Thursday, November 19, 2009

Stuff

I'm a sorry excuse for a poker blogger. But there's nothing that can be done, I'm afraid. You have to accept me for who I am -- a sorry excuse for a poker blogger.

Here's a reason to post: I reached a milestone this morning, passing 10,000 hands of $1/$2 6-max limit on Stars. Wheeeeee. I'm tearing it up, too, with a 2BB/100 win rate. Pathetic.
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In another time, another place, I played a ton of $1/$2 6-max on Party. Mostly single-tabling, it took me months to reach 10K hands. (Can't remember my win rate, but it was higher.) This run on Stars took me 31 days. I started four-tabling but have cut it back to two as of late.

The widely held opinion that play at Stars is tougher than Party appears to be true. Games are way more aggressive. I've adjusted, betting and calling much lighter than I'm acccustomed, but probably am still too tight at >22% pre and >12% PFR.

It's been a bit of a steady grind. Doesn't feel like I'm running good or bad. Players at $1/$2 are handicapped greatly by the horrifically, userous rake. Only consolation is that I made Gold last month for the first time. I've noodled around at $2/$4 (600+ hands), where the rake is 17% lower, but I'm not maintaining a bankroll that can handle the expected swings at that level.

Tournament wise ... I had another nice cash last Friday, finishing 5th in a $27.50 NLHE tournament on Stars (1,316 runners). Online phenom EeeTee2008 and his numerous railbirds finished fourth. I schlepped through that tournament, my M seemingly hovering around 10 until the end. I did have two luckbox moments with KJ vs. JJ and AQ vs. AK. Standard riggedament action.

I was slightly amused to learn that Official Poker Rankings has me at 15, 770 out of the more than 1.5 million players it has ranked in 2009. That puts me in the 99th percentile. Those numbers look mighty fine until you read the fine print -- profit. That number ain't so impressive. Plans to turn pro have been put on hold. (I'm thinking my good run through the 45s earlier this year bolstered the OPR numbers.)

So things have been going well online, but there hasn't been any live play in the last month. I've either been busy or have chosen golf over poker on the weekends. I've got two chances to play tournaments this coming weekend -- at DiverJoules and Dave's -- and hope I make at least one of them.

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Stealing from the blind


I checked behind on the flop, vainly hoping to induce at least some action. The turn killed those chances.