Okay, been a while. Here are my stats.

.5/1
Hands: 12,428
VP$IP: 16.58
PFR: 7.64
BB/100: 4.88
Won: $606

1/2
Hands: 3,860
VP$IP: 12.82
PFR: 6.99
BB/100: 2.36
Won: $182

2/4
Hands: 1,808
VP$IP: 13.00
PFR: 7.58
BB/100: 3.01
Won: $217

I'm trying to play 10,000 hands this month, at which time I'll write something interesting.

Wow. It's been a grip. I have played a lot of poker since I last posted. 4,656 hands, to be exact. Here's where I stand.

Last time I posted, I was "owning the shit" out of .5/1, which I guess is still true. Here are my stats (from Party only)

Hands: 6,020
VP$IP: 16.64
PFR: 7.31
BB/100: 4.5

POWN!

At some point, I got a big enough bankroll to start playing 1/2. It was rough at first, but I think I've adjusted.

Hands: 935
VP$IP: 12.41 (that's too tight, but there is more raising on this level, so I play fewer hands)
PFR: 7.27 (I'm keeping my aggression up, at least)
BB/100: 8.08 (POWN!)

Heh. That won't last. But for now, it feels good.

One thing that doesn't feel good is losing at 2/4. I've taken a few shots at this level when I see known bad players there, but I haven't done well. The tables are looser than 1/2, though, so I'm anxious to move up.

Hands: 158
VP$IP: 15.82
PFR: 6.33 (should be higher... maybe I'm running bad)
BB/100: -8.75 (yuck!!!!!!)

Basically, I'm down 13 BB at 2/4, which is really nothing. Less than half of one buy-in. But still, it's $55!!!!!

Nevertheless, my roll is healthy, and I should be getting a fat rake kickback from my affiliate soon. Should be close to $100. Woo-ha.

I've really cut back on the sit and goes and multi table tourneys, but I did play one big $2 tourney on Stars the other day with a friend. He had played live tourneys before, but never one online. He finished in the top 200 (out of 1,700). I did pretty well, made it to 56th place before I stupidly pushed in with KJs in a blind steal. I got called by TT and didn't improve.

I had 24,000 chips at that point, but the blinds were something like 3,000 with a pretty decent ante on top of that. Not a terrible move, but I had a little more time. At least I moneyed.

I've been reading a ton of 2+2 and it continues to help my game immensely.

All right, that's it for now. One last thing: If you are thinking about signing up for Party, DON'T use my code! That's because it expired. If you interested, I can get a new code. Email me.

Later.

Ugh, sorry about the last post. I just read through it and it sucked. I never did end up crossposting on 2+2, because I thought I might get banned for such a boring post.

Well, to freshen things up a bit, I sort of liked the Diary post I did during a freeroll a while back, so I think I'll do one for this 2-table Sit 'N' Go that I'm about to play.

4:38pm: Just signed up and took my seat.

4:39pm: First hand: 52c. Mucked.

4:39pm: I've got a Runnin Rebel logo at my table, and a middle-aged guy. Nobody else has pictures... you don't see that very often at Stars anymore.

4:40pm: The middle-aged guy just lost 540 chips on the first hand. Lookin' good.

4:41pm: Just freerolled ATo in the big blind. Checkd around on the flop. The turn gave me a gutshot to the nut straight, but someone bet out 80 chips and I folded.

4:43: I just mucked AQo from the button to a 100 chip raise from early position. It's too early.

4:44: Limping with A2d. I checked the flop after pairing the 2, called a 60 chip bet on the turn when I picked up the 4-flush, and mucked the river when I didn't hit and the middle-aged guy bet 200. He's made a comeback already--up to 2,360 chips.

4:47: Just mucked AKo to a 440 chip raise. Too timid? The raiser had AKs, got called by 99 and a random K and everyone went all in preflop. 99 held up, and busted the other two! 4 players have already busted in the first 10 minutes.

4:50: Got AKo again in the BB. Man, it would be nice to get these cards a little later in the tourney. 4 players limped, so I just made a min-raise. Flop was rags, and I checked rather then bluff when bet to. Guy after me pushed in. Everyone folded... he had flopped a set of 5s.

4:52: 66 vs AQ...Rebel vs. Middle age. AQ backdoors a straight! Bye bye, rebel.

4:54: I'm already in second-to-last place, just because I haven't doubled up off some n00b yet. I still have something like 40 times the big blind. Sheesh.

