Session 1:
100 hands
1 hour, 25 minutes
34% flops
5/7 showdowns
+12.70
I opted to just play one table to begin with an did well on it. I more than doubled my stack with some key hands. I don't normally see such a high percentage of flops, but the table dropped to 3-4 players at one point and I opened things up during that time. I did play a little looser than I normally do preflop. I wanted to try it out and see if it worked for me, but I made this decision after the table seemed full of players I could really hone in on and get some good information.
Seat 1: philtheshowkill ($7.85)
Seat 2: donpeters ($9.85)
Seat 4: njpokerhoney ($20.15)
Seat 5: Zocki Hook ($19.90)
Seat 7: newnewnew ($19.80)
Seat 8: catmann40 ($21.10)
philtheshowkill posts the small blind of $0.05
donpeters posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to donpeters [8h 9h]
zicke3 sits down
njpokerhoney folds
Zocki Hook folds
newnewnew raises to $0.20 {This guy min-raised a lot}
catmann40 calls $0.20
zicke3 stands up
philtheshowkill calls $0.15
donpeters calls $0.10 {Already in the BB and I have a very playable hand in this situation.}
*** FLOP *** [8c Kd 8d]
philtheshowkill checks
donpeters bets $0.70 {Flops like this with players behind me, I like to come out betting.}
newnewnew calls $0.70
catmann40 folds
philtheshowkill folds
*** TURN *** [8c Kd 8d] [7h]
donpeters bets $2 {Keep betting, no need to get tricky or too worried, play it straight forward.}
newnewnew calls $2
*** RIVER *** [8c Kd 8d 7h] [Qh]
donpeters bets $6.95, and is all in {Still feel I have the best hand so I'm just gonna try and max my value here.}
newnewnew calls $6.95
*** SHOW DOWN ***
donpeters shows [8h 9h] three of a kind, Eights
newnewnew mucks
donpeters wins the pot ($18.10) with three of a kind, Eights
Session 2:
422 hands
3 hours, 16 minutes
22% flops
14/27 showdowns
+12.65
Another decent session money wise, but I'm not impressed at all with the percentage of showdowns I won. There was one or two times when I went to a showdown from one of the blinds and it was checked around, other than that, I want to get this up and win as many showdowns as possible. This following hand was a weird one for me. As you'll see, I made the call but I'm not to sure if it was a good call. While in the hand and faced with a big bet on the turn, I had a pair and was open-ended, but I have notes on my opponent and he is just a loose cannon that will fire a lot when scare cards come. I went with my gut and just didn't feel he had it, and I was able to use my notes on him to back up my reasoning.
Seat 1: Al Stubbino ($19.85)
Seat 2: Legomli ($1.70)
Seat 3: PredatorsBall ($9)
Seat 4: walterburle8 ($0.85)
Seat 6: Priv8te ($7.55)
Seat 7: Jimbo412 ($12.05)
Seat 8: markmccoy ($4.15)
Seat 9: donpeters ($15.80)
Priv8te has 5 seconds left to act
Priv8te posts the small blind of $0.05
Jimbo412 posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to donpeters [Qs Qc]
markmccoy folds
donpeters raises to $0.40
Al Stubbino folds
Legomli folds
PredatorsBall calls $0.40
walterburle8 folds
Priv8te folds
Jimbo412 folds
*** FLOP *** [7h Jc Td]
donpeters bets $0.95
PredatorsBall calls $0.95
*** TURN *** [7h Jc Td] [9d]
donpeters has 15 seconds left to act
donpeters bets $2
PredatorsBall raises to $7.65, and is all in {Does he really have an 8 in this spot? 2 pair?}
donpeters has 15 seconds left to act
donpeters has requested TIME
donpeters calls $5.65
PredatorsBall shows [7s As]
donpeters shows [Qs Qc]
*** RIVER *** [7h Jc Td 9d] [5h]
PredatorsBall shows a pair of Sevens
donpeters shows a pair of Queens
donpeters wins the pot ($16.35) with a pair of Queens
PredatorsBall adds $10
The pot at the time was $6.85 and I was forced with calling another $5.65 to win a total of $12.50, so I was getting 2.2:1 on my money here. If he flopped two pair or turned two pair, I'm around a 1.75:1 dog with 1 to come. Knowing this opponent, here's what ran through my mind. On the flop, he likes to jam and raise with draws, so I'd rule out the open-ended straight draws KQ and Q9. He could have any J here, J10, J9, maybe J8 but I know him to push hands that are paired up with draws hard, so I'd rule that one out, too. My best guess was a hand like QJ, KJ, AJ, but leaning more towards QJ because he would have picked up the open-ended draw on the turn and is now firing away on me. He likes to gamble and I'd also say that 20% of the time here he could be running a total bluff. I broke it down somewhat like this, 20% bluff, 60% pair plus a draw, 20% two pair. Worse case scenario with the pair plus a draw is QJd where he is around 12% to split with me and 25% to win. All that said, I decided this was a good spot to call and it turns out he was using the scare card to his advantage (another thing I have in my notes of him).
