Poker Analytics Blog

Hey guys,

Sorry for not posting since a long time. I’ve been a week off, and I did play a bit, but the context wasn’t appropriate to write. So let’s summarize what happened. First of all, after the last post, things went south again badly. I don’t remember the key points of the losing streak, because I was probably playing awfully, and I didn’t write about it, but apparently I tried to, I just realized that I started a post named “Back into hell” with two sentences…

So it went bad, and then good again, and finally things are not very interesting because I am approximately at the same level as I was in my last post…

But it is important to notice that I went from +35 to -40, which is a great performance…And I think at that point when I hit the bottom, and that my back was against the wall, I finally realized I needed to adjust my game. I think that the main issue with my game was to try to win some pots at any costs, and when you fail again and again it doesn’t look good at all. Actually you can simply give up those spots without losing too much and wait for better ones.

I started my vacations approximately after hitting the low point of the chart. During that week I played on my laptop, so I played on 4 tables rather than my usual 6 because the screen is really small, and even 4 tables is not really comfortable…I decided to make a report on Poker Analytics to see what was the difference in terms of hour rates when playing a different number of tables. This is a feature I really love in the app, the ability to create reports using comparators. I just have to select the hour rate as a statistic I want to watch, the number of tables as a comparator, and here I have a report that I can analyze either in a table or in a chart:

So 4 tables looks much better, and 9 are not that good. But at that point I am not sure if the volume of play is enough to make it a real statement.

There another thing I tried to apply recently, to avoid being on tilt, is the famous Ivey’s rule: stop after losing two buy-ins. It’s pretty simple and efficient, but it’s important to stick to it. I never really applied it, and I should have, because when I start losing I lose bad as we can already see in my net result chart. I applied the rule twice since I started to get back on tracks, and it’s probably a good thing.

That’s it for now, the challenge finishes at the end of the week. I probably won’t reach NL10 at that point, but I can say now that finishing above zero would be good anyway.

The week end has been great! I had a really nice winning streak…until my short session of yesterday night when I was tired. But nonetheless I’ve won about 10 buy-ins since my last post. Playing with a good night sleep is really important for me, I think it explains my wins and losses since the beginning of the challenge. When I’m tired, I tend to make more preflop calls that put me in difficult spots where I take poor decisions because I am tired (i.e. I’m on tilt). Anyway it’s a good comeback and I’m now slightly above my starting point after 11 days of challenge…which is not so good. But hey, I’ve raked more than 145€ since the beginning, so I’m a big winner overall, am I ?

Here is the state of my bankroll:

And the last sessions:

I haven’t find great hands to discuss, but I liked this little trick:

Stacks:
UTG – UTG (€6,07)
CO – Hero (€6,01)
BTN – BTN (€5,32)
SB – SB (€6,12)
BB – BB (€4,23)

Preflop: (€0,07, 5 players) Hero is CO with 5♦5♣
1 fold, Hero raises to €0,15, BTN calls €0,15, SB calls €0,13, 1 fold

Flop: 5♠8♥2♣ (€0,50, 3 players – BTN: €5,17, SB: €5,97, Hero: €5,86)
SB checks, Hero checks, BTN bets €0,14, SB calls €0,14

On the flop I found a set on a rather dry board, and I decide to check to create some action with the two players. Hopefully the button decides to bet, but he does a really small bet. My plan here was to call a standard bet, but I figured that by raising in that strange pot and considering that he made a small sized bet, the button could easily imagine that I was bluffing. So here is the end of the hand:

, Hero raises to €0,50, BTN calls €0,36, 1 fold

Turn: 3♣ (€1,64, 2 players – BTN: €4,67, Hero: €5,36)
Hero bets €1,10, BTN calls €1,10

River: T♦ (€3,84, 2 players – BTN: €3,57, Hero: €4,26)
Hero bets €4,26 (all-in), BTN calls €3,57 (all-in), Uncalled bet of €0,69 returned to Hero

Total Pot: €10,98
BTN shows K♥5♥ (One pair : 5)
Hero shows 5♦5♣ (Trips of 5)

Hero wins €10,27

It went really well and I was so happy…so that will be all for now guys, see you!

 

I’ve not written in a few days because not because I didn’t want to, but because I really didn’t want to. Yes it’s been a freefall to hell. It has been tough not only because I played bad but also because luck has not been on my side. But hey I’ve been rather lucky in the first sessions so I’ve got no right to complain, and that’s the way it is. I probably haven’t slept enough these past few days, and sometimes I feel like I was playing in auto-badpilot.

So here is a beautiful chart, kindly provided by Poker Analytics:

This is the chart of my net result. If you thoroughly followed the previous post, you may notice that I’ve been playing a lot of sessions, because there are indeed a lot of points of the chart. Actually, when I hit the bottom of the curve at -40€, I chose to change things a bit, and play 1€ or 2€  sit and gos.

Here are the stats for the sit and gos.

