Poker Diary ;tldr

[SleightOfHand]

Ok, so Ive been playing poker for a long time now. It started when Moneymaker won the World Series. I would play with my friends at home and play .25/.50 games usually buying in for $20, although we would have about $100 to play with. I was also fairly into magic and I'm not gonna lie, I dabbled in a little bit of cheating. I was never caught, and I dont suspect they suspected me of anything. I still consciously think about it, although usually I dont go through with it, mostly because I dont feel I have enough skill to do it well.

Anyway, I started playing online poker every once in a while, usually going for bonuses and rakebacks, but overall probably broke even. 3 months ago I decided to actually play. Got myself a HUD and started reading 2+2 CotWs.

I bought in at PokerStars for $500 and started at 25NL (.10/.25). I did ok for a little and then hit some early losses, mostly caused by loose calling on the river. I dropped down to 10NL started really practicing. I just started with the simple mantra of valuebet valuebet valuebet and don't bluff fish. I was quickly beating the game and had an overall 6.5 bb/100 over 25k hands. Although the sample is still somewhat small, I thought the winnings were consistent enough where I didn't feel it was good variance. I had enough to go back to 25NL with a comfortable risk, so I took another shot. Once again, demolished it for another 6.5 bb/100 over 37k hands. This time however, I did hit a little bit of good variance, but I wanted to take a shot at 50NL since it was the weekends and would be fishier.

So now I have been playing 50NL for about 2 weeks. I hit some really nice variance 2 days ago, which gave me a 5 buy-in swing. I also hit some really lucky bad beats, which is putting me way above my EV, so I guess I am pretty lucky so far.

I wonder how high I can get...

 

[blikous]

Nice to see you winning

Good to see some discipline in dropping down a level for the sake of bankrolling, although I'm not sure if you are moving up too fast (need numbers) but it's bringing in money

Do you only play cash games or have you tried some 5+0.50 MTT?

 

[SleightOfHand]

Things have been going quite well so far, it appears that my lucky streak is still continuing, so I decided on a little bit of a brag post :laugh: Although recently I feel like I have been playing MUCH better than a few weeks back, I still have no doubt that variance is still a major aspect of my current success level. So far I have played about 15.5k hands of 50NL and I have a WR of 10.3 bb/100, which is really nice I was also looking back in my database, and it seems like somewhere in the middle of playing 25NL, I have really improved my game. If you look at my chart compared to before and after 60k hands (winnings defined in big blinds), there is a large growth in my winnings, but more importantly, my red line has really flattened, which may mean that my actual playing skill has improved (I believe I started being a lot more selective in restealing and squeezing at this point).

 

[Deathclutch]

That's impressive Sleight, I'm still tooling away in the super micros myself. Keep us updated!

 

[fubster]

restealing is more of a tournament thing, it generally applies when you have 15-25bb. light 3betting is def profitable, but it's also v exploitable depending on who you 3bet. probably doesn't apply at 50nl, but it's a good thing to think about as you move up.

squeezing... bleh that's a different story altogether. generally if i squeeze and get called (which i assume is common at 50nl) i am either c/f the flop or betting flop and shoving turn with 100% of the range i bet flop with (including air obviously) but since there's wild variation in skill level (or lack thereof) amongst 50nl players, it would be much different.

on the whole, the concept of valuebetvaluebetvaluebetvaluebet is 100% correct. vbet light, don't be afraid. if you think they'll spaz out and call off with ace hi or bottom pair or some weird nonsense, make em do it.

don't be afraid to make "big" bluffs from time to time. if you feel like someone's weak but they're gonna be stubborn, bet some rivers. big. they'll fold. they'll spit and curse and blame their bad luck because you "gotta have it" and they'll fold rivers. this is especially common amongst bad tags or loose/passive players.

meh i rambled a lot but whatever. if you have any poker questions lemme know.

 

[Deathclutch]

meh i rambled a lot but whatever. if you have any poker questions lemme know.

What do you think the hardest thing for someone to learn making the crossover from games like blackjack to poker?

 

[fubster]

probably that there's no "basic strategy"

you can't just read a book and be like "ok easy game" and go crush. it takes lots of gameplay experience to really start winning.

lots of people read a book and think "ok well i have starting hand charts and i know to valuebet and i know to fold let's go steamroll"

poker is a dynamic game, blackjack is a static game

 

[1357111317]

lots of people read a book and think "ok well i have starting hand charts and i know to valuebet and i know to fold let's go steamroll"

Sadly for a 1/2 game you could probably get away with this and win.

