Winning Online Poker

2006-02-22T09:28:00.000-08:00

At Party:
I've been playing at Party lately, and the games are very very good.

I highly recommend playing at Party.

2006-01-28T09:04:00.000-08:00

The games, they are good:
Aren't the games supposed to be a little tougher during the daytime? It's about noon, EST and this hand just happened. Villian is a caller, but not a bettor. Thus, I played it correctly.

Party Poker (6 max, 6 handed) [url=http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi]converter[/url]

[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is UTG with J:heart:, J:spade:.
[color:#666666]I raise, MP coldcalls, CO coldcalls, BB calls. [i]2 folds[/i][/color].

[b]Flop:[/b] T:heart:, 9:spade:, Q:club: [color:#0000FF](4 players)[/color]
BB checks, I bet, MP calls, CO folds, BB calls.

[b]Turn:[/b] K:heart: [color:#0000FF](3 players)[/color]
BB checks. I bet, MP calls, BB calls.

[b]River:[/b] 8:heart: [color:#0000FF](3 players)[/color]
BB checks, I bet, MP calls, BB folds.

[b]Final Pot:[/b]

Results in white below: [color:#FFFFFF]
Hero has Jh Js (straight, king high).
MP has Td 4d (one pair, tens).
Outcome: [/color]

2006-01-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

I just have to post this no limit hand:
I'm still playing (growl!), but here's a funny hand I just played on low stakes NL. Names blanked out to protect the stupid.

Seat 1: G ($39.70 in chips)
Seat 3: L ($217.50 in chips)
Seat 6: R ($214.50 in chips)
Seat 8: C ($38.50 in chips)
Seat 9: O ($197.20 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
R posts blind ($1), c posts blind ($2).

PRE-FLOP
O bets $5, G calls $5, L bets $8, R folds, c folds, O calls $3, G calls $3.

FLOP [board cards 2H,6H,2S ]
O checks, G checks, L bets $20, O folds, G bets $31.70 and is all-in, l folds.

SHOWDOWN
G shows [ 3H,AH ]
G wins $75.70.

SUMMARY
Dealer: L
Pot: $78.70, (including rake: $3)
G, bets $39.70, collects $75.70, net $36

L folded for $12 in what would have been a $91 pot. I laughed for a long time after this hand. If you don't understand why this is just a ridiculous fold then you have no business ever playing poker. Even if that were my last $12 on earth I would have called that.

People: the size of the pot is ALWAYS the most important factor when making poker decisions. ALWAYS. It's more important than anything else. L obviously forgot this. You should not.

2006-01-03T06:53:00.000-08:00

Grinding:
Poker was fun tonight/this morning. The session started out on a downnote, but still I found it enjoyable, and results caught up to fun.

4 hours work brought about $450. Sigh...3.5 hours work brought about +$550, but maybe I stayed on a litte long. No big mistakes, maybe just some bets I shouldn't have made, although most of that 100 was just variance. And yeah...this was all in addition to what I made tonight.

But now I'm playing again. Why? I'm tired, I should go for a run outside or head outside or something?

Sometimes, poker has an allure, even for a kid like me who doesn't even like poker all that much anymore. Odd. Whatever though, I'm getting up soon.

Also, if you haven't been following the Daniel Negreanu vs. Dreamclown tussle, then you should. Basically, Dreamclown is a group of online pros who have done super well, and have a multimillion dollar bankrool. They're playing Negreanu in what comes down to a dickwaving grudge match. Basically, it's like the WWF of poker, without being stupid like the WWF.

I've been pimping pokerroom.com lately, but the games have been very good to me here lately and if you download the pokerroom.com software, then you can watch these games. Negreanu is KidPoker and Dreamclown is...duh DREAMCLOWN.

2006-01-03T01:19:00.000-08:00

Played again:
I dicked around some this afternoon at the NL pokerroom tables. They were soft, easy tables. But I couldn't pick anything up. I was a little annoyed. There's nothing worse than playing really bad players and continually getting donkeyed up. I mean, in poker, especially no limit, you can set traps and wait for them to come.

But sometimes, they'll escape. Poker is just a game of percentages, and there's almost always an out.

Here's an example: I had AA, and had raised to 2.5X the big blind. I was one off the button, and the big blind was the donkey who I was aiming for. As expected because of my small raise, he raised it to 11X the big blind. Now this guy simply couldn't hold himself back from making huge overbets (Prahlad Friedman/Spirit Rock style, only without the rest of the talent!) when the pot got sizeable at all. So now the pot is 44. Anyway, pot is at 80 and there are 4 clubs on the board. He has the same 100x BB stack that I did. He moves all in. I have no clubs. I have to fold.

I don't have the hand history on me. I probably could've played it better. But in that situation, I'll have his stack 80% of the time. But then, I ended up losing 25-30% of mine. It happens.

Then I played a hand where my connection crapped out on me when I had the absolute nuts on the river in a reasonable size pot with an aggressive opponent. Oh well...I only lost the chance to double up. GRR.

I was so pissed I had to quit. I couldn't play anymore.

But sometimes things happen, and I went and hit a sick run of cards (except that KK went down a few times) playing the shorthanded PokerRoom games.

I cashed a grand in a couple hours work, and figured I'd stop playing for the day. I played pretty darn well, and had good cards. Good combination.

2005-12-29T03:24:00.000-08:00

Time off: I haven't played in a couple days.

I'll get back to it soon, just haven't felt like playing in a couple days.

2005-12-26T03:54:00.000-08:00

Raped:
Wow. Today was painful. I was up +150, and ended up down -600. So, a total downswing of 750.

I don't know what happened. Nothing went right. Every big pot someone sucked out on me. I got people all-in as a huge favorite, and the allin sucker sucked out.

Another positive point: All of the big pots I lost were when I was the aggressor. It's not like I called off all my chips. And I wasn't overaggressive either, I don't think.

I didn't play great. I wouldn't really say I went on tilt, but I just didn't play well. Also, some misclicks led to big errors.

But that's life. I'm new to the NL games. I definitely was running bad in a massive way, no question about that. I flopped nothing. I honestly probably lost money on AA, KK, and QQ. I had AK only a few times. I couldn't flop a set for my life, and when I did, there was always possible flushes that came up.

