If I had to guess how much I've made in total from all sites including everything, I'd have to guess I've made about ~$2000 but who knows. I wish I knew the exact figure.
I'm still too much of a bankroll nit to move up in stakes though. I've gone busto too many times after withdrawing that I don't want to risk it again.
So whats new for me? Let's see..... after chatting with my poker idol Telefonkiosk, I've decided to try and take my NLH MTT and SitNGo game more seriously because I feel that, thats where the big bucks are to be made. Currently, I'm practicing playing 90 man NLH Turbo SnGs while watching the video series The Top 0.56%. Once I play 500 or so games, I'll move on to concentrating on 180 man SnGs, MTTs or higher stakes 90 mans.
Fear not though! I haven't forgotten the theme of this blog :) I'll continue to play PLO.
I'll even post this weird hand I played today:
I wouldn't usually play this hand this way but for some reason (probably tilt) I thought I'll give it a shot. I was multi-tabling at the time but I was observing this opponent and I thought he was kinda solid....but I guess I was wrong.
Let's go through my thought process:
My table: Full of passive nits that wouldn't continue without a good draw, a set or the nuts. So easy to steal from :)
My table image: I dunno...probably crazy LAGtard who raises preflop relentlessly but knows what hes doing (most of the time).
Preflop: Dealt AJT2ds -
Pretty looking hand. Most of the cards mesh well and work together (Except the Ts and 2c). I have the button so a raise is super standard for me... bigger pot + position.
Flop Ac 5s 6s-
I flop the nut flush draw + Top pair with a Jack kicker. With just the bare nut flush draw, I'll be more inclined to check behind on the flop about...50% of the time but given my top pair and the kind of hands I can represent by betting early on, I think its a good spot to c-bet. I pick up one caller. Standard so far.
Turn 5c-
I pick up a 2nd flush draw on a now paired board. But whats this? The villain donk bets into us! He bets about 1/6 of the pot... wow, How am I suppose to interpret that? I see it as weakness but what would he be doing that with? A weak 5XXX? 2 pairs that just now filled up? A draw with 478X? AAXX that played it tricky? Ok, I admit, that bet did confuse me a little bit. I didn't want to call and play the guessing game should he bet again on the river.
Given the line I've taken in this hand, it wouldn't be difficult for me to represent AAXX and thats what I tried to do by raising pot. The villain obviously didn't get the memo and calls...uh oh.
River 2d-
Villain checks to us. Now this is a tricky spot for me because I actually do have showdown value with my top pair, jack kicker. The question that went through my mind was, should continue to turn my hand into a bluff and try to blast him off his 5XXX hands that didn't fill up??
Given that he called my turn raise, I would've thought that he didn't believe that I did have AAXX so he'd most likely call again should I bet the river. After all, what hands could he call a turn raise like that with? A slow played AA, 55, 56, A5 or any 5... I wouldn't really think he'll call with just a straight or a flush draw.
I decided to cut my losses if he was trying to trap me but luckily my top pair was good :D
Heres another hand:
Now, I'll be honest, I don't 3-bet preflop that often. I feel that when I do 3-bet and create a mid/low SPR situation, my opponents tend to play more correctly against me. I'd rather keep the pots smaller and use my edge to outplay opponents postflop.
This hand is different though, for some reason I knew this opponent knew that about 95% of the time, a 3-bet preflop (at this level) means AAXX and that most of the donks would commit themselves on the flop with just a pair of aces (Even if they did have 250BB). For that reason, I decided to 3-bet and represent AAXX should it come ace-high or continue on should I actually hit a decent flop.
I flop top 2 pairs and a gut shot straight draw which I think is well disguised if my plan succeed and he did put me on AAXX. The only problem now was trying to decide if he had a hand which beat my top 2 pairs. With blockers to a set of Kings and a set of Jacks, the only set I was worried about was 8s. Or I would've been a slight favourite should he have a monster draw like 9TQA but if he also had a flush draw to go with it... I would've been about a 37% underdog.
The SPR in this situation is just less than 3 but given what he perceived my hand range to be, I can understand him getting it in with worse hands i.e. K8, J8 etc.
We get it in and he has the same hand as me! Top 2 with a redraw to a higher 2 pairs (with his ace). I'm a 55% favourite though with my gut shot and redraw to a higher 2 pairs (with my queen) annnnnnnnd boooom a queen on the river! I succeed in winning the pot and putting my opponent on tilt :D
