November

November's been quite good so far. I switched to playing HUSNG turbos and it seems that they suit me better (or suit my opponents worse). I seem to be more patient in turbos (although there's not too much of time) and I won't be trying too outragous bluffs as I seemed to be doing in the normal length games. Also it seems the opponents aren't as patient. Usually when I happen to get a good hand OOP, my opponents try to bluff and usually end up bluffing their whole stack. So it seems patience is an virtue atleast in these turbos.

Statistics:

$6 Turbo : 33 won, 27 lost
$5 Normal: 41 won, 47 lost
$2 Normal: 74 won, 57 lost

Silence

It's been quite silent for a while because I've been quite busy in the evenings. It doesn't mean I havent been playing - I have - but I havent had time to study my games and to write blog posts. My game hasn't progressed almost at all. I think the main part that I haven't spent the time study my game, but I've been playing around with my old strategy. There's not too much light in the tunnel (in timewise) for until Christmas unfortunately, but let's see if I get an evening or two to analyze my game.

Here's a funny hand:

FullTiltPoker Game $5 + $0.25 Heads Up Sit & Go
Seat 1: hero (1,620)
Seat 2: blazer0 (1,380)
blazer0 posts the small blind of 10
hero posts the big blind of 20
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to hero [6s 6c]
blazer0 raises to 40
hero raises to 120
blazer0 raises to 200
hero raises to 1,620, and is all in
blazer0 calls 1,180, and is all in
hero shows [6s 6c]
blazer0 shows [3c 4c]
Uncalled bet of 240 returned to hero
*** FLOP *** [5h 2s Ks]
*** TURN *** [5h 2s Ks] [9d]
*** RIVER *** [5h 2s Ks 9d] [Ac]
hero shows a pair of Sixes
blazer0 shows a straight, Five high
blazer0 wins the pot (2,760) with a straight, Five high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,760 | Rake 0
Board: [5h 2s Ks 9d Ac]
Seat 1: hero (big blind) showed [6s 6c] and lost with a pair of Sixes
Seat 2: blazer0 (small blind) showed [3c 4c] and won (2,760) with a straight, Five high


Current Statistics:

So here are the stats:
$2: 73 won, 56 lost
$5: 39 won, 44 lost

Stupid plays?

I haven't been able to play too much lately, because I've been travelling (visited Lake Garda and Venice in Italy). However I got back in business and played some HU SNS.

I am curious why betting all-in to win a small pot and postflop min-bet/raise are very common with opponents on the levels I play. I think these moves are quite clearly bad moves.

It seems that there are a lot of players who min-bet flop, turn and river oop. I am curious about where have these player learned that 'move'. Usually they don't have nothing or have a bottom pair, so I guess it is kind of a blocking bet (but they telegraph their hand). Most of the time when I raise them they fold.

The other play I encounter a lot is an all-in move when there's not too many chips in the pot yet. This can happen on any betting round and as a raise or as a bet. I am really puzzled about these moves because I cannot really think about a situation where a bet like this (over betting pot like 10-20 times) is really profitable. After-flop against these opponents I just wait until I have a monster hand and let them donate their chips to me.

However preflop it is not so straightforward. I had an opponent who reraised all-in quite a big percentage of my bets from the button. I had to folding hands to get a hand I could call with. I folded several Ace-8 or worse hands because I didn't want to find myself dominated. I am not sure wheter that was a wise thing to do, so I'll have to do some digging with PokerStove (and read the tables in the back of David Slanskys "No Limit Hold'em") on odds to know when it's +EV.

Anyway, the tournaments have been going quite well. I reached 100 games in $2 and have now decided to play only $5 tournaments and better.

So here are the stats:
$2: 59 won, 41 lost
$5: 17 won, 15 lost

Current Status

$5 Tournaments:
7 won, 13 lost

I really don't know what's going on here :). I'm getting run all over. I don't seem to be having any 'soft' opponents. I had a losing streak of 6 tournaments, and that's tough. I won my last tournament but it was no picnic either.

$2 Tournaments:
42 won, 30 lost

These go better, but my ROI has dropped a little.

