4, 4 (full house, Kings over fours).
SB had 8, A (full house, Kings over Aces).
Outcome: SB won t2,316

So bankroll is now at the $212.51 and thus ends my grind at NL2. Moving up to NL5 now and starting the grind on that. I still have an entry in the MTOPS main event for tomorrow, and I'm torn if I should play it or cash in the T$14. I think I'll see how many people are entered nearing the start time and make a judgement from there. I'm confident of being in the top 25% for money, but top 5% for money is something else.

So I played some more MTT's today. Got another qualifier for the MTOPS main event, so I played 2 tables. I was only able to min cash on one of them, but pretty much bubbled the other one with a suckout.

For your consideration:

Bubble finish:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 1,400/2,800 Blinds 350 Ante (9 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://flopturnriver.com/

UTG (t51,356)
UTG+1 (t55,076)
MP1 (t78,980)
MP2 (t68,455)
Hero (MP3) (t13,583)
CO (t9,261)
Button (t48,538)
SB (t25,408)
BB (t35,785)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with A, Q
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to t5,600, 2 folds, Hero raises to t13,233 (All-In), 4 folds, UTG+1 calls t7,633

Flop: (t33,816) 8, 8, 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t33,816) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t33,816) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t33,816

Results below:
UTG+1 had 6, 3 (full house, eights over sixes).
Hero had A, Q (three of a kind, eights).
Outcome: UTG+1 won t33,816

Min cash finish. I know it's not really a suckout, but I was the favorite and it still pissed me off lol.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 2,000/4,000 Blinds 500 Ante (8 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.com

Hero (Button) (t26,234)
SB (t86,973)
BB (t59,386)
UTG (t50,894)
UTG+1 (t170,010)
MP1 (t60,484)
MP2 (t50,102)
CO (t70,134)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9, K
5 folds, Hero raises to t25,734 (All-In), 1 fold, BB calls t21,734

Flop: (t57,468) 9, 6, 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t57,468) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t57,468) J (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t57,468

Results below:
Hero had 9, K (one pair, nines).
BB had Q, 10 (one pair, tens).
Outcome: BB won t57,468

I may throw some MTT's into the mix on the weekend from now on. I seem to be able to qualify for them profitably via satellites, so I'll maybe dedicate 2-3 BI's at whatever ring game stake I'm at towards MTT entries for the weekend.

I guess I need to state for the record that I will be moving back down to NL2. I've dropped about 10 BI's at NL5 to some of the most absurd situations possible. Guys calling oop against a raise and a 3 bet with K4o. Hitting 2 pair and proceeding to stack the AA and QQ.

I'll get around to writing up a review of both February and my shot at NL5, but I guess I have to go back an evaluate my play and grind up another 20+ BI's at NL2.

Also, I noticed that NL2 Rush is now saturated with short stacks. The standard play seems to be: flat the bet, donk or check shove the flop. Its getting annoying raising in EP only to be called by 3 people with less than 100 bb's between them. Maybe I need to step away from Rush and move to normal tables for a little bit till I get the mojo working again.

Hi comit007 nice blog am just about to start one myself so will be following ur progess with interest ,best of luck and hope u run good ♠_cool:

Thanks for the support xdowntimex, and best of luck to you as well.

Thought I'd post the highlight of my evening. I couldn't face anymore NL2 and didn't want to try and take another couple stabs at NL5 till I was able to do something about my bankroll, so I entered a bunch of microstakes and freeroll MTT's. Got a couple dollars here and there, got another weekly tournament entry ticket.

But I cashed second in the $0.50 + $0.05 $150 Guarantee.

IMO I should have won it. I was the chip leader HU. I went into a massive pot as a 75% favorite. I came out short stacked lol.

Here's the hand:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 1,200/2,400 Blinds 300 Ante (2 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.com/

BB (t45,770)
Hero (SB) (t91,130)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, Q
Hero raises to t4,800, BB raises to t45,470 (All-In), Hero calls t40,670

Flop: (t91,540) 3, J, 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: (t91,540) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t91,540) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t91,540

Results below:
Hero had A, Q (one pair, threes).
BB had Q, 10 (two pair, tens and threes).
Outcome: BB won t91,540

And then about 10 hands later as I was getting chipped away at, I shoved with a small pocket pair and the result has already been noted.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 1,200/2,400 Blinds 300 Ante (2 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://flopturnriver.com/

SB (t104,740)
Hero (BB) (t32,160)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 4, 4
SB raises to t104,440 (All-In), Hero calls t29,460 (All-In)

Flop: (t64,320) J, 9, 8 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: (t64,320) A (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (t64,320) 2 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: t64,320

Results below:
SB had 9, J (two pair, Jacks and nines).
Hero had 4, 4 (one pair, fours).
Outcome: SB won t64,320

I almost want to be annoyed at the loss, and I know I could have won the thing. But I'll take my $30 and be happy. My opponent for HU was a Diamond status player, so someone well beyond my skill level. I was able to maintain the play fairly well, and only lost due to a suckout. It helps reaffirm that there's nothing that wrong with my game (I'm not saying I can't improve or are even good enough to be happy at the level I am at) and my earlier NL5 issues are something that I can just plow through with work and study.

Month in review and March goals to follow tomorrow. I'm freaking exhausted.

Really late in updating, but here goes.

I haven't been able to do much of anything as I tweaked my back up and I can't seem to sit down for any length of time. This has also been coupled with a massive doom switch pressing.

I will restart this blog in another month or so, but I've currently cashed out from Full Tilt. I lost about 30% of my bankroll being no worse than a 60% favorite. It was absurd. Flopping the straight, getting donk shoved into by top pair no kicker, having him hit runner runner flush. AA and KK were preflop a 18% winner for me over 50+ attempts. Had guys 3betting and shoving a 4bet with 94o vs AA and hitting a Q9482 board.

Basically I give up for a little. I'll cool off and come back in April, possibly at Pokerstars, maybe at another site where I can grind out a first deposit bonus to go with my NL2 woes.

Originally posted by comit007
Really late in updating, but here goes.

I haven't been able to do much of anything as I tweaked my back up and I can't seem to sit down for any length of time. This has also been coupled with a massive doom switch pressing.

I will restart this blog in another month or so, but I've currently cashed out from Full Tilt. I lost about 30% of my bankroll being no worse than a 60% favorite. It was absurd. Flopping the straight, getting donk shoved into by top pair no kicker, having him hit runner runner flush. AA and KK were preflop a 18% winner for me over 50+ attempts. Had guys 3betting and shoving a 4bet with 94o vs AA and hitting a Q9482 board.

Basically I give up for a little. I'll cool off and come back in April, possibly at Pokerstars, maybe at another site where I can grind out a first deposit bonus to go with my NL2 woes.

Have a break but don't give up!!!