Luck of the Irish

I played 1000 hands tonight over 6 tables and was up $20 by the end of it. I'm very happy with how the session went, I sucked out on a guy who called my 4bet OOP preflop with JJ. I had aces. He hit his set on the flop and we got it in and I hit my set on the river. I got unlucky in another pot again with aces where I was pretty much pot committed by the river and this guy hit his flush.

I made some nice moves at times and thought I played pretty well overall. I am liking NL10 a lot more than NL4 because the money is a bit more meaningful. At the same time I'm pretty comfortable with the higher stakes and don't think I'm playing scared money.

Hope the good results will continue

Glad to hear all going well bud.Had noticed during the week that i hadn't spotted your blog for a while.I'll catch up with you tom when i have a bit more time ok.

ioc

Sounds good Ian,

I am thinking about going to Cheltenham for the Gold Cup. Well it's a bit of a pipe dream since I'm supposed to be saving for Australia but anyway.

Talk soon lad

I have been playing NL10 for the last while. I have played about 7,000 hands and I am up just one BI. I was up 6 BI at one stage but I went on a bit of a tilty downswing. I can play up to 8 tables now full ring.

I am still finding it hard to lay down some hands that are strong pre-flop but become marginal on the turn and river. I havent been very disciplined in my study or hand posting which I must get back into.

I'm considering moving to 6-max but I'm not sure should I drop back down to NL4 while I learn the basics.

I'm after losing my way a little. Just played 500 hands and lost $25. I played 1000 last night and lost $22 even though I should have won $20 going by EV. I kept getting 3bet and tonight and any bluffs I pulled got called. It was like I was playing my hands face up. So then I went on a little bit of tilt and lost my mind a bit. I have decided to drop back down to NL4 and study and play 6-max.

There are way more players playing it on PartyPoker so hopefully that means weaker players and better action. I must have had Aces and Kings about 8 times and got very little action. I have to get my tilt under control too. Hopefully the switch to 6max will be a good one. I'm also thinking of taking a stab at a few small tourneys. Not sure if Party is the best for them I have an account with 888 too. If anyone has any suggestions that would be great

I played a few hands tonight for the first time in ages. I have been working awkward hours the last few weeks but I got a promotion at work and will now be working normal hours. This will give me more time to play poker I hope.

I'm going to go for less volume in favour of more study and hand posting since I've switched to 6max.

My sports betting hasn't gone very well recently either. I'm going to avoid it for a while and then make some big bets for Cheltenham.

I'm in the process of buying a new car as well so my time has been spent trawling car sites looking for a good deal. I drove a nice Ford Focus today it seems like a good deal so I think I will go for it. Exciting stuff.

I hope to get my poker life back on track in the coming months and hope to move back up to NL10 asap

Good to see you back mate!

Sometimes RL can get in the way of Poker and that's understandable.

Has happened to me also, many many times in the past.

Looking forward to see more blogging

All the best,
Gary

Thanks for the kind words Gary

I'm back after another extended break. I played a couple of hours NL4 SH this week pretty much breaking even.

I have settled into my job and new routine and I think I'm ready to get into poker again. I have decided that as I have less time to commit to poker that I should take a different outlook on how to improve.

During college I was always terrible at studying but when it came to exam time I would do as many sample or past papers as possible and it worked for me. In my job I generally learn by doing also. I equate this to playing a lot of poker and reviewing and analysing my own hands rather than reading articles and videos.

This may sound like I am being lazy and maybe I am. All I know is that when I was studying articles I was then playing a session and either trying to apply just the new material I had taken in and forgetting important basics or else going on auto-pilot expecting things to work out because I had (or thought I had) more work done than the next guy.

Instead I hope to concentrate more in my sessions, try to learn during the session while also applying my own strategy in certain cases and seeing what works and what doesn't.

This doesn't mean I'm not open to new ideas, debate or encouragement so feel free to comment.

