Lots Of Graphs (Online Play In The Spotlight)

After investing $89 in the full version of the poker tracking software known as Holdem Manager, I'm feeling a little put-out that it's just not collecting my hand-histories from the PKR folder at the moment - and so currently it's completely useless. I'm sure that a little fiddle will put it right but, at present, I'm just relying on PokerOfficer.

Now that the dust has settled and my online game is almost getting back to break-even for the year (it'll go down now that I've mentioned this), I feel that, as promised, it's only right to throw up my graphs for the year. Now I know that I said I'd do this on a monthly basis but, to be honest, I was so deflated after the January debacle that I kind of put this idea on the back-burner.

Those who have been following my load of old twaddle will know that merging files through my PokerOfficer software only corrupts the data so I'm afraid I have to put up my laptop results and PC results up separately. I'm not going to show how I've got on at each level because that's just too long-winded and boring but, rest assured, most of these hands are at nl100 or nl200. I'll still preface each graph with a little introduction to explain the figures. First let's look at the month of death:

Graphs 1 & 2 - JANUARY
Hands Played at nl2 - nl25 = 51
Hands Played at nl50 = 395
Hands Played at nl100 = 3675
Hands Played at nl200 = 1198

Total Hands Played = 5319

Graphed Profit/Loss = -$430
Actual Profit/Loss = -$860

Explanation
Although the graphs have me down at just $430, I know I was down twice this much for the month. I know, for sure, that I exited the table immediately on seeing my AA lose to AK in a hand at a $200nl game which caused me to lose a buy-in. In this case PokerOfficer would not have captured the hand; you need to let the PKR software run its course between hands for the hand-history to be fully recorded. I must have done this on more than one occasion as the data just does not quite match reality. The laptop graph should, therefore, definitely have me down at least an extra $200.

LAPTOP GRAPH

 

PC GRAPH

Graphs 3 & 4 - FEBRUARY
Hands Played at nl2 - nl25 = 89
Hands Played at nl50 =372
Hands Played at nl100 =1664
Hands Played at nl200 = 962
Hands Played at nl400 = 40

Total Hands Played =3127

Graphed Profit/Loss = $336
Actual Profit/Loss = +$100

Explanation
This was my "steadying of the ship" month. Not many hands played, for sure, but a lack of confidence at the beginning of February would be the reason for this. A poor performance at MTTs would probably account for the difference between "graphed profits" and "actual profits" and the $170 rakeback payment would be a contributory factor as well. Oh, I may have dabbled with a few blackjack hands also.


LAPTOP GRAPH

PC GRAPH

Graph 5 - MARCH (SO FAR)
Hands Played at nl2 - nl25 = 17
Hands Played at nl50 = 98
Hands Played at nl100 = 290
Hands Played at nl200 =317

Total Hands Played = 718

Graphed Profit/Loss = $554
Actual Profit/Loss = $670

Explanation
I've not yet played any online poker on the PC yet this month so no graph for that obviously. This month has been fandabidozie thus far and it's a gradual climb out of the mire but let's not get complacent. I've taken the liberty of including an anticipated rakeback payment of ~$130 to my "Actual Profit" figure here because with the date now at 8th March, this really should have been paid in by now. I also grabbed just over $100 in the $5K ADDED on Sunday. Still, it's been fairly even Steven on the MTT front overall.

LAPTOP GRAPH

There you have it. With my online losses presently standing at just £60 for the year, I guess I have to be positive about completing my repair job to the "month of death" but let's just wait and see eh?

£80 Direct Buy-In To The PKR Social

I've just deposited £80 ($130) into my PKR account to use as a direct buy in to their social event which is taking place on 26th March. They have ongoing satellites running on their site but, to be honest, it's not easy to qualify this way and I just can't be arsed with them. For this, I'm going to pay the price of admission and have done with it. Hopefully I'll get to see some of the villains who have been taking the money off me at the online cash tables and get my revenge!

Effectively, this will be a live £80 freezeout so I'll be treating this, precisely, as a live session as far as keeping track of my profits and losses are concerned; I'll be taking £80 away from my current "live tally" balance. On the evening before (Friday 25th March) it seems there are going to be some sit and go tables with bizarre variations that I'll not have heard of. That'll be -ev for me then but, still, it's for the craic innit?

Although the event will probably be about the fun just as much as the poker, it would still be pleasant to come away with a bit of cash this time. What I quite like about this is that we do actually get the Sunday to recover so no Monday morning blues - which is nice.

Big Ouch In The $33, $5K ADDED MTT

We're around the bubble in the above mentioned MTT. Don'tcha just love it when you go all-in and have your villain call with a poor and dominated hand, only to see them hit their 3-outer on the river!?

Lovely.

Poker Stove said this:

And then this on the turn:

But still, it's not all bad:

Just scraping in once again.

And The Next One Please:
Oh, but here I am being seen off in the $35, 2-day, main event when I went all-in preflop against a villain who was playing far too many hands and getting far too frisky for this structure. Needless to say, he called and I dominated with AQ v. KQ.

Poker stove said:

But...at this table its... bosh.. and look what hits the flop!:

 

Of course if it held up, I woulda been back in the game with something resembling a competitive stack. Poker eh?

