Diary of an I-Poker Reg

I just played a session of 8 but made some really silly mistakes:

** Hand History for Game 1111111111 ** (IPoker)
Tourney Hand NL Texas Hold'em - Monday, July 28, 04:18:04 ET 2014
Table Dirty Dozen Jackpot Sit N Go 833067350 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Seat 1: Player1 ( 950 ) - VPIP: 17, PFR: 11, 3B: 8, AF: 1.5, Hands: 397
Seat 3: Player3 ( 450 ) - VPIP: 50, PFR: 13, 3B: 0, AF: 0.5, Hands: 8
Seat 5: Player5 ( 1120 ) - VPIP: 50, PFR: 38, 3B: 0, AF: 6.0, Hands: 8
Seat 6: Hero ( 970 ) -
Seat 8: Player8 ( 1900 ) - VPIP: 75, PFR: 25, 3B: 33, AF: 2.0, Hands: 8
Seat 10: Player10 ( 610 ) - VPIP: 17, PFR: 11, 3B: 8, AF: 1.5, Hands: 397
Player5 posts small blind [20].
Hero posts big blind [40].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ Qd Qs ]
Player8 folds
Player10 folds
Player1 folds
Player3 folds
Player5 raises [140]
Hero calls [120]
** Dealing Flop ** [ Js, 3c, 2s ]
Player5 bets [160]
Hero raises [360]
Player5 calls [200]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ad ]
Player5 bets [600]
Hero calls [450]
** Dealing River ** [ 5d ]
Player5 wins 2090 from main pot
Player5 shows [Ah, Qc ]

--------------------------------------
Villain was a LAG who stole a lot. I'm OK with my trap pre flop but my bet sizing on flop is all wrong. My biggest mistake was calling the all in even though I put him on a raggy A.

I had a few unlucky 4ths, usually getting my chips in ahead but I ended the session with 1 win, 1 second and 3 fourths giving me a net profit of €4.92. Almost flipping burger profits

http://www.handconverter.com/ to convert your hands, raw hand history is more time-consuming to understand. Good luck at the tables!

Originally posted by Ovalman
I just played a session of 8 but made some really silly mistakes:

** Hand History for Game 1111111111 ** (IPoker)

Nice one!
That just seemed to jump off the page at me -- or does your hand converter munge the game # too?

I'm going to go back and read the rest of your blog now...

[Edit I just noticed your other HH and saw the 1111... there too. I got all excited for nothing]

Thanks for pointing out the promos on WH.
I generally avoide promos, since when I'm in one, I take more time out of my day to play poker than usual, and I start missing RL obligations -- not good.

I think some are doable even with my current schedule -- I'll check 'em out.

Oh and here's another multi-purpose hand converter if you don't like the other one...
http://www.feralcowpoker.com/poker-hand-history-converter.php

Best of luck,
--VS

Copied and pasted from Holdem Manager. I'm not sure if I-Poker has Tournament numbers so maybe HEM just applies this number? I can't find a TID in my cashier.

Will do from now on SteeSteeStee although I'm having trouble getting it to work.

Copy the raw hand history to ”HAND HISTORY HERE”, click Convert! and copy the ”OUTPUT” to Reply Post. Change ”RESULTS DISPLAY” to Show results in case you want to show results and Hide results in case not.

Will do.

I think his chips are going in even if I shove the flop. He only see's AQo which is a monster. I don't think he's ever folding but that doesn't take away from my poor call. If I'd have stacked off on the flop and lost I'd be OK with that. I put him on ATC as a steal so I don't think 3 betting pre flop is my optimal play in this spot. He'll fold the majority of times he doesn't have a hand.

Originally posted by Ovalman
Copied and pasted from Holdem Manager. I'm not sure if I-Poker has Tournament numbers so maybe HEM just applies this number? I can't find a TID in my cashier.

Will do from now on SteeSteeStee although I'm having trouble getting it to work.

In HM2 when you view the hand, on the bottom right their is an icon that when you hover over it, it says "copy hand in xxx format"
Elsewhere there is an option to set the format to PokerStrategy.
When you do that, you can post hands with three clicks.

Cheers,
--VS

Thanks for the promo tip, I tend to neglect free bet offers as they're low in absolute terms and I like to rake 4 figures a month To each their own.

As for the hand, def-ly 3bet pre for value, defence from Ax/Kx and to make your 3betting range stronger (so that you can also add speculative hands).

Regarding posting hands, I'm a happy PT4 user, but HM2 also has an option to copy a hand into the clipboard in the ready any-forum format too (depicted as '2+2' iirc).

