Kaitz's poker career

Great story to read, I wish you the best of luck with your objectives!

Survived first day of NL 25 Fullring tables(Y)

First impression: it isn´t so thought, but the players are better.
Won the biggest pot of my life: 55,60$.
I had KK, the other guy QQ. I think he played that hand badly. There was raise, he 3-bet and I 4-bet pre-flop. he called. Flop was T45. I bet out almost the pot, he called. Turn was T. I moved all-in and he again called. He could called flop bet- but I would even fold that. 4-bet pre-flop even in Nl 25 means AA or KK. On the turn he could saved 20$. Easy money.
The other double-up was when I hit my set and SB had oesd+flushdraw: Luckily he didn´t improved, but it is still strange, when MP3 bets out to 3$ pot 1$, I re-raise 3,5$ and SB moves all-in 23$. I should lay down my aces any time against these push. The best i could hope is oesd+flushdraw.

So my bankroll is up to 29$:P Total amount of 530$

Tried to play also 9 tables. It was hard. For now on I would play 7-8 tables max, if I get used all the action.

When I reach 625$ I would move to shorthanded tables. Reason for that: thanks for Pokerstrategy there are a lot of SSS players who are quite good. Don´t like to bet/fold with my TT, JJ, AQ And even if I have KK this might happen:

0.10/0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (10 handed)
Hand recorder used for this poker hand: Texas Grabem 1.9 by www.pokerstrategy.com.

Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with K♠, K♣. CO posts a blind of $0.25.
2 folds, Hero raises to $1.25, 5 folds, SB raises to $3.75, BB folds, Hero raises to $8.00, SB raises to $5.77 (All-In).

Flop: ($14.27) 6♥, 4♦, 3♣
Turn: ($14.27) 9♠
River: ($14.27) 2♠

Final Pot: $14.27

Results follow (highlight to see):
SB shows [ Ad, Ah ] a pair of Aces
Hero shows [ Ks, Kc ] a pair of Kings
Hero wins $2.23 USD with a pair of Kings.
SB wins $11.44 USD with a pair of Aces.

Shorthanded tables should be a lot looser. Now a lot of BSS players are also quite tight and aggressive.

I think that I also made one good laydown. I openraised with AK, good aggressive multiply BSS player called. Flop A J♣4♠ I bet out almost the pot 2$, he made 6$ re-raise. Very though spot. I just can´t call I have to decide, if I want to play for stacks. This time I put him on set and folded, maybe next time when I have some reads against him I push:)

Tomorrows day task:
Thanks to SSS, my stats to NL 25 is with 12 464 hands - 8,15$ (-0,13 BB) Playing with BSS I like to make that number positive again. Also hope to make some good calls and valuebets.

Well I agree, SSS basically kills the action for big stack strategy players. With all these short stacks at the table, there's so little to be done after the flop and implied odds for any drawing hand get crushed... ugh.

I have some question for you guys playing BSS. I play SSS and there is a lot of downswings, upswings, but in general there is so little profit or bankroll is building very slow...Do you think it is easier to build a bankroll with BSS? I have some doubts in SSS...i just think, i would easier build a bankroll with BSS?

If you have decent postflop skills, then I think so yea. There's some lineair correlation between the size of your starting stack and the size of something censored.

In SSS, even if you play perfectly, your BR evolution is completely dependant on your cards, while in BSS there are more EV0 situation that you can make EV+ if you play them right. It's a lot more complicated to play though.
But if I can help one SSS player out of the world, I'll grab that opportunity.

