When I started playing I started out on Yahoo poker for play money. That is a good site to start out at if you haven't played before.
What's interesting is that Yahoo is now offering a real money site. This could be big news if mainstream Internet start to promote poker. Hopefully large numbers of bad players will start playing for real money and MSN and Google will match Yahoo with competing poker sites. Maybe the Frith thing will be like the scopes monkey trial. A last symbolic victory of a spent force.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Short heads up battle
This is new for me. Heads up lasted for only one hand where we both had an OK stack going in. I managed to win a two table $6.50 turbo sit n' go tournament thanks to a suckout. I've said before I've never won or gone deep in a tournament without getting lucky along the way. This was the one and only hand of heads up.
PokerStars Game #9641303193: Tournament #48930013, $6.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level XI (600/1200) - 2007/04/27 - 22:29:52 (ET)
Table '48930013 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 5: halpgr (15705 in chips)
Seat 9: Ed McLevin (11295 in chips)
halpgr: posts the ante 75
Ed McLevin: posts the ante 75
Ed McLevin: posts small blind 600
halpgr: posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to halpgr [Qh Ac]
Ed McLevin: calls 600
halpgr: raises 2400 to 3600
Ed McLevin: raises 2400 to 6000
halpgr: raises 9630 to 15630 and is all-in
Ed McLevin: calls 5220 and is all-in
halpgr said, "nh"
*** FLOP *** [9c Ad 6h]
Ed McLevin said, "lol"
*** TURN *** [9c Ad 6h] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [9c Ad 6h 2s] [6d]
halpgr said, "su kout"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
halpgr: shows [Qh Ac] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
Ed McLevin: shows [Kd Kc] (two pair, Kings and Sixes)
Ed McLevin said, "gg"
halpgr collected 22590 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 22590 | Rake 0
Board [9c Ad 6h 2s 6d]
Seat 5: halpgr (big blind) showed [Qh Ac] and won (22590) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
Seat 9: Ed McLevin (button) (small blind) showed [Kd Kc] and lost with two pair, Kings and Sixes
PokerStars Game #9641303193: Tournament #48930013, $6.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level XI (600/1200) - 2007/04/27 - 22:29:52 (ET)
Table '48930013 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 5: halpgr (15705 in chips)
Seat 9: Ed McLevin (11295 in chips)
halpgr: posts the ante 75
Ed McLevin: posts the ante 75
Ed McLevin: posts small blind 600
halpgr: posts big blind 1200
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to halpgr [Qh Ac]
Ed McLevin: calls 600
halpgr: raises 2400 to 3600
Ed McLevin: raises 2400 to 6000
halpgr: raises 9630 to 15630 and is all-in
Ed McLevin: calls 5220 and is all-in
halpgr said, "nh"
*** FLOP *** [9c Ad 6h]
Ed McLevin said, "lol"
*** TURN *** [9c Ad 6h] [2s]
*** RIVER *** [9c Ad 6h 2s] [6d]
halpgr said, "su kout"
*** SHOW DOWN ***
halpgr: shows [Qh Ac] (two pair, Aces and Sixes)
Ed McLevin: shows [Kd Kc] (two pair, Kings and Sixes)
Ed McLevin said, "gg"
halpgr collected 22590 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 22590 | Rake 0
Board [9c Ad 6h 2s 6d]
Seat 5: halpgr (big blind) showed [Qh Ac] and won (22590) with two pair, Aces and Sixes
Seat 9: Ed McLevin (button) (small blind) showed [Kd Kc] and lost with two pair, Kings and Sixes
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Moving up, no limit cash
Well it's been a cycle of moving up. I've decided to move up in the no limit cash game. I'm going to try moving from the $2 NL to $5 NL level.
I had a slow start at $2 NL, dropping 3 buyins quickly. The slow start was caused by a mix of bad luck and some bad play by me. Since then I recovered and made some adjustments. I tightened up a bit preflop and found some more folds postflop (still a work in progress). My good hands started holding up better and I erased the initial defecit and now I'm up $6 or 3 buyins. My win rate was around 20 ptBB/100 hands over a small sample size.
As you'd expect the play is bad at $2 NL, really bad. People are calling preflop raises and 3bets with any two cards. Postflop people are remarkably willing to stack off with overpair, top pair, weak two pair, gutshot straight draw and flush draw. The level is pretty beatable but there's variance due to people calling down so much to stay in hands.
So on to $5 NL. That will be my new NL cash game home. I hope I can be successful there and slowly build up a somewhat respectable NL cash game. If not then I'll have to quit NL cash or just play $5 NL occasionally. I'm not going back to $2 NL. The play is just too bad there.
I had a slow start at $2 NL, dropping 3 buyins quickly. The slow start was caused by a mix of bad luck and some bad play by me. Since then I recovered and made some adjustments. I tightened up a bit preflop and found some more folds postflop (still a work in progress). My good hands started holding up better and I erased the initial defecit and now I'm up $6 or 3 buyins. My win rate was around 20 ptBB/100 hands over a small sample size.
As you'd expect the play is bad at $2 NL, really bad. People are calling preflop raises and 3bets with any two cards. Postflop people are remarkably willing to stack off with overpair, top pair, weak two pair, gutshot straight draw and flush draw. The level is pretty beatable but there's variance due to people calling down so much to stay in hands.
