Back at the (online) tables!

[Rossco]

Played again tonight for the first time in a good few months! It was really quite enjoyable, get some munchies ready, some good music on and be prepared to sit there for a few hours of patience.

Sat at a 5p/10p table with a fiver and finished with £16 after two hours or something, which was good for my first game in a while. Gonna keep playing low limits for a while to get my game back then move up again. Made alot of money last summer playing every day since I was off uni so hope to do the same again now and build a healthy bank roll up by the time uni starts again. Probably try and devote at least two hours a day to this now.

Hows everyone else's game going?

[rjpageuk]

So how is it going now Rossco?

Things have been going ok for me, I am managing to maintain a ~3-4ptBB/100 win rate at 25NL on Full Tilt.

Sometimes I wish I wasnt so weak though:

Full Tilt Poker Game #7147698367: Table Britz (6 max) - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 5:49:01 ET - 2008/07/09

Seat 1: United States A ($44.95)

Seat 2: Megabollen ($10)

Seat 3: taddavies ($24.55)

Seat 4: rjpageuk ($25)

Seat 5: lounie ($25)

Seat 6: Dollar84 ($25.80)

Megabollen posts the small blind of $0.10

taddavies posts the big blind of $0.25

The button is in seat #1

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to rjpageuk [Ah Ad]

rjpageuk raises to $0.85

lounie folds

Dollar84 folds

United States A calls $0.85

Megabollen has 15 seconds left to act

Megabollen calls $0.75

taddavies calls $0.60

*** FLOP *** [3s Th 4c]

Megabollen checks

taddavies has 15 seconds left to act

taddavies checks

rjpageuk bets $2.50

United States A raises to $7

Megabollen folds

taddavies has 15 seconds left to act

taddavies raises to $23.70, and is all in

rjpageuk adds $3.35

rjpageuk folds

United States A calls $16.70

taddavies shows [As Td]

United States A shows [Tc Kc]

*** TURN *** [3s Th 4c] [8c]

*** RIVER *** [3s Th 4c 8c] [6s]

taddavies shows a pair of Tens

United States A shows a pair of Tens

taddavies wins the pot ($50.65) with a pair of Tens

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot $53.30 | Rake $2.65

Board: [3s Th 4c 8c 6s]

Seat 1: United States A (button) showed [Tc Kc] and lost with a pair of Tens

Seat 2: Megabollen (small blind) folded on the Flop

Seat 3: taddavies (big blind) showed [As Td] and won ($50.65) with a pair of Tens

Seat 4: rjpageuk folded on the Flop

Seat 5: lounie didn't bet (folded)

Seat 6: Dollar84 didn't bet (folded)

Is anyone else folding aces here or are my aces vs sets previous encounters just clouding my vision? I just couldnt see how one of them didnt have a set. I know there are a lot of donks at this level but I have never seen anything like that.

[Billy Brown]

With no other information on the players, I'm probably folding the Aces too. I am also, however, making notes on both players and chasing them around the tables as often as possible.

[rjpageuk]

With no other information on the players, I'm probably folding the Aces too. I am also, however, making notes on both players and chasing them around the tables as often as possible.

This is what I have done, and thanks for the sanity check!

[Poet]

I've restarted. I continue to run like arse. AA all in vs KK. YAY! A35 flop. Yay! Turn 2, river 4. Split. QQ all in versus retard. He has TT. Yay! Flop T86. 44 on 742 all spade flop. All in. He calls my all in bet with 99 NO SPADE. wtf eh?! ahahaha 2 outs you dumb cunt. Turn blank. River 9. Yay. 91% to win is for losers anyway. All happened yesterday in the space of a couple of hours and just three of the shockers.

But you know what REALLY topped it off last night? I had AA in the BB on one of the 9 tables I was playing, and two people had raised before me. And then the poker software froze up (not PT but the actual software), and only came back up for me to see that I would have won over 2 stacks with that one hand, but that I had been frozen out of the hand thanks to being "disconnected". Amazing. Honestly, the first time it looked like I was about to win big since I came back from Glastonbury, and the only time my software froze up.

What. The. CUNT.

I've given up chatting about this stuff or I'd spend more time talking about the bad beats than playing. Suffice to say this: I have never, in hundreds of thousands of hands, run anywhere near as bad over the same length of time as I have in the last month. Not even close. The fact that I'm still earning money at this bullshit tiddlywink level is mainly thanks to rakeback, and the fact I'm playing pretty damn spectacularly good poker. Just so happens that when I put my money in as an 81% favourite or better and win only about half of these hands, or push all in with sets and have people calling without the price to, as they do so often, and have them hitting significantly more often than they should over a substantial sample size, you simply cannot win any reasonable amount of money. It's got to the stage where, for the first time in my life, I'm genuinely thinking of leaving a poker site owing to the absolutely shocking run I've been having, as the rakeback simply does not make up for the ridiculous "random" card generators they appear to use. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's now tens of thousands of hands. And I've STUDIED my hand histories and play hard, wondering if I've simply lost my ability to play. Somehow. I haven't.