Originally posted by drachdudek
I have some question for you guys playing BSS. I play SSS and there is a lot of downswings, upswings, but in general there is so little profit or bankroll is building very slow...Do you think it is easier to build a bankroll with BSS? I have some doubts in SSS...i just think, i would easier build a bankroll with BSS?

i think it is easier + add one big advantage: you learn how to play poker ;-)

I also like BSS more (probably because I don´t loose there:)).
Played one November night SSS at 9 tables. That was horrible. I didn´t get any hands and all the BSS players stole my blinds. When I raised with any normal hand, all folded. When I decided to go to bed, I was down 4 stacks (-40$) without really doing anything wrong.
SSS probably works against loose calling stations. But players who know how to act against SSS players it can´t be very successful. I will bet/fold my JJ once, maybe twice, but third time I have AA and probably stack your JJ+, AK. Also I steal a lot of your blinds;)
Since you´re gold status, try a little NL 10 BSS. It is so good, when you are not pot committed and can make good fold, you should outplay these donks easily:P. Also you don´t get drawn out so much as SSS player.
Whats regarding building bankroll:
- playing SSS I made 150$-400$ in 5 mounths (including 50$ from freeroll money and 50$ bonus for playing 14 days) ant then back to 315$
- playing BSS I´ve made last 3-4 weeks 315$-530$.
But I probably had downswing playing SSS and maybe upswing playing BSS.
Choice is yours, my friend:)

Well, you can blame SSS for its simplicity or whatsoever, but it has some advantages. And your thoughts about profitability of SSS are definately underestimated) solid SSS player can make at least the same ammount of money and under some conditions even more (playing absolutely headache-free poker)) It doesn`t mean that you have to stick with SSS for whole life, but it is a great way to build a bankroll.
Besides, because of its simplicity you can study some fundamentals of the game way more effectively and I am not talking about making properly sized bets pre-flop)

Anyway, Kaitz, nice to hear that you are moving up again ! good luck

@ xylere : actually, what winrate can be expected from SSS?

let's say u let 10 solid players play 100,000 hands... what average would you expect?

Thanks for your suggestions..I ve decided that i ll stick at SSS until January (then i will have my bankroll arround 250 - 300$) and then i ll play arround 10.000 - 15.000 hands BSS at NL10 and then i ll see..I will let you know about results and benchmark;).

Originally posted by Floating
@ xylere : actually, what winrate can be expected from SSS?

let's say u let 10 solid players play 100,000 hands... what average would you expect?

The common wisdom says SS player will have 1-2BB winrate on avergae. I believe it is true for limits NL 1k+. Before that 3-4BB is very much possible.

But its not he point. The reason why SSS offers faster grinding possibilities are:

1) more tables
2) higher limits

Lets take two players with the bankrolls of 2000$

BSS:
- 8 tables
- winrate 6BB
- NL 100

SSS:
-12 tables
- winarate 2BB
- NL 200

BSS - 8x50/100 x 6$ = 24$ per hour
SSS - 12x50/100 x 4$ = 24$ per hour

those estimations are rough, but they reflect my idea.. On top of that, SSS is more exciting in terms of fast climbing)

You have to play quite perfect game on NL 25 to reach 3-4 BB/100 hands. But anyway, good that my postings had feedback. Sat today table with 8 SSS players:)- too many competitors.

Todays goal is achieved. After 13 357 hands on NL 25 I´m again winning player:P +9$ more and bankroll is reaching 550$ (549$)

I think that I played fine. Post here two hands where I made good calls:

Known players: (for a description of vp$ip, pfr, ats, folded bb, af, wts, wsd or hands click here)       
[tg]Position_Stack:hands/vp$ip/pfr/af/wts/ats/foldbb/w$sd;BB$15.69:///////;Hero$26.67:///////;[/tg]
0.10/0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (9 handed)
Hand recorder used for this poker hand: Texas Grabem 1.9 by www.pokerstrategy.com.

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with A♥, K♦
4 folds, Hero raises to $1.00, 3 folds, BB calls $0.75.

Flop: ($2.10) A♠, J♦, 3♣ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.50, BB calls $1.50.

Turn: ($5.10) 5♣ (2 players)
BB bets $5, Hero calls $5.00.

River: ($15.10) J♠ (2 players)
BB bets $8.19 (All-In), Hero calls $8.19.

Final Pot: $31.48

Results follow (highlight to see):
BB shows [ Ac, 8c ] two pairs, Aces and Jacks
Hero shows [ Ah, Kd ] two pairs, Aces and Jacks
Hero wins $29.91 USD with two pairs, Aces and Jacks with King kicker.