So on to $5 NL. That will be my new NL cash game home. I hope I can be successful there and slowly build up a somewhat respectable NL cash game. If not then I'll have to quit NL cash or just play $5 NL occasionally. I'm not going back to $2 NL. The play is just too bad there.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Moving up, limit cash
I've decided to take a shot at low stakes limit hold'em. I'm going to mix in some $0.50/$1.00 with $0.25/$0.50.
I've run well at $0.25/$0.50, making 150 BB so far with a healthy win rate of around 8 BB/100. Thanks to some sit n' go contributions my bankroll is enough to take a 100BB shot at the next level. The sample size is too small to be conclusive, but I'm confident I'm beating $0.25/$0.50 if only because there are so many bad players there donating.
So far in limit I've moved through the micro stakes levels with a good win rate at each level. Of course people don't just keep moving up. If that was the case everyone would be playing $100/$200. Poker has an efficient Peter Principle. Once you reach the level of your incompetence you either go bust or have to move down. In general I believe that moving up each level is progressively tougher, there are fewer players at each level up, and fewer players at a given level will be able to reach the next level higher.
Pretty much everyone hits the wall somewhere. Over on 2+2 in the micro stakes limit forum, people report hitting the wall at different levels including $0.50/$1.00, $1/$2, $2/$4, $5/$10. So who knows how it will go. I hope I can stick at the next level because I like the sound of calling myself a low stakes player. The term small stakes player is also pleasing.
In the past when I moved up I made a clean break from the previous level. That was possible because there were always good tables available to play at in the new level. I don't think that will be possible at $0.50/$1.00. There seem to be fewer good tables at that level, and there is often a substantial waiting list. I do resolve to continue to be disciplined about table and seat selection, looking for high flop percentages, known fish, and position on the bad players. If it's not there then no play. I'm not going to lower my game selection standards so that I can get into a game.
So like many, I'll play a mix of levels looking for profitable tables. I'll use a progression. Start by looking for a good $0.50/$1.00 table. If nothing good then look for a good $0.25/$0.50 game. If still nothing then do a sit n' go or play NL cash or take a 5 minute break and look again. So I guess I can say I play $0.25/$0.50 and $0.50/$1.00.
I don't mind sticking around some more at $0.25/$0.50. That is an enjoyable and profitable level. There are a remarkable number of fish there. Plus a modest 10BB pot is a cool $5, which is always nice to win. I was able to drag a couple of $10 pots at $0.25/$0.50. I came close but just missed a couple of $15 pots. One time I had queens in a 5 way capped preflop. I flopped top set and the 2 suit flop was capped 3 way. Unfortunately villian who had called a capped preflop with KT hit his straight on the turn to win. I wasn't able to boat up on the river. That's OK, if people want to call a capped preflop with KT then that's profitable for me long term. At $0.50/$1.00 with the higher stakes I hope I can take my first $15 pot, and hopefully a $20 pot too.
I've run well at $0.25/$0.50, making 150 BB so far with a healthy win rate of around 8 BB/100. Thanks to some sit n' go contributions my bankroll is enough to take a 100BB shot at the next level. The sample size is too small to be conclusive, but I'm confident I'm beating $0.25/$0.50 if only because there are so many bad players there donating.
So far in limit I've moved through the micro stakes levels with a good win rate at each level. Of course people don't just keep moving up. If that was the case everyone would be playing $100/$200. Poker has an efficient Peter Principle. Once you reach the level of your incompetence you either go bust or have to move down. In general I believe that moving up each level is progressively tougher, there are fewer players at each level up, and fewer players at a given level will be able to reach the next level higher.
Pretty much everyone hits the wall somewhere. Over on 2+2 in the micro stakes limit forum, people report hitting the wall at different levels including $0.50/$1.00, $1/$2, $2/$4, $5/$10. So who knows how it will go. I hope I can stick at the next level because I like the sound of calling myself a low stakes player. The term small stakes player is also pleasing.
In the past when I moved up I made a clean break from the previous level. That was possible because there were always good tables available to play at in the new level. I don't think that will be possible at $0.50/$1.00. There seem to be fewer good tables at that level, and there is often a substantial waiting list. I do resolve to continue to be disciplined about table and seat selection, looking for high flop percentages, known fish, and position on the bad players. If it's not there then no play. I'm not going to lower my game selection standards so that I can get into a game.
So like many, I'll play a mix of levels looking for profitable tables. I'll use a progression. Start by looking for a good $0.50/$1.00 table. If nothing good then look for a good $0.25/$0.50 game. If still nothing then do a sit n' go or play NL cash or take a 5 minute break and look again. So I guess I can say I play $0.25/$0.50 and $0.50/$1.00.
I don't mind sticking around some more at $0.25/$0.50. That is an enjoyable and profitable level. There are a remarkable number of fish there. Plus a modest 10BB pot is a cool $5, which is always nice to win. I was able to drag a couple of $10 pots at $0.25/$0.50. I came close but just missed a couple of $15 pots. One time I had queens in a 5 way capped preflop. I flopped top set and the 2 suit flop was capped 3 way. Unfortunately villian who had called a capped preflop with KT hit his straight on the turn to win. I wasn't able to boat up on the river. That's OK, if people want to call a capped preflop with KT then that's profitable for me long term. At $0.50/$1.00 with the higher stakes I hope I can take my first $15 pot, and hopefully a $20 pot too.
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