Sorry for the long post it's been a while

Its been a long time since I posted here. Anyway I took a break from poker for a while. I then came back and started playin NL4 shorthanded on Party. I managed to move up to NL10 after about 25,000 hands with a win rate of 15.55 BB/100 hands. I chose not to move up until I had 30 BIs for NL10. I would then move back down if I went below 25 BIs for NL10.

I was very pleased to be moving up and my success carried on for another couple thousand hands in NL10 before I had a downswing. I have had to move back down to NL4 which is disappointing! During the downswing I ran quite a bit under EV but I was still not comfortable at the limit. I found the aggression to be far higher than in NL4 and I think my pre-flop game wasn't as good as it should have been.

During my winning streak on NL4 I was doing little or no work on my game just grinding away 4 tables as much as I could. I think my experience at full ring helped me but it was the same story at that level, I moved up, ran well for a while and then it all went wrong. That was partly due to tilt which I think I have learned from.

Anyway thats enough of my story, I will finish the beginners school and then try to get better so I can take another shot.

Cheers

NL4 78s
[be aware that I may not get paid off if I hit flush on river]
NL4 54s
[Bet flop bigger with medium strength hand. After that and calling turn I have to follow through on river when hitting an out]
NL 4 AKo
[Played pretty correctly, Not afraid to ship it to protect TPTK where there arent many hands I am behind]
NL4 AJo
[shouldnt have called min 4bet pre against 90 BB stack as there are very few flops I can be confident I am ahead on]
NL 4 AKo
[should have 3bet 75bb stack pre. Opp cbets into multiway. Not a spot to bluff!!!]
Nl 4 Aa
[Line is fine but could bet for value on turn but was scared of being re-raised with 3 to flush on board]
Nl 4 Q8
[called full pot bet on river purely to catch a bluff]
NL 4 76o
[turn raise is way too small. raise more than pot size. take more time over bet sizing]
NL 4 T9s
[beware of limp 3bet, bluff in wrong spot again. Just because opp bets small doesnt mean I have to bluff in position.]
Nl 4 Jj
[good shove vs LAG opponent]
NL 4 69s
[call in position with oesd rather than raising. fold turn]
Nl 4 Qq
[call small 4 bet OOP pre against nit with small PFR]
NL 4 A8s
[Bad cbet, if i do bet make it much smaller in 3bet pot]
NL 4 KQs
[fold second pair on flop, raise trips on turn pot size, fold river]
Nl 4 Kk
[bet/fold turn instead of check/fold]
Nl 4 Tt
[min check raise by opp on turn means fold with medium hand]]
Nl4 Kk
[bet less on river for value]
NL 4 T9s
[good shove when flopping second nut straight, lots of sets in opps ranges
Nl4 Jj
[weak turn bet lead to very poor river play]
Nl 4 55
[Possible to shove river if you think Opp will call worse but checking behind is also fine]

NL 10 QTs
[Turned hand into bluff on turn in position when should have checked back and played river with some showdown value]
Nl10 88
[villain calls in CO pre so has strong range, once he calls flop I should be giving up turn that doesnt improve my hand]
Nl10 Kk
[Pretty standard play with KK got sucked out on river]
nl10 KK
[again pretty standard with KK, bet two streets but when opp lead shoves I am rarely ahead]
NL 10 Q6s