Perhaps to some degree, some of the players got used to my style. Even idiots adjust a little bit, and I've been all over those games for the past few days, so everyone that was a repeat had played against me before.

Mostly though, I think I was just running bad. I'll get back in there and be patient tomorrow. And hopefully I won't get clowned like I did today.

2005-12-25T09:51:00.000-08:00

Another day, another dollar:
As I said, I don't play NL much.

I had an interesting hand that I emailed a friend of mine whose opinion I respect very much. He hated my play, and told me how wrong it was.

It's funny. He was right. I was pretty sure he would say that the play was terribly horrible, but I still wanted to hear it. Perhaps it is because I don't want to get into bad habits in my learning NL cash games, so if I make a normally suboptimal play, I like to make sure I know it is bad.

Even so, I'm not sure he was right in that instance. The play was normally suboptimal, but in that specific instance I still like my play.

Last night was great. I was sitting in a 1/2 and a 2/4 at PokerRoom. At the end of the night, I was up 216 in the 1/2 and 318 in the 2/4. Two of the guys in the 1/2 kept calling me a fish.

That's funny, everytime I got my money in, I was a favorite. That ain't fishy, boys. That's good poker.

One was actually a good player who had a decent idea of what he was doing. But he plays a much different game than I do. He didn't like the way I slowplayed a big hand on the flop with a few opponents. It was another normally suboptimal play, but I had very good control over my opponents. I knew that while sometimes I would get drawn out on and have to discard my big hand, many times I'd be able to get more out of them. So all in all, it was a good play, and it makes me harder to read.

Heh. In the time I wrote this post, I was up 47 at a 1/2 table. I ran good, but now it's time for Christmas dinner.

2005-12-24T18:28:00.000-08:00

What I'm up to lately:
I haven't played poker in months. I've made enough playing poker that I don't particularly need to play that often. However, lately I've been playing a bit more.

I've been playing at PokerRoom:

The NL games are soft. I've always been a limit player, even though I know that generally the poker boom has brought most of the worst players into NL tourneys and NL cash games (the two are very different strategy-wise, but most people don't realize that). I've been meaning to play more NL tourneys, as I've read and absorbed Harrington on Hold'em, volumes 1 and 2 (written by Dan Harrington, one of the absolute top NL players...most of the people you see on TV are broke, by the way). One problem with NL tourneys is that they are very high variance...even an excellent player will occasionally experience long, long streaks without winning.

NL cash games are very low variance. They are excellent ways to make money, and particularly to make consistent money. So I've been playing carefully and doing very, very well. The games at Pokerroom are soft, even softer than I've played at on some other sites. Highly recommended. If I keep doing this well, I'll have to start playing poker again.

2005-11-08T22:32:00.000-08:00

I'm a 2/4 all star:
Among good poker players, we'll occasionally have too much to drink and then go play 3/6 or 4/8 (whatever the lowest is at the casino). We'll play everything, raising tons of trash (suited trash baby!) in late position and just generally blowing off steam.

As a good poker player, you can do this in a live casino game when your opponents play poorly. You build big pots and then get them used to pumping them up bigger when they can't believe that you sucked out again. Of course, you also use your skills to get them to incorrectly fold. Why? Because you understand the math and logic behind the game better than they do.

Inevitably, there will be a kid there, complaining bitterly to himself about these fishies sucking out on him. It's even better if his friends are watching. He plays extremely "by the book" and doesn't understand how to play on later streets.

This is just a long way of saying that I am a 2/4 all star right now. I'm tearing up the microlimits baby at a ridiculous rate. Running good is fun, even when it's 2/4.

2005-11-08T00:08:00.000-08:00

Playing again:
I'm playing poker again. I'm mostly just doing it for fun, because y'know...sometimes it can be fun.

I haven't really decided what I'm going to do. Lately I've just been playing microlimits (2/4) just for the heck of it. I may do a challenge where I try to rise through the limits all over again. I dunno.

2005-06-02T23:40:00.000-07:00

Day 1:
Today could have been really good. Instead it was bad.

I screwed around with 15/30 twice in the afternoon, just for kicks. I played one round each of 15/30 full and 6max. I won one pot for about 75 at each putting me up a little over 150. Hey, that's akin to playing craps, but it felt nice to run decent. Good for the confidence.

I played some 5/10 6 max, which is what I have the roll for at the poker site right now. I've moved alot of the rest away from the poker site, because I want to make this tough on myself. Why? I don't know.

I was up about 30BBs at 5/10, playing very well, making some good bluff raises and good folds. Then, after a couple successful river gaybet bluff, I over did it a little.

I threw away a few BBs in extra agression, but began running bad. I played some more, took a break, came back. Ran bad. Everything went wrong.

So I decided to do something undisciplined. Play 15/30 6max. It's undisciplined because it's not in my plan (tomorrow I'll write my plan, with concrete goals)

I cannot win with overpairs right now. If I threw QQ, KK, and AA away today preflop, I'd be doing better.

First hand of 15/30 I'm dealt JJ. I coldcall a 3bet by the cutoff and UTG raiser calls too. Q high flop. I check raise, 3bettor calls. Turn is a blank, I bet, he raises, I hesitate and 3bet. Now, this is debatable, but my read on the guy was that he didn't have a Q, and is capable of overaggressive turn raises. I call. Check call the blank river and he has AA. Ouch.

Fine, you can definitely argue lots of things about my postflop play. Moreover, while I may have 3bet anyway, I have to be honest: I tilted. I let emotion blind me to my usual assessment strategies. This is very, very bad.

Few hands later I lose with AA to a rivered flush. I call a raise on the river that I shouldn't have. I'm really close to quitting, and probably should, down around $500.

I don't quit.

I end up stealing some blinds, putting a perfect postflop line when I flop top pair in the BB on a blind steal, and then in the SB take down a monster pot when I make the Ace high flush to his king high flush. I don't feel bad...he massively overplayed his hand preflop.

This 15/30 6max game is good. I guess that happens late at night.

I think I'm going to quit early tonight. All this running bad and losing REPEATEDLY with big overpairs puts me in a bad mood. I may even take tomorrow off.

I'm going to write out a plan for what I'm going to play, how much, and try to stick with it to make me reach my goal of 100,000 in the next 7 months.

Unfortunately, I'm also going to need to be careful about taking risks, and I have some large expenses coming up, which will need to be factored in and which shrink my bankroll a good bit.

