Back on track

After a slow start of the month, the last 2 weeks have been really good, especially on NL400. I've won on 16 days in a row now, for an amount of 1K per day. So the goal that I've set at the beginning of the month is still achievable although I don't think that I can play 100K hands this month. So far I played 79K and I'm up a little bit more then 20K.

Furthermore, I don't have much to write about, maybe some readers have some questions or things they like to know and I can try to write something about it.

March only:

Hands played : 78,926 (25% NL400)

$ Won in cashgames : $20,271

PTBB/100 : 5,15 (5,23 @ NL200)

MT ratio : 6,75

Hourly win rate: $145,82

Raising for information

This is not technical chart from the stock market in the nineties but my profit graph on Everest.



Raising for information is something I hear a lot op players say when I ask why they are raising a certain (scary) flop. Usually it's a terrible thing to do and I don't like the reasoning at all. Raising should be for value, isolation, to let draws pay or to bluff, but not to get information with a hand that has showdown value.

Its difficult to find a lot of examples but it's usually a situation when your raised on a scary flop (paired board is the best example as there are not a lot of draws).

For example the hand below:

POKERSTARS GAME #8579094315: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2007/02/23 - 03:24:32 (ET)
Table 'Caprera' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: AKA_PSV ($235.50 in chips)
Seat 2: hard2tel ($199 in chips)
Seat 4: LUVTHEGUTTY ($179 in chips)
Seat 5: Zadan ($225.45 in chips)
Seat 6: jgonzales ($151.35 in chips)
Zadan: posts small blind $1
jgonzales: posts big blind $2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to AKA_PSV [Ac As]
AKA_PSV: raises $6 to $8
hard2tel: folds
LUVTHEGUTTY: calls $8
Zadan: folds
jgonzales: calls $6
*** FLOP *** [Qh Qs 6c] -> This is what you could call a 'scary flop' for aces.
jgonzales: checks
AKA_PSV: bets $14 -> Make a normal c-bet
LUVTHEGUTTY: folds
jgonzales: raises $16 to $30
AKA_PSV: calls $16 -> This is a situation where raising is absolutely terrible, a lot of players are not raising a Queen here and are raising the flop for information themself with a lower pair or as a total bluff to scare me. By re-raising I make all worse hands fold en better hands call....
*** TURN *** [Qh Qs 6c] [5d]
jgonzales: bets $26
AKA_PSV: calls $26
*** RIVER *** [Qh Qs 6c 5d] [5s]
jgonzales: bets $24
AKA_PSV: calls $24
*** SHOW DOWN ***
jgonzales: shows [Ts Td] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
AKA_PSV: shows [Ac As] (two pair, Aces and Queens)
AKA_PSV collected $183 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $185 Rake $2
Board [Qh Qs 6c 5d 5s]
Seat 1: AKA_PSV showed [Ac As] and won ($183) with two pair, Aces and Queens
Seat 2: hard2tel folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: LUVTHEGUTTY (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: Zadan (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: jgonzales (big blind) showed [Ts Td] and lost with two pair, Queens and Tens

Then my month so far. I'm back on track. Due to the not so good start of the month I will probably not make my 25K goal, but I'm still doing good. Especially on NL400 I'm finally a little but more lucky.
For March my winrate on NL200 over 50K hands is 5 and @ NL400 I'm now at 4 over 15K hands.

March only:
Hands played : 64,682 (20% NL400)
$ Won in cashgames : $15,438
PTBB/100 : 4,76 (5,01 @ NL200)
MT ratio : 7,09
Hourly win rate: $136,09

100K hands @ NL200

I've done it. I played 100K hands at NL200 on Everest. Offcourse I'm playing NL400 as well, but during daytime there aren't a lot of tables availabe so I'm mostly playing NL200.

My winrate over this 100K hands is 7,11 PTBB/100. For a long time I stayed above 8, but the last 40K went a little bit slower. It's always difficult to say if it was because I had luck in the first 60K hands or if I were unlucky in the last 40K.

I also looked at blocks of hands within this 100K sample to get to know something more about swings. Here's what I found out:

If I look at blocks of 5K hands my winrate is between 0,35 and 14,72
If I look at blocks of 10K hands my winrate is between 3,26 and 11.88
If I look at blocks of 20K hands my winrate is between 4,57 and 10.08
If I look at blocks of 50K hands my winrate is between 5,46 and 8.72

The conclusion of this is that a sample size of 50K becomes somewhat significant, but before that it's pretty meaningless. (I also only looked at fixed blocks of hands and if I had looked at variable blocks the swings would be bigger for sure)

March only:
Hands played : 44,405 (20% NL400)
$ Won in cashgames : $8,068.09
PTBB/100 : 3.94 (4,45 @ NL200)
MT ratio : 7,08
Hourly win rate: $101,14

March is starting slow

The beginning of March was not so great as the end of February.
In a session on NL400 I lost 5 buy-ins in less then a hour!!
And the funny thing was....I played almost without a mistake.

But when people can't laydown AJo....and I'm not hitting my draw its getting difficult.

