Bankroll takes a hit!

Okay...so, finally, the much anticipated bad luck streak has come. After taking my bankroll from $200 to almost $3,000, I'm back down to about $1,250. That's about an $1,800 swing to the downside!!! Of course, the money was all winnings, BUT it's definitely still very hard to swallow! I've stepped away from playing $5/$10 limit for the moment until I can get my bankroll back up to at least $1,500. I need to "test the waters" before I head back in. UltimateBet has been treating me well, but man when these losing streaks come, they absolutely stink!

Let me give you an example of my current "luck"...errr...bad luck. I'm in middle position with JKs in a 6-handed $5/$10 game. I raise it to $10 after everyone before me folds. The button and SB call. The flop is J 9 2 rainbow. The SB bets out with 97o, middle pair. I call, the button calls as well. The next card is a 7, giving the BB two pairs. He bets, I raise, the button folds, the SB reraises with two pair. I call him down and he shows two pairs. That's probably not one of my worst bad beats, but it's just my typical hand right now....flop top pair, only to get beaten by a set or two pair. It's happened way too often within the past week to be merely a coincidence.

This recent run of bad luck has reaffirmed my position on the software that these poker room's use. If I could only get my hands on the code to prove it....

Anyhow, I can't complain. Playing online poker has helped me pay off my car in less than a year! Not bad for a part time player. By the way, my hours spent on the tables this month has exceeded 200....that's more hours than I work at my real job, every month! Uhh...maybe I'm not really part-time...maybe I've got 2 full time jobs??

Tips of the week:
1) When you are on a bad streak, don't be ashamed to go down to a lower limit to "weather the storm". Not doing so could be one of the worst mistakes a poker player could make.
2) Make a mental note of the hands that you play that you don't make money very often on. For instance, 77 in early position is a bad bad hand, unless there is an early position limper or two. Even if you have a good flop, 2 5 6, for example, the chances of two overcards beating you on the river is about 3 to 1 Even with a favorable flop, the odds of you winning this hand is just not that great, so it's better to stay out of it.

American Poker Championship

Anybody else catch the American Poker Championship two nights ago?  The first ever live poker event on TV.  Okay, so it was delayed 5 minutes, but that's close enough right?  I thought it was great.  To see John Juanda and Phil Ivey battle it out on live television...Woo Ahh (Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman reference).  Did you know that they had odds on the final table at Bodog.com?  Phil Ivey was going at 5/1 and Juanda at 2/1.  Guess who was going to bet on Ivey to win the thing?  And guess who missed the deadline by a minute to place the wager?  I'm an idiot.  You know what they say though...."hindsight is 20/20".

 

Anyways, back to poker.  So, after trying unsuccessfully to play on UltimateBet.com (their servers were screwed up again), I put some money into PartyPoker.com .  $200 to be exact.  Playing a one table $5/$10 game, I dropped my bankroll all the way down to about $30.  Mostly my own fault because I tried one too many failed bluff attempts.  Dumb idea considering the whole table was a calling station.  Note to self: NEVER BLUFF ON A TABLE WITH CALLING STATIONS!  Fortunately, the super run of cards that I expected to come, did indeed come.  I ended the night at $276 at PartyPoker.com .  I tell you though, no other interface out there beats UltimateBet.  The play is about 5 times faster on UB than any other site out there.  I didn't actually notice it that much until I played at PP last night.  Oh well, if only their servers were reliable...they'd be the ultimate gaming site.  Around 10:30pm EST, I was finally able to get onto UB.  My bankroll is now up to $1750.  I'm at 41,000 ultimate points.  Another 35,000 points and I get that free Trek bike....WOO AHH.

 

Here are some more tips that I've learned:

1) Small pairs (4s and lower) are hardly ever worth playing because they're almost always a gamble, of course unless you flop the set (7.5 to 1).  So, only play small pairs if there are more than 6 players in the pot or if you are in the BB in a raised 3 player pot.

2) Check raise on the flop with three small cards when heads-up to a middle position pre-flop raiser, then bet again on the turn.  Fold on the turn to a reraise.

3) Bet into position raisers when you have the high pair with a flush draw on the board.

 

That's it for now.  I'm outtie...gotta get myself back to work.

Gambler's Anonymous Phone Number Please

I stayed up till 5am on Saturday night playing some short handed $5/$10 and $3/$6 tables. Anybody else think that I need the number to Gambler's Anonymous? Okay...so, at least I ended the weekend on a positive note. Now, my bankroll is back up to $1250 after going down to as low as $200.

I've given some serious thought to the behind the scenes online poker world. Why is it that I go on these streaks every once in a while where I can't lose and then BOOM, I hit a serious losing streak, even if my playing style stays the same? I'll hit my trips on the flop, make my nut straight after a semi-bluff, catch two pair on the river, etc. then all of the sudden, I'll get beat every hand with someone playing garbage and catching me on the river. I'm sure it's happened to all of us at one point. Well, in all honestly I believe that poker rooms have the ability to change your win percentage based on a number of factors. I'm not going to get into the details, but I think it's just too much of a coincidence for it not to be real. Who's complaining though, I'm up 5 figures since July 19, 2003.

$5,000 in the bank...

UltimateBet.com has done marvels for me. It's become my second source of income. I don't know when these runs come, but when they do...boy are they sweet! So, yeah, I cashed out $5,000 bucks at UltimateBet.com this past weekend. I started playing several tables of short handed $3-$6 limit hold 'em games. After I built my bankroll up to about $2,000, I switched over to $5-$10. After I got to $4,000, I switched to $10-$20 and ended the July 4th weekend at $6,015. I played sooooo much poker that I totally forgot about the fireworks. Who cares right? Fireworks, smireworks. Seen 'em once, seen em ten thousand times. I've been told that I take living so close to DC for granted. "You should get out more to see all the monuments and all the beauty that DC has to offer." Screw you...I won $5,000. Who cares about the monuments. I can buy the monuments with the $5,000 that I cashed out with. Okay, maybe not, but at least I can buy a used car to drive to the monuments....of course, on my way to a live action poker game.

Enough with the babbling about my huge win. Let's get into some details about my new strategies. By the way, I highly recommend reading "Hold'em Poker: For Advanced Players" by David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth. I finally finished reading this statistics filled book after 5 months of word for word page scanning. It's detailed, it's tough to comprehend, but damn was it well worth the $19.95 I paid for it. It's increased my profits 20 fold. Now, a quick summary of what I learned:

1) Fold AJ and smaller in the small blind when there's an early raise with less than 4 people in the pot. It's not worth it.

2) Don't play too many hands under the gun. Small pairs are useless under the gun..don't even limp in with them.

3) If everyone folds to you on the button, raise with any Ace or two suited cards, unless one of them is a 2,3,4. Fold otherwise.

4) Flush draws make loot in a multiway pot (4 or more). Play them aggressively, especially with an overcard. Check-raise often.

5) If you have a big pair with a high kicker and there's an early bettor, call him and wait for the turn to raise. You make money when fools call with a draw on the big bet.

Enough strategy for today. More to come tomorrow.

Boogster