Poker Journal....

[ECS]

Since I like to talk about hands anyways, I've decided to start a little online tracking journal. All sessions will consist of 3 tables, playing 25/50c NL and/or 50/1 NL.

2 week, 3 day total +400, Rake Total +90

July 2nd afternoon session -41

This session was highlighted with 4 hands, on all 3 tables I was either up a few, down a few for like an hour. First big hand I have 10hJh in the bb. 3 limpers in and the flop comes Ah 3h 5h. Sweet, I've flopped the 4th nuts at this point. Sb checks, I check (knowing this table someone is gonna take a stab), guy bets the pot, sb calls (odd), I decide its time to raise this up and put out a nice bet. Original bettor folds and sb goes all in. He has me covered. Ok, time to break down what he could have to do this.

- 1 of the 4 hands that beat me
- Just the Kh
- 24 in the sb for the straight
-A5/A3/35, flopped 2 pair

So really, I was ahead of most, behind a few, I tanked for a bit and finally called and what do ya know, asshole had K2h which held up.

Next big one I had KK, make the standard 4x bb raise and get 2 callers. Flop comes 886. At this point I do not fear an 8/ or pp6. 1 person checks, I bet out close to the pot, get 1 caller behind and person in early position folds. At this point I am pretty sure that the guy behind me just has a medium pair, although at worst he could have A8. 2 on the turn. He has less chips than me, time to make him commit. I think he had like 13 left, so I bet 11. He pushes in the rest and I call. He has 1010. River is a 10. bleh.

So, im stuck at this point and make a slight comeback with these 2 hands. I get 9s10s in middle position, unopened pot. I raise it up and get 2 callers. Flop comes A Q 8, no spades. So I have a gut shot and thats it, checked to me and I fire out a bet, just a little more than half the pot. Guy behind me folds, early position calls. Turn is a 6. Nice, now I have a double belly buster, early checks again and this time I decide to take a free card. River is the J. Early position guy pushes out about half the pot. Any chance this guy played K10 here, I seriously doubt it, I think he was either trying to be sneaky with a set and hated my check on the turn, or that J gave him 2 pair. I push the rest of what I had in, he calls, he has QJ and im on the way back. Next hand that is big, very uninteresting, I had pp5, hit a set, got paid a decent amount and was happy calling it a session, only down 41

July 2nd Evening Session- +40

The good news is I made back what I had lost earlier, the bad is their were ZERO interesting hands. I mean none. I just kind of chipped up on each table with an occasional decent hand, bluffing after missing, nothing interesting at all. Sucked too, their were some really bad players at all my tables but I could not catch a hand against them, and when I did it was against decent players and I couldn't get alot out of them.


More to come, Feel free to comment on any hand or anything else. Also if you'd like to come take my money, feel free to come join me during a session on FT.

 

[ECS]

July 3rd- Am session +47

Put in a short hour session before I go hit the gym. 3 big hands, 1 I played pretty bad I think. Although, 1 hand was played just awful by another player.

This is exactly how NOT to play QQ. This person got unlucky yes to get QQ vs my AA, but wow did they play it bad. QQ person raises the MIN! (first mistake), I have AA and bump it up 5x more the bb, get 1 caller in the sb and the QQ. Flop comes K 7 7 2 dim. I am very happy with this flop, sb leads out with a little more than half. I am thinking he has either a weak K or dim. QQ flat calls (mistake #2 w/ QQ), I raise it up about the pot. SB folds and QQ just calls again (mistake #3 w/ QQ). Turn is a 4. QQ checks, I put them all in for like another 14 and they again call. River is a blank and I take it down. Yes it sucked to get QQ their, but wow did they play it bad.

Next big one I had 66, get a 4x raise in front and I smooth call. Flop is beautiful, A 6 6. Jackpot! It goes check, guy who raised leads out for a little more than half, I call, other person folds. Turn is an 8, he checks, I check. I am begging for an Ace now on river, no dice, its a blank. He bets out like 5 into a 15 pot. I am about 90 % sure he has an Ace, decide I cant blow him out of the water because he is obviously worried about the board with the check on turn, I raise it too 12, he calls and I take it down. He had a nice hand as well, AK, too bad he wasn't the typical fish I normally see who overplay AK bad.

