[Closed] $25 to $1K - Turbo Challenge

Originally posted by daerson

I could try this challenge at least 10 times again before it really hurts my "support" bankroll.

Its always fun to do some challenges like this esp when its not for amounts of $$ that would do harm to your overall bankroll best of luck jus dont get too upset if it falls apart when your close to target.

Also on your step column how did you calculate risk and whats it for?

Originally posted by jmackenzie

Its always fun to do some challenges like this esp when its not for amounts of $$ that would do harm to your overall bankroll best of luck jus dont get too upset if it falls apart when your close to target.

Also on your step column how did you calculate risk and whats it for?

Jmackenzie, it is just the percentual of my actual bankroll that I will use as buyin. In other words, how much of my bankroll I am putting in risk when I sit on a table. I figured out this would be an useful guideline to control my losses.

_step 1 - NL10 $7.50 - 08/19/09_

Yo! First step of the challenge completed.

step: 1
stake: NL10
buy-in: $7.50 (75BB)
amont won: $7.67 (76BB)
sessions: 2 sessions - 02:42h
hands played: 889
BB/100: 4.31
actual bankroll: $32.67

Not very bad for the first step. Tonight I will start step 2.

_overall status_

_♠_biggrin:$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$_

_step1 : worst hand_

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP3 ($9.90)
CO ($10)
Button ($2.87)
SB ($3.40)
Hero (BB) ($10)
UTG ($5)
UTG+1 ($16.84)
MP1 ($3.04)
MP2 ($2.67)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, 5
3 folds, MP2 calls $0.10, 1 fold, CO (poster) checks, Button calls $0.10, 1 fold, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.45) 5, 10, 4 (4 players)
Hero bets $0.22, MP2 raises to $2.57 (All-In), CO raises to $9.90 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero calls $9.68 (All-In)

Turn: ($22.82) 6 (3 players, 3 all-in)

River: ($22.82) J (3 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: $22.82 | Rake: $1.52

Results below:
Hero mucked A, 5 (one pair, fives).
MP2 had K, 10 (one pair, tens).
CO had 6, 2 (flush, ten high).
Outcome: CO won $21.30

_how I played_

A:d, 5:c on BB. Correct play: just check.
MP2 and BU limped in. I check. Let's see a free flop.
the flop comes 5:d, T:d, 4:d . I made a low pair and nut flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. Nice odds, but scary flop. I need information on where I am. I made a probe-bet of half the pot.
MP2 goes all-in. Probably he made a flush.
BU reraises all-in. F#$%K! He probably made a flush too. Probably he is holding the K:d.
let's do some math: my only hope is another diamond card. I had one, the board had three, the other guys had more four. 8 out of 13 cards. 5 outs. Very bad. Correct play: fold.
But hey!, what about that so called implied odds? If i hit another diamond, I will have the nut flush and a huge pot. I called.
Bad move. Very bad move...

_step 1 - best hand_

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 ($3.38)
MP2 ($5.33)
MP3 ($5.10)
CO ($11.07)
Button ($2.50)
SB ($1.90)
Hero (BB) ($10.04)
UTG ($5)
UTG+1 ($10.32)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, A
1 fold, UTG+1 bets $0.30, 6 folds, Hero raises to $0.90, UTG+1 calls $0.60

Flop: ($1.85) A, 10, Q (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $1, Hero calls $1

Turn: ($3.85) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $1.92, Hero calls $1.92

River: ($7.69) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $3.84, UTG+1 raises to $6.50 (All-In), Hero calls $2.38 (All-In)

Total pot: $20.13 | Rake: $1.34

Results below:
Hero mucked A, A (three of a kind, Aces).
UTG+1 had Q, Q (three of a kind, Queens).
Outcome: Hero won $18.79

_how I played_

pocket aces on BB. I prayed that some one raises this pot before me.
UTG+1 made the standard 3-bet. I reraised him on a blink. He calls. Hummm... he is a little bit looser. Probably he has TT+ or AK.
The flop came with some straight draws. But he would not have called my pre-flop raise with KJ. I am probably way ahead. Let slowplay to get some information...
He bets half-pot. Probably two pairs or a low trip. QQQ is my guess. I just did a bluff call. Let's trap him.
A disconnected 8 came on turn. He bets half the pot again. He is trying to get some information from me. Let's him think he had the best hand. Just called again.
Another disconnected card on river. Time to stab. I bet half-pot as it is the way he had been betting since the flop. He reraises all-in. Then I just lol ♠_biggrin:

