Nov 4

I’m not sure who reads these posts in the Daily Grind section; I don’t know that there’s much of value for an outside person?

The other day I ran across an opponent again that I remember very well from the first time I was playing 25nl on a regular basis, Daw****. I have a lot of stats on him as a weak/passive player. He always played 4 tables, buying in full. Not a particularly good player, but he must be in my time zone, or he plays many hours as I played him often.

And this history must date back to 2 years ago? Back when I first played 25nl.

Two things come out of this. One, the first time I came back to 25nl I saw him again and thought, wow, he still hasn’t moved up. Actually, I think I may have played him at 10nl and then we both moved up to 25nl at about the same time? So he’s been playing at 25nl for two years, and recently I’ve noticed that he only buys in for $10, implying that he’s running out of funds since this is not a short stack buyin size.

At the same time, I’m still playing 25nl. Now, maybe he did something similar to me; wandering away from cash games for a while, or taking a break. Maybe like me he started at 25nl underrolled and is now playing more tables and playing overrolled, though that part seems unlikely given that he’s sitting down with $10 at table now.

And some people stay at comfortable levels because they cash out regularly and no longer consider their cashed out money as bankroll. I cash out but still consider the funds part of my bankroll as it has no other purpose and is there to be ready for redeposit bonus opportunities.

So I’m currently playing with something over $1800 as a bankroll, meaning that I have like ~ 75 buyins for $25nl, or getting close to 40 buyins for $50nl.

It’s not that I’m a bankroll nit overall. I like the idea of using a tight stop-loss and taking shots at higher levels when you get over 15 buyins. For me currently I’ve passed that already for taking shots at $100nl.

Oct 22

Finally played a session today, for the first time in 4 days. And a tough one, if only for the bad tables that filled up with shortstackers. Ran slightly lower than my EV for once but still 10 bb/100. 15.2/8.7, 464 hands or so. I couldn’t find good tables so I ended up only playing 4 after closing down 4 but found that boring and started browsing the internet while playing those 4. W$SD is still high at 57 overall so I think I’m folding a bit too often yet, but I can’t complain about continually winning.

Had one interesting player, tight, two to my left, with an even tighter player in between. I think I was stealing quite a bit on that table from various late positions and didn’t really notice until he 3 bet me and I folded. Later I opened AKs from UTG and he 3 bet me. First thought was to 4 bet, but I wasn’t sure how tight his range was so I just flatted. Flop came AJx, I checked, he bet, I check-raised and he folded. The later I opened 98s and he 3 bet from the blinds. Because I had folded the first time I flatted this one and the flop came K high with a flush draw for me. He bet, I considered raising and probably should have, but just flatted. The turn was a brick, he checked, so I make a 1/2 pot value bet size bet and he folded.

Below is an example of not paying attention to your cards. I raise to steal, get called by a loose player. Then I play the flop and his loose stats instead of my cards ….

Replayer at http://www.anon-poker-blog.com/daily/2009/10/513

Only 367 hands of 8 x 25nl for two reasons. One, I looked at my Pokerstars hand totals and forgot that I had played some $10nl and $2nl earlier trying to fix my HUD, and 2) one $25 table shrank down so I had to wait to get on another table.

Still, 12.4/9.7, 33.41 bb/100. I’m still waiting for the bottom to fall out but it doesn’t happen so far; I just keep having up sessions. Today, like the other big winning sessions my EV was way positive. When my EV runs flat, I only end up a few bb/100.

Still, only just under 5,000 hands at 10 and 25 combined, up 1,276 bbs or just over $200. Maybe if I run this well I don’t need to move back to $50 or take shots at $100?