I'm a Microstakes Player, Get Me Outta Here!

Well poker was ridiculous over the weekend.

Decided to play on Saturday, well, it couldn't get any worse than it had been could it; could it? I lost 6BI in one session, won 2BI the next and the lost another 7BI later at night. Nice job gadge, back to nl2 for a spell for you sir!

Got up Sunday really really looking forward to playing nl2 :f_mad:, won so much so quick I was back to taking a shot at nl5. Woohoo, balla stuff. Those guys at nl2 are bonkers, just bonkers and so much fun.

So here I am back at the nosebleeds playing nl5 6 max, picked up around 11BI yesterday and this morning. I know, I know, I ran good. Basically it meant when I shoved my kings they missed with their QQ/AK/66 or whatever but I'll take it. It's nice to win and not even need to play well, they just donate.

I'll take a shot at nl10 for a BI or 2 if I can keep a positive graph til the end of the month...

In other news, our next door neighbour and good friend passed away yesterday aged 86. She had everything wrong with her by then but was so plucky. Nice lady and will be missed.

An very chatty and nice old guy from a couple of streets away also passed away a month ago, but they only found him yesterday in his chair with the telly on. How sad is it that, nobody looked in on him.
No foul play suspected, but the Xfactor was on at the time...

You all have fun and stay well.

Mal.

So I thought the best way to overcome all this emotional turmoil was to get stuck intot he poker, especially since my pride and joy was working long shifts for days at a stretch the poor bugger. A sort of, get the tilt in first then go play kinda plan.

I watched the mighty w34z3l limping the sb and leading out multiway in the coahig, which went totally against the grain for me and I said so. So he explained it in his usual straightforward and patient manner and it all made sense; honest.

So I've given myself a challenge using the complete and lead idea, to lower my loss at SB (which isn't horrendous to be fair at about (-25)bb/100), but I would like it to drop to around (-20) or a bit less if possible - and if I'm capable.

Then there's all that double2 80% steal stuff we prepared earlier, that'll need stirring into the mix. Oh and the 3bet bluffing needs to be warmed up before that...

...seems pads was right, you can't win if you fold.

In my day of course, if you raised utg it was aces, easy game.

Be well.

Originally posted by gadget51

I watched the mighty w34z3l limping the sb and leading out[1] multiway in the coahig, which went totally against the grain for me and I said so. So he explained it in his usual straightforward and patient manner and it all made sense; honest.

So I've given myself a challenge using the complete and lead idea, to lower my loss at SB (which isn't horrendous to be fair at about (-25)bb/100), but I would like it to drop to around (-20) or a bit less if possible - and if I'm capable.

Then there's all that double2 80% steal stuff[2] we prepared earlier, that'll need stirring into the mix. Oh and the 3bet bluffing needs to be warmed up before that...

...seems pads was right, you can't win if you fold.

In my day of course, if you raised utg it was aces, easy game.

Be well.

[1] I'll have to watch that coaching session. I've been calling vs BTN in SB then check/raising any dry flop. Seems to work. Even more fun if I actually have a piece of the flop.
[2] I did my best. I managed to get myself up to 55% for a while. Raise 23o ? I just folded it, sorry. But I did raise 72o vs short stacks with 60% Fold-to-steal stats and got away with it -- twice.

I've been trying to defend more, too. I will call ATC in BB vs a minraise, except I 3Bet some part of that. You end up having to give up on the flop a lot, but it only cost 1 BB more, and you get a LOT more walks. Seems to be working.

Cheers,
--VS

[1] How did that coaching go for you? I found it works great 3 way on a nice board especially paired or monotone v late raiser and bb.
[2] I use it from the CO when the BU is unknown or a tight reg. From CO it matters less about the blinds but I don't steal so loose if shorties there, they love to 3bet or shove anything pretty.
I use it to steal sb v bb if they are reg/tight but leaning towards trying limp/lead ti increase my rate from sb. With all that going on I may be at about 75% which I can't handle but it's a learning thing.
Of course, all this action means I have to fold a ton, I don't try to outplay them, they have to have a stronger range than my crap! ♦

In the bb I call any mr from CO/BU but with a slightly increased respect for CO if not much info. I call all mr from sb and raise anything with some nice playability. I also raise similar v sb limp.

Working hard on all this because I think it's not only the way to go these days since even the weaker players know about the BU and position etc a bit.

