Beginning Bankroll: $9.35
Another session in which the poker gods were having fun at my expense. I actually played yesterday morning, but was too busy (then too tired) to report on it here afterwards.
I bought in on a 6-handed LHE speed game--$.02 and $.04 limit--for 80 cents. Like the night before, I just was not getting any cards unless someone else got something just a bit better. And on the few occasions when I actually did catch something really good, the rest of the table had nothing and therefore didn't pay me off.
Yeah, we all go through that. Even the top pro players only win about 60% of the sessions they play, from what I've read. But it does get irritating when you're at a table and the same guy always has you beat. There's always one player who has the goods every time and his chip stack just grows and grows and grows. Why am I never that guy? I have to grind and grind and grind, lucky to hit anything better than 1 pair for hours at a time. I know, I have had some nice winning sessions, so I shouldn't complain, but it is always a grind. Being patient does test your patience in this game.
One thing I've learned at these micro limits online is that it usually isn't worth it to raise pre-flop. When I do, I just start a call-fest, and my stack shrinks that much faster when I whiff on the flop. Part of being a winning player overall is limiting your losses on your bad hands, so I like Ted Forrest's advice (see his chapter, "(Don't) Play Like Ted Forrest" in The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide, Tournament Edition) that it's OK to limp and see flops cheaply, to see more cards and get a better idea of where you stand before committing chips (or money) to the pot.
Thanks for reading today's report (on yesterday's action), and good luck at the tables (unless you're at mine)!
Ending Bankroll: $8.58, down $0.77
Friday, April 11, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Wednesday Woes
Beginning Bankroll: $10.15
I finally had a short work day, so I had some time this afternoon and evening to fire up the laptop and head to PokerStars to work on my bankroll experiment. Shoulda' kept the laptop closed.
This was one of those days when, when I wasn't completely card dead, my good hands got beat, anyway. I played at a 10-handed $.02/$.04 Limit Hold 'Em table, buying in for 80 cents. At that stakes level, you pretty much have to play straightforward, 'cuz the donkeys there will call any raise pre-flop with absolute junk, hoping to get lucky. And today they were, and I wasn't. Every time I raised pre-flop, the table turned into a call-fest. I don't remember a single instance when I raised and had fewer than 3 callers, and the norm was more like 4 or 5.
I tried to play aggressively, betting strongly when I had hands. Then I'd get rivered. Or my pocket kings ran into pocket aces. I rarely hit anything better than one pair when I was in a hand, though I would have made all sorts of good things on trash hands that I folded pre-flop. My chip stack would dwindle, then I'd win one pot and move back upwards, dwindle some more, go back up, and so on, and so on. After hitting a low of 27 cents early, I eventually grew my stack back to 79 cents, or only down 1 cent from my buy-in. But, naturally, being a grinder, I stuck around. Then got more good 2nd-best hands and dwindled back down.
Down to about 23 cents, I finally caught pocket aces. And I looked up just then and saw "Empty Seat" popping up all around the table. Everybody somehow picked that time to abandon the game. All that were left were me and one other player, and he had a stack of $50+. Sheesh! So those rockets didn't net me very much. Needless to say, heads-up I still couldn't catch anything, and my opponent cleaned me out pretty quick (I may have been tilting a little by that point).
So that was that, a downturn day for my bankroll balance. I'm a little roo steamed with the poker gods right now to go back and try some more, so that 80-cent loss is going to have to stand for today. Besides, it's been a long day and week on my real job, and tomorrow's going to be another long one. Thanks for dropping in today, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $9.35, down $.80
I finally had a short work day, so I had some time this afternoon and evening to fire up the laptop and head to PokerStars to work on my bankroll experiment. Shoulda' kept the laptop closed.
This was one of those days when, when I wasn't completely card dead, my good hands got beat, anyway. I played at a 10-handed $.02/$.04 Limit Hold 'Em table, buying in for 80 cents. At that stakes level, you pretty much have to play straightforward, 'cuz the donkeys there will call any raise pre-flop with absolute junk, hoping to get lucky. And today they were, and I wasn't. Every time I raised pre-flop, the table turned into a call-fest. I don't remember a single instance when I raised and had fewer than 3 callers, and the norm was more like 4 or 5.
