[Closed] Suited pocket pairs. Poker adventures of a Russian emigrant

hey! what are you doing for a living in london? kinda intrigued by the highly-skilled migrant visa you got there. and good luck at the tables!

Ah, I knew I forgot to tell something I have a degree in computer science, and work in software localisation business, part-time since 2002, full-time since 2005. In Russia, I worked for a company which is a partner of Microsoft; localisation of Office 2007 and Vista language interface packs were two projects I played major role in (why be modest when it's true? ). Here in this UK, I also joined a translation/software localisation company with some high-profile clients, although I'm not allowed to name them

But in fact, it's not so important what you do for a living, it's your earnings they're interested in most. There are just 3 criteria they consider: age, education, and earnings. They award points according to these criteria, and if you score 80 points (raised from 75 recently), and also have a good English test score and enough money, they issue a visa

And poker earnings don't count - they specifically say that neither sport winnings nor gambling income can be included in the earnings when you apply

OMG, OMG, OMG
If it keeps going like this, I'll have to drop to NL4 after the next session...
Can someone do a sweat session with me? I feel I played well, but ended up 3 BI down again...

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.05/$0.1 No-Limit Hold'em (5 handed)

Known players:
[tg]CO (Hero)$21.62:///////;BU$5.51:///////;SB$10.11:///////;BB$12.03:///////;MP3$13.46:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is CO with J:c, J:s.
MP3 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, BU raises to $0.50, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.75, BU calls $1.25.

Flop: ($3.65) 5:h, K:h, K:s (2 players)
Hero checks, BU bets $1.10, Hero raises to $4.00, BU calls $2.66.

Turn: ($11.41) A:c (2 players)

River: ($11.41) Q:c (2 players)

Final Pot: $11.41.
Results follow:

Hero shows two pairs, kings and jacks(J:c J:s).
BU shows two pairs, kings and queens(Q:s J:h).

BU wins with two pairs, kings and queens(Q:s J:h).

BU - 85/18/2.6/189, 14.8% 3bet

Check-raised the flop, because he fired every time I missed a cbet (and I had to do that a lot against him, every time I missed the flop, because he never folded). He called me with nothing, and hit... The story of my game last week

Otherwise, had a nice day. Went to Shoreham by Sea for a meeting of flight sim enthusiasts. Had a chance to fly with yoke and pedals for the first time; tried a Fokker 70 aircraft add-on, managed to land it. Moreover, landed it on the runway. Well, almost. Grass near the runway also counts as a runway

Cheers

Oh, and can someone please explain to me how to insert link to the blog in my signature? I tried, but it just shows the code, doesn't convert in to a hyperlink

Thanks!

OK, time to go down a limit... things just don't happen for me right now

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.05/$0.1 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]CO (Hero)$10.00:///////;BU$9.04:///////;SB$12.21:///////;BB$4.94:///////;MP2$10.69:///////;MP3$10.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is CO with K:c, K:s.
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, BU folds, SB raises to $12.21, BB folds, Hero calls $9.70(All-In).

Flop: ($22.31) 8:s, 9:c, J:c (2 players)

Turn: ($22.31) 9:s (2 players)

River: ($22.31) 7:d (2 players)

Final Pot: $22.31.
Results follow:

Hero shows two pairs, kings and nines(K:c K:s).
SB shows four of a kind, nines(9:d 9:h).

SB wins with four of a kind, nines(9:d 9:h).

Villain is a maniacal fish 87/17/2.3 over 55 hands

I'm sure I make mistakes (and I even know some of them )... but the fact is that I'm $55 below EV this month

So... dropping to NL4 for now. But I'll be back

Yay! The first green session in 8 days Not much profit, and still below EV, but at least it's a profit

A hand codenamed "The best way to misplay pocket aces"

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.02/$0.04 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]CO$5.10:///////;BU$9.21:///////;SB$5.00:///////;BB (Hero)$5.11:///////;MP2$1.22:///////;MP3$5.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BB with 2:s, T:s.
MP2 folds, MP3 calls $0.04, CO folds, BU calls $0.04, SB folds, Hero checks.

Flop: ($0.14) J:h, 4:s, 6:s (3 players)
Hero checks, MP3 checks, BU checks.

Turn: ($0.14) Q:c (3 players)
Hero bets $0.08, MP3 calls $0.08, BU calls $0.08.

River: ($0.38) K:s (3 players)
Hero bets $0.20, MP3 calls $0.20, BU calls $0.20.

