[Closed] WildBeanSSSoup, MTTea, and a lot of BSs

Welcome to SSS Looking forward to your progress.

As always I am also looking forward to your sample hands.
Be aware that SSS is swingy like SNG but less swingy as you progress your way up to advanced

Best regards,
Gerv

Alright. It's been a month since I started SSS (and about 15 days since my first post), so I'm going to break up my experience into 3 parts: The good, the bad, and the ugly - actually it's not ugly, it's just not pretty (breakeven is never pretty)

First period: 16th of March until the 8th of April ----
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Things were going swimmingly, SSS seemed like a dream. I played, I won. Flips were mine for the taking. I was a short stack god. My graph climbed like edmund hillary. I could go all in without hitting a flop and get called by a better hand, yet still hit my ace on the river.

But then the world knocked on my door. Reality decided to become my friend, and slowly but surely my aces got cracked, Anna Kornikova was smashed by the Aced Queen, the rapists were taken out by the kings. And my graph began to drop, until the mountain was complete, and I was left with a dirty taste in my mouth. Like waking up in the morning in a strange bed, not remembering anything of the night before and you notice that your pants aren't on properly...

Graph till 8th of April

That's about when I decided to analyse my hands. What I found was that of course the most profitable hand was AA, followed by most of the premium hands. What I also found was that most of my money was lost in the blinds - clearly from stealing maybe from defending - a lot of times in SB I would raise preflop and get called by BB, then not hit the flop, CB then get called or reraised all in, and have to fold. I also found that AT was my least profitable hand. So I gave up on SB steals (unless AQ AK AJ AA-88 - not KQ or AT) and gave up middle position medium pair raising, and gave up AT altogether except on the button as a steal.

But then the downswing began...

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------------8th of April till the 14th of April-------------------------
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Now it was a seriously big downswing. According to hold em manager, my biggest pots were lost going all in on the flop with between 75 and 85% equity, and still losing by the time the river came. It just seemed like nothing, and I mean nothing, would work. Every single session started with losing about 5 buy ins and spending 2 hours working back up to break even, only to lose another couple of buy ins just before I ended my session. I started to feel really despondent, and did a little relook at the articles to make sure that most of what I was doing was according to the books. And most of it was, except that I would suffer from a bit of tilt. I would say that about %20 of my losses were due to just having lost about 4 big hands and going for something very stupid.

The downswing period

At the lowest point I decided to move up to NL100 to see what it was like. And I lost some more. But to tell you the truth, not so much, and it was actually a revelation, because it seemed like there were even more fish out there - also because I saw in the bankroll management section that I actually should be playing NL100. But unfortunately I didn't have the full version of holdem manager so I didn't have any stats and decided to move back down to NL50....

That's when I made my peace...

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--------------14th of April until the 18th of April-------------
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Finally after waiting about 11 losing session, thing began to look good again. I began to win some flips, and whenever I was massively ahead I would win. Most importantly my graph began to inch toward the breakeven point. This was important because it was making me very worried about losing my roll completely on a tilt mission due to never ending bad luck.

The upswing to breakeven

In the last few days I've come up against so many bad players that have gone all in with me on second pair when I have overcards or TPTK, or a set. It's been very very very nice. I call this section the ugly section, only because it's been such a graft just to get back up to the even point.

And I am back to even, perhaps even slightly ahead, because last week I got $30 rake and this week I played two hours every day and received $60 rake. So I'm definitely ahead.

I also withdrew $25 to upgrade my holdem manager so that it can be used for medium stakes.

And my bankroll is at $1001, with $59 in my moneybookers account that I could put back in. Or I could use it to get some hand histories - which was suggested by someone in another thread - I wonder if this is an option I should take?

And I'm also wondering if I should move up to nl100 - I've played 23653 hands of NL50 in the last month, and my bankroll seems to be big enough to handle it. I'd love some suggestions.

The Full Month

It's funny that just after being happy and hopeful, and posting about a change in fortune I have a couple of really shit sessions, including my biggest loss so far of over 8 buy ins.

It's such crap. In general I believe in statistics and the long run, but come on... If I'm always going in with a better hand (and by always I mean most of the time) then why do I lose so often?

And what's even worse is that this is happening with a change in strategy. In fact three changes in strategy.

After my last post I reread the SSS articles and realised I was betting too much. I was betting %60 pot for a dry board, and 70% pot for a drawy board. I changed that to 50 and 60 respectively.
Another thing I was doing was raising 3.5 BBs as standard (plus 1 BB per limper and 1 for out of position). This I've now adjusted to 3 as standard.
Then I was also raising AQ in early position, which I've stopped doing, although I think I might start again...