4:58: Okay, I'm playing like an idiot. I just raised with KJo from late position and got two callers. Flop was all hearts, I have the J of hearts, so I bet 70. Both guys call. Turn is a blank. I check, old-man bets a grip, I fold. What the fuck am I doing? I shouldn't be playing any of these hands. Argh.

5:01: The old man is the biggest god damn calling station I've ever seen. Okay, that's a lie, I've seen some amazing calling stations, but he's pretty bad.

5:04: Just doubled up! I raised 200 with KQ on the button. SB called with K6. I paired the K on the flop and bet 500. He smooth-called. Turn was a J, putting 3 hearts on board. He bet enough to put me in, so I thought he might have the flush, but I had to call my last 335 chips. He didn't have it, and I doubled through. Sweet. Now I'm 6th of 11 and I've got even more breathing room

5:06: I just got moved to the other table. One guy has around 5,800 chips, and he's to my direct right. The other three are in the 2,000s, and I'm the short stack at around 2,100.

5:08: Whoa, I played one hand, checking 66 from the BB and hitting trips on the turn, before I got a message reading, "Congratulations! You have reached the final table. We're now 9-handed, sitting at the same table. I'm in 6th place. By the way, I mini bet the turn with trip 6, then pushed 500 on the river but nobody took the bait. I'm at around 2,300.

5:10: Old man just pushed in on a raggedy flop with ATs, and got called by a flopped set of 2s. He's gone.

5:17: Another bust, this time a pair of 8s versus the nut flush. Wow.

5:17: I just noticed that the chip leader has 12,000 chips. That is going to be tough to beat.

5:19: It just got folded to the SB, who minraised. The BB folded. SB flipped over AA. Ouch.

5:20: Chip leader just got a piece of his stack pwned by the 2nd chip leader.

5:21: Just stole the blinds with ATo. Sweet.

5:23: And then there were 6. Another guy just busted, having to go all-in with 42s from the SB. Got dominated by A2, who hit a two pair.

5:24: A lucky bastard just pushed in with QJ against A9o. Hit the backdoor flush!

5:27: I haven't had AK, AQ or AJ since the first round. See! I knew I used them all up.

5:30: Blinds are 100/200; I have 1,620. Time to get aggressive.

5:31: I push in on the button with AQo and get called by.... AQo. We chop.

5:38: There are still 6. I just stole the blinds again with K9o, but I have less than 10x the BB still. Continuing to grind it out....

5:39: I guess we're on break... weird. The two biggest stacks just faced off, but one of them folded on the river to a push. The big stack now has 13,200. 2nd has 4,000, 3rd has 3,630, 4th has 2,600, I have 1,770 and last is 1,695.

5:43: I just got verrry lucky freerolling 43o from the BB. I paired the 3 on the flop and minbet. 2nd high stack called. Turn was a 5 and I pushed. He folded. Whew. I'm back to 2,100.

5:45: Bubble time! We've got 5 players--the top 4 spots pay. By the way, big stack just busted the 6th... he's up to 16,000. Yikes.

5:48: I just got frigging busted on the bubble on a 1-outer!!!! I pushed with KJs. Got called by JJ (on the last hand, a guy had JJ as well.. wtf?). I flop a K, meaning that JJ has one stinking out, the last J, to beat me. Well, he hits it on the turn. That left me with two outs on the river, the remaining Ks. Well, needless to say, I didn't hit and I was done. That fucking sucks. These days it seems I'm always out on the bubble. I hate poker. Screw you!

Okay, I'm just on tilt. I've been having a downswing in .5/1 limit on Empire, after completely owning the shit out of it for the first 3,000 hands. My win rate is still over 3.0 BB/100, but I've lost 73 BB from my peak of +220 BB a few days ago.

Calm... time to take a few days off.

-20,000th Hand Update-

I'm going to crosspost this on Two Plus Two, and I hope to get some feedback.

I just played my 20,000th hand of online poker (since I bought Poker Tracker, anyway), and I figured now is as good a time as ever to revisit ALL my stats across ALL levels, however painful or embarassing.

Some quick background: I learned how to play Hold 'Em last year from my brother, who's now a pro. He gave me some good advice, and I knew a few basics, but I ran hot right away and overestimated my abilities. I built $50 into almost $300 playing $25 NL on Party Poker, then came crashing back to Earth and went bust.

Since then, I've read Theory of Poker and Cloutier's book on Hold 'Em tourneys. And I've bought back into both Party and Poker Stars and played many different games at different levels. And for the last couple months I've been reading Two Plus Two quite a bit, and soaking up as much knowledge as I can.

