shrug

Dropped two buyins. Not the worst thing ever, but I set over set some poor bastard for his stack, so it's really like dropping three. I was only playing for stacks twice, once with the nut flush and once with as follows:

I have A8s from UTG+1. Effective stacks $50. I raise to $2. Blinds call. Flop J53 two hearts. Blinds check, I bet $4.50. Small blind folds, BB check-min-raises. Now, this is interesting, because this fine fellow had played back at two of my previous raises and I had folded. I threebet to $25 and he calls. Well, damn, I guess he has something. Turn is Ah. He checks. Fuck. I doubt he has the flush because he jams my threebet, but I'd have a hard time representing it too. The problem is that his range here is Jx, maybe a five, maybe an ace. If I shove, he has to fold two times in five for it to be +ev, which is probably most of his J and 5 holdings. He may call with jacks, as well.

He could have a set. He could have been playing back at me with a better ace.

Fuck.

That all flashes through my mind and I push for $23, figuring it's high variance but has a higher ev than check/folding.

He calls. J5.

I guess I found out he'd been playing back at me.

That was unfortunate.

Aside from that hand, nothing was really that great. I think I was threebetting a little more than I should've, but by the same token it felt like a lot of my raises were being picked off. There's probably a line to walk, but I havn't figured it out yet. Still, most of my losses were smallish pots involving me stealing the blinds, c-betting, and being called down or whatnot. There were some drawing hands that didn't quite pan out, too.

So I'm back to even after eleven hundred hands. It could be worse, but it could be better, too. My style is fairly high variance naturally (35/24/3, wanna fight?) but I've been compounding that. I'm generally on the plus side of the coinflips I get in, but with an effective bankroll of five buyins (remember, taking a shot), that might be pushing my luck.

Such is life, I guess. I'm a bit concerned because basically my progress is something like bleed bleed SCORE bleed bleed bleed DEEPSTACKED DOUBLE UP etc but obviously my sample size is tiny as hell. I also don't really remember all the times my continuation bets work and keep it in my head when they get beat, so that's skewing my thinking.

I like these stakes.

Er, yeah.

cliffs notes: two sessions. Dropped three buyins in one, won four in the second. um, how lucky.

(oh, shads has a blog now, and updates it more often than certain other miscreants. go check it out)

So I played two sessions today. I tried to post about the first one when it was over, but I couldn't. Here's that one:

Yep. I was a little impressed by how quickly I managed to drop a buyin at 50 NL when I first sat down (In about two minutes on three tables, a steal didn't work out, I was outdrawn, and a reraise with AT went south for a net of down just under a buyin.) so after I made it back to even on the day I decided that before I stopped, I'd see how fast I could drop three.

Now, for clarity, there wasn't any point where I did something, lost a pot, and was like "God, that was stupid." I was playing fairly aggressively but it was working out well for the most part; I just got involved in some big pots where I felt I had a marginal edge.

Only 20 hands or so with this guy, so no real reads. I spent forever on my time bank on the river and finally decided I was winning one time in three. I wasn't sure about that play at the time, but I think I was being results oriented; he definitely has a strong three or two pair at least a third of the time.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?640275

This was quite strange. Like, his range there is the flush, the straight, a strong ace, two pair, etc. I'd call him heads up, but I dunno what the hell the guy behind me is going to do. He played pretty passively, but he flopped a boat an orbit ago and was pretty passive on that. He might've missed a spade draw. I didn't want to flat call and have the guy behind raise, and I didn't want to raise. I ultimately think folding is weak, but I couldn't make myself call.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?640277

This guy had floated me earlier, and I thought he was trying to steal. I think he has an overpair, TPTK, or a naked eight way more than the made straight.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?640272


All three of those hands were in my last thirty or so, which was cheerful. I'm not really unhappy with my play, although I think I may become everything I've ever hated and avoid high variance marginally +ev situations. (I hate it when people advocate doing that, but I also have a limited 'bankroll' for this shot at 50, so, um, yeah.)

I can't even bitch that much about not sucking out when other people are outflopping me because I've now outdrawn flopped straights with sets for stacks twice. Heh on me.

I was generally playing well. For a while I had a guy on my right who was playing pretty much the same way I was, which was pretty awesome when I started restealing and check-raising his continuation bets, knowing how likely it was for him to have air. He left after I had taken about half a stack from him in steal attempts.

It's a little irritating to be down three buyins and not really seeing any glaring mistakes, because I'm pretty sure I'm screwing up somewhere. Still, though, I think my play is fine. I'd like to start reraising preflop more (The one thing I've noticed about 50 is that squeezing is more common) but I'm generally happy with my postflop play.

Shrug. There'll be more poker tomorrow. Update then.

Then I planned to do homework, and it started snowing and everyone was screaming about it so I couldn't really study in the lounge, and thus I returned to my room. Somewhere in between calculus was decided to be just not that fun and I broke my rule of "-3 buyins = sleep on it." I felt I hadn't really made any terrible plays and wasn't close to tilting.

I sat down and actually got a bit worried because I was getting zero respect, then realized two of the four tables had a LAG who was determined to be more aggressive than I am and the other two had calling stations. *shift into TAG mode*

Some small history here: I'd raised once and he check-raised my c-bet. I thought for a while before laying it down (it was something like middle pair or TPNK) and he said something along the lines of him knowing I had air. Regardless, I was quiet for a few orbits and had taken two of his steal attempts away from him on the flop when this came up. I was just floating on the flop and turn, then kind of fell into the nuts. I guess I get stacked in his shoes too, but it was nice.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?640632

This guy was being fairly aggressive and wasn't rolling over and dying to my continuation bets. The call was mostly for suited connector value, but I'll take top two. His minraise could've been a set, but I think he flat calls and tries to hang me on the turn with one, so I figured him for JJ+ and put him in. About had a heart attack when the second two came.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?640637

Mostly just picking up a big blind special, but I might've been too passive on that river. I couldn't fathom how two people would be in there; I guess one might've been drawing and the other TPTK or overpair, but two pair was looking awful small on that board. I'm not sure what I'dve done if thuber raised that river. I think I'd call, but I'd have been sick doing it.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?640639

I dunno if I see monsters everywhere or what, but I've been giving people too much credit for sets and overpairs and whatnot. It's probably subconscious because I tend to stack off mostly to those kinds of hands, but that hand makes me wonder if it's affecting how I play. I bet a $20 bet on the river yields just as much value and doesn't look nearly so scared.