If I was running standard I'd have been crushing and back up to 200NL by now. The standard of opponents continues to be a joke. And for that small mercy, I am grateful.

[Poet]

I know there are a lot of donks at this level but I have never seen anything like that.

How is that possible? I see retards like this every single day. They're usually the guys who call my all ins with the likes of 99 (as above) and spike their 2 outers though.

Anyway, fuck it. Thankfully I don't need to make several thousand per month from poker at the moment, so I'm just riding it out. If my luck doesn't change by the end of the month though, I'm moving back to Party.

[rjpageuk]

How is that possible? I see retards like this every single day. They're usually the guys who call my all ins with the likes of 99 (as above) and spike their 2 outers though.

I am really not sure, I have said to you before in the bad beat thread I dont know where you find all the maniac donks.

Most of the players I have seen at 25NL Stars or Full Tilt are poor passive players rather than maniac donks who shove their stacks in with nothing.

I see far more check/calling slowplaying three streets with flopped set or two pair (or even low pocket pairs) on flush draw board kind of donkish play than silly over aggressive stuff.

EDIT: Sorry to hear you are still running bad, poker does make you re-evaluate the concept of variance and coming from a mathematical background I never thought I would have to do that.

[Poet]

I am really not sure, I have said to you before in the bad beat thread I dont know where you find all the maniac donks.

Most of the players I have seen at 25NL Stars or Full Tilt are poor passive players rather than maniac donks who shove their stacks in with nothing.

I see far more check/calling slowplaying three streets with flopped set or two pair (or even low pocket pairs) on flush draw board kind of donkish play than silly over aggressive stuff.

EDIT: Sorry to hear you are still running bad, poker does make you re-evaluate the concept of variance and coming from a mathematical background I never thought I would have to do that.

The funny thing is, you look at the stats of a lot of these players and they don't look that awful. Like that 99 guy there... but other than their "reasonable" stats they can't play poker and they lapse into absolutely fucking horrific play more often than not. I'd love to think it was owing to my incredibly laggy style, but I keep to about 21/15/2.5 at 50NL. That's pretty TAG for 6 Max really. I think these guys just think they're making "great" calls versus me when actually they're simply hemorrhaging money like it's going out of fashion. And hence why they've given me many tens of thousands of pounds over the last couple of years. Oh well. Thank you shitty poker players. Even when I hate you I can't help but love you. Idiots.

And as for your edit: seriously, I never thought it was possible to run like this over this length of time and used to think the guys in BBV on the 2+2 forums complaining about their horrific runs must have had some major leaks. I've changed my mind since experiencing it first hand. Now, I'm not ever going to suggest I play perfect poker but I do play winning poker, certainly up to 200NL. I'd like to get back up there!

[Poet]

I see far more check/calling slowplaying three streets with flopped set or two pair (or even low pocket pairs) on flush draw board kind of donkish play than silly over aggressive stuff.

Oh yeah I get this to. Checking the nuts on the river is a speciality. Really maximises value.

[rjpageuk]

I'd love to think it was owing to my incredibly laggy style, but I keep to about 21/15/2.5 at 50NL. That's pretty TAG for 6 Max really.

I actually play slightly looser than that nowadays, I am at about 25/20 with attention to steal of around 35%. Maybe I should be tightening up.

In fact just this afternoon had a run of shockers like you (AA vs KK all in preflop river K, 75s vs JJ all in on 554 board, turn J and those were my two biggest pots) so I really need to stop talking to you. I think you are infecting me.

[Poet]

I actually play slightly looser than that nowadays, I am at about 25/20 with attention to steal of around 35%. Maybe I should be tightening up.

In fact just this afternoon had a run of shockers like you (AA vs KK all in preflop river K, 75s vs JJ all in on 554 board, turn J and those were my two biggest pots) so I really need to stop talking to you. I think you are infecting me.

Ha!

I like those stats. I really quite enjoy opening up my game but at 50NL I see little value compared to keeping yourself strict, punishing the weak and generally (though not always!) playing a rather ABC game. Mind you, my ATS is usually around 30-35% - position is king! - and even when I open up my game I'm only at about 24/18.5. I have experimented with playing around 30/22 but, being honest, it's not a very good way to make money when you're playing 8-9 tables. Fun though when you're playing well!

[Rossco]

Uch I was going nicely and had slowly built up to about £50 for my original fiver just playing 5/10p tables for a few days and then bottomed out with some seriously unlucky draws just like Poet has been describing above so didn't bother putting more money in.

I can't seem to play this online properly anymore. I have no patience for it on the internet now. Went to a home game though the other night and won £50 though, played 6 hands the whole night and won 5 of them to win the whole game.

Only hand I lost was when someone went all in on flush draw for some reason after flop and hit runner runner diamond to beat me!

[rjpageuk]

Dealing with the emotional aspect is by far the hardest part about playing poker online.

[Rossco]

Yeah. It's strange though as I used to be great at playing online and really had the patience to wait for the good cards but can't do it anymore.

Where as at a real table, I don't mind it as I can study all the other players more and just talk away anyway and enjoy it.