Sunday, February 10, 2008

Weekend update & hand analysis

I didnt get to play too much at the weekend. As you may recall I deposited $500 into AP on the 14th Jan with my first rakeback deal of 30%.

Bankroll is currently $1619. Not bad for 4 weeks playing mainly .25/.50. I generally play between 2-4 tables and sometimes have a .50/1 table included. I have been very selective on the .50/1 tables and thats shown in my winrate so far. Btw this winrate is unsustainable and will fall inline once I get more hands in at that level.

My graph has a nice trend line. This will be my comfort zone for now and I will stay like this until I reach $2000 then I will take a proper shot at .50/1








Hand1
I have a few hands to discuss. In the first hand UTG is Tighty McNuts and very positionally aware. His UTG raise screams of AA/KK/AKs



$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
UTG

($100.15)
UTG+1

($21.40)
Hero

($61.20)
BTN

($19.00)
SB

($47.17)
BB

($19.50)


Pre-flop: ($0.75, 6 players) Hero is CO

UTG raises to $2, 1 fold, Hero calls $2, 3 folds
(normally i would reraise here with a big pair but he is a decent player and I would have to fold if he shoved all in. I call and hope to set mine or atleast evaluate on a scary board)

Flop: ($4.75, 2 players)
UTG bets $3, Hero raises to $8, UTG raises to $23, Hero calls $15
(Bingo! He bets out as any good player would. I reraise a medium amount hoping to look a little weak. Im aware of the potential flush draw. I could and probably should have just pushed but that may show an obvious set, so I called to maybe show I was drawing to the flush.)

Turn: ($50.75, 2 players)
UTG bets $37, Hero goes all-in $36.2
(QQ just hit a set but also AA and KK would play this way. It also misses my fake flush draw. This is an easy call.)

River: ($123.95, 2 players)

Final Pot: $123.15
UTG shows:
Hero shows:

UTG wins $0.8 ( lost -$61.2 )
Hero wins $119.65 ( won +$58.45 )

A set up hand really but as I mentioned before a reraise pf by me and I would have had to lay it down to a shove. Any thoughts on this ?

Hand 2

UTG is somewhat tight passive and BB is the Loose/aggro playing 70/25/2


$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:
UTG

($274.61)
CO

($107.45)
BTN

($100.90)
Hero

($48.50)
BB

($17.98)



Pre-flop: ($0.75, 5 players) Hero is SB

UTG raises to $2, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.75, BB raises to $4, UTG calls $2, Hero raises to $17, BB goes all-in $17.98, UTG folds, Hero calls $0.98

(I cant remember why I just flat called. I should have raised this as im only behind AA/KK and he has a large stack. BB corrected my mistake by min reraising. This is such a bad play but helped me in a huge way. The call by UTG told me he didnt have a premium pair. JJ+ would have reraised for sure, out of position against a min reraiser and 2 opponents. I put him on maybe AK badly played or a medium/low pocket pair. Thinking I am ahead of UTG and knowing BB has a huge range as always I raise and aggro monkey calls.)



Flop: ($43.96, 2 players)

Turn: ($43.96, 2 players)

River: ($43.96, 2 players)

Final Pot: $39.96
Hero shows:
BB shows:

Hero wins $38.01 ( won +$20.03 )
BB lost -$21.98
UTG lost -$4.00


AQ is a killer hand. Tough to play OOP and easy to lose a stack to AK. BB's min raise sucked. For anyone that reads this there are not many times minraising is a good play. I see it soo much at the lower levels. dont play scared. Min raising does not apply pressure. There are times when this is effective but thats for another post.


Haha if he had flipped AA this post then I may have praised him for inducing a push but his range was so large that AA was a very small part of that and im ahead more times than not with QQ.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

UB Cheating Pt. 2

EDIT : (See more recent post for outcome http://threekingryver.blogspot.com/2008/05/ub-response-to-cheating.html)

Following on from my post a few weeks ago then suspected cheating at UB looks like it is coming to head. To recap there were a few accounts that had exceptionally high winrates with very high $vpip's. You may think this is likely but when you read the posts and look at the evidence presented you see that the highlighted player (s) are so outside the standard deviation its scary. The accounts also supposedly changed names then disappeared once things started heating up.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthread.php?t=99247


The only response a few players have received from UB is that they are investigating. The evidence looks overwhelming that something is wrong. Phil Hellmuth, as ambassador to the site, is also known to be conversing with a few 2p2'ers and says that UB have everyone looking into this issue.



