"..where she stops nobody knows"

Hi all, back again.

A very dodgy week this week, dropping $75 overall. Just variance getting back at me again. I've been AIPF 7 times in the last 2 days. Ahead 4 times, behind once and evens twice (AK both times). So naturally I won 1, split 1 and lost 5. BR now stands at $1,301!

On a more positive note I bluff shoved for the first time in .... well as long as I can remember! I raised and got called by the BB. flop was 2♦s and a :club:. I missed completely but did have the K♦:. He checked, I bet 1/3 pot and he called. Turn brings another but the board is otherwise unconnected. He checked, I bet 1/2 pot and he raised. I decided to call with my FD and we see a complete blank on the river. He checked and I just felt that he had raised with maybe the bare A♦:, I decided to go for it and shoved. I could easily have played a turned flush the same way so it seemed reasonable at the time. The pot was about $18 by this point so it was only a little over a pot sized bet. He tanked for nearly a minute and folded. Huuuge sigh of relief from me lol

I was going to play another session tonight but don't think I'm in the best of mindsets for it so decided to call it a night, poker wise at least. Recent results have been disappointing and I'm just hoping I can get back on the better side of variance again soon.

That's about it for me.

Have fun out there

Fagin

Back again with my usual Sunday evening update. Another poor week this week dropping $63. Just couldn't win a pot over a few $s. Getting out drawn like it was going out of fashion. BR stands at $1,238 now.

Didn't play through the week and only played a little on Fri and then some more yesterday and today. Today was just ..... difficult. I was dealt AA 7 times over 2 sessions. I picked up the blinds 5 times, folded to a shove on a monotone flop, all diamonds, where I had the black As, and then got a walk in the BB with the last lot.

3 bet with JJ on the B and got cold called by the SB, all others fold. Flop is A96r. He checks so I C bet, he calls. Turn is a Q. He checks and so do I. R is a 3. He checks and I check behind. He wins with 63os :f_cry::f_mad:

That was basically the story of my weekend's play. Murphy's law just stood up and smacked me in the face every chance it got. I get it in with an over pair and get called by a pair lower than mine that then rivers a set. It just carried on like that. I eventually quit this evening as I just couldn't see a way to win a pot. Value bets got folds every time and bluffs of exactly the same size got called by 2nd and 3rd pairs that won! I hit quads once and checked to the R then bet 1bb into an 8bb pot that got 2 folds!

Aargghhh!

Rant over. Nearly time for bed now, have to be out of the house by 05:50 so need to try to get some sleep.

Take care all

Fagin

Well, Sunday evening again so must be time for an update. Not played much at all this week, just Sat and Sun. Been having to drag myself out of bed for 04:30 every morning, so feeling shattered by 19:00. Not conducive to playing good poker.

So 1,007 hands played over yesterday and today, dropped $35 to leave the BR at $1,203. Feels like a struggle to win anything at the minute. Value bets get folds and bluffs get called by someone who hit on the T or R whichever I bet on. Slow playing just brings in the best cards for all the draws and when I bet for protection they fold and the draws wouldn't have hit anyway. My draws just miss when I bet them. Had 3 big combo draws today and bet them on F and T but nothing hit and each time I was beaten by 1 pair. Been quite frustrating in that regard.

I mentioned last week in another thread how I have noticed my stats vary greatly from one table to another and thought I'd give an example here. I normally play 4 tables and these stats are pulled from the same session. Both tables opened at the same time and this was after about 50 minutes. They are from the 2 extremes out of the 4 tables based solely on VPIP.

Table 1 - VPIP 14 PFR 12 ATS 21 3 bet 0 - 60 hands
Table 2 - VPIP 43 PFR 39 ATS 58 3 bet 17 - 31 hands

That's quite a difference and just emphasises the point that while these stats can be a useful guide they are only a guide and can be quite misleading. On the first table I look like a nit and the second more like a LAG but I'm playing the same ranges in all positions just getting more playable hands in the right situations on the 2nd table.

Ah well, that's about enough rambling from me. Catch you all again next week.

Cheers

Fagin

Well, another losing week this week although not quite as bad as some recent weeks. I dropped all of $6 although I only played Sat and Sun, about 1,088 hands total. BR now stands at $1,198. Mostly more of the same these last 2 days, just not being able to hit flops and no matter how well anyone plays, if your not hitting, your raises are being 3 bet and your C bets are being called or raised, it's kind of difficult to come away with a profit.