2005-06-02T02:41:00.000-07:00

Guess I'm still not writing:
I've hit an interesting streak right now.

I'm basically down for the last 30,000 hands. I either have glaring, embarassing leaks or I'm just running really bad.

I play poker for a living, and make a good salary. But I don't want to play poker for a living. I'd like to do something more substantive. My ambitions are greater than this. However, since it is possible to make $500,000 easily in a year as an online poker pro, I've limited myself. I wanted to do something else.

That sounds odd, but it's true. I didn't work on my game, because I wanted to do something else. The irony, of course, is that if I did work on my game and take it super seriously, I'd probably have enough money to start my own business doing...anything else.

Well, in the last month I've realized that. Just because I started making more money doesn't mean I have to get addicted to it. Seriously.

So I started taking the game more seriously. And I have probably lost money over the 30k+ hands that I've played in the last month. That's not good. Now, I do have rakeback so I've still made a few grand this month.

Gut check time That's all I can say. It's gut check time. Sure, I can go on and continue to make a very reasonable salary with very little effort. Am I good enough?

I've barely made any money this year actually playing poker. Almost all that I've made has been from rakeback.

5 out of the 12 months are gone. My goal is to make 100,000 in the next 7 months. It's very doable.

I'm going to talk about it here. Tomorrow I'm going to make my game very seriously. No tv, no distractions while I'm playing (maybe music, we'll see). I'm going to spend some time every day with continuing education (2p2 books), posting hands I'm unsure of, logging serious hours every day, and reviewing my play.

The game is on.

2005-04-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'll start blogging again:
For a poker pro, I went a few months without playing at all. Not until recently did I start playing again.

Just didn't feel like it.

Anyway, trying to figure out what I want to do with this blog. I may start posting each session the way I did around the turn of the year, I may start posting interesting hands, or I may just berate myself anytime I play poorly.

This assume I start posting regularly at all. We'll see.

2005-02-07T19:08:00.000-08:00

Another Empire Note:
Empire is supposed to be sending me a 30" flatscreen TV soon as part of its VIP club for frequent players. Nice.

2005-02-06T18:44:00.000-08:00

A note on Empire:
I haven't written up my sessions recently. Suffice to say that I'm running bad, except for tonight.

I thought I'd note that right now I'm playing lots of NL tournaments at Empire. It's a winning proposition these days, although my regular 6max games are juicy as usual.

Here's the reason: Empire is guaranteeing $50,000 in NL Hold'em tournaments right now. However, Empire does not yet get enough entrants. So Empire has to add extra money to each of its guaranteed tournaments.

This makes these tournaments a great value; so good a value that I have to play in as many of them per day as I can. In a few weeks more players will be playing them, and they will no longer be such an exceptional value.

So go sign up for Empire. If you click that link and use bonus code SUITED100, you'll get a 20% deposit bonus on your first deposit.

2005-01-14T04:38:00.000-08:00

Long latenight/early morning session:
Hands: 1526 5/10 (6 max) Empire Poker 3tabling
Won: 11% (it was at 10% late in the night, so I'm guessing it was something like 10.6 or 10.7%)
Saw Flop: 23%
Win if saw flop: 37%
End: 4453.14

Alot of hands for not alot of money. It was fluctuating all night, because I was seeing alot of flops and getting good starters, but then getting rivered.

I had once where I got AA cracked by a rivered flush, and then the next hand I lost to flush over flush. That was expensive. $250 in pots.

Other than that, the session is mostly a blur. Too many hands. I felt fresh for most of the session. Lately, I've been pretty tired while playing, which is why I've limited my sessions to around the 500 hands that I've been playing.

I may be away for the next few days, so I might not post anymore. Or there might be one more session before I leave. We'll see.

2005-01-13T14:56:00.000-08:00

Midday session:
5/10 6max 3tabling Empire Poker
Hands: 673
Win: 12%
Flops Seen: 20%
Win if saw flop: 47%
End: 4305.16

Strange session. Obviously it ended well, but it was miserable for the first 250 hands. I was at 12% (the whole session) but losing money. Twice I capped the turn headsup only to have them hit their card on the river, and we capped the river too.
Maybe I put in an extra bet or two on the river in both situations, but it sucked. I was an 80% favorite going into the river in the first one, and a 96% favorite in the second one. Big pots.

But after that I guess all my made hands held up, because I managed to post a decent sized win. Alot of the money came in the last 200 hands.

Overall, I played ok. Not as good as the morning session, when I lost $700. This one I gained $600 and didn't play as well. Oh well. It happens.

2005-01-13T04:24:00.000-08:00

5am session:
Hands: 424, Empire 5/10 6max 3tabling (as always)
Won: 7%
Flops seen: 24%
Win if see flop: 29%

End: 3777.63

This is why we play the game, isn't it? I played brilliantly for 2 hours, and managed to lose almost $700. Seriously, I played very well. Brilliantly would be a pretty good description.

Lot of bad beats in this one, especially towards the end. Fortunately, a few times at the end some suckers hit their miracle cards and FAILED to raise me. People, if you're going to chase a 4% chance of winning, you need to at least raise on the end. Maybe they were just too excited to have hit. I don't know.

Session started out with me winning one blind steal in the first 30 hands. Is this a pattern or what? It's tough to have winning sessions when you're down a couple hundred bucks right away. There was a huge, $340ish pot where I had to call on a capped turn because the pot was huge and I had the nut flush draw. I was right, but failed to hit my flush draw. Darn. I did fold top pair, good kicker on the river though, unlike a hand from yesterday. Even though the pot was bigger, there was absolutely no way I could win. I knew what they had, I just needed the flush card. Instead the river brought top pair. Wah.

At the end of the session, a fish at one of my tables turned 250 into 700. Mostly he did this by hitting runner runners on me. I felt fine though. Idiots are why the games are profitable.

2005-01-12T22:03:00.000-08:00

Evening session:
Hands: 630, 5/10 (6max) 3tabling
Won: 12%
Flops seen: 25%
Win if see flop: 39%
End: 4416.33

At around 225-250 hands, I was winning 15%, and yet barely up any money. Then over the next 200 hands, I won money as my pot percentage declined to 12%. Odd huh?

I'm dead tired. I'm going to sleep.