NOT My Weekly Update

This spot is usually devoted to my weekly update but as I resolved last week to make my updates "monthly" instead, I'll honour my own decision and not go back on the deal. However, as I mentioned before, we poker players are hugely egotistical - and I'm no exception so after a pleasing week, I'll just twaddle on about how my week has gone...

First off, I've had two contrasting live sessions this month. My Friday night session at The Fox was dead dead dead and I endead up £50 down. (Did you see what I did there, with the words? Good eh?) Anyway, after that bollocks, I managed to turn it all around the following night thanks mostly to a £400 pot at The Empire while holding AA which contributed to my overall (£240) winning evening and which puts my live game profits at £190 for the month and £1900 for the year which really can't be bad.

Online, I am pleased to say that after a ropey start, things have started the same way as they did in January and February. i.e. I'm off to a flying start! With an anticipated rakeback payment of ~$130 expected to come my way very soon, my account balance has moved $400 in the right direction this March. Of course, I hope my fortunes don't follow the same course as those two months; where January had me down to the tune of $860 - and me questioning whether to carry on with the blog - and where February had me yo-yoing to an ultimately uneventful break-even month.

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All told, although I am down ~£300 this year at the online game, it's thanks to the live arena that I'm actually feeling very content with how my poker journey has gone so far. To a large extent, with so many live game players unable to fold, it seems as if the "sitting tight until you get AA or KK and then chucking it all-in" strategy is actually alive and well and is a thoroughly effective tactic! Still, I'll end with a pointless message to show off my skills in the art of alliteration:

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ROCK ON BABY - DO THE BLOODY BUSINESS BOYS!!

Live Session #10: Empire To The Rescue Again

(Written in the present tense for effect.)

Sitting down at a cash game table after 5 or 6 pints of lager is not the greatest preparation in the world but, hey, you gotta mix it up a bit innit? I arrive at The Fox at around 6:20PM, pay the £38 for the freezeout (when will I ever learn?) and head for the cash game tables for a "warm-up". To my surprise, standing right there is flesicher123 - PKR badboy and online trash-talker extraordinaire, who is on a break from the main event. He's here with a few of his pals, known as weplayany2 and beanman4 on PKR.

Flesicher is having a fair crack at the £300 main event but weplayany2 and beanman4 are out and they are at a £1/£2 cash table. After a quick chat with flesicher et al I get my £200 in chips, avoid the aforementioned table, and take my place at a £1/£1 game. In spite of the fact that I've had a few, I get nice cards and spin up a profit of £75. Getting dealt AA, after playing fast and loose previously, always helps and I was happy to get in £50 on a harmless looking flop and see a caller chuck in the £50 - who then folds the turn when I throw it all in.

As I take my seat for the £38 freezeout I decide that it might be funny to "accidently" trip over while holding my cash game chips - just for a laugh. I time my trip to perfection, fall on the floor at just the right angle and all my chips tumble out of my hands with a perfect splash. But no one else seems to think it's very funny. Anyway, with a couple more Peronis ordered, the £38 freezeout was fun and the atmosphere was good but I crash out stupidly. Mid-way through I'm on a playable stack and it's folded to me in mid-position. For some reason I like the look of my 10 5o and put in a fair raise only for the BB to call. The flop comes 5 2 2 and I chuck it all-in only for the villain to insta-call with 77. I feel a bit annoyed because I was feeling very comfortable up to that point and it was such a stupid way to go out - Jesus! Anyway, I bump into flesicher, once again, and he has made the final table with an average stack and he will resume play the following day.

With the time at around 11PM I decide that a change of scene is in order and, while £35 up on the night thus far, I head on over to The Empire. This turns out to be a GOOD move. I pay for £200 in chips (for some reason I kept £200 of Fox chips in my pocket) and I get a seat straight away. With only six players at the table I get dealt the beautful AA, once again, very early in the session. Preflop, there are two limpers so I decide to chuck in £15. Bingo! The villain to my left thinks for a while before throwing in £75 - these are the moments that make it all worthwhile! With the shrug of the shoulders, I throw in my £200. He's kind of priced himself in and so he calls fairly quickly. The board comes something like 5 5 J 5 2 and with my villain showing no reaction I know he hasn't improved and I know my aces are good. He flips over 10 10 and I double-up swiftly.

The table is not particularly strong and I just chug along nicely. However, as the time approaches 1:30AM the effects of the earlier consumption of alcohol really starts to kick in and I feel shattered and I'm almost falling asleep. This is most definitely NOT the time to carry on playing. Apart from the AA hand, there are no other key hands to speak of and I take my leave with £407 in chips and a profit of £207. This makes a ~£240 profit on the night.

Once again, then, it's a visit to The Empire that makes it all come good. Even though I collected £70 at the cash game table at The Fox, it doesn't take a genius to work out that perhaps I should be spending far less time at The Fox, with their £1/£1 games along with their low buy-in MTTs, and much more at The Empire.

Today, it's my beloved $33, $5K ADDED MTT for gold+ members at PKR plus a very interesting 2-day main event for $35 which has a 30 minute clock! I think I'll be giving both of these a pop come this evening.