More progress

cliffs notes: 50 NL is awesome.

I'm at 457 hands, up $73. So running a bit hot, but whatever. Slammed KK into a shortstack's AA (I actually almost folded; I raised to $2 UTG, he minraised from the BB, I raised to $12, he minraised again, and I pushed. Full stacks, two minraises, four bets, smells fishy enough that I either fold or go for set value, but half a stack...eh he could have QQ, AK, maybe JJ.)

Another shortstack raise pushed my $2 from MP with JJ for $16 more, which I ultimately decided to lay down. I think he has AT+ a lot there, but he also has QQ+.

Interesting hands: The dangers of slowplaying:

POKERSTARS GAME #7221419536: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.25/$0.50) - 2006/11/29 - 01:13:52 (ET)
Table 'Polaris' 6-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: Eclipse51 ($49.75 in chips)
Seat 2: Fil123 ($50.10 in chips)
Seat 3: DotNetBoyz ($23.70 in chips)
Seat 4: cconnard ($48.55 in chips)
Seat 5: WolfOnTheFol ($64.60 in chips)
cconnard: posts small blind $0.25
WolfOnTheFol: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WolfOnTheFol [8h Td]
Eclipse51: folds
Fil123: folds
DotNetBoyz: raises $0.50 to $1
cconnard: folds
WolfOnTheFol: calls $0.50
*** FLOP *** [2c 9s Tc]
WolfOnTheFol: checks
DotNetBoyz: bets $1
WolfOnTheFol: raises $3.50 to $4.50
DotNetBoyz: calls $3.50
*** TURN *** [2c 9s Tc] [8s]
WolfOnTheFol: bets $7.50
DotNetBoyz: calls $7.50
*** RIVER *** [2c 9s Tc 8s] [Ts]
WolfOnTheFol: bets $11
DotNetBoyz: calls $10.70 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
WolfOnTheFol: shows [8h Td] (a full house, Tens full of Eights)
DotNetBoyz: mucks hand (2d 2s)
WolfOnTheFol collected $45.65 from pot

He minraised and was generally being an idiot; super short for most of the time but still playing fairly tight; I planned to just take it away with a checkraise. To be entirely fair, if he raises the turn I go broke with top two, but instead he let me draw out and crush him. I dig the flop call, but hate not raising the turn. Like, if he's afraid of the straight, he's going to be just as crushed on the river unless he fills up, and if he's that scared I'm just going to make him see nightmares on every flop.

(this hand is also indicative of how willing I am to get shanked with top pair. If he raises the flop I can probably get away with the preflop minraise making me think JJ+ if he raises a c/r, but if he'd made a normal raise and had something like kings I'd probably have gotten it right in the ass. I think I'm too eager to assume people are raising Ax or whatever and that they're bluffing the raise or third bet. They're usually not. Complicating things, some people actually are.)

The more I play 50 NL the more it feels like 25. I was at four tables at the end of my session and was doing fine. Time issues when I had the JJ facing a push while playing a boat on another table, but that happens. I'm playing a fairly high variance style and really going out there with coinflips (I'd probably have sex with folding equity if I could) and it's working pretty well. I'm still having trouble with TP vs overpair or pocket pair vs higher pocket pair. I think I'm too eager to think people are playing back at me when I hold mediocre holdings. Maybe I'm looking too hard to get involved.

50 NL

Sorry for no updateageness, Thanksgiving + homework + snow = busy.

I have decided to take a shot at 50 NL. If I drop five buyins, I'll call it quits and slink back to 25.

I played two tables for a little over an hour just now; ended up down $16. Some fairly wacky shit was involved; I triple barreled a guy who couldn't quite make himself fold TPNK and had to show down queen high, but I picked up KK a couple hands later and apparently he thought I was loose enough that he put his money in on a gutshot + ace high on the turn. That was entertaining until he made the straight. I also flopped a set with 44 on 432 and got all in with A5, which was frowns for a second, then I turned a boat and all was well. I guess those two hands roughly cancel each other out. (Oh, I also had aces and the board went runner runner onboard straight against 44, which is completely not fair considering the amount of times I get crushed with pair vs higher pair.)

As for actual hands...

POKERSTARS GAME #7215847774: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.25/$0.50) - 2006/11/28 - 18:50:59 (ET)
Table 'Grus V' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: CrackedMax ($57.15 in chips)
Seat 2: ty4tilt ($88.65 in chips)
Seat 3: noh0pe ($49.75 in chips)
Seat 4: pwalsh21 ($49.25 in chips)
Seat 5: FoofChunk ($75.40 in chips)
Seat 6: WolfOnTheFol ($68.85 in chips)
FoofChunk: posts small blind $0.25
WolfOnTheFol: posts big blind $0.50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WolfOnTheFol [Kh Qc]
CrackedMax: folds
ty4tilt: folds
noh0pe: folds
pwalsh21: folds
FoofChunk: raises $1.50 to $2
WolfOnTheFol: calls $1.50
*** FLOP *** [6c Tc Kc]
FoofChunk: bets $3
WolfOnTheFol: raises $9 to $12
FoofChunk: raises $58 to $70
WolfOnTheFol: calls $54.85 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [6c Tc Kc] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [6c Tc Kc Jd] [8h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
FoofChunk: shows [Ts Ac] (a pair of Tens)
WolfOnTheFol: shows [Kh Qc] (a pair of Kings)
WolfOnTheFol collected $134.70 from pot

This guy was 15/10/2.25 over about seventy hands, and was being fairly passive. I was pretty sure that I could take the pot away from him if no ace came. The flop was interesting. I had planned to raise regardless, and my standard raise on monotone flops is a little less than the pot to go anyway. His push was interesting; I was almost certain he didn't have the flush unless he had AJ of clubs, because half the paint was accounted for, and I doubt he raised random suited connectors. I figured I was either way ahead of his pair, ahead of his NFD, flipping with his AK or pair + NFD, or very rarely getting crushed by AcKx or the made flush. If I have his cards, pretty much the same thing happens, so that's a wash, but this was after I'd gotten semistacked with KK and did in fact get stacked with sixes against a set of sevens, and it would have been quite the confidence blow to lose this one.