2005-01-12T13:10:00.000-08:00

Another one:
Hands: 504, 5/10 short 3 tabling
Won: 12%
Flops Seen: 22%
Win when saw flop: 43%
End: 4024.16

This was sorta two mini sessions followed by a third longer session. I don't know why my first few sessions have all been 500 hands. That's not normal. Maybe because I said I'd write about every session, so I'm only playing longer sessions. I don't know.

It's odd for me to have won 12% and yet not really win any money. The third longer session started in typical can't win a hand form, then I won a few, then couldn't win one for awhile and was down to about 8 or 9% pots won at about 350 hands. So I won alot in the last 100-150 hands. Seems like most of these were smaller pots, as I don't remember any of them.

I did, however, screw up twice (that I remember). I called a river of a huge pot with top pair even though I knew I was beat. I really should've folded...but the pot was just so large. I also should've extracted another bet when I had AA, the flop came 223. I bet, he called. Turn was a blank, I bet, he checkraised. I called, with the intention to decide whether to raise the turn. He bet the river (a 9, with no flush possible), and I knew I should raise. I didn't. He had checkraised the turn with a flushdraw but hit his 9 on the river. I really should've raised; I don't know what my problem was.

2005-01-12T07:05:00.000-08:00

4am - 7am session:
Hands: 515, 5/10 6max 3tabling
Hands won: 13%
Flops seen: 22%
Win if saw flop: 46%

Start: 3582.66
End: 4010.66

This session started out miserably. 30 hands in, and again I've only won a blind steal. I've been rivered 3 times already on runner runner straights. Runner runner gutshot straights. I'm not pleased. I'm down $170 and I haven't even started.

The session turned around from there though. I played well; I dragged some pots. Not too many notables except that the fish seem to be more aggressive in the morning. This can increase variance a little, but is +EV.

2005-01-11T19:51:00.000-08:00

Another session:
5/10 short, 3 tabling.
Hands: 513
Hands won: 10%
Flops seen: 20%
Win when saw flop: 43%
Start: 3445.16
End: 3582.66

Wow. This session started out miserably. I didn't win any hands until the 30th, when I stole the blinds. Then I got KK twice in a row, losing once on the river and losing the second on the turn. I got AA twice somewhere in between hand 50 - 150, and lost both. Once on a suckout on the river for $150. I finally won my second hand on a bluff that I took all the way, firing again on the river. I won 5 of my first 100 hands. Three of those were blind steals.

But the session turned out okay. About what a normal session should be, I'd say. I actually ended up picking up some hands and managing to drag some pots. 10% is still a little low, but it's higher than I've been having. It's tough to have decent sessions when you start out down $300 because you can't win a hand.

2005-01-11T05:01:00.000-08:00

First session:
Hands 504, 5/10 shorthanded 3 tabling
Win percentage: 9%
Start: 3734.66
End: 3445.16
Flops seen: 21%
Win percentage when saw flop: 36%

Ugh. It started out a little off, but then got good. I had good reads, and was up a couple hundred. Then everything turned against me. Lost with second nut flush. Had a guy river me twice in a row in pots he had no business being in, for a total of a bit over $200. Idiot. At one point I probably went on tilt a little and pissed away about $50 on a bad read that I probably shouldn't have done. I had 99, and when an ace came on the flop, I tried to push the guy off what I thought was an underpair. Another ace came on the turn, and he called it down with KK. Sigh -- I was right on the read, but he didn't lay it down. The ace on the turn didn't help either. $100 pot there.

Another session where I can't get above 10% pots won in a shorthanded game. That's pretty much my dividing line...I can't have a profitable session if I can't get above 10%. And lately I can't get above 10%, which used to be pretty routine. I don't know what the deal is, besides running bad.

Great, down $300. That it was that high surprised me when I checked. I didn't think it was that bad. The last 15 minutes were brutal. Way to start this journal, big boy. I'm pissed off at the world (a frequent occurence for a poker player, I think) and going for a run in nature.

2005-01-11T02:37:00.000-08:00

Starting up again:
I'm going to start posting a tracking of my online play. My results haven't been so great lately, and I think the accountability would be useful.

2005-01-03T01:22:00.000-08:00

WSOP?
It's about the time of year when I start pondering whether to make a serious stab at qualifying for the WSOP. Often it depends on how long it's been since I've seen Rounders (about 6 months!).

We all think we're good enough. Anyone who makes money playing this game for a living thinks they're good enough.

I'm not really that good a no-limit tourney player though, I have to confess. I play shorthanded limit hold'em games. I grind it out. I've had incredibly horrendous runs of luck. I've had streaks where I was unbeatable...and not because I was necessarily playing well.

Not to say that I'm bad. I'm pretty good, really. The expert poker player has a bigger edge in no-limit than in limit.

Empire Poker is offering some wonderful ways to qualify for the WSOP. I may just have to try it.

2004-12-26T01:55:00.000-08:00

Uh, it was only 3 months ago that I posted:
I'm thinking maybe I'll actually bring this blog back. I don't know.

2004-09-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

test

2004-08-12T22:57:00.000-07:00

Nope, I despise this game:
Okay, back down to 3180. Managed to give away all me 15/30 gains and my 5/10 short gains.

Bottom line: having a great hand preflop and a great hand on the flop means nothing when the turn and river is a bad card everytime. But that's the empire 15/30 for you. It's a rollercoaster: lots of money to be made, but lots of swings.

So I'm back to the 5/10 short.

2004-08-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

I...love...this game?
I guess I do. After a few days of misery, I'm come out of it a bit.

I ended yesterday at about 4575. So it was a pretty good day. I'm at about 5000 today.

Most of this has been at 15/30, and some has been 5/10 shorthanded. To estimate it, I'd say that probably 500 has been 5/10, and the rest (1400ish?) 15/30. So 50 BBs at 5/10, and 45ish BBs at 15/30. I'm definitely running good at the 15/30 right now, which is fun.

It's crazy, I've had almost all winning sessions yesterday and today. It's like somebody flipped the light switch. And that's what's tough about poker, sometimes you do the right things and you lose.

2004-08-10T01:44:00.000-07:00

Ugh, deux:
3170. Words cannot describe.

It's actually worse than 3170, it's really about 3000, because I won $170 in a hit and run in the 15/30.