Final Pot: $0.98.
Results follow:

Hero shows a flush, king high(2:s T:s).
MP3 shows a pair of aces(A:c A:h).
BU shows a pair of kings(T:c K:h).

Hero wins with a flush, king high(2:s T:s).

Decided to play check/call on the flop. Took a stab on the turn, and got there on the river

Outside of poker, a funny story happened today. I usually come back home on my lunch break, and when I'm home I leave the keys on the window sill near the flat door. Just because it's convenient to have them near the exit Today, a contractor came to install handles on flat doors, so that it's more convenient to close them from outside. Of course, the landlord provided him with keys for all flats. He came to my flat when I was at home, on that lunch break. And when he finished the work, he thought that the set of keys lying on the window sill was his set, and took them with him. So when it was time for me to go back to the office, I found out that my keys were gone, and if I left, I wouldn't be able to enter the flat again

I notified the landlord, and what really impressed me was how willing to help they were. Those who lived in Russia aren't get used to it For half a day they've been writing letters, saying what they're doing to help; they tried to get the cleaner who was expected to be in the area to give his keys to me; when it turned out that he was not there, they tracked down the contractor and told him to bring the keys back. He was not local, so it took him around 2 hours to get to me. But in the end he got here, and - hooray! - I can go to work tomorrow again

Cheers

Came from the office today with boiling brain. Had a task to do with a file in Arabic, and adjusting to a right-to-left language is always an effort. Didn't expect to have a good session, but... turned out quite well There were a couple of fishes who shoved every hand preflop - don't ask me why

If this is the end of my downswing, then it wasn't too bad. 10BI down on NL10, I know that downswings can be much worse Anyway, if it continues running like this, I should be back on NL10 in no time

Hand of the day:

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.02/$0.04 No-Limit Hold'em (5 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BB (Hero)$5.43:///////;MP3$1.00:///////;CO$4.12:///////;BU$1.69:///////;SB$3.95:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BB with K:d, K:c.
MP3 posts deadblind, MP3 checks, 2 folds, SB raises to $0.16, Hero raises to $0.56, MP3 folds, SB raises to $3.97, Hero calls $3.39.

Flop: ($7.94) Q:d, J:s, A:d (2 players)

Turn: ($7.94) A:h (2 players)

River: ($7.94) 9:h (2 players)

Final Pot: $7.94.
Results follow:

SB shows a pair of aces(8:s K:h).
Hero shows two pairs, aces and kings(K:d K:c).

Hero wins with two pairs, aces and kings(K:d K:c).

I love those maniacal fishes who make 2pair on a 4 to the flush board and shove them for 2x pot

Hand of the day:

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.02/$0.04 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]CO$5.31:///////;BU$7.70:///////;SB$6.15:///////;BB$9.30:///////;MP2 (Hero)$5.65:///////;MP3$7.11:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A:c, T:s.
Hero raises to $0.12, 2 folds, BU calls $0.12, SB folds, BB raises to $0.20, Hero calls $0.08, BU calls $0.08.

Flop: ($0.62) 7:c, 6:c, K:c (3 players)
BB bets $0.20, Hero calls $0.20, BU calls $0.20.

Turn: ($1.22) 4:h (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, BU bets $0.40, BB calls $0.40, Hero calls $0.40.

River: ($2.42) T:c (3 players)
BB bets $8.50, Hero calls $4.85(All-In), BU folds.

Final Pot: $15.77.
Results follow:

Hero shows a flush, ace high(A:c T:s).
BB shows two pairs, tens and sevens(T:d 7:s).

Hero wins with a flush, ace high(A:c T:s).

BU - 45/4/0.4 over 80 hands
BB - 95/59/3.5, 66.7% 3bet over 46 hands

Nice table, that was BU spent the whole time bank thinking on that river, I hoped he would call too

Anyway. Won some money on NL4, plus got my bonus $20. If the session tomorrow isn't very bad - back to NL10 on Saturday

Well... saying that today's session was not very bad would be an understatement. +$30 ♠_cool: Hope the first session back on NL10 would be just as good ♠_evil:

Overall, in 5 days on NL4, I won $50, thus recovering half of this month losses. And I still have a week to get the rest back, and show profit. I'd say I have a chance

I have great plans for tomorrow. Apart from playing & watching qualification for the German Grand Prix, I need to figure out how the washing machine works. Should be an interesting experience

Hand of the day:

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.02/$0.04 No-Limit Hold'em (5 handed)

Known players:
[tg]CO$5.46:///////;BU$1.32:///////;SB (Hero)$5.24:///////;BB$5.75:///////;MP3$8.91:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is SB with 3:d, T:d.
2 folds, BU calls $0.04, Hero calls $0.02, BB checks.