At the moment I'm working on fold equity on flops versus various ranges but not getting it right yet; I keep picking on the guy who has the goods. ♦

I'll continue until the beginning of next month then take a look through the db and see where to go from there. It's going ok so far even with the blunders. It's also more fun to be involved more.

Tl;dr

Let's face it folding isn't fun.

Be well.

1st guy is loose reg and 2nd's been playing 7/7 since the Big Bang so has to have his usual overpair or something along the lines of AKss, right? Right?

How many times in a week is that now Mal, how many times? Sigh.

Still, my game is getting stronger or I'd be crying this week.
New phenomenon is an influx of 12/8 nits everywhere last two weeks or so which is really crappy, but damn they make my 22/17 look like a lag and I'm picking up more blinds than a pervert at a Braille convention.

I'll be going through the db a lot this week to seek and destroy a few leaks; well more like plug the holes the iceberg made, but whatever.

In other news mrsgadget is working lots of extra hours to pay for all the Christmas BS while I'm losing buy-in after buy-in and can't wait for both to be over with. Jeeze, bloody Christmas talk and it's September still, wtf?!

Also, not particularly impressed with The Doctor this time round either, seems to be out of his depth for the whole episode right up until just before the end when he gets his 'Aha!' moment. But the same every week? Meh.

Be well and have fun.

End of month, oh good, a chance to reboot.
Profitability has been sorely lacking this month so the old br is suffering yet again. I could have said my EV was pending of course...

Anyway, next month I'll be getting more into this stealing business, it's fun and it works; but it's still tough to raise T3o from any position when down 3 or 4 BI and running like shit in a bottle. Man up, grow a pair and get on with it you fishcake!

I'll have a nice new db and scrub September's, it helps give myself a 'new month, new start' attitude and I don't need the stats down here in the trenches anyway.

So I've learned that even when I'm playing loosey-goosey I'm a nit and need to give it some gas.
I've also learned that, given my new penchant for stealing blinds, I find strange comfort knowing I can fold 75% to 3bets.

October TO DO list:

Steal so much (sensibly) my raise button breaks down,
Learn how to defend my own blinds better (huge leak I am so weak here),
Move to nl10 asap (prob by end of month). I'm nearly ready but see above before I do.
Improve sucky note taking shorthand,
Win,
Win more.

I hope September was kinder to you all.

Let's go October, c'mon, throw it at me I double dare you!

Pessimistically I thought here we go, new month same old same old - oh wait, did I just win that flip? Did that guy miss his gutshot? OMG I'm winning!

Volume poor at only 7K, what with mrs gadget being ill, me being ill, both of us being ill; meh.

I decided to use a HUD for a bit, but it's really only to see if the blinds and BU are tightwads so I can steal from the CO. I was looking at expanding my MP3 range for the times CO+ are all passive nitty tightwads, but frankly I don't have the courage for that yet (see 'grow a pair' from previous post). I'll wait until I really know what I'm doing first, it's getting there.
What is odd (and quite fun I might add) is that my SB VPIP/PFR now looks more like my previous overall VPIP/PFR!
I'd need to improve that more but need a larger sample obviously to see what's going on properly.

Progress is ok and the br recovering nicely - which includes a min cash in the lancer for $20. That was nice because I didn't play yesterday except for that.

Here's a garf of week one. I'll post my positional thingywotsits after a few more K and we'll see where I'm at better. Save your laughter til then.

In other news, both mrs gadget and me are still not very well and the wet weather is doing her no good at all. I do hope I can get to some level of play that negates the poor soul walking 3 miles in shit weather to work and back again next year; nl50 will be pushing it but nl25 would take the pressure off a bit.
Working hard on it now.

Have fun, be well.

Congrats on the Lancer cash!

If you open up from MP you're just going to end up playing pots OOP, which suck even w/ good hands.

Nice graph! keep it going!
--VS

The lancer was amazing, I got nothing and pushed a few times then straight after teh 2nd break I open pushed 99 in the SB v bb who called with AQ. That was the first playable hand in an hour - still, at least I was there to play it eh? You nearly, very nearly, made it!

I fully expect to be able to (confidently) raise MP/MP3 as a steal given favourable table conditions soon, it's just a case of paying attention and being disciplined (says he, optimistically) and let's face it, something like 87ss is a steal form MP.

Discipline though, is tough on passive weaktight tables. It's tempting to just raise any old trash from anywhere sometimes and although I don't think there is much wrong with that strategy at micros if one is good enough postflop, but I'm not there yet and play a lot of fit/fold flops - not much you can do with 94s from the CO when both blinds call.