This must be why I always keep a large bankroll. So, I'm basically down 270 big bets. That's very, very bad.

It's amazing: when I started my quest, my bankroll was at almost nothing (I'd cashed almost all of it out, and then ran bad at the 15/30 in an effort to rebuild the bankroll). I said I'd build it right back up in no time, and I did. I knew I would. Every session during the quest I was playing my A game.

I'm not playing my A game, but I don't know how far off I am. I do know that I'm taking some horrendous runner runner beats pretty frequently. Everytime the pot is big I get sucked out on. I didn't lose with a set to a higher set during my quest, whereas it's happened 5 times since I'm running bad. When I hit a set, it's almost always on a triplesuited flop.

I'm gonna go to sleep. I'm gonna get up tomorrow morning, fire up pokertracker, and do some hardcore analysis of my losing streak. I don't think I'm gonna play tomorrow. I'm not sure what I'll do though, as I don't have that much going on, which means I'll probably play some. If I do, it'll be 2/4 full. No messing around when you're running this bad.

2004-08-09T13:06:00.000-07:00

Things like this are why I don't want to play poker for the rest of my life:
I just lost $125 in 54 hands. At 3/6.

How do you lose 21 big bets in 55 hands?

Simple. You:
1. Flop a set, and get beat by a higher flopped set. Amusingly enough, after we cap the turn, the opponent check calls by river bet...with the absolute nuts. I wasn't amused.
2. Don't win a single hand of those 55 hands.

This is unreal. I don't think I've been beat by so many set over sets in my entire life as I have in the past four days.

2004-08-09T00:42:00.000-07:00

Ugh:
I took yesterday off. So today I was ready to play.

It was awful. It was like watching blood flow from an open wound.

All through today I just slowly gave away my money. I started with 4300, but I actually started with 4400 because late last night I played 100 hands and won 100 bucks. But I decided that since it was on my day off, I'd just count it towards a winning day.

It wasn't a winning day. I ended up at 3837. Down another 600, basically.

So, from my peak, I'm now down about 1900. 190 BBs. That's alot of money, and it's like someone flipped a switch. I can't get any action on my made hands, and no one folds when I'm trying to ram through overcards. I flop a set, and lose because someone else flopped a higher set. People pump up the pots against me headsup when they only have 3 outs. Of course the river is one of those 3 outs.

190 BBs. That's most of the standard 200 BB bankroll.

I can't even answer whether I'm playing well. Sure, my preflop is the same as ever, but postflop is more complicated in shorthanded than in a full game. I noticed that I called and chased a few times today when I shouldn't have. But they were relatively small mistakes. Calling a river bet headsup is rarely a big mistake.

So what do I do? As I write this, I'm not sure. I think I'll start with the 5/10 6 max tomorrow, but I'm not losing much money. If I do, I'm hitting the 3/6 full games, where I'll slum. Sometimes I need to mix it up.

2004-08-07T01:15:00.000-07:00

Post quest update, running bad, 10k in month quest:
Well, I think it's been a week of static. After the quest, I ran $2300 in a couple days, then had a bad day and gave back about 1k. Some of that was tilt too, but $100 max can be blamed on tilt. Then I worked to being back up $2500. I was sitting pretty until last night. I was ready to meet my goal.

I'm running bad. Really bad. As in, 140BBs bad. Just now, I lost a 23BB pot when my opponent rivered me on a one outer. Yeah, a one outer. I think that just speaks volumes about my last three days.

So I'm at $4300 after some cashouts. That's up about $1100 in a week (or was it 8 days?). That's gonna make it tough to make 10k. Especially the way I'm running. Which is bad. Really bad.

Running bad makes me really sick of playing. I've played alot in the past 20 days, and the way I'm running is just awful. I almost never have a winning session. Several of my sessions have started out where it took 70 hands before I won my first hand. In a 6max game, that's alot.

I think writing my results every day were good for me. No one reads this, but it still helps me to write the results every day.

So, I'm going to start over on the quest. Day 1 may be tomorrow, or it may not. I've been trying to play less to recharge the batteries, but it hasn't been working. So I may take a few days off.

2004-07-28T00:27:00.000-07:00

Quest officially over, day 10 complete:
6038. Or, +4838 in 10 days. Not half bad.

I may play some stud hi/lo or omaha hi/lo (.5/1) tonight, but nothing else. I'm done.

I feel pretty good being successful, even if it was only at my revised goal.

2004-07-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

What next:
I think I'm gonna take most of the rest of the day off. I'm playing now, but it's because I'd be at my computer anyway.

Tomorrow I'm gonna do all the stuff I've been procrastinating on for the past few days (DMV, errands, thankyous, etc). Thursday I'm gonna take a day off.

Friday I'm going to come back. I'm going to set a goal of 10k for the month, and will just keep track of how I'm doing. I'll probably be playing less than in my previous 10 days though.

2004-07-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

Day 10:
Ran pretty good today. I made my (revised) goal: I made it to $5631 at about 5pm.

So I'm gonna consider myself as having made it. I'll probably play some more today, and even if I drop some, I'll still consider myself successful.

Update: Just started playing. Immediately lost 2 $100+ pots. On one of them it was heads up on the flop, and I was a 98% favorite. On the other, he had K4 to my AK and spiked his 4 on the river.

2004-07-27T02:24:00.000-07:00

Day 8 and 9:
Over the past couple days, the hourly rate seems to have gone down.

For day 8, I finished at something like 4310. Less than 200 for the day. This was frustrating. In my first session, I had run it up to 4700. Then, I suffered for the rest of the day, and I played alot of hands. I was down to 4000, and finally hit a decent streak to get back to 4310.

Day 9 I just quit at 5010. Since half my goal is to make it to 5600, I'm going to work my butt off to make it to 5600. There's never a guarantee, but if I put in enough hours, I have a better than even chance. Today was tough. I played alot of hands today, I think. I struggled early, caught a hot streak somewhere in there and made it to 5000 before dropping to 4800ish and fluctuating for about 600 hands. Finally, I made it to 5000 (which seemed like a good goal, given that I have one day left) and quit.

And then I'm going to give myself a day or two off. And then I'll decide what to do next. I've never beaten the 10/20 6 max regularly, so I may give that a shot. Or I may cashout and see if I can take 1500 to 6000 (slightly different numbers) in another 10 days.