Even though I think my losses are related to terrible cards coming out, I can't help but think that I wouldn't be called as much if I bet more. And that I'd win more if I get called and they fold..

Or maybe I'm just going to move up to NL100... No one's given me any advice on that.. (my BR is now $885)

The other day South Africa had its elections. We're a post-revolution country, so the popular vote is still with the revolution, and so the ruling party (the ANC) has a huge dominance in the percentage of votes. However, they provide poor service delivery, and don't uphold specific values in terms of corruption (our next president having been accused of fraud, and his case mysteriously being dropped).. anyway the big contention was whether or not the ANC could get a 2/3rd majority, and thereby be able to change the constitution on its own..
in the end they just missed it, and they lost one of the provinces to the opposition. So all in all a good result for democracy...

Which I celebrated by going to watch some cricket: Indian Premier League in South Africa - Bangalore Challengers vs Deccan Chargers - it was lots of fun - lots of big hits, and lots of dancing girls..

On the poker front it's not such good news. I've lots about 3- 400 dollars. And it's just terrible luck..

Today for example I'm getting great preflop hands against a 60/32 donkey - 60/32!!! I mean come on. It doesn't come around that often :

station:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (MP1) ($18.50)
MP2 ($30)
CO ($100)
Button ($173.25)
SB ($129.30)
BB ($451)
UTG ($98.50)
UTG+1 ($301.20)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with J, J
2 folds, Hero bets $3, 4 folds, BB calls $2

Flop: ($6.50) 6, 5, 6 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $3.50, BB calls $3.50

Turn: ($13.50) 8 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $12 (All-In), BB calls $12

River: ($37.50) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $37.50 | Rake: $1.85

Results:
BB had 8, 8 (full house, eights over sixes).
Hero had J, J (two pair, Jacks and sixes).
Outcome: BB won $35.65

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (7 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($18)
SB ($102.50)
BB ($174.35)
UTG ($141.10)
MP1 ($408.45)
MP2 ($95.30)
CO ($308.75)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J, J
1 fold, MP1 bets $3.50, 2 folds, Hero raises to $18 (All-In), 2 folds, MP1 calls $14.50

Flop: ($37.50) 3, 6, 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($37.50) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($37.50) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $37.50 | Rake: $1.85

Results:
Hero had J, J (two pair, Jacks and tens).
MP1 had K, K (two pair, Kings and tens).
Outcome: MP1 won $35.65

I actually lost my stack to this guy 4 times in total.

And besides that there were about 5 other hands where I lost my stack also with the guy hitting his set...

I'm extremely disillusioned. Not sure what to do.

edit: Oh and also those idiots Man Utd keep winning from way behind - It's like they're going to win the premiership with a runner runner flush.. I hate them.

Add me on skype and we can arrange a sweat session together on the same limit since I also play on FTP ;-)

Take care!
(skype = gervified)

Last month I decided I was going to make iron status in the iron man challenge on full tilt. I had to buy one day in the medal shop, but I made it (it was quite hard playing 24 days of the month).
And I chose the freeroll option. So tonight was the 30k iron man freeroll. I played pretty well, making some really nice moves early on. But it was one of those games where you get good hands in the early stages, and you get up to 3x the average for a while, but then when the blinds go up, the hands run seriously dry. And even when you're in a position to steal, the big stack has raised and you don't have a hand to reraise.
Anyway, I had to struggle on the button, but I made it to about 77th place before I was blinded out (the best of my last 5 hands after I made it past the bubble was 74s) .. But the nice thing about it is that 45th to 90th place make $120, and there were only 447 players.
So plus $120 to the bankroll.

And furthermore NL100 has been doing a little better for me.
My bankroll is now up to 970, after it reached the lowest point of 650.

Cool.

I've just solved one of my biggest problems: AT in the Small Blind.

So far, just about every single time I've raised AT as the small blind, I've been called, put in a conti-bet on a nothing board and either been raised or called having to give it up. I checked my stats with AT in sb and it says I've lost a LOOOT of money there. So I've been pretty scared of raising with it, and in fact I let it go every single time I have the opportunity.

But now I've figured out what to do, it's so simple: sklansky-chubokov!

Okay some more things that I've solved.

One, I figured out how to mark hands in Holdem Manager, just after I've played them, so that I can just search for marked hands afterwards and find them easily.

Two, I bought a month of datamined hands, which I get everyday. This is the best thing ever, because now I can actually use stats. I just played my best session ever, and it's because I could act knowing well what I should be doing - i.e. when I can happily 3bet, when to smash a thief, when to be the thief, etc, etc

Third, actually part of 2, but I reread the SSS article on steals, and it helped a helluva lot. Combine that with the extra stats, and I'm a force to reckoned with !!!