Fortunately, I didn't. :P.

I rammed a couple pairs into overpairs, which is unfortunate but hard to get away from, especially if there's a significant chance they have middle pair or overs, particularly if TP is like a 7-T. People still have far too much respect for continuation bets, which is entertaining if confusing. It basically feels like the NL 25 games except for larger numbers. I still don't have an online banking system (somehow I lost my social security card, and Neteller wants a scan) but I think I may consolidate the rolls I have on Carnaval and PokesPoker and add a little and just play NL 50 even if I do lose the five buyins. I'm pretty sure I can beat the level, and I was generally happy with how I was playing today. I'm still working on getting away from higher pocket pairs, but if I can give them a couple likely holdings I'm okay with dropping some money to them. (playing for stacks, not so much.) I also occasionally forget to take opponent stack sizes into account; sometimes people only have half a buyin or so and I set it up so that I'd be pushing the river for a PSB and all of a sudden my flop raise is being threebet all in for like $8 more and I'm like "what the hell? Oh, whoops."

It was also amusing to see "flop aggression: 38" in PT after I checked my first flop about 35 minutes in. Just saying.

Oh, and some people decided that they'd be cool and bet like a fifth to a tenth of the pot sometimes. I have no idea what the hell they're thinking, although I think it's usually a draw trying to see more cards cheaply. I've been jamming pot-sized raises in their face as my standard line, which is working well, but I'm curious what others think.

Probably going to move to three tables later tonight. I'll post if I do.

Hm, tilt?

Weirdness ensued after I dropped a buyin on a bluff. I had AT in the button. UTG+1 calls, Cutoff raises it to $1, and he's been doing that a lot lately, so I call figuring to float and steal the turn UTG+1 calls.. Flop comes 632 rainbow, and he overbets the pot. I smooth call and wait to see what UTG+1 does. He folds. Cutoff bets 1/3 the pot on the blank turn, and I make it $13 to go into a $30 pot. He thinks forever and calls. River blanks and he checks. I push, figuring I'm representing a set or an overpair, and he eventually calls with jacks.

I think that up to the turn it's ultimately a high variance +ev play and I'm mostly upset that I didn't have the stones to pull the trigger harder and make it a little less than the pot to go. I actually thought he had ace high and would back off, and I'm still not sure if I just decided to burn money on the river or if he folds there.

The weird thing about it was how weirdly passive I became on all my other tables. After a couple orbits, I wasn't doing anything except playing my cards, which is awful because I abuse position like, well, something that abuses things a lot. I took a break to write this and walk around and I'm feeling my normal self again, but that was weird. I dunno if it's even normal to take bluffs to the felt or what.

Bet->threebet

So I've begun another round of ten thousand hands. Periodic updates on that will follow.

I came in third in the Ptips POY NLHE event, blowing a 23k to 2k and 1k lead after staphros had AA and AQ to my ATC open pushes, which was highly unfortunate. After that I was crippled when molinero picked off one of my steals with 99, got short, and went out with my A7 against her A4. Sad, but not much to be done. Sadly, I will miss the 6-max event due to travel but I'll show up for the ME.

5cd has come to Stars. I used to play a bit on Paradise and OnGame, but I havn't been hitting up the tables. I want to work on my NLHE, and 5cd isn't terribly interesting to play. That's probably a -ev approach to take, but it's not what I'm focusing on at the moment.

I've been running into situations where my c-bet gets raised that I'm unsure how to handle. If I legitimately think they have something, I'll fold then, but I've been taking two approaches when I want to continue with the hand, presumably with TP at least, but sometimes with MPTK. I either smooth call and bet the flop, or I threebet the flop for information. They're roughly the same cost, but I think the third bet looks stronger. I could also call and check-call or check-raise or smooth call the turn, but I'm not sure; to me that would be representing a monster, (especially the smooth call) but I think a lot of people at this level aren't that sophisticated and wouldn't pick up on that.

Sometimes these people are fairly ABC players who have noticed I am c-betting more or less every flop and are raising to avoid getting trampled. The third bet either puts the fear of God into them or makes them shove with A or K high, and both of those are typically good things. Usually, though, if someone calls that third bet, they have TP beat. I occasionally run into people who do not, but it's quite rare and they're usually beating middle pair with something like QQ on an A high flop or whatnot. Disregarding the information that third bet has cost me has been super negative ev for me. Don't make my mistakes.

Stat post

I'm going to try to start making more concise posts that aren't just session summaries; I know what happened and the rest of you don't really care that much. I'm going to start posting more in-depth discussions of hands and some observations in general. I'm going to open a new PT database for my next ten thousand hands, so there'll be more discussion of that later.

9999 hands. Close enough. (NL 25 6 max) (some thoughts at the end)

VPIP: 26.80
PFR: 15.04
TA: 2.11 (1.15 PF, 7.37 flop, 2.91 turn, 2.04 river)
WTSD: 24.12 %
W$SD: 47.14 %
FTRB: 61.48 %

Amount won: $201.00, 4.02 PTBB/100

Att to steal: 31.75%
Fold sb/bb to steal: 80.13/75.00

PTBB/hand stealing: .43
PTBB/hand with VPIP from blinds: .15
PTBB/hand with steal attempted on my blind: -.17

Heads up on the flop: .04 PTBB/hand.
Multiway on the flop: .05 PTBB/hand

Any raise, heads up on flop: .96 PTBB/hand
Raised first in, heads up on flop: .14 PTBB/hand

Any raise, multiway on flop: .61 PTBB/hand
Raised first in, multiway on flop: 2.24 PTBB/hand

Pairs: .93 PTBB/hand
Suited connectors: .73 PTBB/hand
Offsuited connectors: .03 PTBB/hand

First action on flop after preflop raise:
Raise: 9.41%
Bet: 68.16%
Call: 2.74%
Check: 13.57%
Check/Raise: .77%
Fold: 5.36%
No Flop/No Action: 39.23%

Well, I clearly need to value bet more on the river. I think my winrate for stealing is low, and I’m not sure if I should bump up my stealing rate or not. I’m leaning towards yes.