2004-07-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

Day 7: A day of swings
I ended the day at 4020, up at 500 for the day.

2004-07-24T17:20:00.000-07:00

Shellshocked:
And now I'm down to $3438. That's down 562 from my post. Wow. The river is not my friend.

Losing $562 in about 2 hours. My win rate during that session was even lower than a normal win rate at a full table. Wow.

2004-07-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

Day 7 in progress:
And now I'm reminded why sometimes I hate poker.

I dropped $300 in the first 50 hands, and even reached $400 down, though I'm now at $350.

Twice I've written posts about how good the day was going. Immediately, the day turned around and started sucking. So I'm not going to write posts like that anymore.

Growl.

2004-07-24T15:14:00.000-07:00

Day 7 in progress: Sometimes poker is fun.
I'd definitely forgot this in the last 2 days. I'm playing, and I'm at 4000. I'm blaring a little music, and staying aggressive on the felt. There are some songs that make me a little too aggressive, though. Which is bad when your AA heads up gets cracked by someone else's set.

2004-07-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

Day 6: A day that nothing happened but ended up okay.
I ended up at 3470 for the day. Since I believe I finished Day 5 at 2940, that's a good +530 for the day.

I played way into the night/morning, and played alot of hands.

It was strange -- I just sorta made slow progress towards the end of the night to make be up as much as I was. No real noteworthy hands -- couple of bluff river raises and a few turn stop n go's.

So, after 6 days, I'm about +2300. Avg of 400 a day. Unfortunately, if you project that out, I fall 500 short of even my half goal (4.4k in 10 days to 5600).

I am undecided about whether to try the 10/20 shorthanded or not.

2004-07-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

Day 5: The day I realized that I'm not gonna make it.
I finished at 2940 today, or -100 for the day.

I probably played more hands on Day 5 than any other day. And it still turned out in the red.

Nothing much to say...tables were very aggressive on Day 5. Preflop there was no limping in early position: it was just too likely that I'd get raised or 3bet. I'm not sure why the tables were so much more aggressive today, but they were.

I don't think I played the rivers well today -- I think I probably folded a few winners, and I definitely failed to raise or reraise on the river when I had some extra EV to be gained.

I'm now into Day 6 as I write this post, and I'm hovering at about 3000, and the tables seem to be just as aggressive. I'm surprised. Aren't the tables supposed to be softer closer to the weekends?

So, the question is, should I halve my goal? Make my new goal 4.4k in 10 days, which would be going from $1200 to $5600. In that case, I'd just stay at 5/10, unless I was falling short on Day 9 or 10, in which case I'd move up to 10/20.

2004-07-22T01:38:00.000-07:00

Day 4: Day of Swings.

I ended today at 3035, or +497 for the day. Considering that early in the day I was around -497, this made me happy. Early in the day, I was just getting rivered repeatedly. One guy in particular probably took about 400 in pots from several different rivers. Meanwhile, he needled me about what a bad player I was. Actually, it was pretty annoying. He shut up when myself and another guy at the table challenged him to go headsup at any limit. I'm rarely annoyed online, but I was today. Don't know why.

A strange thing happened tonight: in the midst of multitabling, I became consumed . I was 4 tabling, instead of 3 tabling as I have for most of this "8.8k in 10 days," so I didn't have much of a read. Then this dude hit a river on me to take down a $180 pot. Ouch. He went from $40 to $220, and then proceeded to run it up to $500. I went up against him several times during that time, and felt like I made the wrong play each time. He wasn't playing particularly well, I thought, but he was tricky. I finally started to get a read on him, induced a few river bluffs when I had unimproved AK but knew I was ahead, and finally felt good about it.

Strange, though: when multitabling, you hardly ever focus precisely on any specific opponent. Especially at shorthanded tables. Yet today, I did, and sorta did with the annoying guy in the morning session. Perhaps there's some psychological stress from playing so much and trying to play very well to make my challenge.

The big question: when do I go to 10/20? If I want to have a shot, I clearly have to go to 10/20. I'm doing well -- it's been alot of work -- but I'd like to make my challenge.

I'm almost halfway done my time, and yet I'm only +1835/8800. So I'm about 21% of the way to my goal after 40% of my time.

2004-07-21T13:59:00.000-07:00

Day 3: Today will be known as the Day Where Hands Do Not Hold Up.

Growl. Well, I posted that I made 300 in the first 80 hands. That was all the good news for a long time.

It was pretty brutal, just getting rivered everywhere.

At the end of the night, I got hit with the deck. I started 4 tabling to try and make some money for the day, as I was at about even. I flopped about 6 sets in 15 minutes and ended up at 2538, or 1338 for 3 days.

2004-07-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

Reading Iggy while I play: We'll see if it works.

2004-07-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

Early day 3 update: Made $300 in 80 hands or under 30 minutes.

A good start to the day.

2004-07-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

To 10k in 10 days, day2: +625, +850 cumulative.

Not a bad day. In the morning -- already feeling bad from the $500 downswing late the night before -- I dropped over a $100, and wasn't feeling so good.

But then I played late into the night and did pretty well, putting me back up there.

I feel like I have a chance at making the goal now, whereas it definitely looked doubtful after the downswing on day 1.

Now the question is when I'll start moving to 10/20 shorthanded.

2004-07-20T02:20:00.000-07:00

9k in 10 days, day 1: Well, I made it to 1425. I was up +225 for the day.

I have this to say about that: eh.

I was up to about $1850 when I caught a bad run of cards and dropped to almost 1300. Ouch, but those are the swings that can happen when you're playing shorthanded. It's only about 55 big bets. When you consider that it sometimes takes 2 big bets to bluff raise on a pot, 55 big bets isn't a huge amount of variance.

But it definitely makes it tough. I need to make enough money early to allow me to move up to the 10/20 (6 max). If I only make +225 in the first day, that's not good.

$1800, or +600, was good for a first day. It left me in good position to accomplish the goal. But that bad run of cards definitely made it tougher.

If I only made 225 on the first day, then I'm going to need a good day tomorrow to have a chance. I think I'll need to make it to at least +1000 for 2 days to have a chance.

2004-07-19T00:08:00.000-07:00

Challenging myself: It's been a long time since I updated this blog. Starting tomorrow morning I plan to begin a daily journal of my attempt to turn 1200 into 10000 in 10 days.

