Howdy all

I have been playing a lot of 100nl since school got out on 12/17 (and a bit of 200nl) and playing pretty solid ABC value poker. I have been trying to focus on value betting more on the river and staying out of marginal situations, especially when oop.

Overall results for past week or so
100 nl +775 over 5000 hands
200nl +68 over 201 hands- i did make a really bad call last Monday morning to lose ¾ stack that is still annoying me, but maybe it helped focus me for the rest of the week
50nl in bankroll challenge +80 over 1500 hands

The point of the results is not that i am brilliant ( i am just using what i learned in Tim’s videos), but to hopefully encourage others about where they can take their game focusing on the info in Tim’s videos and w/ some practice.

Here are a 2 HH from today that i think i have gotten myself into a lot of trouble in sessions of the past and i think many micro players do so as well. Happily i escaped these today to save chips

KQs

***** Hand History for Game 2067396423 ***** (Bodog)
$100.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Sunday, December 26, 12:25:33 ET 2010
Table Eldusto (max 6) (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: mono syllabic ( $118.10 USD )
Seat 2: whatjusthappend ( $40.21 USD )
Seat 3: goatvf ( $97.00 USD )
Seat 4: mark1325 ( $58.10 USD )
Seat 5: RBN ( $63.55 USD )
Seat 6: hockeyguy99 ( $136.30 USD )
whatjusthappend posts small blind [$0.50 USD].
goatvf posts big blind [$1.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to hockeyguy99 [ Kc Qc ]
mark1325 raises [$3.00 USD] a
25/9/1.1 preflop
0.7/1.2/2.5 postflop guy
These stats tell me he doesn’t bet unless he is sure he is best
RBN folds
hockeyguy99 calls [$3.00 USD] i have called his pfr a couple times and taken pot after his flop check and my bet in position. I did have reasonable hands to play, but only when in position vs an identified pfr check folder guy. I have same plan here and i have hit flop hard potential as well
mono syllabic folds
whatjusthappend calls [$2.50 USD]
goatvf folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ Ts, Ks, 8d ]
whatjusthappend checks
mark1325 bets [$6.00 USD] he usually check folds missed flops. He is a passive type, i can here the voice in my head saying he bet give him some credit. I hear Ryan Smith saying “You don’t have to win every pot or always try to outplay the guy” I don’t see this type of guy betting anything less than AX s of spades into a 3 way pot, but more likely AK AA or TT given his pfr range. I have few outs if behind and it is a coinflip if he is on a draw (which i have seen do). I am on the wrong end of the value train here even though i am in postion. My plan was to steal if he wiffed, not try to catch him bluffing/semi bluffing. Do i want to have to call turn and river as well for roughly $12 and $25 putting about a half stack in the pot? HELL NO!!!!!! I manage to stick with my plan. It seemed weak, but felt good to stay out of trouble
hockeyguy99 folds
whatjusthappend folds
mark1325 wins $6.00 USD
mark1325 wins $9.50 USD from main pot

Q9s in sb

***** Hand History for Game 2067408264 ***** (Bodog)
$100.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Sunday, December 26, 12:40:42 ET 2010
Table On Wax (max 6) (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: natstar1 ( $109.00 USD )
Seat 2: PuppyBrown ( $381.83 USD )
Seat 3: hockeyguy99 ( $102.50 USD )
Seat 4: goatvf ( $107.15 USD )
Seat 5: Oobfloober ( $130.10 USD )
Seat 6: gottmann ( $104.16 USD )
hockeyguy99 posts small blind [$0.50 USD].
goatvf posts big blind [$1.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to hockeyguy99 [ 9c Qc ]
Oobfloober folds
gottmann folds
natstar1 folds
PuppyBrown calls [$1.00 USD]
hockeyguy99 calls [$0.50 USD] vs a lot of players i would raise here, but this button guy only folds to a 3 bet 32% over 334 hands and is very aggro postflop 3.0/7.0/inf so i am not aching to bloat pot oop with a hand that will flop a lot of draws vs an aggr player that has position on me and can therefore charge me a lot to chase
goatvf checks
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9h, Qs, Kd ] looks like a good flop
hockeyguy99 bets [$3.00 USD] lot of draws here pot bet for value vs draws or Kx
goatvf folds
PuppyBrown raises [$7.00 USD] Suddenly i got a bad feeling from his instaraise, bet size is also strangely min raisey
hockeyguy99 calls [$4.00 USD] I elect to call and see what turn brings
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4d ]
hockeyguy99 checks i expect a draw to check here even though he is very aggro.
PuppyBrown bets [$13.00 USD] He makes a quick near pot bet, lets think for a second, opponent is 35/10 guy preflop and only pfr on button 18% over about a hundred hands
What hands concern me Q9,KQ,K9,99,JT, all of which are possible/probable in his limping range
What other hand might he play this way pre and postflop KJ/KT maybe QJ/QT especially if they were sOOted in spades that picked up flush draw on turn. I make a pretty tight fold here, but i am quite concerned about being behind and if i am ahead i am not as far ahead as i hoped when flop hit. It looks like i am going to pay a lot to find out where i am at. Plus given the range of hands i fear it is not clear which of my outs are good.
Vs JT i have 4 outs- yikes
Vs K9 i have 2 outs- Double yikes
Vs KQ i have 2 outs- Ditto
Any A or J or T probably beats me or kills my action

Overall what looked very good flop to start looks more like a money pit, especially oop
This is the kind of hand that i was really playing poorly during the 25nl part of bankroll challenge. I could easily bleed off 1/3 or ½ a stack or more here w/ very uncertain prospects and i think most micro players have a very tough time folding a hand like this, but if you think about what card that comes you really WANT TO SHOVE with, it is unclear at best. Cue Atta22 voice in the background, this is the type of flop that crushes the range of this type of opponent, This is where/how loose passive players get paid off. i know i can find a better spot.
I decide to make a cheap exit stage left. I wasn’t loving a fold, but the more i think about it the more i like the fold.

hockeyguy99 folds
PuppyBrown wins $13.00 USD
PuppyBrown wins $16.15 USD from main pot

Epilogue
Played 293 hands
Won 61 bucks
+21bb/100 hands
Went and got lunch, always tastes better after a good session

Had i not made these 2 laydowns i could have turned a nice session into a break even or worse result. They may be a bit saddening to make them, but i know from experience that calling down/stacking off in these type situations is a common result and even more unhappy experience.

Nice post HG! Good and important.

glad you liked it

when i reread it i kind of realized one of the points i was trying to make especially in the first hh was to have a plan when you get involved in a hand. Especially in a potential troublesituation. I knew going in w/ KQs i was quite possibly dominated vs this very tight player. Fortunately i was able to stick to my plan in this hand, i have realized recently many of my bad hands result from when i deviate from my plan when i decide to try some check raise bluff or other fancy play. The second hand i had to reevaluate my plan and adjust based on opponent and board, the plan was fine but looked like it had gone bad.

I think alot of players at micros dont have a plan in too many of the hands they play and that gets them in trouble, I know that had been the case for me in the past. The happens far less often for me now.

hg

I often feel good about myself when I do those folds. And tell myself that I saved some cash. This way I will be more able to do it in the future. If I feel angry about the fold and sitting and think that he bluffed me etc, I will likely be more intended to call him down the next time and loose money. And then the bad circle goes around Be proud when u fold those hands is my thoughts. And if someone show their bluff I just give them credit for a good bluff at that time.

Ryan's line "you dont have to win every pot" is good advice,that is why we are not calling stations

hg