This one I f'ed up I think. I have 78o on the button, early position min raises and gets like 3 callers, I call hoping to flop something nice w/ position, sb/bb calls as well. Flop comes 7 4 2. Not what I want with the 78 (top pair), but we'll see where im at. Original raiser puts in a buck. That screams of either I have 2 big cards or I have a monster, folds to me and I decide to see where im at and make it 4. Sb smooth calls (uh oh) and original goes away. Im thinking the SB either has an over pair, a 7 or some sort of straight draw maybe. Turn is a 10, sb checks, I check hoping to get a free card. River is the killer, another 7. SB CHECKS, now, If I had half a brain I check behind here, sb only has like 14 left. However, I am dumb and bet like 7. SB pushes all in and now I think I have to call 7 more (hoping he had a weak 7 in the bb I guess, I really dont know what I beat here unless he played a big pair really bad). He flips over 44 for the boat and I curse myself for bad play. Me = donkey on that hand for sure

Gym time

 

[ECS]

July 3rd- afternoon session +21

Another very short session, this time because the wife got home and it was time to start up some dinner. I went up early when my KK took down 10J after a 10 8 4 flop, 2 h. Thought they guy was on some sort of draw, turns out he is just a moron.

One interesting hand, we get like 8 people limp into a hand, I have pp44. Flop comes down A 8 4, 2 hearts. One guy leads out, folds to me. I dont think he is on a heart draw, but I have 3 people behind me and dont want them to get in cheap so I bump it up. Folds back to him and he calls. Turn is a 6h, not an ideal card, but like I said, I didnt think he was on a draw, I bet about half the pot and he calls (hmmmm, maybe he is being stubborn with 2 pair, maybe he has Ak, and the k is a heart). River is ANOTHER heart. Well that sucks, I now have a 4 high flush. He checks and I quickly check behind. I win the pot with the 4h, he had pp8, no heart OUCH!.

So things are going well, but I did donk off some chips on this hand. I have AQ on the button, 1 limper and I raise it up 4x the bb, sb and limper call. Flop comes A 10 4, 2 spades. Sb checks, limper leads out the bb, I say f that and bump it up 8x the bb, sb smooth calls and dumbass folds. Ok, now the sb has me worried, think he must have a good hand or the spade. Well, next card is a spade, but he leads out like a 4th of the pot bet. I just didn't believe he had the spades, unfortunatly I was right. I called this bet and he checked on the river and I did as well. I guess the turn call wasn't that great, the only thing im beating at this point is AJ, Ax, or if someone got frisky with QQ/JJ. The bet was so small though, I just didn't believe he had the spade and since he checked on the river, I really didn't lose much, but he had A10 for a flopped 2 pair. I don't think I played this that bad.....although maybe folding on turn might not have been a bad play.

Opinions people? any comments are welcome!

 

[ECS]

July 4th- Am session +41

Played for a little more than an hour, gotta go get a shower and get ready for a long day of 4th parties. Nothing interesting, although I think I ran into a bot at ft. 2 plays this "person" made were very strange.

#1- I had AKo vs A5c. Flop came A 4 9, 2 clubs. I bet, he calls. Turn is another club giving him the nuts, I bet out again to see where im at, he calls. River is another club. I check, he CHECKS? Wtf is that....

#2- I again raise with AQ, this person just calls with AK. Flop comes K 9 3. I continuation bet, he just calls. I check turn, he checks. I check river, he checks. Weird. I never saw this person raise, only call/fold.

I got paid off on one big hand, QQ vs AQ on a flop of A Q 3. Sucks for that guy. :thumbsup:

 

[DonMelchor]

Keep'em coming.........

 

[ECS]

July 4th- Early PM session -40

No real swings at all, I had 5 (yes FIVE) times where on the flop I had a flush and straight draw. I never hit one time. So that got rid of some chips, also I ran my set of 5's into a set of Kings. Although, the damage wasn't too bad, 4 flushed board so both of us were hesitant. Good thing a boat card didn't come. Also couldn't hit a damn thing when I raised, and continuation bets got raised, checks got pushed on turn. So, nothing interesting at all, just could'nt get any big things going.

