Heads Up

Over the last couple days, I played 40 10+1 headsup SNGs at Party. Checkyourbets totals the sessions up to six hours.

Record: 27-13. Investment: $440. Winnings: $540. Profit: $100. ROI: 23%.

I'll take it.

Overall I think I was playing reasonably well. I need to start thinking more and figure out what range of hands I want to be raising (right now it's A7+, KT+, QT+) and when to back off on bluffing.

I'm not sure what to do when people open push on a raggedy flop, or do something like reraise all in when I bet 3/4 of the pot or whatever. I called it four times with TPTK or better, and twice it was someone trying to steal and twice they actually had the nuts. My thinking is that most people don't jam with a straight or a set because they lose a ton of value; of course, if someone thinks they're bluffing and calls, they're in business. Hard to say.

Here we go...

I've decided to start keeping a poker blog so I can track my progress and look back to see if and how I'm getting better.

I play on Party. I started with a bonus from partyfifty, then built a roll playing nine to twelve tables of .05/.1 NL at the beginners tables. My time on the beginners tables expired, so I've been toying with 10+1 SNGs and 6-max 25 NL. I'm currently down about $100 at 25 NL and up about $75 on SNGs. I'm slightly above even playing HU SNGs.

In the last two days, I've played eleven SNGs. I've moneyed six: two wins, one second, three thirds. One of those thirds includes when my wireless died halfway through and I inexplicably blinded into the money with around 2000 in chips. Total winnings: $190. Investment: $121. Profit: $69. ROI: 57%. ITM: 54%.

I'm pretty happy with how I played today; in the one I won today the only thing I was really kicking myself over was not coming over the top when the SB pushed to my BB and I had him outchipped 10:1. (I had 73 and just clicked check/fold before I saw everyone folded to him) I just finished one in third, but I was happy; I lost two races where I was 2:1 preflop, then I lost most of my stack to JJ with TT and eventually lost a race with A5 against K7.

As for the ones I lost...one involved my AA getting cracked by a flopped flush, but the other I got more desperate than I needed to. I was shortstacked, had A9 and raised 3x. One caller, a guy who tended to call down with almost anything. The flop came Q74 and I thought for a while. I was pretty sure the flop missed the other guy. I had 1420 chips at 100/200, so I could either bet about 400 and see what happened, check/fold, or push. I decided that if I were to bet at the flop, I'd probably end up all in at some point, so I elected to push. He called with Q9. In retrospect, I'm not sure if I should wait for a better spot or if that's where I should make my stand.

I'm probably going to end up playing mostly SNGs for the foreseeable future. My notes on the 25 NL sessions point to some holes I have (I have a tendency to be a little too aggressive) but I think most of it's variance; I went down a buyin with KK against a flopped straight, KK vs TT, runner runner straight, three outers, etc. I don't want this to be a bad beat blog, so I'm trying not to bitch, but I really felt like I was playing fine, so I'll probably mix some ring games into my SNGs.

I also enjoy HU SNGs, but I'm not really sure how to play them, so I'm putting them on the back burner.

I need to get PT and PAHUD. Note to self: get on that.