Away from the tables I have heard that my job is moving. I'm only on a 6 month contract and the role I'm in is being transferred to another company. The transfer comes under TUPE which I suppose is good, however it all happens on the 1st of next month and the new company can't even tell us which town the office will be in yet. Kind of makes it difficult to decide if I want to go along with everything. There's every possibility that my commute could go from 25 mins to 45 mins or more. My contract only has 7 weeks left and even if I accept the move I have no guarantee they will want to keep me on. First world problems I suppose.

Not much else to say this week. Hope you are all having better luck at the tables than I am.

Take care

Fagin

Back again with another Sunday evening update. Unfortunately the downswing not only continues but gathers pace. Dropped $142 this week in only 895 hands!

Sounds crazy but when you have luck like mine then it's easy. Hands like this helped - I'm dealt AA on the button. UTG limps and it's folded around to me. I misclick and instead of raising to $2.5 I just min raise ??? BB calls and then UTG raises to $5.75. I 4 bet to $17 and UTG calls. Flop comes 10, 6, 4 r. UTG checks and I have about $8 left so my only bet is to shove. UTG thinks for quite a while then calls turning over 88. The R is of course an 8. About 3 or 4 orbits later I get it AIPF against the same player. I have QQ he has KJ and of course he hits a K on the turn.

On another table I 3 bet from the BB with AQ and get a call from the LP raiser. We end up getting it in on a QQJJ board and to my surprise he shows KK and of course I'm anything but surprised when the R is a K. That was just in my Saturday morning session. The Fri evening and Sat evening sessions went nearly as well.

Couldn't bring myself to log in this morning. By the end of yesterdays evening session I was looking at KK in the BB and being thankful I got a walk cause it meant I couldn't lose anything with it.

Working earlies this week so not sure if I'll play at all. These shifts are tending to tire me out and with getting less sleep on the early week along with working an extra day I'm just shattered by Sat evening. I think I need to get my head together before I hit the tables again. Not really in the right headspace for playing, confidence is gone and when I'm seeing premium hands and wondering how much they will cost me it's not good.

On the work side of things we have a meeting with representatives from the new company tomorrow so I might get answers to some of my questions about the job and my future in it. Only 15 days to go before the transfer and no idea what is actually happening so there needs to be some solid info coming through.

Take care all

Fagin

Hi! Its great, that you choose to start the blog. It was great week. Congratulations!

Thanks for the comment Pokerpowerhouse1

So Sunday evening again and update time. Nothing to report Poker wise this week. I have played no hands at all. After the last few weeks of losses I felt that a break was in order. That it coincided with a hectic and mentally draining week at work is purely coincidence

I hope to get back to playing this week although it promises to be another hectic, demanding week so we'll see how things pan out.

On the work side the meeting I mentioned last time happened and the representatives from the other company seemed virtually clueless and couldn't answer most of our questions. About the only clear thing we got out of them was that we would all be told to turn up somewhere on the 1st April at a specific time and then we would have a 1:1 where they would let us know if we fit into their way of running things and thus discover if we actually had jobs. Not very encouraging so I've already applied for another job elsewhere and put a couple of feelers out amongst the company I am with now.

Hope to be back next week with better news.

Take care all

Fagin

So, here we are again on another Sunday evening.

I played a little this week (turned out to be 4,800 hands). Decided to drop down to NL10. If the downswing is going to continue I may as well play at a lower limit ! Think it's better confidence wise too. Losing a BI at this level means so much less. The bets seem small and the stacks do too (quite a few more short stacks at NL 10).

Played reasonably on most sessions, poorly on a couple and well on one. Finished the week down $9 which was reasonable with the BR now standing at $1,044.88. Could have been up quite a bit except for the impact of variance. I had 4 or 5 hands where villain hit a 2 or 3 outer on the river. That's just how it goes when the downswing carries on I suppose. Played 5 tables most of the week and had a 17 minute period this evening where I didn't hit a flop ! Don't know what that was all about but it doesn't help get back on the positive side of things when I can't hit a flop with anything.