Flop: ($0.12) 9:d, 7:h, 6:d (3 players)
Hero bets $0.08, BB calls $0.08, BU calls $0.08.

Turn: ($0.36) J:s (3 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, BU checks.

River: ($0.36) J:d (3 players)
Hero bets $0.20, BB folds, BU raises to $1.20(All-In), Hero calls $1.00.

Final Pot: $2.76.

Results follow:

Hero shows a flush, jack high(3:d T:d).
BU shows two pairs, aces and jacks(A:h A:s).

Hero wins with a flush, jack high(3:d T:d).

BU is 69/3/1.2 over 62 hands

Yes, I sometimes complete garbage suited hands from the small blind. Yes, I know it's bad I do it only occasionally, and only when there's a fish in the hand who I know will pay me off if I hit a flush
Of course, when he raised, I didn't like my flush too much, but still felt I had to call
Only I wonder, why do these fishes play their AA passively until the river, and then, when a bad card hits, start to raise?..

Cheers

some advices
- overlimping might be good for nl4, but for nl10 if I were you I'd isolate instead of call
- don't stack off with AK after a reraise without a pair on boards like that
- redline shows you are giving up a lot of pots, cbet, barrel more
- against idiots you can increase your 3betsizes preflop like a lot

etc... if you wanna make some sweat session add me on skype (metalz975)

Thanks!
Isolating is my standard play.. but there are quite enough blogs which show standard play, here I want to show stupid hands
Stacking off with AK was a misclick, I'm sure I mentioned it somewhere
Increase 3bet sizes to more than 3.5x raise? That always seemed too much for me, even vs fishy maniacs
Anyway. Will definitely add you tomorrow. Many thanks for the offer!

Change of plans.. didn't play cash game at all this weekend. On Saturday, had to go to Cambridge help a friend of mine solve problems with his computer. When I came back, was too tired to play; tried to fix out of memory issues in my Flight Sim, completed a short flight from Edinburgh to Gatwick, and went to sleep

Today played the Pokerstrategy freeroll on PartyPoker. Finished 30th for $42.50. Have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, 30th out of 12000 is a good result, one of the best ever for me. On the other - now I understand how it feels to be eliminated deep in the money, when the big prize is in view, but you can't quite reach it

In fact, I lost just 2 big hands. Both occurred when someone tried to steal my blind, I played back, and the stealer had AA First time I was left with just over 1bb (10k chips when blinds were 4k/8k). Moved them all in with KJs two hands later, and won against AT. Then flopped a set two times in a row, doubling up both times, and was right back in it

Unfortunately, couldn't luckbox again after losing almost the whole stack for the 2nd time Shoved with A5, was in a flip against 44, but lost

All in all, I think it can be considered a success. It definitely was fun. Although didn't like the tournament structure too much. 10 minute levels is always nice, but the blinds were growing too fast imo. 10bb average stack late in a tournament is a sure sign of a turbo... and I hate turbos

While playing the freeroll, I also opened a few 90man knockout S&Gs on Stars, and shipped one of them for $25 or something like that. So, quite a profitable day

Didn't update the blog for some time... the reason being, I finally decided to try the Vatsim network. Those who are in the world of flight simulators certainly know what it is; for those who aren't - can you imagine World of Warcraft with airplanes instead of orcs? Well, Vatsim is completely unlike it! But with some similarities Anyway, I liked it so much, I went absolutely nuts I'm in love with aviation in any case, as you might have noticed but lately, when I wasn't in the office, I was flying on Vatsim and immensely enjoying it

Still, this didn't stop me from playing poker a bit. Now I can say with confidence that my downswing is over. Last July sessions are all green, and although I didn't manage to finish it in profit, the loss is negligible

And today I started August with an almost +4BI session. Now I have another problem, however. When I was in a downswing, I was not sure whether I was losing money due to bad play or bad luck. Now I'm not sure if I'm winning due to good play or good luck For this reason, I decided not to go up a limit until the end of the month, even if by bankroll grows enough to allow it. After all, just a couple of weeks ago I was losing badly on NL10... I think I need to show consistent winnings over a significant sample size before considering a move to NL20

Hand of the day, codenamed "I feel good"

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.05/$0.1 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BB$11.93:///////;MP2$10.62:///////;MP3$10.39:///////;CO (Hero)$14.57:///////;BU$4.73:///////;SB$9.54:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is CO with J:c, A:c.
MP2 calls $0.10, MP3 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, 3 folds, MP2 calls $0.30.