I tried to play aggressively, betting strongly when I had hands. Then I'd get rivered. Or my pocket kings ran into pocket aces. I rarely hit anything better than one pair when I was in a hand, though I would have made all sorts of good things on trash hands that I folded pre-flop. My chip stack would dwindle, then I'd win one pot and move back upwards, dwindle some more, go back up, and so on, and so on. After hitting a low of 27 cents early, I eventually grew my stack back to 79 cents, or only down 1 cent from my buy-in. But, naturally, being a grinder, I stuck around. Then got more good 2nd-best hands and dwindled back down.
Down to about 23 cents, I finally caught pocket aces. And I looked up just then and saw "Empty Seat" popping up all around the table. Everybody somehow picked that time to abandon the game. All that were left were me and one other player, and he had a stack of $50+. Sheesh! So those rockets didn't net me very much. Needless to say, heads-up I still couldn't catch anything, and my opponent cleaned me out pretty quick (I may have been tilting a little by that point).
So that was that, a downturn day for my bankroll balance. I'm a little roo steamed with the poker gods right now to go back and try some more, so that 80-cent loss is going to have to stand for today. Besides, it's been a long day and week on my real job, and tomorrow's going to be another long one. Thanks for dropping in today, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $9.35, down $.80
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Good Morning Indeed
Beginning Bankroll: $8.32
Holy Moley! I think I'm getting to like this Limit Hold 'Em! As long as I keep playing tight-aggressive and only going to war with good hands, I think I'm gonna do pretty well. It helps to have donkeys at the table who play every hand and don't know when they're beat, but they seem to be a dime a dozen at the micro limits.
I wound up with some unexpected free time this morning, so I signed on to my PokerStars account to work on my bankroll experiment. I joined a 10-handed 2-cent/4-cent LHE table, buying in for 80 cents, and it was a struggle. I didn't get many good starting hands and when I did, I usually whiffed at the flop. Or played it out and got rivered by one of the aforementioned donkeys who got lucky.
My stack was down below 50 cents when I finally caught a hand and won a pot that nearly put me back to even. Then my stack shrank again to around 63 cents before another big pot put me up.
And that's how it went: Wait forever for anything good while my stack slowly shrivelled, then catch a big hand that gets paid off well (one was trip kings over pocket aces when I started with AKo). Eventually I had more than tripled up, and the table seemed to be breaking up, so I called it quits. In the end my stack was up to $2.63, and I had increased my overall bankroll by 22% in that session. I'll take that any day of the week.
That's my report for my session this morning. I don't know yet if I'll play tonight when I finish my work day, but if I do, I'll duly report on it. Thanks for following along, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $10.15, up $1.83
Holy Moley! I think I'm getting to like this Limit Hold 'Em! As long as I keep playing tight-aggressive and only going to war with good hands, I think I'm gonna do pretty well. It helps to have donkeys at the table who play every hand and don't know when they're beat, but they seem to be a dime a dozen at the micro limits.
I wound up with some unexpected free time this morning, so I signed on to my PokerStars account to work on my bankroll experiment. I joined a 10-handed 2-cent/4-cent LHE table, buying in for 80 cents, and it was a struggle. I didn't get many good starting hands and when I did, I usually whiffed at the flop. Or played it out and got rivered by one of the aforementioned donkeys who got lucky.
My stack was down below 50 cents when I finally caught a hand and won a pot that nearly put me back to even. Then my stack shrank again to around 63 cents before another big pot put me up.
And that's how it went: Wait forever for anything good while my stack slowly shrivelled, then catch a big hand that gets paid off well (one was trip kings over pocket aces when I started with AKo). Eventually I had more than tripled up, and the table seemed to be breaking up, so I called it quits. In the end my stack was up to $2.63, and I had increased my overall bankroll by 22% in that session. I'll take that any day of the week.
That's my report for my session this morning. I don't know yet if I'll play tonight when I finish my work day, but if I do, I'll duly report on it. Thanks for following along, and good luck at the tables.
Ending Bankroll: $10.15, up $1.83
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