last day of spring

the longest session this week. at some point i thought i forgot how to play poker. it turned out i was running below EV..but it's not uncommon to me recently. here's the hand that saved my karma:

$0.1/$0.25 No Limit Holdem
9 players

Stacks:

UTG	tompan26	($7.46)
UTG+1	HarryCds	($6.78)
MP1	ZRFC2010	($12.18)
MP2	Hero	($27.56)
MP3	AgedinOak	($24.64)
CO	rootAV	($35.25)
BTN	h-hell-o	($9.90)
SB	PSigrok	($5.00)
BB	edem11	($5.53)

Pre-flop: ($0.35, 9 players) Hero is MP2

3 folds, Hero raises to $1, AgedinOak calls $1, 4 folds

Flop: ($2.35, 2 players)
Hero bets $2, AgedinOak raises to $4, Hero goes all-in $26.56, AgedinOak goes all-in $19.64

Turn: ($52.55, 2 players)

River: ($52.55, 2 players)

Final Pot: $49.63
Hero shows:
AgedinOak shows:

Hero wins $50.07 ( won +$22.51 ) <- fu rake
AgedinOak lost -$24.64

if you run below EV you should go all-in with worse hands and occasionaly you'll win. if you go all-in only with the best hands, badbeats will screw your "all-in EV" line :) rigged obv
in the end i've had some fishy tables but probably i was too tired as i had absolutely no thoughts in my head so I've decided to call it a day.

amount won: $31.61
rake paid: $72.77
pffft...

back on track

not a long session at all and i didnt play yesterday. i haven't played much this week and when i was playing i was losing..hm? i'll fix that later. nothing really interesting but at some point i found my favourite fulltilt pro - jim mcmanus playing 25nl. i was on the waitlist but he left soon. he's moving down("i play low while i'm writing") - countdown to busto? :)

i'm a rakeback pro

only played like 20 mins yesterday(football anynone?) - $2 4-man hu sngs(for fun). lost 2 and shipped the 3rd for a total profit of like $1 lol. played today - another bad session, -$80 ($60 below EV). graph looks sick - run good,then run bad and so on. but i'm still winning due to enormously high rake(hence, rakeback+bonuses). i've just realised rake at 25nl is ~6ptbb/100. i was crushing 2nl at 10-14ptbb/100 with virtualy no rake and lots of fish but 25nl is much tougher and 6ptbb/100 rake is the bitch. i have to reduce variance of my strategy to reduce rake handicap..hm?

worst day ever?

i didn't play yesterday so i've decided to play today more.uhhh..thats the ugliest graph ever. looks like i've lost every single big pot. also, almost $80 below EV. nothing special - i've had worse downswings. i was like "wtf?" and switched back to HU sngs. played 7 2-man $5.25 and $2.2 sngs, won 6, lost 1(rigged obv) and then shipped 4-man shootout for another $20. get this, cyberpoker :)

heads-up

last night i spent few hours watching $25k heads-up championship on fulltilt. many fulltilt pros including phil ivey, andy bloch, john juanda and other pros, including durrrr, ziigmund, larsluzak, fullslush1, aejones and many others. many interesting spots: phil ivey busted out on 5th hand, losing to IvanLendL, the last table in round 2 was an epic battle between aejones and IvanLendL(who won again). i learned that HU can be fun. never really played hu, just watched a couple of highstakes HU videos by "internet pokers" on cardrunners.

today i tried some $2 and $5 hu sngs on titan(i have some "free manies" there) and pokerstars, won all of them(5 to be exact). all were pretty quick(less than 10 mins) except the the one where i moved in on flop with 2 pairs vs 2overcards with gutshot straight. i had only a little over 500 chips left but my opponent was so exploitble that it was only a matter of time(21mins to be exact).
hu is much simpler from theoretical perspective than fullring so i definetly shall play more hu when i move up to 50nl. opponents must be tougher though..micro husng really look like printing money. here's how i won 1 in only 4 hands:

hand #1
No Limit Holdem Tournament
$2.00+$0.20
2 players

Stacks:

BTN	deb g lpn	(1500)
BB	Hero	(1500)

Blinds: 10/20

Pre-flop: (30, 2 players) Hero is BB

deb g lpn calls 10, Hero raises to 60, <- i always rise the 1st han, i'm that weird
deb g lpn calls 40

Flop: (120, 2 players)
Hero checks, deb g lpn bets 20, Hero calls 20

Turn: (160, 2 players)
Hero bets 100, deb g lpn calls 100

River: (360, 2 players)
Hero bets 360, deb g lpn calls 360

Final Pot: 1,080
deb g lpn shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins 1,080 ( won +540 )
deb g lpn lost -540

hand #2
No Limit Holdem Tournament
$2.00+$0.20
2 players

Stacks:

BTN	Hero	(2040)
BB	deb g lpn	(960)

Blinds: 10/20

Pre-flop: (30, 2 players) Hero is BTN

Hero raises to 60, deb g lpn calls 40

Flop: (120, 2 players)
deb g lpn checks, Hero checks

Turn: (120, 2 players)
deb g lpn checks, Hero checks

River: (120, 2 players)
deb g lpn checks, Hero checks

Final Pot: 120
deb g lpn shows:
Hero shows:

deb g lpn wins 120 ( won +60 )
Hero lost -60

hand #3
No Limit Holdem Tournament
$2.00+$0.20
2 players

Stacks:

BTN	deb g lpn	(1020)
BB	Hero	(1980)

Blinds: 10/20

Pre-flop: (30, 2 players) Hero is BB

deb g lpn raises to 40, Hero folds

Final Pot: 40

deb g lpn wins 60 ( won +20 )

hand #4
No Limit Holdem Tournament
$2.00+$0.20
2 players

Stacks:

BTN	Hero	(1960)
BB	deb g lpn	(1040)

Blinds: 10/20

Pre-flop: (30, 2 players) Hero is BTN

Hero raises to 60, deb g lpn calls 40

Flop: (120, 2 players)
deb g lpn checks, Hero bets 40, <- wanted to see his reaction to a goofy bet
deb g lpn calls 40

Turn: (200, 2 players)
deb g lpn checks, Hero checks

River: (200, 2 players)
deb g lpn bets 120, <- omg omg ace on the river
Hero goes all-in 1,860, deb g lpn goes all-in 820

Final Pot: 2,080
deb g lpn shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins 3,000 ( won +1,040 )
deb g lpn lost -1,040


also had a short 25nl session, won a few $$s, nothing interesting

*edit*
i've just noticed there are 2nl cash hu tables on titan, so i sat down to play for a few minutes and stacked some guy for $5(lol) and he was really terrible. something tells me when i move up to 50nl hu variance may bitch-slap me :)