 

[fubster]

1/2 live yea probably you could, but everyone who tries to do this invariably gets all fed up because "they can't beat the bad players" or something equally silly. if you fail to deviate from the basic fit/fold show down tp+ rarely bluff strategy that is frequently advocated, you will not be a happy camper

 

[SleightOfHand]

1/2 live yea probably you could, but everyone who tries to do this invariably gets all fed up because "they can't beat the bad players" or something equally silly. if you fail to deviate from the basic fit/fold show down tp+ rarely bluff strategy that is frequently advocated, you will not be a happy camper

I played 1/2 NL live seriously for the first time a couple weeks ago, and I have to say that it was hilariously easy. The fish overvalue their top pair and overpair hands due to, what I assume is, watching too much TV poker. In tournament strategy, those hands are usually good enough to go AI due to the short stacks, but in cash games, they are still somewhat marginal. Just limp with speculative hands like small PPs and SCs and raise big with premium hands, and you are set (at least for these stakes). In EP/MP, I would raise usually 6bb+1/limper and would easily get callers. LP, I would raise a little less, like 5bb+1/limper since I usually have slightly weaker hands (Ace high is usually ahead of most limp/callers). Bluffing is a bit tougher due to the loose calling, so just go with the mantra: "valuebet valuebet valuebet."

And as far as an update for the diary, things have been going pretty strong still. Had a 3 buyin loss last night, one of them against a coin flip, but whatever. And for the first time, my red line for 50NL has reached positive territory! It was only for something like 8 hands, its back to negative for now, but I think that it tells me that my postflop play has definitely been improving. My blue line is still way up, and I am around 10 bb/100 over something like 15k hands, so its not enough to verify my true WR, but with my red line being in a happy place, I believe that I am playing as a winning player in this stakes. My poker BR has grown to the point where I can take a shot at 100NL, which I might try during the weekend, where its more fishy. I also hear that 100NL has more fish than 50NL, but we'll see what happens. Here is my winnings graph, although it looks a little biased since the stakes I have been playing changes. Ill post a graph according to blinds when I take a shot at 100NL

 

[fubster]

very nice, keep up the good work

 

[SleightOfHand]

Nothing more satisfying..

than getting a solid read on your opponent and knowing how to maximize your profits... Played almost 500 hands of 100NL today, and (I assume because of the fishy weekends) was able to end up 2 buyins up Breakeven red line still going strong! At one point during 50NL, around 18k hands in, my red line was in the positive (for about 10 hands and only up around 10 bb hehe)!

PS: Just realized this is only a difference of around 5k hands. Guess I got too antsy to post my results :laugh: Admittedly, it was a little bit of a brag post with my red line

 

[SleightOfHand]

First Losing Streak

So it looks like Im experiencing my first losing streak. Since my all time high, im about 8500 blinds below EV. I dropped back down to 50NL since my bankroll has shrunk a bit, but idk if its tilt or just bad variance (perhaps a bit of both). I think im gonna slow down my game a little and get a fresh look at the game later.

 

[Thunder]

Sleight, I think you'd do better if you stuck to playing live 1/2 nl games. Online poker is such a grind.

 

[fubster]

Sleight, I think you'd do better if you stuck to playing live 1/2 nl games. Online poker is such a grind.

Compared to live 1/2?

Nice job, keep up the pace.

 

[Thunder]

Yeah compared to live 1/2. The players at the .25/.50 online are better than the players in live 1/2 from what I've seen.

 

[fubster]

True, but in terms of grinding, I'd say that sitting around playing live 1/2 getting 20 hands per hour would be MUCH more of a grind than multitabling 50nl 6max or HU online

 

[matt21]

nice going sleight!

any idea what a reasonable expectancy is for live 1/2?

I bankrolled a friend to play live in Las Vegas for the last 5 months. He averaged about 30 hours of play per week but ended up making just over $2k in 730 hours of play. He has been playing poker for a nearly a decade. I was surprised that his win rate was so low. Unfortunately I had to tell him that the 'experiment' had reached its expiration date. I really wanted to help him to turn pro, that's why i backed him.

 

[fubster]

The rake at 1/2 is usually capped at $5, which has a pretty brutal impact on your winrate.

 

[SleightOfHand]

nice going sleight!

any idea what a reasonable expectancy is for live 1/2?

I bankrolled a friend to play live in Las Vegas for the last 5 months. He averaged about 30 hours of play per week but ended up making just over $2k in 730 hours of play. He has been playing poker for a nearly a decade. I was surprised that his win rate was so low. Unfortunately I had to tell him that the 'experiment' had reached its expiration date. I really wanted to help him to turn pro, that's why i backed him.

1-2 being the lowest stake, we expect to have a strong win rate for a player that actually knows how to play. I would expect around 10 bb/100 hands, even more. I am unsure about the exact number, but I would say that an hour of play at a live table plays at around 30 hands/hr. This puts his EV around 4500. With an actual wr of 2000, this isn't hugely far from ev.

From my memory, I believe I read that playing 20k hands (which is about how many he played) has a standard error of around 1 bb/100. However, including things like toking, he may not be terribly far from being a decent player. But then again, maybe he's not as good as he thinks (why is he playing 1-2 as a "pro"?)