The idea is simple: I've been in a rut lately. I'm not playing much poker, and when I am I'm not playing very well. In an attempt to jar me out of this rut, I'm going to withdraw all money but 1200 from my Empire (see link on right) account and attempt to turn 1200 into 10k in 10 days. I believe this is eminently possible.

I will be playing the 5/10 (6 max) at Empire until I get to about 4k, at which point I'll probably switch to the 10/20 (6 max) at Empire. I may at some points also play the 15/30.

Is this possible? Yes. It'll be tough, and involve putting in alot of hours. This is the first challenge: finding enough hours to play to make the goal possible.

Second challenge: playing well enough to give myself a chance. I get lazy and undisciplined when I'm playing multiple shorthanded tables for several hours at a time. I can't do this if I'm going to make my goal.

Third: just being lucky. Variance is a part of the game and if I run bad, then I won't have a chance.

So join me for some chronicles. I'll probably update the Shana Hiatt site too.

2004-03-24T15:07:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates of late:
Just wanted to say sorry. I've been preoccupied, out of town, and the blog hasn't been a priority.

I hope that will change. In fact, I'm writing an entry this very moment, though they do have a tendency to be cast aside.

2004-03-04T15:54:00.000-08:00

Shana Hiatt pictures:
There are new pictures of Shana Hiatt up. Several are Shana bikini shots, a couple lingerie shots, and one or two are rather sexy Shana Hiatt pictures on the beach. In one picture, Shana looks a little bit like Britney Spears.

Overall, Shana Hiatt is absolutely stunning.

2004-02-24T19:28:00.000-08:00

45,000!
There are 45,000 players at EmpirePoker right now.

This is a new high for online poker. The number of players just keeps rising.

2004-02-22T11:39:00.000-08:00

Profile of Mr. Internet Poker, Chris Moneymaker:
The St. Petersburg Times profiles the man who has done so much for online poker: Chris Moneymaker.

2004-02-22T00:34:00.000-08:00

Sorry for lack of updates:
There will be more soon.

In the meantime, have a look at Roy Cooke's Cardplayer column, relating to the future of online poker.

2004-02-18T15:43:00.000-08:00

A few odds:
Odds you probably need to know in order to play poker well:

Hitting three of a kind on the flop when you hold a pocket pair:
11.8% (eg, if you have 88, there is an 11.8% chance you improve to three of a kind on the flop.)

Making a pair at the flop, holding two unpaired cards in the hole:
32.4% (eg, if you have AK, there is a 32.4% chance you will flop an ace or a king)

Making a flush draw:
35% (eg, if you have JT of hearts, and the flop comes with 2 hearts, there is a 35% chance you will have a flush after you see the turn and the river)

Making an open-ended straight draw:
31.5% (eg, if you have 67, and the flop is K 5 8, then you have a 31.5% chance of making a straight (you need a 4 or a 9) after the last 2 cards are shown

Hitting a gut-shot draw on turn or river:
16.5% (eg, if you have AK, and the flop is Jack Ten 4, then you have a 16.5% chance of making a straight (you need the Queen)).

2004-02-18T14:48:00.000-08:00

Learning to play poker:
Learning to play poker well can be a difficult task. Here are a few things that may help.

I added a few things on the side bar that will help, depending on how new to poker you are.
Poker Basics
Texas Hold'em Rules
Texas Hold'em Starting Hands

If you've never played poker for real money before, then I strongly suggest you buy a copy of David Sklansky's "Hold'em Poker." This book is considered a must-read. Don't get any other books. With the exception of Lee Jones' "Winning Low Limits Hold'em" most poker books offer incorrect or misleading advice. Jones' book is good for low limits, but Sklansky's book will better prepare you to move up in limits so that you can make more money. As you move up in limits (after playing hundreds of hands at each limit and winning...the players get harder as you move up), you should buy Sklansky and Malmuth's "Hold'em Poker for Advanced Players" as well as Sklansky's "Theory of Poker."

Why am I such a big advocate of these books? Well, I had torn up my home games for a few years, and thought I was ready to play online. So I started with play money, and won several tournaments in a row. So I moved to real money. I lost $1000. Then I read and studied Sklansky, and now I'm up five figures.

If you click on the "Empire Poker" link to the right, there is a 20% bonus attached to the link. So, on your first deposit, you will get a 20% bonus, up to $100. That's a free $100!

To find out more on how to play with real money, I recommend reading about Neteller, the premier deposit method of online poker players.

2004-02-13T21:23:00.000-08:00

Site Review for Empire Poker:
EmpirePoker is the premier place to play poker on the web. Together with PartyPoker, EmpirePoker has about 45% of the total online poker market -- over 30,000 players at Empire at any given time. The next largest site rarely gets even 10,000 players.

Why is Empire the best place to play poker? Easier games and integrity.

Why are the games easier than at other sites? I don't know for sure, but the games at Empire are easier at all games and limits than other sites. My guess is that people who have never played poker before sign up at Empire because it is the most popular and most well known place to play poker. I do know that I have made thousands of dollars at Empire.

What can you play? Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hold'em, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi/Low, or Omaha Hold'em Hi/Lo. You can play all of these games from limits as small as $0.5/$1 through $15/$30. Or, you can play in pot-limit or the famous no-limit games -- the cadillac of poker.

Empire also has some good tournament opportunities right now. In particular, you can try to win tournaments to get to the World Series of Poker. For as little as $15, you can enter a satellite to the WSOP just like Chris Moneymaker.

Integrity: EmpirePoker is a huge business. You can trust them to be reputable, because they are running a good business that makes good profits. If they treated anyone poorly, the word would quickly get out in the poker community and everyone would shun that site. There have been a few shady poker sites in the past (email me and I'll tell you about them), but Empire is undoubtedly not one of them.

What isn't as good about Empire as other sites is their customer service. Their customer service is based in India, and there is frequently a language barrier. You often have to repeat yourself several times and re-word things. However, although it is sometimes slow, they always treat their players fairly. Frequently, there are deposit bonuses of up to $100.

If you sign up through this link, you'll earn a 20% bonus on your first deposit -- up to $100. There is also a VIP Club for frequent players. Members of the VIP Club will receive opportunities at some amazing prizes and awards (worth tens of thousands).

