Work Week

The goal was to play 1000 super turbos from Monday-Friday and put in the hours regardless of what happened (like having a job). I managed to do that despite not playing 2 nights because I went out. I had to play 192 super turbos on Friday, which was always going to be a challenge due to going out for dinner. I played a pretty long morning session (142 games) and then a quick session after lunch to get the games in. The overall results are very pleasing.

Monday-Friday

By day

Some numbers:

Super Turbos played: 1017
Average Buyin: 53
Hours: 29.2
Games per hour: 34.8
Winnings: 4768 (EV 5468)
ROI: 8.8% (EV 10.1%)
Rakeback: 562
Rakeback per hour: 19.2
Hourly with rakeback: 182 (EV 206)
Total winnings: 5330

I am not sure but I feel like I definitely ran hot with my red line since I don't think it has ever gone up at 10% through 1000 games at super turbos. I did run 700 below EV in allins though. It was a very satisfying week, and I am going to do it again next week. Getting into a routine was nice and there is no excuse for me not to be putting in the hours.

Last 2 Days: 373 Super Turbos

Wednesday:

I ended up just playing a morning session, and then went out to a nice bar with quite a few people. It was a super fun night. The poker was breakeven.

Wednesday

Thursday:

I managed to wake up at 9 today, despite having a small hangover. A cup of coffee cured that, and I put in a ton of games. I had fallen a bit behind pace and needed to catch up. I played 246 super turbos and ran stupidly bad. Like really bad. 34 buyins under EV.

Thursday

I am now at 808 super turbos for the week, and have to play 192 tomorrow. However, my friend is having a party in his house and so I won't be able to play at all at night. So my morning session has to be a loooooooong one, more than 5 hours. Bring it on.

Tuesday: 235 Super Turbos

Today was another really nice day. I woke up bright and early at 9AM and played a 120 game session in 3.5 hours. I then played 2 shorter sessions much later in the evening. The end result?

Fun Tuesday

That's 435 super turbos down, 565 to go. 3 days left. I am going out drinking with friends tomorrow night, so I am aiming for a long morning session.

In one of the 100s that I got heads up in, I got the worst stretch of cards I have probably ever gotten. It was so bad that I had to take a screenshot of it.

97o = MONSTER

72o, 72o, 32s, 72s, 82o, 64s, 64o, 83o, 97o, 94s.... pretty spectacular right? What's even more spectacular is that I won 5 of the 10 pots because my opponent was a tight fish who limp/folded or open-folded a ton. See you tomorrow.

Monday: 200 Super Turbos

11 people commented on my previous post within 24 hours, so I will donate $110 to charity if I don't play at least 1000 super turbos from Monday-Friday.

Today was the first day of this, and I struggled to get the volume in. That's because my morning session got cut short at 70 games due to bad internet. I didn't feel like stopping the session, putting in my backup internet, and then restarting. So I stopped playing, had lunch, and went to the gym.

I then played another couple of sessions either side of dinner and managed to squeeze in 200 games.

Pretty sweet day

It was just an ideal day - the red line and green line went up in each of my 3 sessions. I am going to try and play a lot more tomorrow morning, probably 120 super turbos or so. Good night.

Cold and Lack of Motivation

I was in the gym on Friday just staring off in the distance between sets, when this guy who was walking past me turned towards me and sneezed. He said "sorry" and walked off. He then made some awful sniffling sound that made it obvious he was super sick. I was pretty pissed off and really wanted to yell at him, but chickened out. Of course, I now have a pretty bad cold.

I know that it could just be a coincidence, but I am pretty sure it isn't. I don't even feel that bad and I could definitely be playing poker, but I just don't feel like it. It seems like this entire month has been me coming up with excuses not to play. It's either 1) tired after the gym, 2) sick, 3) games are reg-filled, 4) golf, or 5) leaving to London soon so have to do stuff for that.

I think I have hit a point now where I am pretty fed up with my lack of volume and am determined to change it. However, I have said that quite a few times this month and have not followed through. This time, that is not going to happen.

Silly August

I am aiming to play 1000 super turbos from Monday-Friday. It will be like a regular work week. 1000 is probably around 30 hours of playing, so it isn't even much.