At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm a winning player at lower limit games. But I'm interested to see what comments people might have.

I'm not going to spare myself with these bad hand histories... I'm going to post some of my most embarassing hands. I'll also post one where I got lucky as a skunk.

First, I'll delve into the stats.

Hands: 20,002
VP$IP: 16.17
PFR%: 4.98
Amount won: $459.95

These aren't representative of my most recent game, $0.50/$1.00, in case you were wondering.

Now, here are the levels I've played, how many hands I've played at each level, and how much I've won at each level.

NL $25: 5,825 and $268.60
NL $0.02: 5,520 and $81.43
$0.25/$0.50: 4,573 and -$19.95
$0.50/$1.00: 2,955 and $111.49
$0.05/$0.10: 1,074 and $7.08
PL $25: 39 and $16.80
$1.00/$2.00: 16 and -$5.50

Finally, here are my win rates per 100 hands at the same levels, excluding PL $25 and $1/$2 because the sample sizes are microscopic.

NL $25: 4.61 BB/100
NL $0.02: 36.88 BB/100 (misleading because the blinds are so small)
$0.25/$0.50: -0.87 BB/100
$0.50/$1.00: 3.77 BB/100
$0.05/$0.10: 6.59 BB/100

Although I've made the most money at $25 NL, I now consider myself a limit player. I found that I couldn't handle the swings at NL. When I resumed playing after busting the first time, I once again found myself running hot. But this time I had studied the game, so I was even more confident. Of course, I ran bad for a couple thousand hands and hit some incredible beats. Ultimately, though, the problem wasn't the beats--it was my ability to deal with them.

So I finally took a break, cashed out and went to the micro tables on PokerStars. The $0.01/$0.02 game was easy, but not profitable enough to really pursue, so I decided to teach myself limit. So far, it's been a wise decision.

About that time, I also started reading the micro forum at 2+2 religiously. There were plays I didn't understand that now make perfect sense.

I know I've got a long way to go, but I want to thank everyone on this board for helping me progress as far as I have.

Having said all that, I'm now going to post some of the dumbest moves I've ever made in poker. You can rip me one, but I already know these are stupid.

Hand 1: What the crap was I thinking?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (8 handed)

UTG ($27.95)
UTG+1 ($12)
Hero ($20.35)
MP2 ($68.75)
CO ($1.50)
Button ($24)
SB ($28.20)
BB ($7)

[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is MP1 with 8:club:, 8:diamond:.
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, Hero calls $0.50, MP2 folds, CO folds, Button folds, SB completes, BB checks.

[b]Flop:[/b] ($1.50) J:club:, 3:diamond:, J:heart: [color:blue](3 players)[/color]
SB checks, BB checks, [color:CC3333]Hero bets $2[/color], SB calls $2, BB folds.

[b]Turn:[/b] ($5.50) 7:heart: [color:blue](2 players)[/color]
SB checks, [color:CC3333]Hero bets $7[/color], SB calls $7.

[b]River:[/b] ($19.50) 4:club: [color:blue](2 players)[/color]
[color:CC3333]SB bets $18.7 (All-In)[/color], Hero calls $10.85 (All-In).

[b]Final Pot:[/b] $49.05
[color:green]Main Pot: $41.20, between Hero and SB.[/color] > [color:white]Pot won by SB ($41.20).[/color]
[color:green]Pot 2: $7.84, returned to SB.[/color]

Results in white below: [color:white]
Hero shows 8c 8d (two pair, jacks and eights).
SB shows 7c Jd (full house, jacks full of sevens).
Outcome: SB wins $49.04. [/color]

Hand 2: Just fold!

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (9 handed)

MP2 ($45.55)
Hero ($21)
CO ($10.55)
Button ($30.05)
SB ($49.40)
BB ($26.70)
UTG ($15.25)
UTG+1 ($10.33)
MP1 ($25.55)

[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is MP3 with Q:diamond:, A:club:.
UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, MP2 folds, [color:CC3333]Hero raises to $3[/color], CO folds, Button calls $3, SB folds, [color:CC3333]BB raises to $7[/color], [color:CC3333]Hero raises to $21 (All-In)[/color], Button folds, BB calls $14.