Gonna go play some now, hopefully those draws decide to come through this time :banger:

 

[ECS]

July 4th- Late pm/early am session +75

Things started well when I limped on the button with a few limpers with 76o and flopped a straight. I couldn't go too slow though, 2 spades on the flop, plus it was the middle version (5 8 9), giving bigger straights a chance to fill. Sb bet, middle raised pretty big and I had to make a decent size raise behind because of all that was out their. middle called, flop was perfect, a red 2. They check and I bet out close to the pot (time to make him commit, obviously they either had a spade/flush maybe both draw. He folded and I took a nice pot. I also hit a set of 4's that had a harmless flop, so I let the guy bet into me on the flop/turn and then popped it up, another nice pot. Lost a few little one's here and their with QQ/JJ/1010(damn these hands), then this one comes up, which is pretty typical of what im dealing with most of the time.

I had AA on the button, 1 middle position raises it up 4x the bb. I pop it up to 10x the bb and he calls (I rarely, VERY VERY RARELY, see anyone fold after they have raised, which is making my reraises much more liberal because I just never see people fold. They make these calls all day with A10/AJ/KQ and of course any pp). Anyways, flop comes K 9 3, 2 spades. He leads out into me and I pop it up, about the amount of the original pot (we both had about our original max buy in). He then pushes back and I have to think what he could have.

-Ak, very possiable, KQ/KJ/K10 not impossiable, but not likely.
-K9, I f'n hope not, but these I have seen looser calls
-Spade draw? Could be, the flop is Ks 9c 3s. So if he had something like A9s he could push.
- Set of Kings? Nope, he would of reraised before, 9's or 3's, could be.

I am ahead of most, plus I already have about 1/3 of my chips commited so I push all in, he thinks for awhile (now im happy) and he calls with.....

10J clubs. Yes, he basically put an entire buy in out with an inside straight draw and backdoor flush. K on the turn gettng rid of his flush and a blank on the river and I was in business.

No playing this afternoon, have to go get a haircut, then gym and then will play some later

 

[ECS]

July 5th- Afternoon session -40

Just got done, actually had to quit because I am on super tilt, can feel it through my bones! Was up at each table, not alot, maybe 5-10 each, cruising along, then I get AA in the BB. UTG opens it for 4x the bb (sweet, lets hope he has KK), then a middle guy makes it 8x the bb, so the action comes to me and I drill the pot too 20x the BB (hoping someone has KK/QQ and pushes all in). The utg guy folds and the middle just calls, odd....

Flop comes Jh 7h 3c. Middle guy has about 25 left, I lead out for 20, he pushes all in, of course I call. He has AKh, so he is drawing to a heart only, turn is a blank and river is the f'n heart. Shit....

Then, about 20 seconds later on another table I have A8o in the bb, sb min raises and I call. Flop comes 6 7 9. He bets the double min again and I call, turn is the 10. He checks, I bet the pot. He thinks then calls. River is a 6. He pushes all in, I throw the dog (not really), fold and he shows pp7.

So I have to quit before I go into full fledge monkey tilt!

 

[ECS]

July 5th pm session +170

FINALLY!, nothing really all that great, which is the beauty of it. I got my money in with the best hand, and it held up over and over and over. I made a few good plays, hit sets when I was ahead preflop anyways and in general taxed the weak players (people that call and play Ax preflop). When I was drawing, I was getting the right odds and played them well. My favorite was a guy who cried alot, but he always seemed to play those weak aces. Well I am in the sb with AK, everyone limps around to me and I decide to play it a little slow, toss it if nothing develops, or could disguise it well. Well the BB raises 4x the bb and the villian who plays Ax calls and I call. Flop comes A 8 3 rainbow. I check, original raiser bets 3/4 the pot, villian just calls (right their I have an idea of what he has), I make it a little more than double that, the raiser folds and villian calls. Their is now 30 bucks in the pot. Turn is a 7, I check (I am 90% sure at this point he has A10/AJ/maybe even a9, if he has 2 pair I should find out here). He bets 10 into the 30 pot now im very confident I am ahead. I just call. 50 in the pot, river is a 2, I now go all in for my last 25. He thinks for awhile and finally calls with A10.

Mostly this was my favorite because I had just told this smuck he had better stop playing weak aces against me or I was gonna bust him (he beat my JJ with a weak ace earlier).

So, nothing great to report, just played well, had the deck hit me a little, but most importantly got the money in while ahead and they held, and when I was behind, I was calling only when getting the odds to call, and then got the max out of them.