Was feeling a little bored with SSS so opened a $5 tourney to try out some aggressive tournament moves. Came 5th out of 135 for a little bump to my bankroll (+$50).. The last hand, I was shortstacked and went all in SB, with 58s, the BB unfortunately had AK. But there was an 8 on the flop, and a blank on the turn. Thought I was going to make it, but then the river... (a king)

Would love some advice. I'm considering chasing some bonuses for a bit. Particularly the party poker 100% up to $500. So I want to deposit the full $500. Do you think I should do that. Then I would put in some decent grind on NL50 probably..

I guess my concerns are Party Poker as a platform. And secondly I get nervous when I consider splitting my bankroll between platforms...

What do you guys think?

I think the mathematics are starting to work in my favour. Granted I make some really stupid decisions every now and then, I mostly do the right thing..
As you know I started NL100 recently, and it started really badly. I went down almost 15 buy ins in the first 2500 hands. Okay that was probably because I was playing badly, and getting used to the limit. But I've been working hard at it, reading articles, thinking about the maths of situations, learning how to really use stats (I saw some really eye opening things in the SSS videos - things I would never have done before) and being more definite about table selection. Now after 10000 hands I've recovered everything I've lost and I'm up $11!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(the graph below shows the progress, but it was made just before I went over the breakeven mark)

By wildbeans at 2009-05-24

And here was quite a nice hand, because I saw the aces and then went to another table to make a decision, and when I came back to the table to see what was happening, I saw all that action... very chilled.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

$0.5/$1 No-Limit Hold'em (8 handed)

Known players:
[tg]MP1$100.00:///////;MP2$56.05:///////;MP3$103.70:///////;CO$71.05:///////;BU$212.35:///////;SB(Hero)$19.00:///////;BB$24.85:///////;UTG2$100.00:///////;[/tg]
Preflop: Hero is SB with A:c, A:s.
3 folds, MP3 raises to $3.5, CO calls $3.50, BU raises to $6, Hero raises to $19(All-In), 3 folds, BU calls $13.00.

Flop: ($46.00) 2:d, K:d, 6:c (2 players)

Turn: ($46.00) 8:d (2 players)

River: ($46.00) 6:h (2 players)

Final Pot: $46.00.

Results follow:

Hero shows two pairs, aces and sixs (A:c A:s)
BU shows a pair of sixs (A:h T:h)
Hero wins with two pairs, aces and sixs (A:c A:s).

And now I go into exams much happier than I would have.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

$0.5/$1 No-Limit Hold'em (9 handed)

Known players:
[tg]UTG1$15.45:///////;UTG2$52.55:///////;MP1$47.10:///////;MP2$27.15:///////;MP3$22.00:///////;CO$126.25:///////;BU$19.40:///////;SB$92.75:///////;BB(Hero)$20.00:///////;[/tg]
Preflop: Hero is BB with J:c, Q:s.
UTG1 folds, UTG2 calls $1.00, 6 folds, Hero checks.

Flop: ($2.50) J:s, 2:d, 7:d (2 players)
Hero bets $1.50, UTG2 calls $1.50.

Turn: ($5.50) Q:c (2 players)
Hero bets $3.00, UTG2 calls $3.00.

River: ($11.50) 6:s (2 players)
Hero bets $14.50(All-In), UTG2 calls $14.50.

Final Pot: $40.50.

Results follow:

Hero shows two pairs, queens and jacks (J:c Q:s)
UTG2 shows a pair of nines (9:c 9:h)
Hero wins with two pairs, queens and jacks (J:c Q:s).

The last few days have been very good to me. I've been playing during the early morning happy hours for full tilt, and I think a lot of fish hang out there at that time.. a lot of drunk fish. And my big hands have hardly been beaten. Also getting a lot of action with Aces and Kings. It looks like SSS may be profitable after all. (My bankroll is up to $1274 now)

I do have one question though. If you look at the graph below, it shows that non-showdown winnings are negative. Now, in some of my previous posts I spoke about solving problems, or fixing leaks or something like that. And I was doing that because I saw the non-showdown winnings were so low. I then went on to see what situations I was losing the most, adjusted my bet sizes, and now the percentage of non-showdown to showdown winnings is a lot better. But am I still supposed to have a negative non-showdown value? Is that okay for shortstack. I guess we're folding a lot if we don't have anything and going all in if we do... so it makes sense?

Hey WildBeans

Just picked up on your blog(s) and I look forward to seeing your progression... Was in Cape Town in March and I'll be there again in December...

Good luck!