_step 2 - NL10 $7.50 - 08/20/09_

second step is done. Pretty well, i think:

step: 2
stake: NL10
buy-in: $7.50 (75BB)
amount won: $16.28 (129BB)
sessions: 1 sessions - 01:12h
hands played: 218
BB/100: 37.34
actual bankroll: $48.95

With this bankroll I could jump direct to step 4. But i believe that the right choice here is just to go straight, as a larger bankroll means less risk on step 3 (15% vs 19%):

step bankroll stake buy-in win out risk
3 $48,95 NL10 $7,50 $7,50 $56,45 15%

Let's move to step 3 tomorrow!

_overall status_

_♠_biggrin:♠_biggrin:$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$_

_step 2 - my best hand_

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

MP1 ($1.55)
MP2 ($2.05)
MP3 ($5.23)
CO ($1.85)
Button ($17.71)
SB ($8.90)
BB ($1.29)
UTG ($10.45)
Hero (UTG+1) ($10)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A, A
UTG calls $0.10, Hero bets $0.50, 7 folds, UTG calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.15) 5, Q, 6 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.80, UTG raises to $1.70, Hero calls $0.90

Turn: ($4.55) 10 (2 players)
UTG bets $2.50, Hero calls $2.50

River: ($9.55) 8 (2 players)
UTG bets $5.75 (All-In), Hero calls $5.30 (All-In)

Total pot: $20.15 | Rake: $1.34

Results below:
UTG had Q, K (one pair, Queens).
Hero mucked A, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $18.81

_how I played_

pocket aces on UTG+2.
UTG+1 limps in. I raised the standard 5BB. Everyone folds. UTG+1 calls.
Whatta hell? What does he had? Something weak to just limp in on early position, but strong to call a 5BB bet? Weird... I putted him on big pairs (JJ+) as I did not have any better read on him.
Q56 rainbow comes the flop. Damn Queen. He could have a trip. He checked. That shows weakness (maybe a JJ or less) or strongness (KK or QQ) and he was trying to trap me. I really needed more information, so I made a standard c-bet (8BB).
He miniraised me. OK, that's good. Let's think about. If he had pocket queens, he probably just called my bet to try to keep me on the hand. A raise in that case was more a sign of weakness, showing that he was just trying to steal the pot right there. So I called the raise.
A 10 came on turn. He did a probe bet about half-pot size. He was trying to figure out where he was. I decided not to show any strength and give any information. And beside that, if he really was holding QQ, my best choice there was to control the pot size. So, I just called again.
Eight on the river. He was pot committed, so he just shove the rest of his stack on the table. At that point, if he was really holding something like JJ+, i would win 78% of the time. So, I called and prayed to not see two queens.
He showed K:s,Q:s. Just high-pair! And he called my preflop raise! And bet all the way down to the river! Fish! Fish! Fish! ♠_biggrin:

hey there,

great blog. love reading the analysis of your plays. good luck with your challenge

Originally posted by daerson
_step1 : worst hand_

_how I played_

A:d, 5:c on BB. Correct play: just check.
MP2 and BU limped in. I check. Let's see a free flop.
the flop comes 5:d, T:d, 4:d . I made a low pair and nut flush draw and a gutshot straight draw. Nice odds, but scary flop. I need information on where I am. I made a probe-bet of half the pot.
MP2 goes all-in. Probably he made a flush.
BU reraises all-in. F#$%K! He probably made a flush too. Probably he is holding the K:d.
let's do some math: my only hope is another diamond card. I had one, the board had three, the other guys had more four. 8 out of 13 cards. 5 outs. Very bad. Correct play: fold.
But hey!, what about that so called implied odds? If i hit another diamond, I will have the nut flush and a huge pot. I called.
Bad move. Very bad move...