Oddly enough, I’m up more from the cutoff by about $30. I ascribe that to a low sample size.

Bet/folding the river would be a damn sight cheaper than bet/call.

As god awful as they are, when they push, TPTK isn’t good. Top two is probably marginal.

I need to be more aggressive preflop. I’ve been doing that for a couple days, but it only covers the last 1500 hands or so. Mistakes I make preflop snowball into me stacking off postflop.

When I bet/threebet and get called, I havn’t been folding enough. I’ve been working on that over the last couple days, but reviewing hands has made it quite clear. I also appear to have a tendency to call raises on the flop and either bet or call the turn and check or call the river, and then lose money. If I made it three bets on the flop, I could just fold and make my life a lot easier. I also need to work on actually folding to shortstacks after that third bet; the odds are good, but they called that third bet, so I’m almost assuredly beat.

I should raise for information more. Then I should listen to it. Most of the time I get stacked, it involves me betting, getting raised on the flop, smooth calling, and continuing to fire into the dark.

Never made it as a wise man

Progress or lack thereof and whatnot: Made a solid laydown with aces (still costing me 2/3 or so of my stack), which was awesome, then rammed bottom two into a flopped straight, then the second nut straight into the nut straight, stacked some people, gave it back, ended down about $60.

It's hard to make a solid decision when your gut is like "he has the nuts" and your brain is like "you're getting 2:1 and he could have TP or a draw." I ended up paying off 79 on a 68245 with 76 because I felt he could have a three, 76, a missed flush draw, a set, or two pair. Calling down and raising the river could be any of those, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought he had 79 but I had to call because of his range and my odds.

Again with JT against AQ on KJT two suited after I b/3b and he pushed. I'm not sure why I keep playing hands that aren't sets or 14+ outs on the flop after the third bet, because everything worse than that is usually beat.

I think ultimately both were mistakes, because in the first hand another player had raised, so a three wasn't a likely holding, and he was basically a calling station who wasn't doing much raising, and in the second, he either has KQ, which I'm technically behind, AK, KJ, a set, the made straight, or a flush draw, and I'm behind most of that range.

Dammit, I need to think more. For the near future I have decided to simply stop calling when I strongly feel I'm beat. My subconscious' track record is pretty good, and my brain and it's damn "mathematics" can just go to hell for the time being.

At least I was getting my value bet on.

I kept feeling my concentration lapsing during the last half hour or so of my last session. I was down a couple buyins and mostly sticking around because my favorite maniac was loaded, but I kept just playing robotically and not thinking as much, which led to not stealing as much. I'm not sure if I was just out of it because of some beats, or what, but I just wasn't really interested in the game.

I quit, about twenty minutes too late. I didn't really spew any chips for that period of time, but I didn't pick up enough blinds and I wasn't aggressive enough that chips that should've been sliding to my stack weren't. The money you don't win is just as valuble as money you throw away, so why was I staying?

Yep.

I'm up $170 in three days of a little over a thousand hands. Is some of that variance? Yes. Is some of that people pushing ace high into my nines full? (see also variance) Yes. (That happened twice, not kidding.) Does it still make me happy? Yes. Does the fact that that means I netted $30 in the other seven thousand make me unhappy? Yes.

But yeah, I think I've been playing pretty well lately. I'm still not sure about that hand with KK, but I only stacked myself one other time, with the queens in an earlier post. Other idiot moments in general have been kept to a minimum; bluffing ace high against my favorite calling station/maniac (Yes, he's both, depending on position. 91/39/4. :happy:) resulted in a firm resolution to stack him, which I did, twice.

My cards havn't been particularly outstanding, although I've been picking up some favorable rivers, and I was just on a bit of a cold streak (exacerbated by rampant and blatant idiocy, but we don't talk about that as much.) so I feel it evens out.

I'm probably not done with today's playing, but I called it quits after the above calling station left and none of my other tables were particularly good. I wanted to have a firm $200 profit after a session at one point, and now seemed like the time.

I'm waiting to go digging through PT for a couple hours for after 10k hands (I think I'll hit it this coming weekend, and definitely by Thanksgiving.) but I think my major leaks involve stacking off with TPTK and to somewhat of a lesser extent overpairs. I think in general, my TPTK is beat if I bet the flop, get raised, and either my third bet or turn bet* is called/raised. People call down on every street with TPGK, MP, or worse, so I'm not too concerned about that, unless a potential draw gets there. I think the people capable of bluffing me off TPTK compared to the amount of people who have a set or two pair makes that +ev.

Overpairs are trickier, because on the flop I'm usually way ahead or way behind (This is fairly true with TPTK too, but AT/AJ are quite vulnerable.) and it's hard to evaluate. People do raise draws, TP, sometimes MP, sometimes ATC if they think you're getting uppity. I think in general the best line is to threebet rather than call a raise and give a potential free card, but it's obviously really situational depending on hand, board, reads, etc.

I sort of and sort of don't raise enough preflop. I'm pretty aggressive from the button and CO, and will raise Ax, Kx, Q9, J9, suited or gapped down to 97/87 for a combination of value and stealing, and I often run into people who are tight enough that stealing ATC is +ev. The main problem is that I don't reraise anything short of QQ+, and that needs to change. I'm probably going to start repopping with AQ+, 99+, and other hands as the situation warrants. I also don't raise enough; the pot to go plus maybe a BB should probably be my default, and that's the pot after my raise goes in. My PF aggression is 1.1. That's way low.

I also don't really follow the basic strategy I laid down and generally work from hand to hand with a general feel of the situation. That's kind of good and kind of not, and mostly not; I'd rather have a default way of playing a hand and vary it situationally than evaluate it every time it comes up. I posted one earlier, but I've been looking at it, and it needs reevaluation.