On to better news now ... The place I work at advertised a job, essentially the one I was doing. I applied, got interviewed and was offered the job on Friday. It's a permanent, full time contract as opposed to the 6 month contract I was on. That means not having to TUPE to another company where they may not want me. I would have had to turn up on Tuesday at a Premier Inn and basically interview for a job without knowing what the role might be in advance. Completely stupid way to do things and seems to go against everything that TUPE was set up for but apparently it's all within the regulations. This way I just start my new role at the same desk I have been at for the last 5 months Yippieeee!!

Hoping to drag myself out of this downswing soon and be able to report some actual positive progress on the BR Challenge.

Take care all

Fagin

Keep it up mate.

VERY conservative BR management when you play NL10 with $1k+ bankroll, bbut do what feels comfortable I guess...

Good to hear that real life stuff is going your way!

Back again with my usual Sunday evening update. I get to report a profit this week Nothing too huge, just $8 but at least it's positive.

Could have been more if not for hands like this one. Had another one where villain hit runner runner srt8 against my flopped set but that's the way it seems to be going at the moment.

"VERY conservative BR management when you play NL10 with $1k+ bankroll, bbut do what feels comfortable I guess..." Thanks for dropping by Timmaywin. I'm not sure it's so much about being comfortable, (although I am very comfortable at NL10), as it is about loss limitation. I seem to be going backwards at the moment, losing a lot of hands where I'm getting it in as the favourite, going numerous orbits without hitting flops and only managing to win pots by bluffing (not always successfully). Recognising this it would seem silly to continue at NL25 while this downswing carries on. I plan to get back there when I feel that I'm at least breaking even consistently and not just getting 1 or 2 winning sessions out of 8 or 10.

I'm fast approaching the anniversary of my getting to Platinum Octopus via a promotion and when that arrives I'll have to take all my accumulated Platinum Rewards (currently standing at just over $160). This is still about 6 weeks away but it will be a significant boost to my BR when it happens. I'll try to take it myself rather then have it dropped on me automatically.

IRL the new job seems to be going well. I'll have to work every other Saturday but will have every other Thursday off so not too bad.

Have a good week all

Take care

Fagin

Hi all, bac k again with another Sunday evening update. Nothing good to report this week, I dropped just shy of $49 over only 1,750 hands. Just not been hitting and when I have I've been out drawn or out kicked or just out bet every time.

Typical hand I raise in LP with 88, button calls and the SB 3 bets. I though about folding but figured I'd call this time. The button calls also so 3 ways to a flop.

Flop comes 872r. SB leads out, I call to keep the B in. The B raises, the SB calls and I decide to 3 bet. I figured one of them for an over pair and the other for a smaller set and I wanted to get the money in now.

The B calls and the SB shoves. I call as does the B putting over 335 BB in the middle. The B has KK for the over pair and the SB has 65os ??? Turn is a 4 and River is a 5 leaving the worst hand when all the money went in to take down the pot. Just one example of how well I've been running lately. According to PokerCraft I'm running over $40 below ev. It feels like it too.

In my new job I don't work Bank Holidays so I have a 4 day weekend coming up. I'll probably play a fair bit of poker over the 4 days so we'll see how things go. Hopefully I'll be able to play some good focused poker and get past all the bad running I''ve been getting.

That's about it it for now.

Take care all

Fagin

Here we go again with another Sunday evening update, a positive one this time with a small profit of $12 after 2,853 hands at NL10, leaving me with a BR of $1017

Had a few nice hands this weekend, quads 4 times although all winning small pots of less than 40bb. There was one interesting hand where I hit a str8 flush on the turn and the villain shoved ?? He didn't even have a pair at the time lol.
The table dynamic was interesting, lots of pots where there were multiple callers pre so often 4 or more to the flop.
I called a R in LP with a suited A♥:7♥: after UTG raises and MP calls and the SB decides to come along for the ride.
We went 4 ways to the flop where I flop the nut flush (4♥:6♥:5♥ with an OESFD and the SB bets pot?? The others fold and I call to see what he does on the turn :sifflote:.
The turn brings the lovely 8♥: giving me the absolute nuts and the SB decides the pot needs to be bigger and puts his remaining 61bb in as a donation to my stack!! I of course call and he turns over A♠:T♦: ?? I guess he was bluffing

That was definitely my hand of the day lol.

Only played on the weekend (including the Fri) as I've been off work. I get BHs off so a nice long weekend for me after 4 x 10 and 11 hour days (been hectic at work and I've been the main person there a lot of the time). Another day off tomorrow so will probably play some in the morning. May move to NL25 again as I'm feeling better about my game and actually starting to hit a few hands again!