I will donate $10 to charity for each different person that leaves a comment in the next 24 hours if I don't play 1000 super turbos from Monday-Friday.

Yikes

This month is going to the dogs... fast. I finally start playing a little, and Full Tilt has doomswitched me. Having said that, I have played a measly 27 hours after 19 days in August.

August so far

The only way out of this dowswing is to just fight it off with tons of volume. The plan for tomorrow is poker, haircut, and gym. I don't really feel like writing anything else. My red line hourly is 145 (with rakeback) and I have pretty much broken even. I hope the green line goes up along with the red line. Good night.

Sour Taste

After a few days of not playing, I finally loaded up a session. 90 minutes later and I was running pretty badly. What's worse than that? Full Tilt had another server restart and I cannot play for another few hours! I was all set to play a long session and bounce back. Sigh.

Today

There is a silver lining though. I reviewed a bit and reread some old notes that I had jotted down when I figured out a few leaks of mine. I reviewed one hand where my initial reaction was "What an awful call... no wonder this guy is breakeven". It ended up being a +0.02% call against my range... what do I know? It definitely was eye-opening.

I cannot wait for my evening and night sessions to make great decisions and put in lots of volume.

The prop bet that I mentioned in my last post never materialized, but I have sent the Baron a week-long prop bet proposal for next Monday- Friday. ACCEPT IT!

Meanwhile, I shipped another golf tournament on Sunday. It was a four-ball better ball doubles tournament, but they had individual prizes as well. I won the handicap section for 0-9 handicappers. I shot 77 hitting 2 greens!! It's fair to say that my short game was pretty sharp. I got drunk after that (and posted that previous blog post) and then watched the final round of the PGA Championship. It was certainly drama-filled and had a well-deserving champion IMO.

Martin Kaymer

I just shudder to imagine what would have happened if Dustin Johnson made that putt on the final hole.

Drunkkkk

Hello Blog Readers,

I will admit that I have been drinking a little and have got back at an unearthly hour. It's probably time to go to sleep but I shall do so after this post.

I played a little today - maybe 50 games or so - and broke even. I found myself making bad decisions, and decided to just cut the session short since I wasn't focusing well.

There will be an awesome prop bet in the near future with The Baron. We are going to do a 24 hour most games and most profit bet, with live blogging included. I am hoping to do it on Tuesday, but need to get the okay from Aaron.

No hangover, ONE TIME.

Morning Session

Last night, I wrote: "I am going to wake up early tomorrow and aim for 100 super turbos (3 hours) before lunch". Mission accomplished.

I played 103 super turbos in 2.8 hours, which works out to 36 per hour. That is my highest number of games per hour ever and that is because of A) I increased my tables to 12 a while ago and B) I woke up earlier to play at a time with higher traffic. I am definitely going to start waking up earlier to get in more games in the morning. I woke up at 9:30 today, so that isn't even early by non-poker players' standards!

I had 2 interesting spots come up within my first 20 minutes of my session.

---

$100 + $3.75 Sit&Go (Super Turbo)

Stacks:
UTG  (745)
CO  (785)
BTN  (270)
SB  (500)
Hero  (400)

Blinds: 30/60

Pre-Flop: (90, 5 players) Hero is BB J J
UTG raises to 120, CO goes all-in 785, 2 folds, Hero goes all-in 340, UTG folds

Flop: 4 5 2 (1,335, 2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: K (1,335, 2 players, 2 all-in)

River: 6 (1,335, 2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: 1,335
Hero shows a pair of Jacks
J J
CO shows a pair of Aces
A A

CO wins 1,335 (net +550)

---

$50 + $2 Sit & Go (Super Turbo)

Stacks:
UTG  (300)
CO  (470)
BTN  (300)
SB  (1,030)
Hero  (600)

Blinds: 30/60

Pre-Flop: (90, 5 players) Hero is BB 9 9
UTG goes all-in 300, CO goes all-in 470, 2 folds, Hero folds

Flop: 3 2 7 (860, 2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: 5 (860, 2 players, 2 all-in)

River: J (860, 2 players, 2 all-in)

Final Pot: 860
UTG shows a pair of Sevens
A 7
CO shows Ace Jack high
A 8

UTG wins 690 (net +390)

---

So that was 2 quick bad decisions, being results oriented of course! The first hand should have been an easy fold given reads/stats. I am fine with the fold in the 2nd hand. I am probably snapping TT though.