I've started to raise continuation bets and I've been raising flop bets for a while. Too early for anything concrete, but it seems to be working out. My image is probably fairly loose, which doesn't help that much.

My flop aggresion is 6.93, which is wicked high, but I c-bet most of the time (I don't think I c-bet enough against two people, actually.) and so it drops on the turn to 2.91, which is where I usually check/fold if my c-bet gets called and I just have air. I used to be way too fond of the second barrel, and now I only break it out when I'm pretty sure it'll work. River is just 2.04; between that and the fact that I don't really make a habit of value betting the river, I think I need to get on that. I also need to let people who missed their draws bluff the river.

I actually meant to write about how to play bet/threebet, but this is wicked long anyway. Expect that and new basic strategy in the future.

Tired of living like a blind man

Was actually crushing the tables today, but ran into overpair vs set again.

I had KK on the BB, UTG+1 raises to $1.25 and CO calls. I reraise to $3 (Perhaps too small against two callers) and they both call. Flop is Jh Th 2c. I bet $6, original raiser folds, CO minraises to $12.

Now, the CO had only been at the table for 20 hands or so, so I don't have much read on him, but he did repop my continuation bet earlier in the session. I figured he had AJ, AT, AK, a pocket pair, a set, or a draw. I pushed, because I thought AJ might call, the nut flush draw might think I was bluffing and call, or he might think something like 88 was legitimately the best hand and call.

This is a mistake for several reasons. I didn't want to smooth call and have a heart, seven, nine, queen, or ace fall and be in for a hard decision. Hell, even a king would be potentially bad, so I felt I had to raise or fold. Given his earlier willingness to play back at me I decided he could have a jack, a draw, or air, and just pushed. He only had $15 back, so any raise would be putting me in anyway.*

I neglected to realize he had smooth called two raises, which is more or less screaming pocket pair, and that people do minraise the nuts to trap. He called and sure enough, had jacks.

*I think this logic is getting me into trouble, but I'm not sure how to go about playing bet/threebet in situations like this. Like, in this situation, if I raise, twelve to go leaves him three back, and he's pushing probably anything. I guess I could flat call and evaluate the turn, but he has position so if I check a scare card he can represent it. I suppose I could check and fold to scare cards and bet again if the turn bricks, but that still feels weak.

Grr.

Commentary welcome.

Shrug

Today wasn't a particularly great day, some donkageness going on. I bet and called a raise I shouldn't have in 5cd earlier with Hustlr and Staphros, then lost a bit at the HE tables.

I dunno, not really feeling like I'm playing my best right now. I'm missing opportunities to be aggressive and relying on getting good cards rather than abusing position like I normally do. I've been reading some 2+2 and trying to avoid losing a ton of money with mediocre holdings, but I think I'm swinging too far in the passive direction.

Hands of note today:

POKERSTARS GAME #7003905818: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.10/$0.25) - 2006/11/12 - 23:30:42 (ET)
Table 'Walpurga' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: loanman22 ($60.30 in chips)
Seat 2: paupar2 ($33.05 in chips)
Seat 3: pdiddy12 ($12.55 in chips)
Seat 4: erinsdad ($62.80 in chips)
Seat 5: TheProofGuru ($24.75 in chips)
Seat 6: WolfOnTheFol ($25 in chips)
TheProofGuru: posts small blind $0.10
WolfOnTheFol: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WolfOnTheFol [As Qh]
loanman22: calls $0.25
paupar2: calls $0.25
pdiddy12: folds
erinsdad: folds
TheProofGuru: folds
WolfOnTheFol: raises $0.75 to $1
loanman22: calls $0.75
paupar2: calls $0.75
*** FLOP *** [Tc Qs 2c]
WolfOnTheFol: bets $2
loanman22: folds
paupar2: calls $2
*** TURN *** [Tc Qs 2c] [Kd]
WolfOnTheFol: bets $5
paupar2: calls $5

I wasn't terribly happy about that king, but I don't think it actually helped him unless he had AJ/AK. I've noticed people tend to not reraise AK though, so I'm treading with a bit of caution

*** RIVER *** [Tc Qs 2c Kd] [Ks]
WolfOnTheFol: bets $8

Okay, him having a king is now a harder sell, but I'm not convinced I have him beat. I think I'm beating Qx and AT a lot of the time here, but he could have a set, AJ, or a king. I'm going to define my pot odds instead of letting him do it.

paupar2: raises $8 to $16
WolfOnTheFol: folds

Not throwing good money away after bad! I'm learning!

paupar2 collected $31.50 from pot
paupar2: doesn't show hand
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $33.10 | Rake $1.60
Board [Tc Qs 2c Kd Ks]
Seat 1: loanman22 folded on the Flop
Seat 2: paupar2 collected ($31.50)
Seat 3: pdiddy12 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: erinsdad (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: TheProofGuru (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: WolfOnTheFol (big blind) folded on the River


POKERSTARS GAME #7003860347: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.10/$0.25) - 2006/11/12 - 23:27:22 (ET)
Table 'Walpurga' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: loanman22 ($62.85 in chips)
Seat 2: paupar2 ($35.40 in chips)
Seat 3: pdiddy12 ($11.75 in chips)
Seat 4: erinsdad ($35.40 in chips)
Seat 6: WolfOnTheFol ($25.15 in chips)
loanman22: posts small blind $0.10
paupar2: posts big blind $0.25
TheProofGuru: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WolfOnTheFol [Qh Qc]
pdiddy12: folds
erinsdad: calls $0.25
WolfOnTheFol: raises $0.75 to $1
loanman22: calls $0.90
paupar2: raises $0.75 to $1.75
erinsdad: calls $1.50
WolfOnTheFol: calls $0.75
loanman22: calls $0.75
*** FLOP *** [3d Js 7h]
loanman22: bets $1.25
paupar2: folds
erinsdad: calls $1.25
WolfOnTheFol: raises $7.75 to $9
loanman22: folds
erinsdad: calls $7.75

I wasn't too eager to make it three bets with QQ. I decided to call and bet the flop assuming it didn't contain overcards and evaluate from there. I think that might actually be a bit foolish, because I don't want to make it three bets because of a fear of AA/KK, but this line ends with me probably going broke. Of course, if I make it three bets, he calls, and calls my flop bet, I'm clearly beat, but if he doesn't improve on the flop (indeed, if he calls the third bet at all) I miss value, especially from AT+.