[b]Flop:[/b] ($45.25) 5:club:, J:diamond:, 8:heart: [color:blue](2 players, 1 all-in)[/color]

[b]Turn:[/b] ($45.25) 6:diamond: [color:blue](2 players, 1 all-in)[/color]

[b]River:[/b] ($45.25) 9:diamond: [color:blue](2 players, 1 all-in)[/color]

[b]Final Pot:[/b] $45.25
[color:green]Main Pot: $45.25, between Hero and BB.[/color] > [color:white]Pot won by BB ($45.25).[/color]

Results in white below: [color:white]
BB shows Td Ts (one pair, tens).
Hero shows Qd Ac (high card, ace).
Outcome: BB wins $45.25. [/color]

Hand 3: This is why I quit NL

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (10 handed)

UTG ($7.60)
UTG+1 ($55.20)
UTG+2 ($20.40)
MP1 ($71.38)
Hero ($24.25)
MP3 ($33.20)
CO ($26.75)
Button ($20.90)
SB ($55.55)
BB ($20)

[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is MP2 with K:spade:, Q:spade:.
UTG calls $0.50, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 calls $0.50, MP1 folds, Hero calls $0.50, MP3 calls $0.50, CO folds, Button calls $0.50, SB folds, BB checks.

[b]Flop:[/b] ($3.25) J:diamond:, 8:heart:, Q:diamond: [color:blue](6 players)[/color]
BB checks, UTG folds, [color:CC3333]UTG+2 bets $0.5[/color], [color:CC3333]Hero raises to $6[/color], MP3 folds, Button folds, BB folds, UTG+2 calls $5.50.

[b]Turn:[/b] ($15.25) 8:diamond: [color:blue](2 players)[/color]
[color:CC3333]UTG+2 bets $0.5[/color], [color:CC3333]Hero raises to $13.9[/color], UTG+2 calls $13.40 (All-In).

[b]River:[/b] ($43.05) 7:club: [color:blue](2 players, 1 all-in)[/color]

[b]Final Pot:[/b] $43.05
[color:green]Main Pot: $43.05, between UTG+2 and Hero.[/color] > [color:white]Pot won by UTG+2 ($43.05).[/color]

Results in white below: [color:white]
UTG+2 shows 9d 5d (flush, queen high).
Hero shows Ks Qs (two pair, queens and eights).
Outcome: UTG+2 wins $43.05. [/color]

Hand 4: Too aggressive!!!

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (8 handed)

UTG+1 ($57.40)
MP1 ($21.05)
Hero ($34.10)
CO ($69.30)
Button ($29.95)
SB ($20.25)
BB ($33.50)
UTG ($20.95)

[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is MP2 with J:club:, A:club:.
UTG calls $0.50, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, [color:CC3333]Hero raises to $1[/color], CO calls $1, Button folds, SB folds, BB folds, UTG calls $0.50.

[b]Flop:[/b] ($3.75) 4:heart:, 2:heart:, A:diamond: [color:blue](3 players)[/color]
[color:CC3333]UTG bets $1[/color], [color:CC3333]Hero raises to $6[/color], CO calls $6, UTG folds.

[b]Turn:[/b] ($16.75) 8:club: [color:blue](2 players)[/color]
[color:CC3333]Hero bets $20[/color], CO calls $20.

[b]River:[/b] ($56.75) K:heart: [color:blue](2 players)[/color]
[color:CC3333]Hero bets $7.1 (All-In)[/color], CO calls $7.10.

[b]Final Pot:[/b] $70.95
[color:green]Main Pot: $70.95, between Hero and CO.[/color] > [color:white]Pot won by CO ($70.95).[/color]

Results in white below: [color:white]
Hero shows Jc Ac (one pair, aces).
CO shows 4c Ah (two pair, aces and fours).
Outcome: CO wins $70.95. [/color]

Hand 5: Here's one where I got lucky. On the river, I tried to push, but accidentally clicked the minimum bet. It worked out okay.

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (10 handed)

CO ($98.85)
Button ($31.96)
SB ($13)
Hero ($31.80)
UTG ($39.20)
UTG+1 ($19.50)
UTG+2 ($9.50)
MP1 ($20.40)
MP2 ($23.03)
MP3 ($32.09)

[b]Preflop:[/b] Hero is BB with 4:spade:, 7:club:.
UTG calls $0.50, UTG+1 folds, UTG+2 folds, MP1 calls $0.50, MP2 calls $0.50, MP3 calls $0.50, CO calls $0.50, Button calls $0.50, SB completes, Hero checks.