Yeah I was being trappy with the QQ, I felt he was stealing with any 2 cards so I felt 3 betting would push him off the hand. I never usually slow play hands but I felt that was a good spot to do so. As I said, he was the type that was never folding it both pre and post flop so even if I had shoved the flop he was still calling. I was more annoyed with myself for calling his shove when the A came. I should have got away from the hand.

I'm only at micro stakes. I like swimming with the fishies but as I said I make decent pocket money from the game. I'd rake just over £100 a month on all sites but my net profits would be a lot more than that. I just wish those Maui Jackpots were 6 max instead of full ring. The RIO Jackpots are just too big a step up in buy in. That's £30 worth of free bets each month which if layed off on Betfair can make you £25. All these promotions add up. I'd rather go the ROI route than be a rakeback/ leaderboard break even player.

I'd a horrible run losing 6 in a row but I pulled it out of the hat in the end by winning 2 in a row.

Net profits were only €6.80 in 24 Jackpot SnGs. Besides rakeback, I'm clearing a $10 bonus on Betfair. I really should play the site more.

I can't post images doh!

Here's one spot I found difficult:

** Hand History for Game 1111111111 ** (IPoker)
Tourney Hand NL Texas Hold'em - Monday, July 28, 09:03:53 ET 2014
Table Dirty Dozen Jackpot Sit N Go 833086042 (Real Money)
Seat 3 is the button
Seat 1: Player1 ( 5854 ) - VPIP: 23, PFR: 18, 3B: 5, AF: 5.7, Hands: 244
Seat 3: Player3 ( 1086 ) - VPIP: 32, PFR: 14, 3B: 5, AF: 4.3, Hands: 78
Seat 6: Player6 ( 3938 ) - VPIP: 23, PFR: 0, 3B: 0, AF: 0.8, Hands: 60
Seat 8: Hero ( 1122 )
Player6 posts small blind [150].
Hero posts big blind [300].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ 6c 9h ]
Player1 folds
Player3 raises [600]
Player6 folds
Hero raises [822]
Player3 calls [486]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 3h, Jd, Kd ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2d ]
** Dealing River ** [ 5d ]
Player3 wins 2322 from main pot
Hero wins 36 from main pot
Player3 shows [5h, Ad ]

Villain was 33 VPiP/15 PFR/ 7.1 3Bet in 78 hands so pretty laggy but his steal rate was only 17%. I guessed I was 40/ 60 and got that right but just wondering should I be stacking off here? As a bubble play I think it's a fold but I had already min cashed here so I was looking for a spot to double up.

edit, sorry gave wrong stats.

I'll get a Poker770 account made and get my silver star sorted. I should be able to post hand histories and graphs when I do so.

Poker770 is surely the best iPoker skin for the purpose of getting the Silver/Gold status (not so much for high volume players as there are hardly any special venue-wide promos for grinders, except the VIP program that's capped at ~50% like every top-tier iPoker site).

Originally posted by Ovalman
I just wish those Maui Jackpots were 6 max instead of full ring.

Yeah, I think pretty every reg wishes that I guess it's part of the marketing strategy: 'look, it takes only 5 wins, not 6!' (and Rios can't be 10-max because they wouldn't fill fast enough with this kind of traffic).

I've been in freefall the past week, I can't win a flip, I'm playing bad and it's affecting me mentally.

I know I've been here before and I will turn things around but no matter what I do it just doesn't seem to go right. Last night for example I played in a Betfair Vegas package, I played in a pretty laggy style but it got me to the final table bubble. I was comfortable in chips but I wanted to bully the bubble. It was a very top heavy prize pool, winner got £2500 Vegas prize, 9th got €10 and 10th got €1. As a result I came 10th and kicked myself afterwards.

I'm net down a lot over the past week although I have the bankrolls to take the swings. It's pretty demoralising though so I'm stopping my grind and will play a few freerolls/ low stakes and iron things out.

As we speak, just lost A9 v JTo aipf(he flops a straight) and AJo v AKo ai on a TTJ board. I generally get it in good but there's nothing I can do against the variance.

You played it right, don't kick yourself please.

You have to develop a calmer attitude to swings that are big in absolute terms but small relatively to your liferoll. You're rich and can afford them, they're just inevitable small bites on the road to an even bigger success.

And you weren't the worst player/reg in the world yesterday anyway - my MTT performance was so pathetic that I won't even disclose it in public

If it's any consolation, I just got knocked out of the 20k depositor freeroll on WHill/Ipoker with KK vs 99 on a 2,8,10,9,A flop. Things were almost as bad on the Facebook Freeroll.

Worse for you when you got so far and saw the chance of a big prize. Congratulations on that anyway. You were nobbled by a cruel payout structure and bad luck. Just take a day off from poker and you're outlook if not your luck will be refreshed.