 

These are ok results, and actually I’m thinking that we’ve chose to put a win ratio under 50% with the red color, which feels fine for cash games but not that much for tournaments. I’m wondering which threshold would be fine for tournaments, do you have any idea?

Back at the challenge, I’ve chosen this time to show a winning hand!

Stacks:
UTG – UTG (€2,48)
CO – CO (€5,19)
BTN – Hero (€7,09)
SB – SB (€10,05)
BB – BB (€4,88)

Preflop: (€0,07, 5 players) Hero is BTN with 5♣4♣
2 folds, Hero raises to €0,15, SB raises to €0,50, 1 fold, Hero raises to €1,16, SB calls €0,66

Here I chose to 4-bet because the small blind has 8% of 3-betting, in one of the most standard spot of the blinds raising the button who has a large range, which I indeed do.

Flop: J♦T♣J♥ (€2,37, 2 players – SB: €8,89, Hero: €5,93)
SB bets €1,36, Hero raises to €5,93 (all-in), 1 fold, Uncalled bet of €4,57 returned to Hero

Total Pot: €5,09

Hero wins €4,76

On the flop, the small blind donk bets, a good really good sign of weakness in that spot. He’s probably afraid of my hand and wants to see a cheap card. He could be either on two weak pairs, or on a draw with over cards with KQ, AK, AQ. I guess he could have queens too, because the range of 4-bets on NL5 is usually really limited to premiums, he’s folding here.

I don’t really know if I’m going to pursue the challenge with sit and gos or cash. Sit and gos are nice because you are detached from the amounts you are palying and really aiming to win. Cash games at NL5 are tough: the range of the players are really hard to figure, and the small amounts tend to make me call way to often in some close spots. We’ll see.

Thank you reading and see you on the tables!

 

 

2nd Session done, it was great at the beginning, then the bad beats started to intervene. I play less than one hour. I wasn’t that much focus on the session, having a lot of noise around me.

 

Long story short, I started with this one:

Stacks:
BTN – BTN (€8,31)
SB – Hero (€10,41)
BB – BB (€6,97)

Preflop: (€0,07, 3 players) Hero is SB with A♥K♣
1 fold, Hero raises to €0,15, BB raises to €0,52, Hero raises to €1,96, BB raises to €6,97 (all-in), Hero calls €5,01

Flop: 8♦9♠6♠ (€13,94, 2 players, 1 all-in – BB: €0,00, Hero: €3,44)

Turn: 3♠ (€13,94, 2 players, 1 all-in – BB: €0,00, Hero: €3,44)

River: 5♠ (€13,94, 2 players, 1 all-in – BB: €0,00, Hero: €3,44)

Total Pot: €13,94
Hero shows A♥K♣ (High card : Ace)
BB shows A♠8♣ (Flush Ace high)

BB wins €13,03 

then this one:

Stacks:
UTG – UTG (€2,70)
BTN – Hero (€9,52)
SB – SB (€8,14)
BB – BB (€9,61)

Preflop: (€0,07, 4 players) Hero is BTN with K♦K♠
UTG raises to €0,15, Hero raises to €0,45, 1 fold, BB calls €0,40, UTG raises to €2,70 (all-in), Hero raises to €9,52 (all-in), 1 fold, Uncalled bet of €6,82 returned to Hero

Flop: 7♠J♥A♦ (€5,87, 2 players, 1 all-in – UTG: €0,00, Hero: €6,82)

Turn: 3♦ (€5,87, 2 players, 1 all-in – UTG: €0,00, Hero: €6,82)

River: A♣ (€5,87, 2 players, 1 all-in – UTG: €0,00, Hero: €6,82)

Total Pot: €5,87
UTG shows K♥A♠ (Trips of Aces)
Hero shows K♦K♠ (Two pairs : Aces and Kings)

UTG wins €5,49 

and the 3rd one of the session:

Stacks:
UTG – UTG (€1,76)
CO – CO (€5,44)
BTN – Hero (€7,13)
SB – SB (€1,47)
BB – BB (€5,21)

Preflop: (€0,07, 5 players) Hero is BTN with Q♥T♥
UTG calls €0,05, 1 fold, Hero raises to €0,20, 2 folds, UTG calls €0,15

Flop: 5♣7♣T♠ (€0,47, 2 players – UTG: €1,56, Hero: €6,93)
UTG bets €0,84, Hero raises to €2,99, UTG calls €0,72 (all-in), Uncalled bet of €1,43 returned to Hero

Turn: 6♣ (€3,59, 2 players, 1 all-in – UTG: €0,00, Hero: €5,37)

River: 8♣ (€3,59, 2 players, 1 all-in – UTG: €0,00, Hero: €5,37)

Total Pot: €3,59
UTG shows 9♠K♣ (Flush King high)
Hero shows Q♥T♥ (One pair : Tens)

UTG wins €3,36 

After that, I started to be a little upset, obviously I shouldn’t, I need to be used to this kind of hands. It will happen a lot. And even more worst than that.