I think its a coincidence that UB and AP are owned by the same people. I also have this uneasy feeling that there is a lot more of this that goes on than we know. I believe the big sites like Party/Full Tilt/Pokerstars are legit. The smaller sites that have no datamining could be littered with cheating players. This is unregulated market. There is nothing to stop the clever insider/malicious hacker type playing on these non tracked sites, nothing! Someone, like the cheater at AP, got greedy and played in a way that raised alarm bells by players tracking the numbers. How do you catch this with non tracked smaller sites. In a game that contains an element of chance you need hard evidence to prove a player is cheating. Pokertracker has been key to this.



I now face a problem. There was a comment from a 2p2'er that said something along the lines of now that AP is disrespected in the poker community the players in the know (good players) leave the site. this leaves a bigger selection of fish vs sharks, which in turn brings back some players to feed. The lure of profit outweighs the morale issue. This includes me. I know what went on at AP but im on a winnig streak like I have never had before due to the abundance of crap players at AP. I switched back to Full Tilt the other night and played some .25/.50 and .50/$1 and the skill level is so obvious at FT even at these low levels. One big part of me says that I shouldnt be playing at a site that has total disregard for its players, that has lied to cover themselves and never had the decency to be professional about the whole incident hoping that things will blow over. Why should i give them rake ?



Then there is the other side that sees that I have tripled my bankroll in just under 3 weeks with only 5000 hands. The players are so much worse here and my bankroll is not a significant amount to affect my life should the worse happen.



I feel that I would know when to jump ship should there be any worry about AP closing. I will remove most $$ once another bomb hits the online poker world. If UB is proved to be a infested with cheating players it will send a shockwave across the industry that, to be honest, is needed for the long run.



We are talking potentially millions of $$ that have been sucked out of the game due to cheating.



I wish this industry would hurry up and get regulated.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Year of the Rat

Kung Hei Fat Choy to any chinese readers.

How appropriate to my new blog that 2008 is the year of the Rat.

A healthy AA injection.

You have to question what the SB and the BB are doing in this hand.


$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
5 players
http://weaktight.com/97315

Stacks:
Hero ($98.50)
CO ($83.75)
BTN ($156.50)
SB ($39.70)
BB ($51.75)

Pre-flop: ($1.5, 5 players) Hero is UTG

Hero raises to $4, CO raises to $20, 1 fold, SB goes all-in $39.7, BB calls $38.7, Hero goes all-in $98.5, CO goes all-in $63.75, BB goes all-in $12.05

Flop: ($278.2, 4 players)

Turn: ($278.2, 4 players)

River: ($278.2, 4 players)
SB shows:
BB shows:
Hero shows:
CO shows:

Hero wins $270.2 ( won +$167.7 )
SB lost -$40.20
BB lost -$51.75
CO lost -$83.75



equity win tie pots won pots tied
Hand 0: 60.553% 60.08% 00.47% 652466 5147.00 { AdAs }
Hand 1: 17.738% 17.64% 00.09% 191616 1015.00 { KcKs }
Hand 2: 08.059% 07.58% 00.47% 82373 5147.00 { AcJc }
Hand 3: 13.650% 13.56% 00.09% 147229 1015.00 { 9c5c }


Apart from the one hand I had a pretty much card dead few hours last night.

Bankroll at AP
start $500
current $1462

hands 5000 ish


I took a break last night to help out a guy from 2p2 at the micro stakes. This was really good fun. at the .02/.04 levels you have to be Tighty Mcnuts and bet hard when you get a hand. I would go crazy playing 1 table of full ring there as you are waiting for premium hands only. I would have to 10 table atleast. I've never played that low and hopefully never will and I found it quite tough as my poker reasoning was at battle with the randomness of peoples play. My 2p2 friend had a good grasp on the game and I'm sure he will be climbing the ladder VERY quickly.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Miserable Villain..

$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
6 players


Stacks:

UTG ($95.90)
UTG+1 ($98.00)
CO ($82.95)
BTN ($53.75)
SB ($84.65)
Hero ($53.20)



Pre-flop: ($0.75, 6 players) Hero is BB

UTG calls $0.5, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.5, 1 fold, Hero checks

Flop: ($1.75, 3 players)
Hero bets $2, 1 fold, BTN calls $2

Turn: ($5.75, 2 players)
Hero bets $4, BTN raises to $8, Hero calls $4
(The 10 helped him but with a flush draw and a double gutshot there is no way im folding for $4)

River: ($21.75, 2 players)
Hero bets $15, BTN calls $15

Final Pot: $51.75
BTN shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins $48.7 ( won +$23.2 )
BTN lost -$25.50
UTG lost -$0.50


I was multitabling when the above hand played out. No real reads on villain but that hand really tilted him.....

