The past few days.

I've been playing a good amount this week. It's still a tough time juggling time for studying and time for playing. I get in my sessions here and there as much as I can. I've started keeping better records lately and it's really helping me to see the overall picture of my play and how I am doing. I can also point out key factors in the stats that help me to determine why I had a good or bad and winning or losing session.

I started playing the $.10/.25 6-max CAP NL tables on FTP this week and let me tell you, they are gold. I've had some really good sessions here and only 2 significant losing sessions. My two biggest losing sessions occurred when I had some really bad luck in 3-4 big hands that changed the outcome of my net gain by a lot. In the end though, I am definitely happen with the decisions I am making and how I am playing on these tables. They are full of some terrible players and it should help for me to build really well in the next few weeks and months. I started really keeping hardcore records on Sunday and I think I'll be doing a weekly post about how I did during the week. Full of some stats, charts, and graphs for everyone to enjoy. This will be cash game play only as during the week I am sticking to cash games. I'll do a weekend post Sunday night when I am done with the weekend of MTTs and SNGs. Stay tuned for those, I'll be getting this past week's stuff up tomorrow.

Here are some hands that I thought were interesting. The first hand was from a 6-max $.10/.25 NL table, with no cap.

Seat 1: birdboot ($48.20)
Seat 2: MidgetB ($25.90)
Seat 3: TheNarts ($24.15)
Seat 4: pkt_diamonds ($26.60)
Seat 5: donpeters ($22.50)
Seat 6: Kstuff681 ($23.55)
MidgetB posts the small blind of $0.10
TheNarts posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to donpeters [Th 9h]
pkt_diamonds folds
donpeters raises to $0.75 {I had a good image at the table and was opening my range when it was folded to me PF.}
Kstuff681 folds
birdboot calls $0.75
MidgetB folds
TheNarts folds
*** FLOP *** [7s 2h 4d]
donpeters bets $1.50 {Standard continuation bet. Board was low and didn't seem like anything that he would have hit.}
birdboot raises to $3 {This bet happened pretty quickly and there were two hands a few rotations back where I had CB the flop and the same guy min-raised me and I folded both times. I really felt he was doing the same again.}
donpeters has 15 seconds left to act
donpeters raises to $8
birdboot has 15 seconds left to act {No insta call or shove is good!}
birdboot has requested TIME
birdboot folds
Uncalled bet of $5 returned to donpeters
donpeters mucks
donpeters wins the pot ($7.50)

This was a key hand in that it showed this player that I will use force back at him. For the remainder of the session, there was not one time where he came over the top of me for a min-raise and I pretty sure he stayed somewhat clear of me except for one or two hands in the next couple hours. This is also a good example of what paying attention to your opponent's tendencies. Twice before the same situation occurred ad I deferred away from it, but this time I was almost positive this play and those previous plays were seen as a bluff because he thought each time I was just on a CB. On this hand, I did put him on air and just a bluff. I thought about just calling and CR'ing the turn to get some more money out of him. But I had no hand myself and would rather take it down right here. Against a more sophisticated opponent, I'd be more apt to make that type of play.

Seat 2: sr voj-tek ($18.05)
Seat 3: empty_syzygy ($25.75)
Seat 4: pkt_diamonds ($35.85)
Seat 5: donpeters ($15.65)
Seat 6: ssuuper6 ($10)
donpeters posts the small blind of $0.10
ssuuper6 posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to donpeters [Js Jd]
sr voj-tek folds
empty_syzygy folds
pkt_diamonds folds
donpeters raises to $0.75
ssuuper6 calls $0.50 {Good, a nut can come along for the ride. He had been sending money all around the table except to me.}
*** FLOP *** [8c Ts Tc]
donpeters bets $1
ssuuper6 calls $1
*** TURN *** [8c Ts Tc] [9h]
donpeters bets $3
ssuuper6 raises to $8.25, and is all in {I wasn't too worried here and I put him on a hand like J9, 89, 78, 79, 2 clubs with a J. I was pretty sure he wouldn't make this play with a 10 or a made straight, he slowplayed all those hands and generally checked them on the river, too.}
donpeters calls $5.25
ssuuper6 shows [Qh 9d]
donpeters shows [Js Jd]
*** RIVER *** [8c Ts Tc 9h] [Qd]
ssuuper6 shows two pair, Queens and Tens
donpeters shows a straight, Queen high
donpeters wins the pot ($19) with a straight, Queen high
ssuuper6 is sitting out