I hung in there, and it ended up being a nice red line session.

This morning

So now I'm going to watch the 1st round of the PGA Championship that I recorded, eat lunch, and go to the gym. If I end up going out at night, then that's probably all the poker I will play today.

I also want to thank Meteoric Poker for the nice hand converter.

Some Poker Is Better Than No Poker

On August 5th, I posted my graph for the month until then. I had played a measly 140 games. 8 days later, and I have played a total of *drumroll please* 330 super turbos for the month. That is an additional 190 super turbos in 8 days. Pretty pathetic for a poker player doing this for a living, right?

I at least have a few good excuses - golf, gym, laziness. Okay, maybe that last excuse wasn't the best. Thank goodness the little poker I have played has gone well.

The last 8 days

Tomorrow:
This lack of volume had better change. I am going to wake up early tomorrow and aim for 100 super turbos (3 hours) before lunch. After that, I will hit the gym and try and squeeze in a short session before going out drinking with a friend that just came back to town.

Saturday:
I don't have any plans yet for Saturday, so I might try to break my single day super turbo record. I am not sure what it is, my guess would be 250. I will probably aim for 300 super turbos if nothing comes up.

Sunday:
I am playing a doubles golf tournament on Sunday and after that is the final round of the final major of the year, so I will be watching that. Watching golf majors is the single best thing to watch on TV. There probably won't be any poker on Sunday.

Beyond:
If I don't hit 300 on Saturday, then I will be going for it on Monday or Tuesday. I need to get this month back on track.

My First Live Tourney

I typed this out after my first ever live tournament, which also happened to be my first time at a casino. It happened sometime in 2007, and it's fun to look back at it now. There is some pretty nutty logic in there from me :)

So first, a little background about me. I am studying in Copenhagen for one semester and am leaving on Thursday back home. I finished my last exam today and had registered a couple of weeks earlier for a 30 man SNG in Casino Copenhagen. The buyin is 1000 kroner (~$200). The top 3 get paid - 50%, 30%, 20%. My online bankroll is around $5000, so this was just a one-off shot to have fun and see how live poker is.

The first casino I stepped foot in

I get there 30 minutes early, and just take in all the gambling. When i get into my seat, nobody is really talking much. We get 2000 starting chips. The blinds are 25/25 and go up every 20 minutes, which is pretty fast for live. I get NO cards during the first hour and don't win a single pot. I limp occasionally after a few limpers with 87o and the like, and miss every flop. My best hand was 55 in 3rd position after an UTG raise when the blinds were 50/100, so I couldn't really play it. The guy to my left was a maniac - he went to 5000 and busted before I even won a pot. I end the first hour and head into the break with around 1600.

After the break, I finally pick up AKo on the button. An elderly guy to my right raises to 500. The blinds are now 75/150. I move allin for 1600 and he tanks. I try to look calm, but my heart is really pounding. I have never felt that online! I want him to call. He finally mucks and tells me he had ATs. I tell him he made a good fold. This takes me up over my starting stack of 2000.

This was probably how I looked after shoving AK

I then continue to get trash. I didn't even get KQ or ace rag. I got 55 once more, but again the tight guy raised before me so I had to muck.

Our table then gets broken since we are down to 20 players. I fold for an orbit or two with utter junk again. I'm back down to 1800, and the blinds are 75/150. On the button, I tell myself that I am raising ATC because of my tight image. I get 75o, pop it to 450, and win my 2nd live pot. I go back above 2000 again.

People are busting fast now, and we are 7 handed. The blinds are 100/200. I am the big blind and have T6o. There are 2 limpers and the SB completes. The flop is A97. It checks around. The turn is a 10. This might be the one mistake I made all day. I fire 300. The limpers fold and the small blind calls. As soon as he calls, I realize that the 10 was a spade and it put 3 spades on the board. Had I seen this, I would never have taken a stab since it has little chance of succeeding. I was confident nobody had an ace since the limpers would have raised with an ace in late position. Anyway, the river is another spade. The small blind instapushes, I instamuck.