Please, let me make a few notes, maybe they will be helpful for you:
- I do not see you having a gut-shot on that flop
- Betting on the flop is not a good idea IMO, you are out of position, what you do on the turn if you dont hit (and get called)? Basically you can only get raised by a better hand, or called by a total fish with K high draw (note that MP2 had a top pair also)
- About the math -> you had like 5 outs which gives you about 20% to win the hand, you had to call 42% of the pot you could win which makes it highly -EV
- About the implied odds -> You probably do not understand what they stand for. They are about calling a bet on the flop (turn) with not so great odds, but with a possibilty to win huge if you hit, because your opponent will pay you off when you have a hand and great advantage .. By calling allin you have NO implied odds in the hand any more

- The hand with AAA vs QQQ -> Set over set will end all-in probably on any limit, so not much more to say
- The other AA hand -> I really do not like slowplaying AA especially on NL10

One more thing about poker language
- A 3-bet is not a raise to 3 big blinds, but a reraise of a raise (a third bet)

Originally posted by AugustusCaesar

Please, let me make a few notes, maybe they will be helpful for you:
- I do not see you having a gut-shot on that flop
- Betting on the flop is not a good idea IMO, you are out of position, what you do on the turn if you dont hit (and get called)? Basically you can only get raised by a better hand, or called by a total fish with K high draw (note that MP2 had a top pair also)
- About the math -> you had like 5 outs which gives you about 20% to win the hand, you had to call 42% of the pot you could win which makes it highly -EV
- About the implied odds -> You probably do not understand what they stand for. They are about calling a bet on the flop (turn) with not so great odds, but with a possibilty to win huge if you hit, because your opponent will pay you off when you have a hand and great advantage .. By calling allin you have NO implied odds in the hand any more

- The hand with AAA vs QQQ -> Set over set will end all-in probably on any limit, so not much more to say
- The other AA hand -> I really do not like slowplaying AA especially on NL10 ;-)

One more thing about poker language
- A 3-bet is not a raise to 3 big blinds, but a reraise of a raise (a third bet)

Augustus, thank you very much for you analisys and feedback. It is really helpful! Read some words like yours is the real reason this blog is here.

Let's extend a little bit your words:

- I do not see you having a gut-shot on that flop
Yep! You are right. What I saw was a kind of double inside straight draw if a miracle bringed me and 2 and 3 on turn and river. It is draw that i not ever count when i played this hand, just noticed when i was reviewing it.

- Betting on the flop is not a good idea IMO, you are out of position, what you do on the turn if you dont hit (and get called)? Basically you can only get raised by a better hand, or called by a total fish with K high draw (note that MP2 had a top pair also)
Well, couldn't put him on any hand at that point. If I checked, he could c-bet me and i never knew if it was a bluff or a real bet. So decided to took the aggression and try to catch some information with my probe-bet. I think that my real mistake was not fold to his re-raise. He check-raised me all-in on a hevydraw board. It was fold, for sure.

- About the math -> you had like 5 outs which gives you about 20% to win the hand, you had to call 42% of the pot you could win which makes it highly -EV
You are absolte right! That was my mistake! I put this 22% of diference on the hands of the holly ghost of the implied odds. Again, shame on me...

- About the implied odds -> You probably do not understand what they stand for. They are about calling a bet on the flop (turn) with not so great odds, but with a possibilty to win huge if you hit, because your opponent will pay you off when you have a hand and great advantage .. By calling allin you have NO implied odds in the hand any more
Yeah, yeah, yeah... Implied odds is one of most misunderstanded concepts of poker. This hand was an example of how this concept was used in wrong ways. I will try to improve this leak on my game.

- The other AA hand -> I really do not like slowplaying AA especially on NL10 ;-)
You are right most of the times. But I was against a loose player on a straight draw board. My overpair could not be that much. So I decided to slowplay to control the pot.

- A 3-bet is not a raise to 3 big blinds, but a reraise of a raise (a third bet)
Thank you again. I will review my poker lingo ♦

_steady, study and stealing_

Well, things has been pretty steady last days.

Last friday I played a 2h session that was almost break-even. Just $0.95 of profit. On sunday I spent an hour reading and studying some poker articles.

As normal rule, i don't play at weekend. I have a lovely wife and two little dogs that i can't give all attention they need during the workdays. Mondays are out too, as it is "movie's night" with my wife (yeah, mondays have nice promotions on movie tickets, so we le to see ours movies when it is cheaper).

I'm very interesting on re-stealing issues. Does anybody have nice insight, articles or good piece of information about it?

nice blog.. i like the way how u explain every move of urs.
i will keep reading for sure ^^

Nice blog.

Are you still doing this thing? As I read through it I get inspired and want to do the same thing. If I can somehow find the self dicipline inside of me.

Best of luck.