He played that strangely for set. or two pair. On the river I was pot committed but I could put him all-in on the turn.

Known players: (for a description of vp$ip, pfr, ats, folded bb, af, wts, wsd or hands click here)     
[tg]Position_Stack:hands/vp$ip/pfr/af/wts/ats/foldbb/w$sd;Hero$30.29:///////;MP1$3.90:///////;MP3$15.20:///////;SB$8.50:///////;[/tg]
0.10/0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (9 handed)
Hand recorder used for this poker hand: Texas Grabem 1.9 by www.pokerstrategy.com.

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5♠, 9♠
2 folds, MP1 calls $0.25, MP2 folds, MP3 calls $0.25, 2 folds, SB calls $0.15, Hero checks.

Flop: ($1.00) 5♣, 4♣, 2♦ (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.75, MP1 folds, MP3 calls $0.75, SB folds.

Turn: ($2.50) J♥ (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 checks.

River: ($2.50) 8♦ (2 players)
Hero checks, MP3 bets $1.25, Hero calls $1.25.

Final Pot: $5.00

Results follow (highlight to see):
Hero shows [ 5s, 9s ] a pair of Fives
MP3 shows [ 6d, Ah ] high card Ace
Hero wins $4.75 USD with a pair of Fives.

Again nice call. I put him on the busted flush draw and wanted to see, if I was right. Don´t like to bet/fold turn with my kicker.

And now @ all the SSS players: I would raise any two against you to steal your blinds. Bet amount would be 0,75 (3BB). Thatś my tomorrows test. Then I can bet/call with A8, now I how to fold that legation raising hand. Wonder how many players dear to make moves to my constant stealing^^ Variance is bigger, but hopefully this is +ev project. Thanks to SSS players I can´t play no more AK against SSS raise or JJ. And lost of course two coinflips: still wonder how could SSS player bet/push with AQ:D against my JJ (BU vs SB) and the another one was AK vs QQ. Liked my call there for pot odds.

Today is Party night:P After three weeks can drink again alcohol:D. One friend is doing party at her fathers house, nice to meet my friends over a while.
Cee ya.

My bankroll has gone down and up again. Now its stayed to 550$ and since my exams is starting next week I´ve to study a lot and taking a little break from poker.

I think that my win rate should be a little higher, but I´m trying out new things. Although I know that opponent has better hands I like to bluff him out of the pot. Silly moves take a lot of $. Should just play ABC poker on NL 25.

Posting also one laydown with KK pre-flop. Now I´ve already made two laydowns with KK, not sure if I´m loosing money there, but NL 25 is so tight that big stacks wont stack off with QQ or AK. And if I have KK, then the other guy must hold KK or AA. Don´t want to find that out by calling:

0,10/0,25 No-Limit Hold'em (10 handed)
Hand recorder used for this poker hand: Texas Grabem 1.9 by www.pokerstrategy.com.

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with K♣, K♦
UTG raises to $0,50, UTG+1 calls $0,50, UTG+2 raises to $1,50, MP1 folds, Hero raises to $6,00, 5 folds, UTG raises to $25,42 (All-In), 3 folds.

Final Pot: $33,77

I don't think laying down kings pre-flop is a good strategy. Even the world champions would commit all of their money to the pot pre-flop if possible with kings
Move all-in if possible and the rest is bad or good luck

well the world champions sometimes lay down their kings preflop.

but it is different as the game they are playing is live, and therefore there is a great deal of reading going on. for us online players, it is always wrong to fold KK in cash games

Never folded KK PF because on NL25 a lot of people push PF with QQ JJ AK sometimes even TT AQ

People who push with TT+ or AQ are SSS players:) I have also seen middle stacks pushing with these hands. Here he had 25$ and I just can´t imagine another hand (expect KK) which is played that strong.

well the world champions sometimes lay down their kings preflop.

Perhaps only against a newbie player whose body shakes so obviously that it's impossble to have anything but aces. Or there are several raises and reraises before them to act.. But these cases are too rare to take into consideration

How would you like it if somebody folded kings when you had aces? ♦