You can also play for fun with play money!

2004-02-11T21:03:00.000-08:00

Poker pros:
Chris Halverson has an interesting post on poker pros.

UPDATE: So does Mean Gene, comparing online poker and the .com craze.

2004-02-10T15:11:00.000-08:00

Online Poker facts:
Here's some facts on the online poker industry:

1. Over $46,000,000.00 is won in pots every day playing online poker. $46 million!
2. An estimated $16 billion will be wagered at online poker sites this year.
3. Bear Stearns estimates that the online poker industry earned $4.2 billion annual revenue in 2003.
4. Christiansen Capital Advisors predicts that online poker could earn $10 billion in total revenue by 2005.

All this from a press release by AngelCity Entertainment announcing that they are spinning off their online poker operations (ticker AGEL on OTC trades).

2004-02-09T15:58:00.000-08:00

About me:
Iggy from Guinness and Poker has requested that I do more blogging on things other than poker news. I promised to at least consider it.

So who am I? I'm an internet poker pro right now -- though not intentionally. I lost my job, and since I was making very good money on the internet, I decided to keep playing poker.

I don't recommend becoming a professional poker player. My hourly win rate isn't what it used to be. It's a great second job, and something I highly recommend if you want to make a few extra thousand (and are willing to study the game).

My bankroll is also alot smaller now that I've turned pro, mostly for personal reasons. This means I've moved down to 3/6 and 5/10 (depending on time of day). I've made thousands of dollars playing poker online, and so can anyone else if they're willing to invest the time into learning to play.

That's partly what this blog is for. I'm grinding it out, and I'll sometimes post some thoughts, observations, analysis, and even the occasional self-flagellation.

2004-02-09T15:27:00.000-08:00

No hits yet:
I have to say that I'm surprised that I haven't gotten any hits for Shana Hiatt yet.

By the way, I hear that Shana Hiatt is married, but haven't been able to confirm this yet.

2004-02-09T11:02:00.000-08:00

The WPT helps out a charity poker tournament:
The World Poker Tour and PokerRoom.com helped sponsor a frat charity poker tourney at University of California -- Santa Barbara:

More than 100 amateur card sharks paid $15 each to play in the tournament, which began at noon in Corwin Pavilion and lasted until about 6 p.m. All the proceeds from the tournament will go to the Rewarding Our Youth and Future Leaders (R.O.Y.A.L.) scholarship fund. The fund was created by Zeta Phi Rho alumnus Romeo Garcia, and awards a scholarship every year to a child that grew up in Isla Vista.

PokerRoom.com provided chips and decks of cards for players to use, and prizes for the winners, which included an Apple iPod, a 20'' flat screen TV, a DVD player, a poker table and sets of poker chips. The World Poker Tour, ConJelCo and Banner City USA also contributed to the event.

2004-02-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

Poker in history:
From National Review Online:

Chief Justice Fred Vinson regularly played poker with President Truman, and no one seriously claimed that Vinson should recuse himself from the case involving Truman's seizure of the nation's steel mills during the Korean War.

2004-02-07T11:54:00.000-08:00

Winning at online poker made Moneymaker a celebrity:
See this article to check out how famous Moneymaker is.

2004-02-06T15:08:00.000-08:00

The online poker industry:
Love and Casino War graphs the online poker industry. No surprise -- EmpirePoker and PartyPoker together have about 45% of the market.

2004-02-06T14:36:00.000-08:00

PartyPoker Lingerie Bowl:
In case you were curious, Chris Halverson has a 700MB of the PartyPoker.com Lingerie Bowl.

Strange. Don't know why PartyPoker decided to sponsor it. Except maybe that the Lingerie Bowl and PartyPoker target the same demographic.

2004-02-06T13:24:00.000-08:00

A little starstruck:
Phil Hellmuth -- who shills for UltimateBet (which I don't recommend right now) -- wants you to know that some celebrities think he's cool:

The next thing I knew, I found out I was invited to meet Matt and Edward Norton at the top of the Horseshoe for a Sunday morning brunch. I brought my wife and two sons with me to that brunch, and later on that evening, I gave Matt and Edward some private lessons.

Later on, after the charity game ended, we headed up to the top of the Horseshoe for a late dinner and drinks. Of course, they kept the place open for Matt and Edward until 1:30 a.m. It helps to be a celebrity. Afterward, Matt, Casey Affleck, and I headed out to the Hard Rock Café, where Matt and I drank, chatted, smoked cigars, and played blackjack all night long. I had a great time, and I was extremely impressed with Matt.

If you have to get eliminated from the Big One on the first day, I highly recommend hanging out and drinking with a movie star all night long!

It's amazing. Though I don't like Phil Hellmuth, who would have guessed that poker would become such a hip game?

2004-02-04T13:37:00.000-08:00

The WSOP:
Here is the schedule of this year's World Series of Poker. The WSOP starts April 23rd and runs until we have a new winner of the main event on May 28th. Move over, Chris Moneymaker!

But, you're saying, this blog is about ONLINE poker. Well, you're right. But remember, Chris Moneymaker was an online poker player. But he won a tournament online to make it to the WSOP.

So let me mention that you can win a seat (as well as airfare and hotel, etc) to the WSOP by playing in a $200 tournament at EmpirePoker. One out of every sixty entrants to the $200 tournament wins a WSOP seat. There are also satellites so that you can qualify to the $200 tournament for as little as $20.

2004-02-04T12:40:00.000-08:00

Shana Hiatt:
From what I hear, many people want information on Shana Hiatt. First, don't spell her name Shanna or Hyatt or anything like that.

Shana Hiatt was the cover girl for the April 1995 edition of Playboy. She has some pictures up at Stuff. Her pictorial is here.

Shana was also in the 1994 video of Playboy's "The Girls of the Hawaiian Tropic," subtitled "Naked In Paradise."

I'd rather focus on more than her career as a nude model. Unfortunately, I was unable to find much in the way of biography. She has apparently had small roles in several movies: Bill the Intern, Cupids, and the 4th Tenor. She was also the host of Wild on E! for awhile, before becoming the spokeswoman for PartyPoker and, of course, a host of the World Poker Tour. [cross posted at World Poker Tour blog.]

2004-02-02T22:40:00.000-08:00

Test first post.