This takes me down to around 1600. I am in middle position. The blinds are 150/300. There are 2 limpers. I get T9s and go allin. A couple of people behind tank and fold. The last limper (who was the villan in the previous hand) thinks for a long time, talks some danish which I don't understand, and folds. I show my cards, which was stupid since I couldn't use that move again. This takes me upto 2500 and we break again.

We are down to 12 now and the blinds are 200/400. I have blinded down to 1800. I am the small blind. The big blind is allin for 400, since he had just lost a big hand where he stupidly pushed KQo UTG with a large stack. Anyway, there are 2 limpers. I find QJs in the SB. I know a push is going to get called, so i see the cheap flop for 200 more leaving me 1400 behind. The flop is AA7 with 2 spades. I have QJ of spades. I tank and i know someone has an ace. But if he pushes, I am going to have to call because of all the chips in the middle, and the top heavy payout structure. So I push it in. A9 calls. I miss my spades. I say good luck to everybody and leave.

I take a nice 20 minute walk home instead of the bus. And here I am.

I hope you enjoyed it.

PS: oh I finished 11th/30. FT bubble boy :(

25 Putts and One Trophy

Today was the 2nd round of that golf tournament I talked about in my previous post. I entered the day in tied 8th and was in the group ahead of the leadergroup. In my 10+ years of playing golf, this was by far my best putting day.

Hole 1 - Chunked my chip into the bunker on a par 4, made double bogey
Hole 2 - Holed a curling right-to-left 30 footer for par after hitting a bunker
Hole 3 - Holed a 15 footer for par after my chip went too far
Hole 4 - Hit the green and made par
Hole 5 - Tried to putt it up the slope of the bunker and left it in there. Played a bunker shot to 15 feet and holed it for bogey
Hole 6 - Left myself an almost impossible chip over a bunker to very little green on a par 3. Hit it over the green, then left myself a 10 footer for bogey which I made
Hole 7 - This was the only bad putt I made all day. Left a 5 footer for par short on a par 5!
Hole 8 - Went long on my approach and made a 12 footer for par
Hole 9 - Hit the green and 2 putted for par from 55 feet
Hole 10 - Hit the green and my birdie putt just missed from 30 feet.
Hole 11 - Hit it to 6 feet on a par 3 and made birdie. Birdied this hole both days
Hole 12 - SHENANIGANS! Drove it in the fairway on a short par 5. Then stupidly took out 3-wood which I wasn't hitting well and hooked it into thick rough. Punched out. Chunked my pitch into the bunker. Skulled my bunker shot way over. Then chipped my 6th shot to the edge of the green. Putted it in from off the green from 20 feet for double bogey!
Hole 13 - Hit the bunker, made bogey.
Hole 14 - Short par 4, hit it to 20 feet and made the birdie putt
Hole 15 - Bad chip, 2 putted for bogey from 30 feet
Hole 16 - Hit the green, made par.
Hole 17 - Hit an awful bump and run to 35 feet. Left that 8 feet short and made a crucial bogey putt.
Hole 18 - Made a 10 footer for par on the last hole with a few people watching!

My awesome putter

Add all that up and it came to a 78 (+8), hitting 5 greens and 26 putts!

I shot 79-78 and ended up getting runner-up in the handicap category. There were 4 of us tied at 1 under handicap for 2 days, so I ran good by getting 2nd winning the tiebreaker of better 2nd day. I think I ended up 6th or 7th in the open. The trophy I got was pretty sad looking, but I'll take it. It feels good to put in 2 decent rounds of strokeplay while not playing regularly.

It's now about a month till I leave and it's back to poker starting tomorrow!

Golf, No Poker

As I mentioned in my previous post, there is a big 2 day tournament this weekend in my city. I played a practice round with my friend on Thursday and surprised myself by shooting 77 (+7). My handicap is 9 and I only play once a month these days because I have developed a nasty cut that eats into my distance. Golf isn't fun when you suddenly hit the ball 40 yards shorter.

The 77 was very solid - 7 bogeys and 11 pars. That put me in a good mindset going into today's round. It was a crazy round - not because of the golf, but the weather. We teed off at 7am and finished at 1pm! This was in insane heat, so I have this awful, slow, throbbing, and painful headache now. That's my excuse for the "no poker" in my post title for today.