RYVERRAT wins ($48.70) with (Straight, six to ten).
LAKEMAN: moron
RYVERRAT: lol
RYVERRAT: ty
LAKEMAN: chase cars 2?
LAKEMAN: runners what a putz
RYVERRAT: if they are slow enough
LAKEMAN: ur clueless
<<>> SKILLWON wins ($3.60 chips).
LAKEMAN: u needed runner runner idiot'
LAKEMAN: idiot
<<>> IFOLD_AA wins ($22.55 chips).
LAKEMAN: for runner runner good player dont call 5 cents
RYVERRAT: ok
RYVERRAT: im new here
LAKEMAN: learn game
RYVERRAT: pls teach me
LAKEMAN: way u play seems like 1st time
RYVERRAT: it is
LAKEMAN: u will leave busted
RYVERRAT: cool
<<>> RYVERRAT wins ($48.90) with (One pair, aces).
RYVERRAT: erm I might be a while
LAKEMAN: wow 1st time u put chips in good idiot
RYVERRAT: lucky me
LAKEMAN: donkey u
RYVERRAT: put some more money on the table
RYVERRAT: surely you have an edge
RYVERRAT: on me
LAKEMAN: for u 2 chase runner runner
RYVERRAT: sure
RYVERRAT: you want that
RYVERRAT: so reload bigboy
LAKEMAN: lets go higher stakes clown
<<>> JIA1222 wins ($15.08) with (Straight, ten to ace).
SKILLWON wins ($15.07) with (Straight, ten to ace).
RYVERRAT: no need
LAKEMAN: u cant buy in
LAKEMAN: ur in over ur head here
RYVERRAT: lol
RYVERRAT: if only you knew
<<>> LAKEMAN wins ($1.45 chips).
LAKEMAN: i saw so i do know
LAKEMAN: 4% and u call
<<>> SKILLWON wins ($5.70 chips).
LAKEMAN: always 1 chasing donk at table
<<>> LAKEMAN wins ($2.25 chips).
RYVERRAT: always one crying pro
RYVERRAT: reload and take my cash
LAKEMAN: stated fact
RYVERRAT: ok i think weve heard
LAKEMAN: ur an idiot who is clueless
<<>> JIA1222 wins (95c chips).
RYVERRAT: ok
RYVERRAT: but dont you want players like me here ?
LAKEMAN: and yet u wont ever learn
<<>> SKILLWON wins ($1.00 chips).
RYVERRAT: do you want me to ?
RYVERRAT: the pro that you are you should realise if i made a mistake
RYVERRAT: thats +ev for you
LAKEMAN: i did
LAKEMAN: dumb azz
RYVERRAT: then you wouldnt tap the fishbowl
RYVERRAT: lol
RYVERRAT: ok
<<>> THANGBAIHAI wins ($35.15) with (One pair, aces). - He lost almost all the rest of his stack to Thangbaihai
RYVERRAT: im still counting your money
RYVERRAT: haha so is he
LAKEMAN: A 10 lol
LAKEMAN: retard table
RYVERRAT: reload
<<>> THANGBAIHAI wins ($7.10 chips).
RYVERRAT: ill call your all in -
He had $1.95 left

LAKEMAN: cant play with inbred morons
RYVERRAT: lol
RYVERRAT: you cant play
RYVERRAT: now im tapping the glass
LAKEMAN: u sucked out runners when u should not have been in hand
<<>> JIA1222 wins ($1.08) with (Two Pair, fours and threes(ace kicker)).
IFOLD_AA wins ($1.07) with (Two Pair, fours and threes(ace kicker)).
LAKEMAN: and u think ur good thats rich
RYVERRAT: so lets agree i might have made a mistake
RYVERRAT: ?
RYVERRAT: thats good for you
LAKEMAN: hope u die in ur sleep kunt face
RYVERRAT: lol


You see people like this all the time online. Ive never really understood how someone can get so pi$$ed off when they lose a hand. I can understand a little if they were trying to tilt the other person but when it tilts themselves its laughable. He ended up losing his stack AND looking like an idiot.

I wish he had reloaded.


My first losing session last night. I ended down 1 buy in after my AK vs AJ on an A high board. J on the river made me sigh.


balance $1250 ish..

Sunday, February 3, 2008

The Bull Run Continues.





The bankroll is now just over $1300. Not a bad run from $500 start 2 weeks ago. I am playing 20/11 at .25/.50 and 16.9/11 at .50/1 The higher $vpip at the lower level would be due to sb completion in multiway pots which I have found a lot so far. I have started to recognise the regulars there now and I try not too butt heads too much with them.
No hand histories to note. Just good solid poker so far.