That's about it for now.

take care all

fagin

Sunday evening again and here I am, this time reporting a varied but ultimately profitable week! I started off returning to NL25 and within about 45 minutes of playing 4 tables I had lost $45. Just couldn't win a hand. Got it in with AA and KK vs lower pairs and had no chance at all. They were pretty much guaranteed to win. Finished that session on $960 and felt down. I thought I had played reasonable well, kept getting my chips in ahead but still lost.

I didn't play for a few days and then put in a 50 minute session of 6 tables at NL10 and broke even despite the suck outs.

Saturday evening I decided to play a session and for some reason opened up 4 NL25 tables. I played about 45 minutes and was pleasantly surprised to find I was only down about $10 by the end.

Then came Sunday morning. I decided to play NL25 again and did well. I finished up about $45 for the session! Played again in the evening and finished up again with a total of $20 profit for the week. That was despite dropping $27 with KK vs AA! Overall I felt I played well and made some good folds and a few good calls also. There may even have been a few well timed bluffs in there too lol.

The new job seems to be going well. My manager and their manager have both told me they are glad they were able to keep me and I'm enjoying it there so all good for now.

I'll be back again next week with another update.

Cheers all

Fagin

Another Sunday evening update - nothing good to report this week, only played 1,300 hands and dropped $50. With the exception of a couple of short sessions I've not played well. Donked away about $45 in 3 orbits on 1 table by overplaying hands on Friday evening. Played reasonably on Saturday and today but been getting unlucky in big pots. Picking up some small to medium pots (up to 40bb ish) but the big AI pots have not been going my way at all.

Getting late and I'm tired tonight after a busy week and staying up watching F1 this weekend.

Catch up again next week.

Stay lucky

Fagin

Well here I am back again with yet another Sunday evening update. Some good news this evening with a profit this week of $152.91 from 2,568 hands at NL25 leaving me with a BR of $1,139.26 :f_drink::f_drink:

That's wiped out the loss from last week and gained me another $100 on top !!

An excellent week with some run good and some well timed bluffs. I lost my share of big pots, mainly due to villain sucking out on me but I held my nerve and played well overall. Enjoyed playing too and there were 2 evenings I would have liked to play but decided I was too mentally drained from work to be able to play my A game so held off and I think it was the right decision.

I've been checking out my rake back deal which is due to end in 10 days. If I don't take the cash it will be automatically transferred to my account on the 21st but I would prefer to take it myself, (something about having some control over it), so I'll do that either next Sunday or perhaps in the few days after. Either way it will be another $190 coming in to the BR so I'm expecting another positive result next week also.

Outside of poker my job is going well. I had a 1:1 with my manager this week and I was told they were extremely happy with my work so that was a nice ego boost!

That's about it for now.

Catch you all next week.

Cheers

Fagin

Sunday evening is back and so am I

Not sure how to describe this week, managed to lose just shy of $130 by playing reasonably well for the most part. Just not hitting draws and if I'm honest I've apparently been making some huge errors by getting it AIPF with AK. This just seems to be my primary downfall this week. Just for proof have a look at this from PokerCraft -

That's $115 of the $130 I've lost has come from playing AK. I'm apparently running about $75 below EV for this week also.

All that extra profit from AA is either picking up the blinds or a few 3 bets that got folds. The huge profit from KK is mainly from getting it in with a flopped set vs a short stack who bluff shoved the turn with complete air.

It has been strange today, almost every draw I've bet I've been called to the R and I've missed. Those I've checked instead, I've hit and villain has folded to a 1/3 pot bet! Very strange and difficult weekend. Almost been dreading getting AK this evening and the number of times villain has played rubbish and run into two pair or trips on the river has been just astonishing. I've been amazed that I have been losing the minimum most of the time on those hands. Some instinct just telling me to check behind and finding they would have called virtually and bet I made has been my saviour at times.

Enough babbling from me. I'll take the rakeback in the next couple of days and see how I do next week. At least it will make up for the losses this week.

Take care all

Fagin

Hi, back again with a Sunday evening update. BR this week stands at $1,178.39. I collected the rake back and played about 1,600 hands managing to drop about $60 on Tuesday and picked up most of it again today so roughly even for the week (within $2 anyway).