That small bet looked like a blocking bet at the time, or maybe a free card play, but now that I'm thinking about it I think it looks more trappy and should've set off alarm bells, mostly because there's no draw he could have.

*** TURN *** [3d Js 7h] [9d]
erinsdad: checks
WolfOnTheFol: bets $14.40 and is all-in

I dunno what I'm thinking there, aside from him calling with TPTK. Like, sure, I think he calls with AJ, A9, maybe A7 there, but everything else is destroying me. I was pretty sure all the money was going in, though, and I wanted to get it in when I thought I was ahead.

erinsdad said, "please tell me you don't have JJ"
erinsdad: calls $14.40
*** RIVER *** [3d Js 7h 9d] [5c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
erinsdad: shows [7d 7c] (three of a kind, Sevens)
WolfOnTheFol: mucks hand
erinsdad collected $53.05 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $55.05 | Rake $2
Board [3d Js 7h 9d 5c]
Seat 1: loanman22 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: paupar2 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: pdiddy12 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: erinsdad showed [7d 7c] and won ($53.05) with three of a kind, Sevens
Seat 6: WolfOnTheFol (button) mucked [Qh Qc]

Yep. I'm pretty sure that if I have the set the hand plays out the same, but I think I can avoid going broke with queens here. I'm not sure how though. I certainly can't assume that tiny flop bets are always traps and fold, and I think I have to raise about the pot to get some definition. I think strong jacks and aces call that raise, though, and it's possible the original better is trying to define his hand. I think the coldcaller is most likely to have a strong ace and just be a donk (My experience with people who overcall preflop raises have strong aces or KQ maybe KJ, and I don't think this is different.) but he might have, you know, middle set. I think pushing the turn is wrong, but I'm not sure how to go about playing it. I think I have to bet, but betting like 2/3 doesn't make much sense. If he raises I'm going to call, and if he's going to call he should probably raise to see if he can pick off a bluff.

Hm. Opinions?

(I'm now sufficiently confused about this hand that I'm going to go post it on pokertips.org. If you didn't come from there originally, check it out.)

Yay, upswing

Some bouncing back, catching some cards. I'm sort of unsure how to handle it, because I was just on a fairly long dry spell and getting outdrawn like crazy, so I'm not sure if I'm just getting lucky or what. I'm still having calling stations draw out on me (I was called on the flop by Q high no draw with sixes up and he made runner runner queens up with no onboard pair.) but havn't done anything incredibly stupid. (Marginally stupid, yes; see J9 below.)

I noticed I steal less when I'm catching cards. I think that's somewhat good; I tend to bet made hands fairly aggressively for several reasons. First, I bet with air in about the same way, and don't want to tip people off. Second, people who are chasing will chase 2/3-3/4 about as often as they'll chase something like a 60% pot bet. Third, I like big pots because I want to have my river push* called and I need a sizable pot to do that.

*push with something like top two or better. Not TPTK.

Betting in such a way means that, combined with my steals, I pick up a lot of pots without turning over my cards, and when I'm running hot, that's a lot of raising, and I don't want some idiot playing policeman unless I actually have a hand. So while I think stealing less is good, I think I need to find a happy medium.

Anyway, I quit playing a bit early after this hand:

Background information: I hadn't been at this table long, but I busted a shorter stack turning a straight after he flopped trips, and then took a decent pot off BMontagne after I raised with 33, he reraised, I called, he checked on T95 rainbow, I checked behind, turn is a 3, he bets 2/3, I call, river is a 4, he checks, I push, he folds. In between this, I'd been doing some positional raising with Ax, Kx, missing, c-betting anyway, and folding to a raise. He was actually at about $125 when I sat down.

POKERSTARS GAME #6990844989: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.10/$0.25) - 2006/11/12 - 01:42:06 (ET)
Table 'Cebriones' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: kingcy ($41.25 in chips)
Seat 2: Profesigh ($30.55 in chips)
Seat 3: PLHCOWBOY2 ($6.70 in chips)
Seat 4: WolfOnTheFol ($51.05 in chips)
Seat 5: beargood ($38.40 in chips)
Seat 6: BMontagne ($75.90 in chips)
BMontagne: posts small blind $0.10
kingcy: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WolfOnTheFol [5d 4d]
Profesigh: folds
PLHCOWBOY2: folds
WolfOnTheFol: raises $0.75 to $1
beargood: folds
BMontagne: calls $0.90
kingcy: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kd 4s 3d]
BMontagne: checks
WolfOnTheFol: bets $1.50
BMontagne: raises $4.50 to $6
WolfOnTheFol: calls $4.50

Okay, the raise was a pure steal because I hadn't played a hand in three orbits, but I thought my continuation bet wouldn't get much respect from ace high. However, I have middle pair and a flush draw, so I bet. I thought his raise was Kx or a strong ace, and was going to either bet 2/3 or raise if the turn was lower than a T and fold if he showed any action after that, or bet if I caught a four, three, or diamond.

*** TURN *** [Kd 4s 3d] [9d]
BMontagne: bets $9
WolfOnTheFol: raises $35.05 to $44.05 and is all-in

That was a fairly small bet; at this point I thought he had a king and a high diamond, Ad 9x, or he was trying to represent trapping with a flush. If he actually had a higher flush, that was just going to be unfortunate and I would go broke. If he was drawing to a high diamond, I was going to be in trouble if I called or raised a smaller amount and the river was a diamond. I decided to just push, because if he had a diamond I wanted to get the money in ahead, and after the previous hand I thought he would call with a wide range.