[b]Flop:[/b] ($4) 5:diamond:, 4:diamond:, 4:club: [color:blue](8 players)[/color]
SB checks, [color:CC3333]Hero bets $4[/color], [color:CC3333]UTG raises to $8[/color], MP1 folds, MP2 folds, MP3 calls $8, CO folds, Button folds, SB folds, Hero calls $4.

[b]Turn:[/b] ($28) 4:heart: [color:blue](3 players)[/color]
Hero checks, [color:CC3333]UTG bets $5[/color], MP3 folds, Hero calls $5.

[b]River:[/b] ($38) A:spade: [color:blue](2 players)[/color]
[color:CC3333]Hero bets $0.5[/color], [color:CC3333]UTG raises to $25.7 (All-In)[/color], Hero calls $17.80 (All-In).

[b]Final Pot:[/b] $82
[color:green]Main Pot: $74.60, between Hero and UTG.[/color] > [color:white]Pot won by Hero ($74.60).[/color]
[color:green]Pot 2: $7.40, returned to UTG.[/color]

Results in white below: [color:white]
Hero shows 4s 7c (four of a kind, fours).
UTG shows 5c 6c (full house, fours full of fives).
Outcome: Hero wins $74.60. UTG wins $7.40. [/color]

Unbelievable. This game is so wild. I've been on such a horrific slide--I lost 86BB probably in the last 500 to 600 hands... then I sit down tonight and win 40BB in 94 hands.

I was making "Sklansky Bucks," as they say, during the losing streak. Which means that my winning hands were getting drawn out by suckers.

Well, as long as the value returns to me in the end, I'm happy.

My current stats on Party since the re-buy.

Hands: 1,755
VP$IP: 17.21 (very high for me... but appropriate for this level)
PFR: 7.12 (getting better all the time)
BB/100: 2.82 (not too shabby)

This was an amazing session. Had AA 3 times on one table in probably 30 hands and they all held up. Also had QQ, but that lost!

I'm considering becoming a "bonus whore." Seems like I might actually be able to make some pretty good bucks that way, since I have proven to be a solid player after nearly 20,000 hands.

However, I'm somewhat loathe to jump from site to site--and I won't play anywhere that doesn't support PokerTracker.

Have you read that the Blogfather is taking a sabbatical? Well, in the meantime, you can certainly check out my humble blog for some poker content, albeit not as interesting.

If you've been reading for a while, you know that my brother and I hosted a little something called the "World Series of Portland" about a month ago. Well, we're having another tourney next Saturday that should be pretty fun. It won't be the "World Series," though. Only one of those a year.

All right, enough for now. Vegas anecdotes coming soon.

Heh. Okay, I knew that even 6.3BB/100 wouldn't last, and it hasn't. I'm back just under 3. If I can keep it at 3 and win 200 BB, I'm moving up to $1/2.

Gotta earn enough $$$ for a motorcycle and a giant TV, after all!

Crazy weekend. Friday I went to a friend's barbecue after work that turned into a poker game. We were playing 9-handed, mostly hold 'em with a bit of stud thrown in for good measure.

Weird rules, though. $0.25 max bet, no check-raises, max 3-bet. $0.05 antes instead of blinds.

In other words, not the best game to try to beat. Those rules really equalize the field. Heck, one girl only folded TWO TIMES the entire night (and I mean seeing every hand to the river!), and she did better than I did.

Sheesh.

As I mentioned in the last post, I've been killing the $0.50/$1.00 on Party Poker. Today I played my longest session of this new buy-in yet, though, and lost 23 BB. Here are my stats to date:

Hands: 1,092
VP$IP: 16.85
PFR: 6.96
BB/100: 6.33
Amount Won: $69.11

Not too shabby, but, as I mentioned I was KILLING the game before this last session. Win rate was over 11BB per 100 hands.

Of course, I'd be ecstatic to keep my win rate at 6.33, so I'm not complaining. And this session was ridiculous--I suffered two insane beats with KK, and was beaten by a backdoor two-pair (a first for me, I think) when I had raised preflop with AQ and hit a Q on board!

Just another beat to add to the list... I've been backdoored by a straight from someone who was holding pocket 88, a backdoor straight flush, backdoor quads, and now a backdoor two-pair.

In the words of Iggy, "Oh the humanity!"

Still, like I said, I'm pretty happy overall, especially with my stats. My VP$IP could be a point or two higher, and I'd definitely like to raise the PFR at least a point. But for now, things look good. I was watching my brother-in-law play $5/$10 today, and I would have played almost exactly the way he was playing, so that's encouraging, too. He makes shit-tons of money.

Time for bed. It's going to be another crazy week.