***** Hand History for Game 1188815248 *****
0/0 TEXASHTGAMETABLE (NL) - THU MAR 01 19:58:22 EDT 2007
Table Bamako-0 (Real Money) -- Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: PLaToN ( $15.36)
Seat 2: algouz ( $496.24)
Seat 3: BldZwtTrn ( $369.84)
Seat 4: FishHoven ( $646.22)
Seat 5: d3fault ( $394.0)
Seat 6: chillyah ( $399.52)
BldZwtTrn posts small blind (2.0).
FishHoven posts big blind (4.0).
Dealt to BldZwtTrn [ Qd, Kd ]
d3fault folds.
chillyah folds.
PLaToN calls (4.0)
algouz calls (4.0)
BldZwtTrn raises (18.0) to 20.0
FishHoven folds.
PLaToN calls (11.36)
PLaToN is all-In.
algouz calls (16.0)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 5s, Td, Ad ]
BldZwtTrn bets (40.0)
algouz raises (80.0) to 80.0
BldZwtTrn raises (208.0) to 248.0
algouz calls (168.0)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 2h ]
BldZwtTrn bets (101.84)
BldZwtTrn is all-In.
algouz calls (101.84)
** Dealing River ** : [ Th ]
** Summary **
Main Pot: $50.08 | Side Pot 1: $705.96 | Rake: $3.0
Board: [ 5s Td Ad 2h Th ]
PLaToN balance $0, bet $0, lost $0.0 [ Qs Kh ] [ ]
algouz balance $0, bet $0, collected $756.04, net +$0 [ Jc Ah ] [ ]
BldZwtTrn balance $0, bet $0, lost $0.0 [ Qd Kd ] [ ]

Or when people push there (obvious) draw with a massive overbet and still hit.

***** Hand History for Game 1188828232 *****
0/0 TEXASHTGAMETABLE (NL) - THU MAR 01 20:00:52 EDT 2007
Table Bamako-6 (Real Money) -- Seat 1 is the button
Seat 1: Sebboss ( $450.88)
Seat 2: d3fault ( $396.0)
Seat 3: BldZwtTrn ( $394.0)
Seat 5: Ernesto_777 ( $981.96)
Seat 6: Malene76 ( $951.84)
d3fault posts small blind (2.0).
BldZwtTrn posts big blind (4.0).
Dealt to BldZwtTrn [ Jc, Ac ]
Ernesto_777 folds.
Malene76 folds.
Sebboss folds.
d3fault calls (2.0)
BldZwtTrn raises (8.0) to 12.0
d3fault calls (8.0)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 3h, Jd, 7h ]
d3fault checks.
BldZwtTrn bets (17.0)
d3fault raises (70.0) to 70.0
BldZwtTrn calls (53.0)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 9d ]
d3fault bets (314.0)
d3fault is all-In.
BldZwtTrn calls (312.0)
BldZwtTrn is all-In.
** Dealing River ** : [ 4h ]
** Summary **
Main Pot: $785.0 | Rake: $3.0
Board: [ 3h Jd 7h 9d 4h ]
d3fault balance $0, bet $0, collected $787.0, net +$0 [ Qh 9h ] [ ]
BldZwtTrn balance $0, bet $0, lost $0.0 [ Jc Ac ] [ ]

Or when the deck is just as cold as ice....

***** Hand History for Game 1188806098 *****
0/0 TEXASHTGAMETABLE (NL) - THU MAR 01 19:56:33 EDT 2007
Table Bamako-11 (Real Money) -- Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: Djegum ( $377.36)
Seat 2: jean-mary974 ( $230.52)
Seat 3: BldZwtTrn ( $421.0)
Seat 4: Sebboss ( $394.0)
Seat 5: Spevel81 ( $444.0)
Seat 6: torp35 ( $420.28)
Djegum posts small blind (2.0).
jean-mary974 posts big blind (4.0).
Dealt to BldZwtTrn [ As, Ad ]
BldZwtTrn raises (14.0) to 14.0
Sebboss calls (14.0)
Spevel81 folds.
torp35 folds.
Djegum folds.
jean-mary974 folds.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Ts, Qc, Ac ]
BldZwtTrn bets (25.0)
Sebboss raises (85.0) to 85.0
BldZwtTrn calls (60.0)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 6h ]
BldZwtTrn checks.
Sebboss bets (130.0)
BldZwtTrn raises (322.0) to 322.0
BldZwtTrn is all-In.
Sebboss calls (165.0)
Sebboss is all-In.
** Dealing River ** : [ 7c ]
** Summary **
Main Pot: $791.0 | Rake: $3.0
Board: [ Ts Qc Ac 6h 7c ]
BldZwtTrn balance $0, bet $0, collected $27.0, net +$0 [ As Ad ] [ ]
Sebboss balance $0, bet $0, collected $791.0, net +$0 [ Kc Jc ] [ ]