Nl 10 88
[call for set value in SB, A on flop no point floating OOP, just fold]
NL 10 AJo
[if we raising for value then we must call shove from small stack, always consider his range and consider that we may be flipping at best]
Nl 10 66
[think about shoving range of small stack}
Nl 10 Tt
[Good bet sizing but always think what villain can call two barrels with after not cbetting flop]
NL10 AJo
[Can call in position with relatively strong hand. Ok to go broke on monotone board against this type of player with 2 pair]
Nl 10 Tt
[Played very badly. OOP against two players middle pair is rarely ahead. Beat a very narrow range of hands that villain bets like this]
Nl 10 99
[Bad call 3bet preflop, Too late to bluff on river. Lack of discipline]
NL 10 87s
[Played well, nice and cautious considering we flopped trips]
Nl 10 Jj
[Bad bet sizing and barreling 3 streets on auto pilot to make it easier for myself!]
Nl 10 Aa
[Checking turn for pot control is fine but betting is better as there are some draws we get value from that will not call a bad river card]
NL10 A9o
[Called small stack 3bet from blinds with very weak hand]
NL 10 AJs
[Just fold preflop, Even if he is a fish AJs is not strong enough regardless of position.]
Nl10 88
[Thin value on river is ok after opponents checks in position twice]
Nl 10 55
[Cbet on co ordinated flop is fine. Have equity to improve. Good fold to raise]
Nl 10 68o
[Hand was very marginal to be raising pre-flop. Should play more passively even against a fish]
Nl 10 Qq
[Calling utg raise ok on btn. Raise ok on flop but should follow it up on turn. Fold is ok but shove probably more EV]
NL 10 T9o
[Bet the turn bigger with nuts. Check/call is fine but bet/fold might be better on wet river]
NL 10 Q9s
[very marginal move! basically turned hand into a bluff. Should check back given reads]
NL 10 AQo
[No need to start levelling at this limit. High variance move and can be crushed very often. Need a lot more hands on villain before being sure]

NL 10 68s
[Easy fold against reg. Not enough fold equity to play so aggressively. Badly misplayed]
Nl 10 Kk
[Played fine, No need to overbet flop as it sometimes scares opponents -EV]
Nl 10 Qq
[stack off is fine considering opponent. 3bet bigger so as to have easier all in on turn]
NL 10 QJs
[Can 3bet on btn but if fish in blinds call is fine, think about his check calling range on flop. can bet turn as it will force out some smaller pairs etc]
Nl 10 Aa
[flop bet is fine, turn bet is light as many draws complete. river bet is very light and C/F is far better. Calling his re-raise was ridiculous]
Nl 10 Kk
[All in is fine putting him on tiny range but made hands would not play the way he did]
NL 10 ATo
[Should have bet river with top two-pair. Not much beats us that didn't go all-in on turn]
Nl 10 Ak
[Poorly played. Give up on river for definite, possibly on turn. Think about perceived range]
NL 10 68o
[Should have shoved flop rather than turn. Unraised pot, tough to assign ranges, be careful]
Nl 10 22
[Always isolate!!]
Nl10 Jj
[Want to get to Showdown as cheaply as possible with this hand on this board]
Nl 10 88
[Well played, with villain showing lots of aggression and not having info on him our line is correct]
NL 10 AKo
[Bet Sizing]
NL

10 A5o
[Don't go broke in limped pots. Overplayed 2-pair!]
NL 10 Q8s
[Once opponent check raises and pots the turn he is rarely semi bluffing]
NL 10 QTs
[3bet bluff is fine, 4bet call is fine, flop call is fine]
NL 10 QJo
[[didnt pay enough heed to stats! overplayed QJo]
NL 10 AKo
[Bet half pot on 3bet pots, makes turn decisions easier]

Good to see your back posting regularly again Kevin

Cheers Gary,

I'm not too interested in writing blog updates to be honest so just using it as a place to keep track of my posted hands. I think it's a good way to spot any recurring leaks that maybe I wouldnt notice through stat analysis.

Regards,
Kevin.

