it's quiet around here

mainly because I've hit a spot where I'm just not that motivated right now to dig in and play all that seriously. I'm not real focused and am just splashing around, making a bunch of puddles.

Hell, I sort of paid attention to WBCOOP #3 today, but after the first break, I just decided to shut it down and blind out because I just did not feel like grinding for 5-6 hours to maybe earn a tournament ticket over $30. All props to Lightning36 for actually final tabling one of these things.

Because I finally managed to get rakeback on FTP (woot) I did get motivated to hit the Rush Poker tables. I did hang out at 50NL and 100NL for a while and went +6 buyins at one level and -6 buyins at the other. Naturally, I did this the reversed way - and lost coin :(

The bankroll challenge will be an EPIC FAIL. I will be happy if I break even by March and avoid paying out the $50 for a large field MTT final table. Of course I think I may have one deep MTT run in me before it all ends... If I can just not bust myself in the first 30 minutes of a tournament I usually do alright.

But for the moment, I'm just trying to balance work/life/everything else and not let any of the spinning plates hit the ground...

my brief experience with Rush Poker...

Saw all the posts today. Decided to try it out briefly.

I think it'll be a nitfest soon - once people realize hands come around so quickly, why would you play anything marginal, either in holdings or position- they'll just wait until you can hammer a monkey to get cheap double ups.

Case in point. I donk around for 20 minutes, spew here and there to people who will not fold one pair for shit when I miss every draw. Finally, I decide to change up my game completely.

I limp AA UTG+1, someone shoves 80BB with KQs, I snap call and hold. Suddenly I profit.

EZ Game. I don't think this crack poker will last too long. Everyone used to love the Royal Hold 'Em tables on Ultimate Bet for a couple of weeks too - until it was pretty obvious how to play the game.

It's fun, though.

Hundreds of players waiting to run KK into AA or bash sets into nut flush draws with overs on the flop.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

EDIT: two more hands for laughs, I need to stop now.

This just doesn't seem right to me, regardless of how profitable it is.

Limp AA UTG, one call, button raises 5BB, big blind threeballs to 20BB, I just shove for 150BB to be an asshole and get a call from KK/QQ - and all fold. :-(

UTG limps, I overlimp in EP with 33, button raises 4BB, big blind coldcalls, UTG calls, I come along to close the action, 16BB in the pot.
Flop 632r (DING!). Checks to me, I bet 2/3 pot, button minraises, I shove for 120BB more (and cover) - he calls off with TT and does not spike.

It's a shame this won't last. No way I could run +120BB/100 hands in the long run, no sir.

If nothing else, it's proof the games are still good despite all the troubles over the last 2-3 years.

I win sometimes. Sometimes not.

So let's see, when we last left our protagonist, he was trying to get a bunch of volume in while the wife and BabyGirlHeff were out of town for a few days.

Brags:

* Won a PokerSlut series event for the first time ever (7-game, 22 players, one of those nights where every decision is easy and you hit what you need to suck up all the chips)
* Ran good in a bunch of 27-man $22 NLHE SnGs on Stars, cash in 4 out of 4 with two wins for +450 or so.
* Made a decent deep MTT run - 17 of 228 in a $26 PLO8 tourney on FTP, get by 92% of the field for a mincash

Beats:

* Since I'm not counting Stars bankroll in the challenges, nothing I do there matters.
* It wouldn't matter anyway, I'm down on both FTP and Stars by the same amount, minus $250 or so since I started the challenge - after a nice first day, I basically had seven straight losing sessions...
*...because I cannot win a PLO8 SnG to save my life.

I've run over 60 or so during the challenge. I've won three times.

That's a tad below how I usually run - like 25% of historical norms.
ITM about 30% and that's off by about 6-7 bubbles from my normal cash baseline over the last year or so.

I keep getting a bunch of thirds, or just a huge run of 5th places. I run normal, I'd be slightly up for the last two weeks - which is nothing to write home about, but it's better than being in the red.

Actually, this is a long trend. I've basically been breaking even or a shade in the red since September. I had a graph that was steadily trending up for 800 games during 2009 - and the last 600 have looked like a slow, jaggy flatline without any wonderful spikes upward.

Since I'm going to be back to playing Daddy and cutting back this week, I should have the time to investigate this further and review some trends. I feel like I'm just not winning the crucial pots, or making the right reads in the big pots, but I'm playing fairly well overall - however, that could be my mind playing tricks on me, and I'm starting to spring some fundamental leaks that's keeping me from making bank.

I often do get into spots where I know the villain's too committed/stupid to fold but I bet into him anyway with a strong but not diesel hand because hey, you can't win by check/calling, right? This has worked pretty well in the past, by the way.

Or, this could be standard variance, and I just need to stay the course, let things play out, and eventually even out.