Nick

Originally posted by WildBeans
The other day South Africa had its elections. We're a post-revolution country, so the popular vote is still with the revolution, and so the ruling party (the ANC) has a huge dominance in the percentage of votes. However, they provide poor service delivery, and don't uphold specific values in terms of corruption (our next president having been accused of fraud, and his case mysteriously being dropped).. anyway the big contention was whether or not the ANC could get a 2/3rd majority, and thereby be able to change the constitution on its own..
in the end they just missed it, and they lost one of the provinces to the opposition. So all in all a good result for democracy...

.

I used to live in SA.................now Malawi..............Elections Last Wednesday, Pres sworn in on Friday............before full results are counted...Africa is the same all over....Mugabe was sitting right next to the new Pres, because the Pres is married to Mugabe's sister.

Guess what? I hate Man United as well.

Go Bulls

two days ago I played a really weird session. The first 30 minutes I was down 5 buyins not being able to win a coin flip, then the next 30 minutes I was break-even again hitting some beautiful flops. lots of Ace-King hands. But I still finished the session 2 buyins down.

Today was my best session ever. Went up 8 buy ins.
At one stage these two hands happened simultaneously:
Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

$0.5/$1 No-Limit Hold'em (9 handed)

Known players:
[tg]MP3$26.25:///////;CO$34.00:///////;BU$24.00:///////;SB$21.75:///////;BB$62.45:///////;UTG1$103.75:///////;UTG2$21.75:///////;MP1$20.00:///////;MP2(Hero)$34.50:///////;[/tg]
Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A:c, A:s.
3 folds, Hero raises to $3, 3 folds, SB calls $2.50, BB calls $2.00.

Flop: ($9.00) 3:d, 5:d, 7:d (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $7.00, SB calls $7.00, BB folds.

Turn: ($23.00) A:d (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks.

River: ($23.00) 7:c (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $13.00, SB calls $11.75(All-In).

Final Pot: $47.75.

Results follow:

Hero shows a full-house, aces full of sevens (A:c A:s)
SB shows a flush, ace high (T:d K:d)
Hero wins with a full-house, aces full of sevens (A:c A:s).

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

$0.5/$1 No-Limit Hold'em (9 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BU$32.80:///////;SB$101.55:///////;BB(Hero)$21.00:///////;UTG1$62.75:///////;UTG2$23.50:///////;MP1$103.35:///////;MP2$97.15:///////;MP3$19.40:///////;CO$94.00:///////;[/tg]
Preflop: Hero is BB with A:h, A:s.
UTG1 raises to $3, 2 folds, MP2 raises to $11, 4 folds, Hero raises to $21(All-In), UTG1 calls $18.00, MP2 calls $10.00.

Flop: ($63.50) 5:c, 8:s, 7:c (3 players)
UTG1 checks, MP2 checks.

Turn: ($63.50) J:d (3 players)
UTG1 checks, MP2 checks.

River: ($63.50) 6:s (3 players)
UTG1 checks, MP2 checks.

Final Pot: $63.50.

Results follow:

MP2 shows high card ace (K:s A:d)
Hero shows a pair of aces (A:h A:s)
UTG1 shows high card ace (A:c K:d)
Hero wins with a pair of aces (A:h A:s).

Bankroll breached the 1400 mark..

Hmmm. So I think I'm in an upswing. I'm so f-ing lucky. It worries me a bit. I think I'm playing things right. Checking the stats of the opponents on pokerstove to make sure I'm ahead of his range. Yet I keep coming up against bigger hands and then hitting some miracle cards. I'm not complaining, in fact I'm really happy about it, but I don't really want to hit the downswing that comes to equalise.

Also, I just played a few tourneys. The 21k guaranteed, and the two early doubles on full tilt. Made it in the money in all of them, but got busted out with really good hands, oh well. Anyway ITM in both early doubles gives me a little extra, and now my bankroll is over $1600. This is the highest it's ever been.

Okay now I'm hitting some losing sessions. Two sessions in a row of losing 3 buy ins. The first one was alright, the second session I played sooooo badly it makes me embarrassed to think - I was a complete donkey fish, couldn't lay things down - rationalising the worst all in calls. I actually had to concentrate hard to bring it back from 5 buy ins to 3.

I've decided I'm going to fight hard against luck trying to equalise and take away my winnings. Have to fold those overcards...

Alright, made gold iron man this month, just.. which means $75 extra in the mid year bonus. So far I'm looking at 1 iron, 2 silver, 1 gold. Which is about $275, and I think I'll probably try for another iron level in June, so roughly $350 mid year bonus, which is pretty good since it apparently doesn't effect rakeback at all. July will be a good month.