Stacks:
UTG – UTG (€5,64)
CO – CO (€2,05)
BTN – BTN (€4,98)
SB – SB (€6,19)
BB – Hero (€7,13)

Preflop: (€0,07, 5 players) Hero is BB with J♥T♥
UTG raises to €0,15, CO calls €0,15, 2 folds, Hero calls €0,10

Flop: T♣7♦6♠ (€0,47, 3 players – UTG: €5,49, CO: €1,90, Hero: €6,98)
Hero bets €0,31, UTG raises to €1,05, 1 fold, Hero raises to €1,79, UTG raises to €3,90, Hero raises to €6,98 (all-in), UTG calls €1,59 (all-in), Uncalled bet of €1,49 returned to Hero

Turn: 2♠ (€11,45, 2 players, 1 all-in – UTG: €0,00, Hero: €1,49)

River: 3♠ (€11,45, 2 players, 1 all-in – UTG: €0,00, Hero: €1,49)

Total Pot: €11,45
UTG shows K♦K♥ (One pair : Kings)
Hero shows J♥T♥ (One pair : Tens)

UTG wins €10,71 

It was so easy to find a fold flop, it just the post-bad beat effects. I really need to calm down and not tell me “you need to get your money back”, it’s really a bad idea.

The on this one I preferred think that he was just “on a draw” and lost 70bb like a noob:

Stacks:
UTG – UTG (€5,03)
CO – CO (€8,59)
BTN – BTN (€3,46)
SB – SB (€3,88)
BB – Hero (€6,65)

Preflop: (€0,07, 5 players) Hero is BB with A♣4♣
1 fold, CO raises to €0,14, BTN calls €0,14, 1 fold, Hero calls €0,09

Flop: J♠4♥8♠ (€0,44, 3 players – Hero: €6,51, CO: €8,45, BTN: €3,32)
Hero checks, CO bets €0,22, BTN calls €0,22, Hero raises to €1,32, 1 fold, BTN raises to €3,32 (all-in), Hero calls €2,00

Turn: T♠ (€7,30, 2 players, 1 all-in – Hero: €3,19, BTN: €0,00)

River: J♥ (€7,30, 2 players, 1 all-in – Hero: €3,19, BTN: €0,00)

Total Pot: €7,30
Hero shows A♣4♣ (Two pairs : Jacks and 4)
BTN shows A♠J♦ (Trips of Jacks)

BTN wins €6,83 

 

After all, I lost 7,92€ on this second session, it was a very good one to understand that you need to be calm, no matter what bad beats hits you, you need to stay focus on your game and it should be alright. In micro-limits you just have to wait the other makes mistakes and profit. No mind games, no pay back, no need to be angry, just be patient.

On a good side, I tried on one or two hand what I said on my first post, make them pay more their draw, it works on those two hands but nothing more specific to share on this right now.

There isn’t something else to add to this poor session 🙁

See you soon !

After the lovely green sessions, you always expect the ugly red sessions to come. You can expect bad beats, but you don’t expect to play bad. You say to yourself: yeah they got lucky, yeah they played terrible, yeah I’m much better than they are and I should own the limit. But actually you play terrible! And that’s what I did this week end. A lot of bad calls and lots of pots played too aggressively.

So here are sessions #4 to #7, played this week end:

and we are back to square one!

Let’s continue with the traditional hand review. A rare spot here. I’m glad I haven’t lost my stack, but it is also tough to fold on the button’s raise. I just called because I felt I got trapped, but I was more in a raise or call state of mind, so I never considered to fold here. Would you fold after the button all-in raise?

Stacks:
UTG – UTG (€10,98)
CO – CO (€5,00)
BTN – BTN (€2,13)
SB – Hero (€14,16)
BB – BB (€5,67)

Preflop: (€0,07, 5 players) Hero is SB with 8♥8♦
UTG calls €0,05, 1 fold, BTN raises to €0,15, Hero raises to €0,60, BB calls €0,55, 1 fold, BTN raises to €2,13 (all-in), Hero calls €1,53, BB raises to €5,67 (all-in), 1 fold, Uncalled bet of €3,54 returned to BB

Flop: 5♣T♣2♦ (€6,44, 2 players, 1 all-in – BB: €3,54, BTN: €0,00)

Turn: 9♠ (€6,44, 2 players, 1 all-in – BB: €3,54, BTN: €0,00)

River: A♠ (€6,44, 2 players, 1 all-in – BB: €3,54, BTN: €0,00)

Total Pot: €6,44
BTN shows A♥4♦ (One pair : Aces)
BB shows A♦A♣ (Trips of Aces)

BB wins €6,02

Another defining moment of the week-end was when I won this allin with tens against kings. The flop came KTx, I let you imagine how it ended. It was beautiful…

So that’s it, there will be a session or two tonight, I’ll try to avoid the mistakes I made earlier and make good figure to show you some nice charts in the next post!