Didn't play much over the weekend, got the ailment commonly known as faceache.

I've been getting my steals called so often I've dropped to 19/16 in this session and 12% from MP2.
Over 250 hands or so, the 3bettor is 9/6 and the caller 8/5 ♦

I expect an FL officionado would shoot me for this:

SB: $5.08 (101.6 bb)
BB: $2.50 (50 bb)
Hero (UTG): $5.84 (116.8 bb)
MP: $10.85 (217 bb)
CO: $5.41 (108.2 bb)
BTN: $3.96 (79.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A K
Hero raises to $0.12, MP raises to $0.43, CO folds, BTN calls $0.43, 3 folds

Of course it's entirely possible both had been card dead up to now...

Run good and have fun.

Originally posted by roopopper

Originally posted by roopopper

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by jbpatzer

Originally posted by roopopper
Long wall of boring text too long to read..... are the zimmers still running
There is no hope for you. No, no zimmers. Want to start it up again?

I don't think "running" is the right word for zimmers. "Shuffling" is about all I can manage these days....

I'm game for a game though.

Shuffle up and deal!

Nice to hear from you again, roo
--VS

Well that's three of us in, I had better head over to Tim's Blog next

Originally posted by Tim64
Hello mate

I'm in especially if we can spin n go for random prize of $.10 - $1 ♦

Next stop Gadget's blog

Hello Mal

Well well if it isn't the roo, hello there! I suppose I've been volunteered then have I? ♦

I've been a bit unwell last week or two so didn't play much but had a go at nl10 at the weekend. Talk about shocking, just coolered to death; oh well. Confidence shot to fk and feeling a bit tilty about it, which is surprising. It could well be the result of being ill though so I'll take a seat at nl5 for a bit.

Here's the weekend's barf which continued this morning without a blip:

Here's a couple of my favourites - not the worst, just my favourites - I didn't swear much, honest!

The biggest disappointment is that I was taking the odd shot at nl25 and was up a bit; I can't do that now for while, but woteva.

Still not feeling great, but better by a long way from where I was. I couldn't see properly, so woah betides A4 to a 3bet! Ain't nobody got time for dat!

In other news, wtf is wrong with zimmers shuff-el-in anyway! ♠_love:

Be well and run good and wear slippy shoes.

Glad to hear your feeling better, I'm sure things will turn around at nl10 I played there a couple of nights ago, can't say I ran well either!
I'm currently camped out at Nl50 table, Just waiting for Sharks to join me

Wow roo, nl50; that's nearly nosebleeds! The only way I'll get there the way things are going, is if there's a lift. Thank you for the kind sentiments by the way.

So, having lost half my br I dropped to nl5 for a bit. I haven't got the money left for all that ego nonsense about I play better than they do so I'll stay where I am, it has to turn round...

Maybe I'll start a nl10 is rigged thread, I'll likely get more views and people like that sort of crap. I did do a very rare thing and rage quit after this one though, so I must have been a bit more stressed than I realized:

Villain is a loosey goosey 39/32/ with a resteal of 17 from the blinds, so I'm not folding pre but not bluffing a gambler either. Maybe I could have made a thin 4bet to keep initiative but I know (pretty sure at least) villain wont fold.

I'm still not sure about the bet sizing but no need to tilt being so far ahead gadg.

Anyway, first day back in the nl5 trenches and what happens? Yep, ran like a skinhead in Harlem for +3BI, go figure.

I feel a bit better today so may play a bit more later. I'm not concerned with volume, just getting the br back to only losing a bit, rather than nearly losing it all - again. Then it's working on combos time, I don't use that stuff nearly often enough.
They would have helped me make a fold here:

Have a run good and feel good day.

Originally posted by gadget51
Yep, ran like a skinhead in Harlem for +3BI, go figure.

The "skinhead in Harlem" part sounds really, really bad, but the +3BI part sound really really good.

So your day was "awful good"?

Keep it up!
--VS

It was actually as described so accurately by you, just that.

Played a few hands but not many, up a few, down a few, no biggie. I did play exceptionally well for a session this morning surprisingly and only lost $11 to total trash so it's all good as usual.

In other news, my eyes are still quite bad but at least improving, so not doing a lot at all really and now I have a sore throat and my neck wont turn, so I sound like an anonymous phone sex caller and mrs gadget says I walk like Robo Cop - but I just can't see it myself.