BMontagne: calls $35.05
*** RIVER *** [Kd 4s 3d 9d] [Kh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BMontagne: shows [6s 6h] (two pair, Kings and Sixes)
WolfOnTheFol: shows [5d 4d] (a flush, King high)
WolfOnTheFol collected $99.35 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $102.35 | Rake $3
Board [Kd 4s 3d 9d Kh]
Seat 1: kingcy (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: Profesigh folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: PLHCOWBOY2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: WolfOnTheFol showed [5d 4d] and won ($99.35) with a flush, King high
Seat 5: beargood (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: BMontagne (small blind) showed [6s 6h] and lost with two pair, Kings and Sixes

O.O I thought he'd have at least a nine, but I guess my image is crazier than I thought. Good to know, at least.

Nothing too exciting I guess but whee I think that's the biggest pot I've ever won in a cash game.

PTips NLHE tournament tomorrow. I'm probably gonna minraise some people to death. They know who they are. If anyone reads this and emails me (max period mccall at gmail period com) or IMs me (Frogboy4L on AIM) a way to record it by noon tomorrow, I'll do that.

*blink*

Awesome. I managed to lose a little over three buyins in a little under ten minutes. There were some bloodbaths involving my TPTK to someone's set, which is furthering my suspicion that I'm too eager to go broke with TP. (Somewhat; this happened twice with short stacks, so my third bet put them in.) Then I skillfully flopped a set on a TJQ board to villain's AK, and I'm pretty sure I go broke on that flop every single time. Lastly, I took some lickings raising AQ and flopping a flush draw. I think betting 2/3 with overs and a flush draw is quite justifiable, but still irritating when you miss.

So that was that; hit a stop loss for the night.

Currently down $30 over 5800 hands. I still think this is a fairly normal downswing, but I think I'm going to be more cautious making it three bets with top pair. The problem, of course, is that the more competent players will raise a continuation bet with TPGK, a draw, or if they feel the opponent missed. I think it's possible I'm seeing ghosts because of recent events, but I'm not entirely sure.

I overcall raises with 32, wanna fight?

This is how I roll:

POKERSTARS GAME #6925349560: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.10/$0.25) - 2006/11/07 - 00:34:01 (ET)
Table 'Athor' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: Skandalouz84 ($4.50 in chips)
Seat 2: 1DavidJon ($28.95 in chips)
Seat 3: WolfOnTheFol ($32.95 in chips)
Seat 4: spaceseed ($17.05 in chips)
Seat 5: rideordie22 ($4.15 in chips)
Seat 6: Victoria85 ($24.75 in chips)
WolfOnTheFol: posts small blind $0.10
spaceseed: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WolfOnTheFol [3h 2h]
rideordie22: folds
Victoria85: folds
Skandalouz84: calls $0.25
1DavidJon: calls $0.25
WolfOnTheFol: calls $0.15
spaceseed: raises $0.25 to $0.50
Skandalouz84: calls $0.25
1DavidJon: calls $0.25
WolfOnTheFol: calls $0.25
*** FLOP *** [2d 3d Jc]
WolfOnTheFol: checks
spaceseed: bets $0.50
Skandalouz84: folds
1DavidJon: calls $0.50
WolfOnTheFol: raises $2.50 to $3
spaceseed: calls $2.50
1DavidJon: folds
*** TURN *** [2d 3d Jc] [6s]
WolfOnTheFol: bets $5
spaceseed: calls $5
*** RIVER *** [2d 3d Jc 6s] [4s]
WolfOnTheFol: checks
spaceseed: checks
*** SHOW DOWN ***
WolfOnTheFol: shows [3h 2h] (two pair, Threes and Deuces)
spaceseed: shows [Qs Js] (a pair of Jacks)
WolfOnTheFol collected $17.60 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $18.50 | Rake $0.90
Board [2d 3d Jc 6s 4s]
Seat 1: Skandalouz84 folded on the Flop
Seat 2: 1DavidJon (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: WolfOnTheFol (small blind) showed [3h 2h] and won ($17.60) with two pair, Threes and Deuces
Seat 4: spaceseed (big blind) showed [Qs Js] and lost with a pair of Jacks
Seat 5: rideordie22 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Victoria85 folded before Flop (didn't bet)


Shrug; I was getting 7:1 on that call. "Surely," thinks I, "I can pick up two pair or a straight or flush draw for that price."

Anyway, yeah, recovering from some negative variance; see below post. Currently at $54.45, which is up about $8 on the day over 800ish hands. Again, generally happy with how I'm playing, been avoiding traps, etc, etc. The last few large pots I've lost that wouldn't happen in reverse have involved making mistakes raising on the flop for information (Usually, I make an incorrect read of weakness.) and I've got that fairly well nailed down. I think/hope.

Five thousand hands. Likely stat post at roughly 10k. Currently on a downswing with the wrong end of set over set, straight over set, flush over straight, straight flush over boat, and then some fun cases where I catch a straight on the river and someone makes their flush, or fills up, or I catch a set to a straight.

This is not my happy face.

I'm not too upset about it; sometimes you're just destined to lose money. I've been avoiding doing stupid things for the most part, and sooner or later there'll be positive variance and it will be a happy day.

How long do most people spend at their first level before moving up?

I wasn't terribly eager about poker after that last beating, but a micro party with fellow ptippers on a 2 NL table at Stars was awesome, even though I was basically throwing dollar bills around. I actually think they'd be great fun and fairly valuble if they were taken seriously, though; 1c/2c blinds with $5 buyins is very deep stacked, and that's experience I need. It's also a good way to take a lesson (read: beating) from people better than I am on the cheap, which I'm all about. Awesome chat and times; we should do it again.

Also, minraising back and forth with BananasUnite about fifteen times on the flop with 6 high was awesome, especially when he finally folded. He was outkicked. :rawr:

Been battling back and that's going well; ended tonight at $73, up from like $15 from a couple days ago. Had it back at $100, but I've discovered my biggest leak: large pots. I'm pretty good at dodging traps, but sometimes I don't listen to the little voice and sometimes I get blindsided by someone calling a raise with 34. Trips, sets, and overpairs are the biggest problem. I need to learn to lay down TPTK to significant pressure. I also need to learn how to use pot control in these situations.