Poker wise it's been a quite week as I've been working late shifts, getting home about 19:00, sort my dog out, cook and eat dinner and by then we're looking at nearly 21:00 and I'm knackered and not in the right frame of mind to play good poker lol

Not had many hands of note. Seen AA about 6 times and managed to pick up the blinds every time bar 1 where I got it in vs a short stack (about $10) with KQos who wanted to run it twice. I agreed, won the first and freerolled through the 2nd winning that too which made a nice change.

Had 1 nice one earlier this evening where I raised from EP with A♣:K♣:. I had a call from the button and a raise from the BB. I was tempted to just call but decided to 4 bet and got called by the BB. The flop came 9♣:7♣:3♣: and the BB checked.
I was tempted to check back but ended up putting a 1/3 pot bet which got called.
The T was Q♦:. He checked and I checked behind thinking I was only likely to get 2 streets of value anyway and I took the risk of a dodgy R.
The R was the 5♥: and he checked. I bet 2/3 pot and he tanked for about 20s and called with A♠:Q♥:. that was a nice little pot. Might in hindsight have been able to get some more out of him if I bet the turn but at least I won the pot.

Not much else of note this week.

Take care out there

Fagin

Here I am again with another update. Another bad few sessions with about $180 dropped over the last 2 weeks leaving the BR at $999. Running way below EV and even PokerCraft shows me in the Bad Luck range.

Not sure what's happening other then bad luck. I seem to be playing reasonably well, losing the min on a large number of hands where I've checked behind because I knew I was behind and would be called if I bet and they have turned over the winner so often it's ridiculous. Quite a few times they have checked the nuts OOP to me on the river after calling 2/3 pot bets on F and T to hit runner runner flush or straight and my check behind has saved me from losing sooo much more.

I am finding players 3 betting me from the blinds with hands like 96os and hitting bottom pair on the flop, calling 2 bets, then hitting trips or a str8 on the R. Just so many times they are getting lucky and I'm not. My raises PF with premium hands pick up the blinds and raises with anything else get 3 and 4 bet and I have to fold.

If I manage to hit a flop and C bet they fold. If I miss and C bet they either call or raise. I split a pot earlier today when we both had J10os hit trips on the flop and was bet call to the R where it all went in and the split felt like a win.

I've not played much recently due to feeling mentally exhausted from work so may take a break for a week or two. I have a week of coming up at the end of the month so am looking forward to playing more then.

Take care all

Fagin

Hi, back again with a Sunday evening update. as predicted I've not played much this week, only 1,787 hands dropping $17 ish. BR now stands at $981.9. going the wrong way but struggling to get anywhere at the minute.

Got it in with QQ vs 88 at one point and of course he hit his 2 outer. It was one of those times where I just knew he was going to hit. I even said NH before the cards came out. In another hand I flopped a FD with an OESD and top pair. Got it in vs nothing and he hit runner, runner to make trips vs my missed draws. Just not happening for me and I'm not really seeing any reason for it. I make the same C bet with a flopped str8, set, over pair, top pair etc as I do with just over cards. I even make the effort to leave a similar time before betting, all my value bets get folds and my semi-bluffs and bluffs get calls and raises. I try to check behind on flops that I hit and nobody bets turn or river. I check behind on those I miss and villain leads the turn where I have nothing and have to fold.

I'll just have to try to push through this phase and hopefully come out the other end with minimal losses.

Working late shifts this week so unlikely to play much if at all. Maybe a little on Thurs as I have the day off due to working Sat so we'll see.

Enough negativity from me.

Take care all

Fagin

Update time again!

Well I only played a little this week as predicted, 628 hands to be exact. Managed to show a profit of $37 which is good, leaving my BR at $1019.

Not much to talk about poker wise, standard hands playing out either in my favour or not, nothing special at all really.

I'm finally on holiday for a week. Nothing too much planned, mostly staying home and tending to the garden. I'll drop over to my previous job and see a few people there which I'm looking forward to. It might seem strange but I miss them. We were a good team with no issues and just a group of like minded people who worked well together and enjoyed it.

I hope to play more this week, may even try to get to 5k hands which may not seem a lot to all the grinders here but as it's 6 weeks or more since I hit 2.5 k hands it will seem a lot to me.

Take care all

Fagin