If it's any consolation to you, I just forgot that it was set at 17:00 UK (earlier than usual VIP freerolls) and just didn't register

Thanks for the kind words guys and good to know other players run bad as well

I know how it works, I've been here many times in the past. I've a thicker skin nowadays but I still take it bad. When I hit spells like this I tend to go back to my freeroll roots or just change sites (even if their on the same network). I opened up a Winner account tied to Pokerstrategy and took up the free £10. I played a few games there and then moved back due to the freerolls like the depositors one earlier.

I'll just not put in my usual volume until I can iron out any mistakes or my form comes back.

I'm currently playing the gift treat final and will be playing the Pokercast later. I think I'll just watch some training material afterwards. I know just 1 MTT score will change things around and I'm still well over rolled for many of the games I'm playing.

Got my losses back for the weekend and a little profit by coming 8th in the Special Gifts tourney on William Hill for £60. Kicked myself but think I made the right shove KQo v AA and it crippled me. He had a very high fold to steal stat and 8 BBs in his stack but I also had only 11 BBs for my shove. Think it was a standard spot.

Disappointed but happy enough. I made a major mistake early in the game calling a 3 way pot AQo v KK v 77 but I hit lucky and set me on my ways. I understand my mistake though.

I think I've digressed from these posts 2 years ago even though I've hit the (now defunct) Dirty Dozen Jackpot another 2 times. I honestly know 10x more than I did 2 years ago. My biggest win however was getting my hand history digested by a pro. He showed spots where I could steal, raise more/ lose less in different spots. He made me think on a different level.

My digression is I'm too much of a bankroll nit despite nearly £5k withdrawals last year. I've $100 or less on most sites meaning playing <$5. Betfair games keep me ticking over even though I lost £50 last week. I'm highly profitable but that's more due to table selection than skill. I've turned zero into +£500 withdrawals this year for example.

I got eaten at €20 STT on Paddy Power, maybe a little unfortunate but marginal spots cost me. I need to work on ICM decisions. I think poker sites are moving towards more bingo games and why they removed the Dirty Dozen.

I have my own website turning zero into £1k/ $1k/ €1k but I'm an affiliate myself so won't spam the site.

I honestly think there's a lot of money in poker still, maybe not for the pro but for the low stakes reg definitely.

Guess if I stepped in dog poo yesterday there would have been a fiver under it. I netted over £50 winning 2 games and a third in another. It wiped out my losses for the week. I've been playing a very laggy type game which works in these games but it get very swingy, I know myself I should tighten up because it's not working on other MTT's.

Can anyone tell me why SnGWiz suggests a shove here? I folded btw but SnGWiz says it's a marginal 3 bet shove.

?Images don't seem to work for me?

Villian is very laggy, almost a whale, he's tightened up on final table and a chip in the pot means he's never folding here. Can I configure SnGWiz to take into consideration his thinking? To him, he has 96k and can afford to gamble, he won't be thinking about my hand range in spots like this. I'm using an extended trial of SngWiz, I've used it before but questioned the software when I see spots like this but I would purchase if I felt it would improve my game.

I correctly (in SnGWiz) shoved Q4s for my exit hand but table dynamics make me think laddering up is also a correct strategy. Abiens is a decent reg but villain was a lag, confirmed by his K8o call by my Q4s (not a mistake but his thinking won't consider my range)

I'm actually all over the place with my bankroll. I'm not rolled for higher stakes but I played a couple of €10 and €20 STT's with mixed results. I'm normally a nit but I do take the odd maniacal plunge from time to time. It's stupid but I know if I lose then I go back to nittiness. HEM2 is messed up a bit, my database doesn't seem right with some games missing. I'd one €75 x 3rd place last month that I can't find even though my HUD worked for the game and all filters are clear. I made a small profit at these stakes but I'm on a 30% rakeback deal and I'll notice a decent jump in profit in a couple of weeks time.

What matters the most is I've made a £50 withdrawal every week since the start of July. This has all came from a zero start in January. I'm still bankroll building but I'm a big advocate of reaping rewards as you play. If you just keep bankroll building then is the money ever yours?

There are 2 games in particular that are really helping me. Last year I netted almost £1k from them but because of my challenge I wasn't bankrolled for them until June. There's definitely a correlation between these games and my withdrawals.

September has started in the same vein, +€60 since the start of the month although TBF I've won an all in flip 3 out of 7 days (the game has a €25 Guarantee with 20 runners so a slight overlay, I'd never play this otherwise).

Withdrawals now stand at £600, I've +£100 bankroll and I'm well on my way for reaching £1k/ €1k/ €1k (whichever comes first due to the Brexit exchange rate)