$5 seems tougher

Been getting stacked in $5 HUSNGs much more than in $2 HUSNGs. I've looking through the games and it seems that my game changes mode (to worse) if I get an distinct chip advantage and my opponent doubles up back to the original stack sizes. I seem to be playing more daringly and take more chances.

One thing I am wondering is, when should I call a medium-stacks preflop all-in pushes. Let's say my opponent has 800 chips, blinds are 15/30. My opponent has been pushing a couple of times during the last hands when I have limped from the button. I get A9 on the button. I raise to 90 and my opponent pushes all-in to 800. In a recent game I ended up calling, but I was unsure wheter I just should have folded.

The pot was laying me 5 : 4 odds and I have a decend hand. However I am behind any higher ace by substantial margin, and ahead any lower ace. Against small pocket pair I am slight dog, against mid pocket pair I much worse. Only against some against some high cards I am a favorite. According to PokerStove, if he'll do this with any pair, any ace and any two face cards my equity is just over 1:1.

So in terms of looking at this situation only, calling is a +EV because of the good pot-odds. However his pushing range is the key here, if I drop some of the lowest aces hands from the set I it would be very close, and could be even -EV.

So I am still a little at loss. I wouldn't want him to double up because we would be again even. If I just fold he'll get my 90 chips and maybe I'll find myself a better hand when pushes next time ?

Current Statistics:
$2: 30 wins, 19 losses
$5: 6 wins, 10 losses

Biggest Leak Fixed?

I got help from arch_angel who reviewed a couple of my HU HH's. He spotted that I made many two/three barrel bluffs oop and almost always got called down. I think his remark hit the spot. Looking at my Poker Tracker statistics that has cost me a bunch.

Arch_Angel suggested that I try to follow a rule where I do not bet the flop oop, if I do not flop top pair or better. I played 10 games following this and some other rules and won 9 games out of 10 :). Here's the game I lost:

---
Full Tilt Poker Game #3428731974: $2 + $0.15 Heads Up Sit & Go (26215244), Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 12:24:02 ET - 2007/09/01
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Ah Ad]
xefu409 raises to 1,500, and is all in
Hero calls 1,480, and is all in
xefu409 shows [7d 5d]
Hero shows [Ah Ad]
The button is in seat #2

*** FLOP *** [8h 9s 3h]
*** TURN *** [8h 9s 3h] [7s]
*** RIVER *** [8h 9s 3h 7s] [6d]
xefu409 shows a straight, Nine high
Hero shows a pair of Aces
xefu409 wins the pot (3,000) with a straight, Nine high
Hero stands up
xefu409 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3,000 | Rake 0
Board: [8h 9s 3h 7s 6d]
Seat 1: Hero (big blind) showed [Ah Ad] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 2: xefu409 (small blind) showed [7d 5d] and won (3,000) with a straight, Nine high
---

In fact this same situation has happened to me twice during the last 20 games or so. I have AA, my opponent goes all-in with 75 and wins on the river with a straight...

BTW, current statistics:

$2: 27 won, 19 lost
$5: 3 won, 5 lost

Wasn't my day

Everybody had fun at the tournament. 29 players showed up. I of course busted out first just before the first break. The starting tables played 6-handed.

First major comfortation ended badly for me when an opponent (with K9s) who probably thought I was on a total bluff called both my bets on the flop (7 3 2 rainbow) and on the turn (J and brought my opponent a flush-draw) putting him almost all-in. On river he paired his nines to beat my flopped top pair (I had A7). I made a rebuy after that.

I lost most of my rebuy chips trying to bluff out a two pair. The funny thing was that I after I got reraised on the river I analyzed based on the betting of the hand (speaking alound) and came up to the conclusion that my opponent had possibly spiked a King on the turn (however in fact that had made him top two pair :). Then I reraised all in (raised 4000 to a pot of ~5000) trying to fold a flopped top pair or maybe even the king, but alas my opponent pondered a while and called. I had my opponent covered and was left with 500 chips or so.

Almost immediately I pushed with King-rag in mid position and doubled up to 1000. Then I found myself with 88 in the big blinds (blinds were 100/200) and the button raised to 750. Of course I pushed all in. My opponent had K9 and spiked that nine on the river.

So no heads-up yesterday.