My smallball is pretty good. I'm trying to find the sweet spot between "profitable stealing" and "maniacal aggression" although c-bets seem to have a lot of respect at this level. I'm still working on dealing with people playing back at me, and while I think it's possible I'm being too conservative with that, I don't want to get out of control.

Minraises scare the hell out of me, particularly check-minraises. I'm fairly sure they're generally representative of a good hand, so I tend to pack to them, but I don't think that's right.

Someone performed a masterful delayed checkraise on me earlier tonight, and I realized I need to start incorporating that into my game.

I was happy earlier about getting AI on the flop with an overpair against a flush draw that drew out on me because I thought I had all the money in ahead. Then I said some bad words, because I realized that 55 on 443 board means that the flush draw probably has overs and is thus actually ahead. Donk.

This made me smile again:

POKERSTARS GAME #6885725053: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.10/$0.25) - 2006/11/04 - 00:12:09 (ET)
Table 'Italia IV' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: withnosoul ($31.75 in chips)
Seat 2: mjoo82 ($46.65 in chips)
Seat 3: WolfOnTheFol ($28.95 in chips)
Seat 4: supwitdat ($48.35 in chips)
Seat 5: jhk0428 ($19.60 in chips)
Seat 6: chafro ($24.60 in chips)
withnosoul: posts small blind $0.10
mjoo82: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WolfOnTheFol [Kd Qd]
WolfOnTheFol: raises $0.75 to $1
supwitdat: folds
jhk0428: folds
chafro: calls $1
withnosoul: calls $0.90
mjoo82: folds
*** FLOP *** [3d 8d 4d]
withnosoul: checks
WolfOnTheFol: bets $2
chafro: raises $2 to $4
withnosoul: folds
WolfOnTheFol: calls $2
*** TURN *** [3d 8d 4d] [2h]
WolfOnTheFol: checks
chafro: bets $19.60 and is all-in
WolfOnTheFol: calls $19.60
*** RIVER *** [3d 8d 4d 2h] [9c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
WolfOnTheFol: shows [Kd Qd] (a flush, King high)
chafro: mucks hand
WolfOnTheFol collected $48 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $50.45 | Rake $2.45
Board [3d 8d 4d 2h 9c]
Seat 1: withnosoul (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: mjoo82 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 3: WolfOnTheFol showed [Kd Qd] and won ($48) with a flush, King high
Seat 4: supwitdat folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: jhk0428 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: chafro (button) mucked [Qc 9d]


As did this:

POKERSTARS GAME #6855952651: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($0.10/$0.25) - 2006/11/01 - 18:06:40 (ET)
Table 'Proteus II' 6-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: WolfOnTheFol ($48.20 in chips)
Seat 2: BuckMinster7 ($36.05 in chips)
Seat 3: moneyjohn1 ($46.65 in chips)
Seat 4: Jay13-11 ($17.75 in chips)
Seat 5: metalwraith ($2.65 in chips)
Seat 6: innersinner ($24.40 in chips)
moneyjohn1: posts small blind $0.10
Jay13-11: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WolfOnTheFol [Qd Kd]
metalwraith: calls $0.25
innersinner: folds
WolfOnTheFol: raises $0.75 to $1
BuckMinster7: calls $1
moneyjohn1: folds
Jay13-11: folds
metalwraith: raises $1.65 to $2.65 and is all-in
WolfOnTheFol: calls $1.65
BuckMinster7: calls $1.65
*** FLOP *** [3h 4d Ad]
WolfOnTheFol: bets $5
BuckMinster7: calls $5
*** TURN *** [3h 4d Ad] [9d]
WolfOnTheFol: bets $12
BuckMinster7: calls $12
*** RIVER *** [3h 4d Ad 9d] [6h]
WolfOnTheFol: bets $20
BuckMinster7: calls $16.40 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
WolfOnTheFol: shows [Qd Kd] (a flush, Ace high)
BuckMinster7: mucks hand
WolfOnTheFol collected $64.20 from side pot
metalwraith: mucks hand
WolfOnTheFol collected $7.90 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $75.10 Main pot $7.90. Side pot $64.20. | Rake $3
Board [3h 4d Ad 9d 6h]
Seat 1: WolfOnTheFol showed [Qd Kd] and won ($72.10) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 2: BuckMinster7 (button) mucked [Jd Ah]
Seat 3: moneyjohn1 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: Jay13-11 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: metalwraith mucked [8s 8h]
Seat 6: innersinner folded before Flop (didn't bet)


And yes, the above hand did give me shivers, because I can see me calling down with that. (Well, not really; I'd fold the turn or at least the river, and I'd raise the flop. But the idea is there.)

Getting better on extracting with my monsters, although not really sure what the best method is. I've been betting around half to two thirds depending on the board and working from there, and for some reason people keep calling the smaller bets, even though I almost always c-bet for at least two thirds.

On that note, I c-bet a lot, and I wonder if that's a leak as well. The thing is...people keep folding.

I guess a lot of my posts tend to end up as stream of consciousness. Just an observation.

Current goal: Stop donking off your entire stack with top pair. Idiot. You're not the only one making money from people who can't find the "fold" button.

In keeping with "I need a sound basic strategy" from last night...

UTG: Raise AT+, KQ, 88+, limp 77-, maybe limp JTs if it's a quiet table.

UTG+1: Raise A9+, KJ+, 88+, limp 77-, if UTG limps limp suited connectors 89+.

MP: Raise A8+, KJ+ QJ, 77+, limp 66-, one limper suited connectors 78+.

CO: Raise A7+ KT+ QT+ 66+, suited T9+, limp along with suited connectors, low pairs.

Button: Raise A2+, K9+, QT+, J9+, T9, suited 89+, more or less anything I can get away with.

SB: Raise A2+, K8+, Q9+, J9+, T9, suited 89+, limp other reasonable holdings and try to take it down on the flop.

BB: Raise any A, any K, then same as SB.

Subject to revision, etc.

I forgot to mention last night that I am quite happy with my smallball; most of my losses involve losing big pots I should be able to get away from. That's probably what I'm going to be working on the most over the next while.