I played decently despite the long round and the heat - shot 79 (+9) after being +5 through 5. That puts me tied 8th out of over 100 golfers heading into tomorrow. Another round in the 70s would be nice. I have to do something differently though to get rid of my headache. This is hopefully going to be my solution:

Please get rid of my post round headache

I hope that using a golf umbrella will get rid of my post round headache and even let me play some poker afterwards! I have played a laughable 140 super turbos in August. Do any of you play golf BTW or is this a post that nobody will read?

I also watched Legally Blonde today because there really isn't much to do when you have such a bad headache. I am embarrassed to admit that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Good movie imo

Edit: After some quick googling, I saw that there is a Legally Blonde 2. I've got to get it to watch it after tomorrow's round!!

He Seems Angry

Angry Dude:

This actually happened a couple of weeks ago, but I kept forgetting to post about it. I knocked this guy out from 3 or 4 super turbos in a few minutes and he just went nuts in the chat.

Apoorva186 (Observer): i hope boom....the mother-fkin donk loses all his money and roams naked on the streets
Apoorva186 (Observer): i curse boom to lose all his money....and start begging today
Apoorva186 (Observer): lose mofo....lose
Apoorva186 (Observer): lose and cry...like a fkin beaten up donke-y
Apoorva186 (Observer): call the donk he bluffs like a fool....constant and stupi-d
Apoorva186 (Observer): kick his butt...he is one moronic c-unt-muscle f-aggot
Apoorva186 (Observer): 4266 kick booms but-t
Apoorva186 (Observer): hate stupid mofos....kill them 4256
Apoorva186 (Observer): boom is a c-u-n-t muscle.f-a-g-g-o-t
Apoorva186 (Observer): boom is a c-u-n-t muscle.f-a-g-g-o-t
Apoorva186 (Observer): boom is a c-u-n-t muscle.f-a-g-g-o-t
Apoorva186 (Observer): boom is a c-u-n-t muscle.f-a-g-g-o-t
Apoorva186 (Observer): boom is a c-u-n-t muscle.f-a-g-g-o-t
Apoorva186 (Observer): boom is a c-u-n-t muscle.f-a-g-g-o-t
Apoorva186 (Observer): boom is a c-u-n-t muscle.f-a-g-g-o-t

I personally love the end. I have definitely never heard that phrase before. Chat like this really brightens up boring sessions for me, so keep it coming!

Poker:

I finally started playing after the break and it's been going well. I have only put in 4.8 hours and 140 super turbos. I play quite a bit during non-peak hours and the volume at 100s and 50s has been low. Ideally I would only be playing 100s and not even touch a 50. But so far I my breakdown of games has been 19/35/65/21 at 100s/50s/35s/20s. I have played more 20s than 100s, which is nuts. I guess it's time to wake up a couple of hours earlier.

August so far

Golf:

I am playing one of the biggest tournaments in my city this weekend. I only play around once a month these days, so I am going to play a round with a friend tomorrow and see how my game is. Shooting 2 good scores this weekend would be nice.

My volume from now till Sunday probably won't be much due to the tournament. I'll play tomorrow after the round and hopefully all of Friday. The tournament is Saturday and Sunday morning, so I will try to take money from the weekend fishies if I am not too tired after the rounds.

July Results and Looking Ahead

Towards the end of the month, I started playing badly at the heads up super turbos. I definitely tilted and was probably not even +EV in them playing badly. It seems like I have lost the ability to play my A game for a long period of time at anything other than 9 man super turbos these days. However, July was still a nice month because I ran good.

The red line was only at +4k, but also was at +100 buyins. I ran really bad when I moved up to 200s (games 1200-1600 or so), but I ran really well at the lower stakes. I will happily take this month though!

After I started playing badly at heads up, I got some long-awaited good news. I will be moving to the UK in September to do my Masters! I took a few days off to just relax and I am now ready to get back into poker. This is my last 45 days for a while where I will be playing poker full time. I am not going to get too crazy with poker though and enjoy life a little more.

I will most likely just go back to 9 mans, but I also might give PokerStars another shot. I will probably start playing again in the next 2 days and will update this blog with whatever I play. It's not much, but I want to aim for 175 hours of playing before I leave. Making anything more than 15k would be nice.