I was looking around for some ointment or whatever to help my eyes a bit but no real joy, at least I could afford anyway. I did come across this though, but that just made it worse:

Be well and be nice.

Gee, thanks, Mal!
Now my eyeballs will be bouncing all day.

Lovely song though.

Does she also do the William Tell Overture?

Cheers,
--VS

She'd probably knock herself out if she did.

Right, so I moved to $10 6max yesterday, woohoo for me. Seems not a lot has changed, people are still calling 4bets oop with TT and giving me freebee blinds all day, so I reduced my steal raise to 2.5x and it doesn't appear to be making any difference - so far so good.

What I have noticed since getting crushed to singularity recently is that I've reverted to 'type' as it were, in that I play something around the 17/14 mark again. Not a disaster and not many villains seem to care much either so I'll stick a few more onto the vpip/pfr and stay there for a bit til I get all comfy and cosy. I owned nl10 the last couple of times I was there so we'll see if that holds water this time.

My new move these days is bet big once and give up but that isn't possible here I think; maybe I could bet say $2 but SPR is very small and villain may just go with an under pair even.
I took the nitty line because I'm behind more often than not here at nl5 and assume the same at nl10 until I know better and I got to see the whole board develop anyway which is always nice.

In other news I am feeling a lot better now. I only tried to play a few hands at the weekend because it was that or watching 'Strictly Come Dancing' with she who is Legion and fk that for a game of soldiers.

Also, the mighty thazar scored a monster $75 at the weekend, how fkn cool is that! Sowell pleased a buddy hot one, that's two of them since the awesome Gary had $5.xk a while back.
I like hearing of people winning, it makes me smile.

Looks like we're getting storms tonight to.

Here's one of only two tunes I ever managed to teach myself (very badly) on a piano:

Play like Patrick, run like thazar and stay dry (unless you're a sardine of course).

Well nl10, just the same as nl5 only a couple of regs are better. Mainly ppl are nitty so when they start firing it's ok, but if they start firing huge squeaky bum time. Same old, same old.

Not sure if this is ok or not but BUvBB and villain is yet another with a silly 3bet% from there so whatever:

Owned ♦

Quite a few very agro-nutters about this morning like 42/37/16 that sort of stuff. Easy to play IP, you can do what you want, but be careful when in the blinds because these guys don't like to fold, ergo do not bluff (generally).

All in all I dropped a BI which was fine given the usual KK v AA setup. Sometimes I just really feel like it's aces when they fire out huge, but still go with it and then kick myself (wrongly imo) for doing it:

Villain is 12/5 or I push preflop, but if I do that here I get called by AA and he folds the lot otherwise. On the turn I tanked because if I bet I call the shove now, or I can chk behind but would I fold the river anyway if he shoves then? Possibly yes on a brick.

In other news I'm hoping to clean up in the satties for the MM series again this time around; they're really soft!
Also mrsgadget is feeling a lot better at the moment so that obviously rubs off on me so all is bright and shiny in gadget world today - tomorrow, meh, we'll see!

I'm now wondering if the new Halo game will be online multiplayer and download this and stream that; from rumours it seems that way.

Have a sunny day and yes that Welsh flag avatar stealing your blinds at nl10 is mine.

Will be keeping an eye open for that flag while I'm playing 😊

Originally posted by jbpatzer
Since Roo's so enthusiastic, I think we should restart The Zimmers. However, MisClick is stuck in a cleft between two steep rocks somewhere in the U.S.A. and will probably not be able to hack her own arm off in time to manage the club. Since she's the only one who can do this, we'll have to play somewhere else. Fortunately, I created the imaginatively named 'JB's Club' so that I could get my arse handed to me on a plate in last year's PS HU tournament. Let's play there.

Club ID number: 895115
Invitation Code: jbpatzer123

I reckon it's too ageist just to restrict it to old farts. Anyone can join but I reserve the right to throw you out if

(1) I don't like the cut of your jib,
(2) You check-raise me too often when I cbet 98% of my range,
(3) You're no fun.

Joining the club does not guarantee you entry to the Skype channel, because not everyone can cope with Roo asking what the rules of 2-7 single draw are for the 17th time.

We usually start three or four nanostakes MTTs in various games at about 8pm and play until Vorpal sucks out in the final HU pot.

Anybody up for 8pm this Thursday?