That's the thing about dis pokah: most of us never can run enough trials to truly discern the difference.

Me, I'll just be spending the rest of the month trying to stay in the black.

quick challenge update.

Bleh. up for the month, but down about -140 in the challenge.

Basically, when you run 4/16 in SnGs, you dig a small hole. I hope to fill it soon.

Mookie was uneventful.

Go-and-go from the blinds with AKo into an UTG raiser on a Qxx rainbow flop, run into QQ that quads up on the turn.

Pot stick myself with QJ by leading a JTx flop in a four-way limped pot from the blinds, call a minraise shove allin, see JT, but Q on the river whee!

Ninja for 30 minutes, open shove 66 five handed into AK and JJ sitting in the blinds, I don't spike. 10 of 18. Boo.

Wife and BabyGirlHeff will head out of town tomorrow for a few days... If I can, I'll get some volume in, try to make an actual deep MTT run and not let everyone else PWN me in this challenge..

I haz a plan, maybe

Ok, so the Challenge begins for me - with an extra side bet sweetener that I hopefully only need to pay off once.

With BabyGirlHeff getting a little more ornery at night as she hits three months old - I probably will stick to sit-n-gos, maybe get an occasional MTT in (Jenn's taking her home to Mississippi for a few days later this month, opportunity is knocking) - but I will not be putting in heavy volume for this.

I just like the idea of some type of external motivation, no matter how small or big, to get yourself going.

Yeah, the WBCOOP badge is on the sidebar, I'm a ho' for a freeroll. Shoot me.

Work schedule changed with the new year too, meaning I'm off Fridays - but working Sundays. So who knows what that means moving forward.

challenging

When I'm playing Omaha, I'm crushing the game.
When I'm playing Hold 'Em, I can't buy a pot.

And so goes 2010 so far.

Going to try this for the next couple of months just to see what happens.

One of the things I'm starting to notice: I'm getting really good with a 15-20BB stack in a standard SnG situation - to the detriment of everything else in my game. My play on the turn and river, my ability to four and five-bet as needed - I'm hardly doing this at all because stack sizes demand getting it in the middle preflop or on the flop.

I play NLHE far too nitty passive, and I play so wide open silly in PLO8 it's not even funny.

Must adjust things just a bit.

recipe for arrgh

Waste almost four hours on a $8.80 PLO8 tourney.
Bubble three other SnGs while cruising along in said tourney.
Get to a top five stack with three tables left.
Run (A4)J7 from the button into a short stack's AAQ3.
Two hands later, run (AT)43 into (A2)A5 and bounce in 24th.

Vow to quit playing low buyin PLO8 tourneys.

first tilt of the year, we haz a winner.

Of course he has me beat on the flop. I like gambool.
Villain is known to me - grinds $20 SnGs like a gold miner for minimal profit with tilt issues - so yeah, I kind of did it on purpose.

Dealer: You have been dealt [Qc Qs Kc As]
Dealer: roland3s folds
Dealer: SFois folds
Dealer: gmant584 folds
Dealer: PimpDaddyDolla folds
Dealer: heffmike raises to 120
Dealer: XbrewmasterX calls 120
Dealer: bugzynono folds
Dealer: fabcunha folds
Dealer: RowB folds
Dealer: The flop is [Td 7s 4c]
Dealer: heffmike bets 200
Dealer: XbrewmasterX raises to 900
Dealer: heffmike raises to 1,290, and is all in
Dealer: XbrewmasterX calls 150, and is all in
Dealer: heffmike shows [Qc Qs Kc As]
Dealer: XbrewmasterX shows [3d Ad Ts 7d]
Dealer: Uncalled bet of 240 returned to heffmike
Dealer: The turn is [Ac]
Dealer: The river is [Kd]
Dealer: heffmike shows two pair, Aces and Kings, for high
Dealer: XbrewmasterX shows two pair, Aces and Tens, for high
Dealer: heffmike wins the pot (2,400) with two pair, Aces and Kings
Dealer: XbrewmasterX stands up
Dealer: XbrewmasterX finishes in 9th place

XbrewmasterX (Observer): o,mg
XbrewmasterX (Observer): wwTFFFFFFFFFFFF

heffmike: i like playing bad and getting there. gg

XbrewmasterX (Observer): f u

heffmike: you're so awesome to tilt, too.

XbrewmasterX (Observer): y does this siote pays f'n morons

heffmike: just people that can type correctly

XbrewmasterX (Observer): shut the f up u homo
XbrewmasterX (Observer): can u read taht

heffmike: those that can't spell get the shaft

XbrewmasterX (Observer): f u homo
XbrewmasterX (Observer): ur f'n terible
XbrewmasterX (Observer): talking &&%% cause u won with a &%!!ty f'n hand

heffmike: just go grind away, little man. pls.

XbrewmasterX (Observer): how bout u go f urself