Seat 1: EFritz ($44.90)
Seat 2: ChampagneAces ($36.35)
Seat 3: pgold999 ($34)
Seat 4: Symba 308 ($13.95)
Seat 5: rubbshouse ($48.75)
Seat 6: TremelR ($6.65), is sitting out
EFritz posts the small blind of $0.10
ChampagneAces posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to ChampagneAces [Ac 5s]
pgold999 folds
rubbshouse stands up
Symba 308 calls $0.25
rubbshouse folds
EFritz calls $0.15
ChampagneAces checks
*** FLOP *** [Jd 5d Ad]
EFritz checks
ChampagneAces bets $0.75
Symba 308 raises to $3
EFritz folds
ChampagneAces has 15 seconds left to act
ChampagneAces has requested TIME
MadSwan sits down
MadSwan adds $15
ChampagneAces calls $2.25
*** TURN *** [Jd 5d Ad] [6s]
ChampagneAces has 15 seconds left to act
ChampagneAces has requested TIME
ChampagneAces bets $4.25, and is capped
Symba 308 has 15 seconds left to act
Symba 308: trying to play me burt I am in anyway
Symba 308 calls $4.25, and is capped
ChampagneAces shows [Ac 5s]
Symba 308 shows [8d 7d]
*** RIVER *** [Jd 5d Ad 6s] [Jc]
ChampagneAces shows two pair, Aces and Jacks
Symba 308 shows a flush, Ace high
Symba 308 wins the pot ($14.50) with a flush, Ace high

This hand didn't work out. I think I might have played it too aggressively and I definitely should have slowed down. I'm either WA/WB here and I just went into hyper-aggressive mode and bet it all the way. I did almost get him to fold though, which is a good thing, but now that I think about it, he's not going to get away from this hand. Aggression is good and works very well especially in short handed games, but sometimes the
texture of the board will require you to slow down in a hand. I thought about slowing down here, but put him on a hand like an Axd with just top pair and a diamond draw. Even then, I'm not a huge favorite. Although I do have boat redraws, I'd rather be jamming here with a set and chasing a boat rather than 2 pair. This was a mistake that I think was due to the fact that I was playing so aggressively at the table, I just kept it up in this hand. You have to know when to slow it down, and well, I didn't and got a nice whack for doing so.

I've been staking a friend lately online and well, he had a disgusting run yesterday, doubling the money I staked him with. I believe he played 6-7 $2+.25 18-man SNGs and at one point, he took down 3 in a row, followed by a second place finish and a third place finish. He knew he was running hot and playing well so took a shot in a tier one 18-man $6+.50 SNG for a $26 token. He got the token and then signed up for the $28,000 guarantee tournament on FTP. He did very well and won a couple big hands with AA turning a full house and 44 flopping a set to someone's TPTK. He grinded all the way into the money and had to keep his head above water most of the time while in the money. He plays under ChampagneAces and with around 150 players left, he sat around 100th in chips. He was able to grind it all the way into the top 60 when he won a key hand. He was short with less and 10 BBs in his stack and in need of some help. OTB, he had good fold equity against the size of the BB's stack so he shoved when it was folded to him. The BB picked up AA and called to ChampagneAces's K2o. But luck was with my friend as the turn brought a 2 and the river a K for two pair and the best hand. It was still a rough going, but he was able to grind it up until the top 30 spots. The big stack UTG+1 raises it up and ChampagneAces shoved from the BB with A8o. The big stack was getting a good price and had a ton of chips, so he called with 78h. The flop came 10 J K, and the turn a dreaded 9. The river blanked and my friend finished in 28th position out of 1486 entrants. This was good for $125 off of the original $6+.50 investment. Well done ChampagneAces and keep up the good work!