Session 3:
150 hands
1 hour
30% flops
7/14 showdowns
-7.85
Once again, my showdowns won percentage is terrible, but at one point I was playing heads up and checked it to the end. Still, I need to get this up. Here's the main reason why I finished the session down, the following hand.
Seat 1: ppcflyer ($17.65)
Seat 2: o2befubar ($25.85)
Seat 3: coachgw3201 ($5.70), is sitting out
Seat 4: Fishmeister1 ($18.85)
Seat 5: soarsoar ($19.70) {Very solid player that I know his tendencies well.}
Seat 6: ObliWan ($5.70)
Seat 7: walterburle8 ($8.50)
Seat 8: donpeters ($8.95)
ppcflyer posts the small blind of $0.05
o2befubar has 5 seconds left to act
o2befubar posts the big blind of $0.10
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to donpeters [Js Jd]
Fishmeister1 folds
soarsoar calls $0.10
ObliWan calls $0.10
walterburle8 folds
donpeters has 15 seconds left to act
donpeters raises to $0.60
ppcflyer has 15 seconds left to act
ppcflyer folds
o2befubar calls $0.50
soarsoar calls $0.50
ObliWan folds
*** FLOP *** [Ts 9c 3d]
o2befubar checks
soarsoar checks
donpeters bets $1.75
o2befubar folds
soarsoar calls $1.75 {He's gotta have something to call here. He's a tight player.}
*** TURN *** [Ts 9c 3d] [5s]
soarsoar checks
donpeters has 15 seconds left to act
donpeters bets $3 {I thought about checking behind, I almost did and knew I should, but then for some dumbass reason, I didn't.}
soarsoar raises to $6 {Now I know he has hit a set, I just know it.}
donpeters raises to $6.60, and is all in {I know he has a set, yet I shove in? Yeah, I am an idiot and stacked off here like a complete moron when I shouldn't have.}
soarsoar calls $0.60
donpeters shows [Js Jd]
soarsoar shows [Th Tc] {Yeah, I knew it. This is where I hit myself in the head with my mouse and yell.}
*** RIVER *** [Ts 9c 3d 5s] [Qd]
donpeters shows a pair of Jacks
soarsoar shows three of a kind, Tens
soarsoar wins the pot ($16.80) with three of a kind, Tens
I don't know what I was thinking. Actually, I do. When he limp/called preflop I know I can narrow him down to two big suited cards, but not too big like QJ, KJ, J10 and also medium pairs. I know this player well enough and how solid he is. When he calls my flop bet I know he connected and my feeling is he flopped a set and he'll come at me on the turn. Knowing this, I know I should check behind on the turn, I just know it... yet for some stupid reason I decide right before I hit check to bet. Yeah, I'm an idiot. Right when he check-raises me I know I'm done for, but wait... I still call. I think I might have told myself, "he might have 2 pair and I can draw to a better one, or maybe he has A10s and picked up a flush draw now." I told myself this so I could talk myself into calling when I had already decided folding was the best play here. This is after I talked myself into betting after I decided checking behind on the turn was the best play. This is me being a moron and leaving the session a few hands later because I was tilting at how bad a play I just made.
That does lead me to something though. I know tilt is a big issue with players and you have to do your best to control it at all times, even when nothing seems to be going right you have to try and stay on top of your game or you're just going to bleed money away. When I first started out I would tilt, curse, yell, tell people how bad they are, etc. whenever I was hit with a beat or just got unlucky in a hand. I soon learned I needed to control my emotions and have worked really hard to always keep them in check. If I feel emotionally skewed by a hand due to luck in some way, I take a breath and just move on to the next hand, no worries there. But if it's one thing that gets to me more than anything else, it's when I make a bad play. When I know I should have done something differently, but talked myself into doing the 'wrong' thing, it just puts me over the edge. Afterwards I'm always just left to tell myself, "you just learned the hard way." I've gotten better at not learning the hard way and have become more able to trust my instincts with confidence at the tables. Sometimes though, I make a terribly bad decision and I just don't know what I was thinking when I look back on it. I talk myself into these bad plays when I have already decided the right or better play to make. I tilt myself and I should do a better job next time of knowing that if I do talk myself out of a decision, it's probably not going to be for the good.