Flop: ($0.95) T:c, 3:d, K:c (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets $0.60, MP2 calls $0.60.

Turn: ($2.15) 5:s (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets $1.10, MP2 calls $1.10.

River: ($4.35) Q:c (2 players)
MP2 bets $2.00, Hero raises to $12.47(All-In), MP2 calls $6.52(All-In).

Final Pot: $25.34.
Results follow:

Hero shows a royal flush(J:c A:c).
MP2 shows a flush, king high(4:c 5:c).

Hero wins with a royal flush(J:c A:c).

Cheers
Yuri

congratz on the royal flush - really nice hand ♠_love:

I don't update the blog as often as I was going to... but nothing extraordinary happens. And in any case, the blog was opened because I got the gold status; now I lost it, so maybe the blog should be put on hold as well? Probably not. But there will be no regular updates - once every few weeks, when I feel like it

August is in green so far, though barely... I was doing ok until Saturday evening, then a -$16 session... and a -$32 session today (2 set-over-sets, 1 overpair vs set, 1 KK vs AA - and there you are). I'll post a graph in the first day of September, but by now I earned something like $4 over 10k hands I played this month. The biggest leak in by game is that I don't mark hands for review during play... it's so boring to search for interesting hands after a session. Especially when you have a Boeing 757 in Dubai, waiting for you to fly her to Tel Aviv (exactly what I'm going to do after posting this ). Oh, and I have Starcraft 2 waiting as well... and Civilization 5 is due to be released in less than a month. Those game developers really want me to go broke

I really need to make an effort though, spend an evening reviewing this month's hands, and make a lot of posts in the evaluation forum. The truth is - I feel my game improved this month, I'm finally starting to think about hand ranges and stuff. But I'm still struggling. Sometimes I wonder if NL10 is the highest limit I'll reach... I remember a year ago silent21 and I were both posting NL10 hands; now look where silent21 is, and I'm still trying to beat NL10. This is not encouraging

But I'm not going to give up. Honest

Oh, and on 2 occasions today I found myself with a medium ace facing an all-in from a maniac. Both times I called, both times found myself a 60/40 favourite, both times lost. One of these hands is the hand of the day today

BB is a maniac. I don't exaggerate. 42/26/1.7 over 154 hands, 15.9% 3bet. Otherwise I wouldn't call with ATo

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.05/$0.1 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BU (Hero)$13.77:///////;SB$11.04:///////;BB$5.86:///////;MP2$10.00:///////;MP3$10.93:///////;CO$10.65:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BU with A:c, T:d.
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, SB folds, BB raises to $5.86, Hero calls $5.56.

Flop: ($11.77) 9:d, K:h, 7:s (2 players)

Turn: ($11.77) 2:h (2 players)

River: ($11.77) 7:d (2 players)

Final Pot: $11.77.
Results follow:

Hero shows a pair of sevens(A:c T:d).
BB shows two pairs, kings and sevens(K:d 2:s).

BB wins with two pairs, kings and sevens(K:d 2:s).

Cheers

A strange session... result +$23, EV -$14.5. And the funniest thing is - I never got the money in bad, just won 3 flips and one 65/35 in my favour (that's a lie actually, I did get the money in bad once, with QQ vs AA, but I lost that hand ) As a result, I'm currently $30 above EV this month. I'm afraid the variance is going to hit me back later on

Or maybe not - in results for the whole year, I'm still $17 below EV

Anyway. This post is mainly to post this screenshot. I'm usually not much into capturing screenshots, let alone posting them... but this one is really awesome, even if I say so myself

Yes, I told you, I really like airplanes :)) Small Boeings (737 and 757) in particular

Cheers

Hit me on skype, there's a lot we can talk about - mindset (not that I'm that great, but i'm working on it :tongue:), ev and ofc sweat sessions ^__^

battlehunter_bg

Привет, мне интересно, ты сидел на форуме русского комьюнити? Если да, то где лучше, где более квалифицированный народ?

Sorry guys, I do not know much English, so written in the mother, for the author's language.

Originally posted by BattleHunter
Hit me on skype, there's a lot we can talk about - mindset (not that I'm that great, but i'm working on it :tongue:), ev and ofc sweat sessions ^__^

battlehunter_bg

Thanks! Added

Привет, мне интересно, ты сидел на форуме русского комьюнити? Если да, то где лучше, где более квалифицированный народ?
Привет, сорри, не знаю, я сразу оказался в английском комьюнити. Не знаю почему, кажется даже не посмотрел что у Pokerstrategy есть русская версия