NL 10 ATo
[CO poster, BTN limp behind, Can ISO from SB w ATo as I have medium Ace and initiative. Prob would have taken it down on flop or turn]
NL 10 QJs
[could ISO with this hand too. Always try to get money in fast on this kind of board. Small raise on flop is appropriate]
Nl 10 Tt
[Correct call on the river considering odds]
NL 10 Q7s
[Took best option on every street]
NL 10 AQo
[3bet 2x raise a bit bigger. Bet flop bigger. Ok to shove if opp will call with weaker Ace]
NL 10 QJs Deepstacked!
[Hand was well played. While playing deepstacked you should not overplay your two pairs and sets because people are usually tending to stack off for 200bb with the nuts only.
Also, keep in mind, that people bluff less when you are deep, so if he check/raises the turn and you have top pair then it might be a good time to fold it]
NL 10 T8o
[Bet fold is good line]
Nl 10 44
[Bet turn bigger to have better sizing on river. River value bet was fine]
Nl 10 77
[raising min bettor is correct on this flop]

Nl 10 Qq
[call on river is fine getting good odds]
NL 10 KTs
[Bad bet on turn, check back turn fold river. Villain has Ax way too often]
Nl 10 88
[Poor call on flop just to see turn. Villain betting into two players is strong]
Nl 10 Jj
[Fine to call 4bet pre, good fold on flop as villain is showing very strong]
Nl 10 Tt
[Can 4bet fold, better to 4bet with an A or K as these reduce the combos villain can have that he will shove]

NL 10 QTs
[Bet more on flop with made hand. Fine to check back river against such an opponent on wet board]
Nl 10 Qq
[Well played but you bet half pot on turn for no real reason. Bet bigger on turn and check fold ugly river]
NL 10 67s
[Flop bet is fine, turn bet is far too thin!]
NL 10 KQs
[Flop raise is fine but make it smaller so that he will call with larger part of his range and we will therefore have more fold equity on the turn. Our big raise isolates us]
NL 10 A8s
[3bet preflop to isolate SB, Overplayed hand on flop, turn bet is a bit too big as we have to call if he shoves.]
NL 10 A6s
[if opp min bets flop treat it as a check etc...]
NL 10 AJo
[On river bet fold is better than check fold as it hinders a bluff from opponents]

Nl 10 22
[far too thin to isolate two opponents with 22]
Nl 10 Aa
[Folding turn to lots of aggro from passive player is fine but should have considered calling]
NL 10 AKo
[If I'm going to re-raise so much I should just shove. Otherwise just call villains bets]
Nl 10 Qq
[Always 3bet with strong bet and villain is in CO. NL10 players rarely bluff an Ace OOP]
Nl 10 Aq
[Bet the turn instead of checking back. Never ahead on river, silly call]
NL 10 AQo
[Calling 3bet pre in position against fish is fine]
Nl 10 Kk
[Turn bet oop on A high board isnt great]
NL 10 AKo
[Tilt affected, took no notice of playing deep. Overplayed AK because of previous losses, fish min raising turn is very strong, call flop check raise turn is very strong]
NL 10 68s
[Bad flop cbet with weak hand on connected board]
Nl 10 Aa
[Hand is fine against short stack. Can have Kx hands a lot]
NL 10 AKs
[Large 4bet preflop is good. Fold on flop is good but I let it affect my mentality later on]
Nl10 Kk
[bet/fold turn and do not go on tilt!!]
Nl 10 Qq
[Played correctly against short stack. Bet flop bigger]
NL 10 A3o
[River bet is very thin, bet flop in position instead]
Nl 10 Jj
[River bet is fine]
NL 10 QJs
[take more time on river and dont get attached to hand]
NL 10 JTs
[Overestimated equity due to counting outs twice. Be conservative when calculating clean outs]

Nl 10 Aa
[Played fine, hand was a bluff catcher so calling turn was another option but not shoving]
Nl 10 99
[Your bet sizing on the flop is too large. If you are planning to double barrel certain turn cards it often makes sense to bet a little smaller on the flop to keep your opponent's calling range wider]
Nl 10 Aces
[Hand is ok, didn't miss much value on river but a small bet would be ok as there arent as many combos as I thought that got there]
NL 10 qq
[Board is very dry so consider checking back the flop for more value on turn/river]
NL 10 T9s
[call is fine on river but you could shove also as opp has Kx here very often]