 

[ECS]

Quick heads up, playing a PL table at FTP right now, their is a guy who has raised every single pot (the last 25 in a row)

He is free money if you can get a hand, but dont even try to bluff, he is calling down with ANYTHING

 

[ECS]

July 6th- Afternoon +90

I played for like 30 min and called it a quick session, once when I had 88 and the flop comes Q J 8, no raises preflop. Sb opens up, I raise because their was also 2 spades (so we have a straight/flush draw), guy behind me doubles my bet, sb folds, I push all in (if he has a draw he's gonna pay, if he has an over set the sucks to be me, if he has QJ im way ahead but gonna have to dodge some cards). This guy calls with...........AQ. LOL, wtf did he think I had? So I get a quick double up and then I catch the nut flush into a weak flush (which is why you have to be careful with these), lets go over this hand because this guy SHOULD of known he was beat or at least known not to call my last bet

I have A4 on the button, everyone limps and I call. Flop comes down Kc 7c 3. Sb checks, middle guy bets like half the pot, I call and sb calls. Turn is a blank, again sb checks and middle guy bets a little more than half the pot again (I wasn't getting Exactly the correct odds, but if sb calls then I am close plus my expected value with 2 people in was high). River is the beautiful Club, sb now leads out about 3/4 the pot (so he has a weak flush or is just really dumb and betting 2 pair/set now, obviously waiting too long), middle guy folds and I push the rest of my chips in. Now, what could I have that he beats and that I am pushing here? Literally nothing because he had 105c, but he insta calls and ship it. If you are chasing a flush thats not the nuts, and their are more than 2 people in the hand, you had better be VERY careful.



July 6th- Early pm session -45

Just couldn't get a damn thing going, if I had QQ, the flop would come K 8 4 and I would bet and get raised, this happened about 4 times. I did hit a set of 8's to regroup some of the losses, although this is a good time to bring up a good point in low limit, and something my dumbass needs to remember

DO NOT MAKE MOVES ON THESE PLAYERS

Trust me, it just doesn't work. Do not try to represent that flush/straight/ace /ect if you don't have it. That doesn't mean you can't bluff, of course you have to do that. But if you get called or plan on making moves, you are gonna lose money. They dont care that the 3rd club just came on the river, they have top pair damnit and they will not be folding!

Words to live by, now if I could just slap that into my own head.

Running total since I started 3 weeks ago- 720 I believe, I started with 295. I also have around 110-120 in rake, not sure because they update in the morning. Ill add that on tomarrow into my account. Up 425 thus far isn't bad, not as good as I would like, but the majority is .25/.50 NL and I am dealing with some very bad players, I just have to keep variance on my side and keep playing the percents. I also could also move up limits if i'd like, its just easy to play the level im at and not really have to think too much doing 3 tables. As a side note I have built up 6000 FTP points, trying to decide something that I am aiming for.

 

[ramdizzel]

i have been reading your journal, keep up the good work and the good BR management i know if it were me i would just piss it all away moving up too soon

 

[ECS]

July 5th- Late pm Session + 100. 2 hours

Another nice session, im going to try to start including time spent as well. Ok, the good and bad of playing at this level.

The bad: These people either a. dont know b. dont care about pot odds. Just accept that. They are gonna call whatever you bet when they want to catch that flush/straight. You are gonna get burned the river, trust me. Just dont make the problem worse by calling their bet. 9 outta 10 you are beat, these people are not smooth enough to make moves on you. Also, when you have the KK and the flop comes down A x x, if you had more than 1 caller from your raise expect to be beat. Save your money, might sound soft but their is a good chance your beat, and if your not, usually their bets will tell you what you need to know. So I lost a couple decent sized pots with these 2 things happening. The KK that I raised 5x the bb with was against the awsome hands of QJo and A10.

The good: The good far outweighs the bad. Why? Because you are smart, they generally are not. You are gonna get away from hands, they will not. In the long run, you will win the money, they will not. Here are some examples:

If you remember in my last post I talked about the danger of chasing with the weak flush when more than 1 other player in the hand. I have KJd in the bb, its limped to me and I check. Flop comes J Qd Ad. So I have the royal draw and a straight draw. I check, middle bets half and the button smooth calls, I call. Turn is a blank, middle bets half again (im thinking he has a weak ace at this point), button smooth calls again (I really am starting to believe he has the dim as well, he wouldn't be smooth calling with a big hand here, and no way he is now calling these decent sized bets with just a gutshot). River is the dim. I check, why? Well, #1 I hope button boy does have the flush, it seems like that could be what he was chasing, also the weak ace is gonna fold here, so why not give him a chance to bet at it. Well I check, middle checks and button goes all in. Yes, all in. ALL IN!!!!! I had about same as him and he overbets the pot by double. NEVER NEVER NEVER do this. The only hand that calls here, is mine, the one that beats you.