***** Hand History for Game 1188987563 *****
0/0 TEXASHTGAMETABLE (NL) - THU MAR 01 20:32:12 EDT 2007
Table Bamako-11 (Real Money) -- Seat 4 is the button
Seat 1: glasleer ( $80.76)
Seat 3: BldZwtTrn ( $615.36)
Seat 4: Sebboss ( $850.42)
Seat 5: Spevel81 ( $393.94)
Seat 6: tonicherm ( $120.1)
Spevel81 posts small blind (2.0).
tonicherm posts big blind (4.0).
Dealt to BldZwtTrn [ 9c, Ac ]
glasleer calls (4.0)
BldZwtTrn raises (18.0) to 18.0
Sebboss calls (18.0)
Spevel81 folds.
tonicherm folds.
glasleer folds.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 6d, 9s, As ]
BldZwtTrn bets (33.0)
Sebboss raises (100.0) to 100.0
BldZwtTrn calls (67.0)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Jd ]
BldZwtTrn checks.
Sebboss checks.
** Dealing River ** : [ 7d ]
BldZwtTrn checks.
Sebboss bets (200.0)
BldZwtTrn calls (200.0)
** Summary **
Main Pot: $643.0 | Rake: $3.0
Board: [ 6d 9s As Jd 7d ]
BldZwtTrn balance $0, bet $0, lost $0.0 [ 9c Ac ] [ ]
Sebboss balance $0, bet $0, collected $643.0, net +$0 [ Ad Ah ] [ ]

Or when I have a perfect read, but people still call against the odds...

***** Hand History for Game 1192397851 *****
0/0 TEXASHTGAMETABLE (NL) - FRI MAR 02 15:15:50 EDT 2007
Table Suva-10 (Real Money) -- Seat 2 is the button
Seat 1: Macspower ( $264.9)
Seat 2: Xena79 ( $219.92)
Seat 4: vagram ( $200.0)
Seat 5: BldZwtTrn ( $208.6)
Seat 6: Masterpolo ( $188.26)
BldZwtTrn posts small blind (1.0).
Masterpolo posts big blind (2.0).
Dealt to BldZwtTrn [ Qc, Ah ]
Macspower folds.
Xena79 folds.
BldZwtTrn raises (5.0) to 6.0
Masterpolo calls (4.0)
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 3h, 8c, 3c ]
BldZwtTrn bets (8.0)
Masterpolo raises (16.0) to 16.0
BldZwtTrn raises (44.0) to 52.0
Masterpolo calls (36.0)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ Th ]
BldZwtTrn checks.
Masterpolo bets (24.0)
BldZwtTrn raises (150.6) to 150.6
BldZwtTrn is all-In.
Masterpolo calls (106.26)
Masterpolo is all-In.
** Dealing River ** : [ 9c ]
** Summary **
Main Pot: $373.52 | Rake: $3.0
Board: [ 3h 8c 3c Th 9c ]
BldZwtTrn balance $0, bet $0, collected $20.34, net +$0 [ Qc Ah ] [ ]
Masterpolo balance $0, bet $0, collected $373.52, net +$0 [ Ac 5c ] [ ]

Or when you're sets get outdrawn...

***** Hand History for Game 1197517701 *****
0/0 TEXASHTGAMETABLE (NL) - SAT MAR 03 15:16:37 EDT 2007
Table Suva-18 (Real Money) -- Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: tang10 ( $374.11)
Seat 2: obut ( $346.09)
Seat 3: croate ( $54.4)
Seat 4: leotaq ( $134.12)
Seat 5: BldZwtTrn ( $261.44)
Seat 6: DaniStar5 ( $389.02)
tang10 posts small blind (1.0).
obut posts big blind (2.0).
Dealt to BldZwtTrn [ 9d, 9s ]
croate folds.
leotaq folds.
BldZwtTrn raises (7.0) to 7.0
DaniStar5 calls (7.0)
tang10 calls (6.0)
obut folds.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ Qd, 9h, 4h ]
tang10 checks.
BldZwtTrn bets (16.0)
DaniStar5 calls (16.0)
tang10 folds.
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 4s ]
BldZwtTrn checks.
DaniStar5 bets (32.0)
BldZwtTrn raises (105.0) to 105.0
DaniStar5 raises (334.02) to 366.02
DaniStar5 is all-In.
BldZwtTrn calls (133.44)
BldZwtTrn is all-In.
** Dealing River ** : [ Qc ]
** Summary **
Main Pot: $528.88 | Rake: $3.0
Board: [ Qd 9h 4h 4s Qc ]
BldZwtTrn balance $0, bet $0, lost $0.0 [ 9d 9s ] [ ]
DaniStar5 balance $0, bet $0, collected $656.46, net +$0 [ Qh Ks ] [ ]

Well overall, I still made some good money, I just had a few sessions that were very unlucky. But thats the variance u have to deal with.

March only:
Hands played : 16,005 (15% NL400)
$ Won in cashgames : $2,606.35 (lost money on NL400)
PTBB/100 : 4,33 (5,57 @ NL200)
MT ratio : 7,57
Hourly win rate: $104,05

2007 only:
Hands played : 124,653
$ Won in cashgames : $32,606.93
PTBB/100 : 6,19 (7,97 @ NL200)
MT ratio : 6,77
Hourly win rate: $154,38