August was an interesting month of poker. Working full time throughout the summer really cut down my amount of hands. I had some real rough spots during the month, including one of my worst days ever. Don't really want to dwell on the past tough, while I definitely think variance played a large role; I don't think I came to the tables with the right mindset or preparation a lot of the time.
Hopefully I can change that in September. I have a lot more free time now with work out of the way and my regular student schedule resuming. So far I've managed I've managed 2 sessions. Here are a few interesting hands from them.
***** Hand History for Game 1111111111 ***** (Poker Stars)
$25.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Tuesday, September 06, 03:09:50 ET 2011
Table Otto Struve III (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: Player1 ( $25.00 USD ) - VPIP: 12, PFR: 10, 3B: 5, AF: 3.5, Hands: 437
Seat 2: Player2 ( $10.00 USD ) - VPIP: 7, PFR: 7, 3B: 3, AF: 0.0, Hands: 81
Seat 3: Hero ( $25.00 USD ) - VPIP: 33, PFR: 23, 3B: 4, AF: 1.5, Hands: 41037
Seat 4: Player4 ( $14.93 USD ) - VPIP: 25, PFR: 8, 3B: 4, AF: 1.8, Hands: 178
Seat 5: Player5 ( $9.40 USD ) - VPIP: 23, PFR: 18, 3B: 3, AF: 1.9, Hands: 481
Seat 6: Player6 ( $25.00 USD ) - VPIP: 15, PFR: 11, 3B: 4, AF: 2.1, Hands: 595
Seat 7: Player7 ( $10.90 USD ) - VPIP: 13, PFR: 10, 3B: 4, AF: 3.9, Hands: 1146
Seat 8: Player8 ( $57.74 USD ) - VPIP: 71, PFR: 29, 3B: 0, AF: 1.1, Hands: 21
Seat 9: Player9 ( $33.17 USD ) - VPIP: 18, PFR: 11, 3B: 6, AF: 7.0, Hands: 79
Player7 posts small blind [$0.10 USD].
Player8 posts big blind [$0.25 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Hero [ 9d 7d ]
Player9 raises [$0.75 USD]
Player1 folds
Player2 folds
Hero calls [$0.75 USD]
Player4 calls [$0.75 USD]
Player5 folds
Player6 folds
Player7 folds
Player8 calls [$0.50 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8c, Kc, Ts ]
Player8 checks
Player9 bets [$1.00 USD]
Hero calls [$1.00 USD]
Player4 calls [$1.00 USD]
Player8 calls [$1.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 6s ]
Player8 checks
Player9 bets [$3.00 USD]
Hero raises [$11.00 USD]
Player4 folds
Player8 calls [$11.00 USD]
Player9 folds
** Dealing River ** [ 8s ]
Player8 bets [$14.00 USD]
Hero calls [$12.25 USD]
Player8 wins $1.75 USD
Player8 shows [Ks, 7s ]
Hero shows [9d, 7d ]
Player8 wins $54.60 USD from main pot
I call the utg raise with 97s hoping to see a favourable flop and find myself in a good spot vs a strong range from the utg opener, as well as in a hand multi way with the fish at the table. I flop an oesd 4-way, and choose to just call the small cbet from the utg opener. I turn the nuts and make a large raise which is called by the only the fish. He leads the river with a jam which I felt he could certainly be doing with many Kx hands as well as missed club draws. I felt enough of those hands made up his range to call. Unfortunately he turned a fd and completed it on the river with that 8s. I felt a little tilted after this hand but it was certainly not enough to take me off my game. Telling myself that variance happens and taking a few deep breaths kept me in control and allowed me to continue playing a thinking, logical game not skewed by too much emotion.
Unfortunately that session ended up a slight losing one. But I'll be beginning my second session of the day shortly after a quick warm up. Currently I'm trying to put in a solid month or two of strong play before I give 50nl a solid 10bi shot. I believe improving my 3bet/4bet strategy and approaching the limit with a more experimental attitude should help my success. Previous attempts I would simply start playing with no preparation or thought regarding what adjustments I needed to make or over-adjustments I had made that were costing me. I think focusing on just playing my game and trying to implement what I know rather than trying to directly compete with 50nl regs should make a large difference.