Another big one, the ability to not be able to lay it down. I was just in the sb and had nothing, some guy bets I fold and he shows his hand which was nothing as he scoops the 1 dollar pot. I jokingly say that I am now on monkey tilt. I am on the button now and have K3c so I decide to raise while pretending to be on monkey tilt, sb quickly calls as does the middle guy (the big 1 dollar winner). Flop comes K 3 2. Jackpot! Again, sb bets out double the pot (what is gonna call or raise here, only something that has him beat), middle just calls (he sucks though so its time to blow him off the hand). I am pretty confident that the sb with their quick call to my raise either has AA, AK, or KK if im unlucky. However, KK makes no sense here, why blow the people away in your hand, the other 2 however do make sense. So I raise it up 1.5x what he led out with and he goes all in, middle donk folds, I quickly call. He shows AK, nothing develops and I win a big one. Mistake 1 was not reraising, mistake 2 was then getting WAY to crazy with it after you didn't raise it in the first place.

I saw lots and lots of bad play tonight, calling big raises with KQ, K10, QJ...hands that are ok, but when someone puts the big raise in, you have a high chance of being dominated. I had a guy call a big raise from me with Aks w/ K10. Flop comes Q 10 3, he called this raise and then only had 3 dollars left. Of course I bet the 3 and he insta calls with his middle pair, K kicker. I took that money back later on.

Running total 820. As I said before, will add rake in on sat, should be around 110-120 more.

 

[Mopisgood]

Not trying to sound like a dick here, but why don't you just start an online blog somewhere?

 

[Iceman]

Keep up the excellent info. I have learned quite a bit already. This is a daily must read for me. :thumbsup:

 

[ECS]

No offense taken mop, this is just very easy to do, and I dont think my 1 little thread is taking up much room.

Ice, I will be gone Monday-Friday in vegas and playing alot of poker. I hope to post up a nice trip report in this section when I get home. Glad you are enjoying it, I honestly believe I am learning a few things myself doing this. It helps to re-enforce some of the things I already know.

 

[ECS]

July 7th- PM session -625!


JOKE! I actually just added the 110 rake and then took out 625 taking me back to where I started at 300. I am heading to vegas and decided to add a little extra to my bankroll in case I feel froggy.

The good news is I did have a small hour session and +40. Typical stuff, missed on a couple sweet draws, had my JJ run into KK, also ran a JJ into QQ (luckily I got out of both of these with minimal damage) then found my fish and picked up a big one. Lets see how many mistakes he makes in this hand.

I get AA and UTG to my right raises double the pot. I make it 3 to go and everyone folds. Flop comes down K 9 4. He leads out (this bet basically is telling me that he has a K. Most likely KQ/KJ/K10. He bet 5, I make it 12 (wanted to bring him with me) and he calls. Turn is a blank and he bets 10, now I push and put him all in for 27 total. He calls, flips over his KQ and river blanks and I win this pot.

Very bad play by him of course, but thats why I play with these guys.

Running total of 965.

I would guess that their will be no more play until I get home from vegas, have shit to do tomarrow and plane leaves monday morning. Hope to have lots of good vegas stories

 

[p1zza_man]

Guessing you and Ice dont want PokerTracker for free. O well!

 

[ECS]

Hey pizza, I did, I totally forgot I wrote that in your thread, it was more of a joke but if your offering i'd love to try it out!

 

[Iceman]

Guessing you and Ice dont want PokerTracker for free. O well!

me too. I'll hook you up with some money or something. Not trying to be a freeloader. Yesterday was my birthday and was a little busy so didnt have much a chance to respond to you. Not even sure how this works what you are talking about.

ECS,
Good luck in Vegas (but we all know good players don't need luck, LOL). Be confident and play the right games and your edge will come into play. Keep us posted on how it is going.