going for the gold
28 February 2007
So while looking through my PokerStars account the other day I noticed that was only about 1100 or so VPP’s away from achieving Gold status for the month of February. This seemed like a fairly achievable number, so I decided to give it a go, even thought I only had 3 days left (sidenote: If you don’t know what VPP’s are, they are essentially frequent player points you get for playing raked pots on PStars. Gold status is achieved when you reach 4000 for any given month. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have realized that it took me 25 days to get 2900 points, or about 116 per day. I decided to try to average 3x that amount for the remaining three days… yeah, that’s smart.)
Anyway, after deciding to go for the gold, I booked a little over 1000 hands on Monday night and ran 2 marathon sessions last night for another 2100 hands. Combined I banked about 5 buyins, which isn’t bad at all. I now have about 250 VPP left to go before achieving my glorious bling bling status, and am on my way to becoming a true balla. Here are last night’s stats and some hands that were amusing and/or frustrating:
Today: $167.95
Total Bankroll: $2,077.25
To Go: $13,922.75
Hands: 2132
bb/100: 7.88
Hand 1: http://www.pokerhand.org/?863117
Villain: 75 / 27 / .74
Nothing I can do here but say “wow.”
Hand 2: http://www.pokerhand.org/?863122
Villain: 42 / 22 / 9
Another jaw dropping display of “wtf are you thinking?”
Hand 3: http://www.pokerhand.org/?863120
Villain: 77 / 14.8 / 1.26
I need to get away from this hand, but I’m not quite sure if the turn or the river is the place to do it. I knew he had the straight, but sometimes I’m just crazy stubborn when I flop sets. Can we say “leak”?
Hand 4: http://www.pokerhand.org/?863121
Villain: 32 / 20 / 1.43
How does everyone feel about a check behind here? I was going for some value, and was really only worried about him possibly having 33. As played, do you fold to his reraise on the river?
i amM0NIKER at 9:36 AM
hand 1 - sucks
hand 2 - sucks
hand 3 -
Flop -- Raise more; I'd suggest to $12. As played, you're basically min-raising here. I wouldn't be too afraid of blowing the villain off a hand here given his VPIP; likely he'll call with an open draw. Also, if he had a hand like 77, there are many scare cards which could kill your action.
Turn -- If he's leading the flop, he likely had a draw and it just hit. Also, consider your opponent's aggression, he's likely not bluffing that spot. You always could get lucky and fill up on the river, but you don't have the implied odds to do so, really. This turn makes me barf, but I'd call a $10 bet.
River -- You can't call this. You're beating almost nothing here.
hand 4 - I think I'd tend to value bet smaller on the river as a draw just came in and his likely holdings wouldn't pay off a larger bet (of course, he's playing K3; wtf) . I'd just throw in $5 -- if he repops me, I'd puke blood and end up calling incorrectly praying that he caught with his 54.