crazy monkey tilt
20 March 2007
Holy hell it’s been a while since my last post. I was all set and ready to make an update on the 13th, confident in the fact that I was getting my shit together after a pretty decent run following the shellacking described in March 6th’s post. I was up $259 after around 3500 hands, and life was good. Then, the Ides of March occurred two days early. Fate stabbed me in the back, and I dropped 3 buyins in less than 40 hands. When the dust finally settled, I had dropped $352.30 in just over 700 hands. After reviewing the session, I realized that about half of the loss was just plain unavoidable (see several hands below). The other 3-4 buyins, however, was definitely some serious monkey tilt occurring on my part, and I seriously need to revise my approach to dealing with said tilt and controlling my emotions at the table. If I can’t learn to do that, I need to at least learn to sit out and stop the bleeding. Oh well, one of these days.
** Results and hands March 7 – March 12 **
Today: $259.00
To Date: 1,518.85
To Go: $13,481.15
Hands: 3484
Hand 1: http://www.pokerhand.org/?901091
Villain: 60 / 7 / 4.1 (131 hands)
How often do you guys lead this turn? After some review I think my check/call on the flop, followed by check on the turn is quite suspect. I think I need to lead this turn, even if the results may have been different. Ideas?
Hand 2: http://www.pokerhand.org/?901095
Villain: 31 / 8 / inf (45)
I’m not really worried about Ax hearts here, so I decided to take a somewhat sneaky line, with the intention of raising the river. Turns out he decided to make that play easier on me. I don’t take this line very often, just calling behind twice with a made monster, but I’m glad I did this time.
Hand 3: http://www.pokerhand.org/?901096
Villain 1 (7th Viruz): 75 / 37.5 / .43 (9)
Villain 2 (PPA_polska): 48 / 14 / 1.7 (33)
Villain 3 (KnutSkurk): 38 / 15 / 1.0 (33)
Here’s a hand that I am quite interested in getting feedback on. I think I need to bet out this flop just to see where I stand in the hand instead of checking behind with 4 other people in the hand. Essentially I’m folding this if any card comes higher than an 8. I end up spiking an 8 on the river and take it to the felt, knowing that only an extremely slow-played 4 is stacking me here. Any thoughts on an alternate line?
Hand 4: http://www.pokerhand.org/?901098
Villain: 37 / 20 / 2.0 (63)
All sorts of outs don’t hit for me. I get my money in here all day long, oh well.
** Results and hands March 13 **
Today: -$352.30
To Date: 1,166.55
To Go: $13,833.45
Hands: 707
Hand 5: http://www.pokerhand.org/?920728
Villain: 32 / 21 / 1.9 (310)
Within 10 hands of beginning the session I get this beauty of a hand. I think my line on the hand is abysmal, and hate everything from the non 4-bet to the flop check. I can’t remember why I checked that flop, but I shouldn’t have. Oh well, lesson learned, right? This guy will play utter crap.
Hand 6: http://www.pokerhand.org/?920724
Villain: 25 / 20 / 3.3 (130)
Begin monkey tilt. Biggest pot I’ve lost to date. Was up at 100NL chasing a fish.
Hand 7: http://www.pokerhand.org/?920735
Villain: 43 / 14 / 2.2 (202)
This hand occurred while I was getting my face smashed in, and was completely tilt driven. I totally missed the fact that he check raised the flop, and have no idea why I took such a mediocre hand to the felt. Chalk up -$50.50 to gross negligence and incompetence.
Hand 8: http://www.pokerhand.org/?920738
Villain: 55 / 16 / 1.6 (203)
Was very confused by this hand, and ended up posting on CR for some feedback. I think I take a c/r line on the turn in a hand like this maybe 20% of the time, and tc gave me some fantastic feedback on picking spots to c/r hands like AK and AQ on an A high board. In general, I don’t think I lost too much with this line since he played his hand terribly; I guess that’s why I follow this guy around.
Hand 9: http://www.pokerhand.org/?920740
Villain: 66 / 0 / 0.7 (59)
Refuel the monkey tilt. I love losing hands like this when I’m already tilting. Helps lift my spirits and gets me playing better.
Hand 10: http://www.pokerhand.org/?920742
Villain: 22 / 11 / 3.3 (269)
Biggest winner of the whole session; ~$25 to the bottom line. Yay. At least I can win with quads… I should get them more often.
i amM0NIKER at 12:09 PM 1 comments
four cards are better than two.
07 March 2007
So I really wasn't feeling like playing any NLHE last night, so I decided to fire up CardRunners and watch some more PLO videos and 'broaden my poker horizons.' After watching some GP and muddy vids, I played for a while on UB at the 25PLO tables, mixing up some different styles in 6max and even shorter handed (HU and 3player). Muddy's style is definitely supper aggro, raising almost any hand from the button shorthanded and just putting constant pressure on the opponents to make a huge mistake. I can definitely see this working, as Omaha is such a fast game that people go on serious monkey tilt and call off their entire stack in terrible spots. I ended up winning some moneys overall, and I really need to start tracking my progress on UB somehow (rolled $18 up to $175 so far). I also need to work on identifying my hands and drawing possibilities quicker so that I can play even fast and look like more of a maniac while still getting money in in +ev situations. It's really been quite a fun learning experience, and I can't wait for aba's video today (even if the stakes are ridiculously high - 5/10PLO).
i amM0NIKER at 10:34 AM 0 comments
i am teh suck.
06 March 2007
So last night was bad. After 11 minutes I was down 3 buyins at 50NL and couldn't hit the "Sit Out" button fast enough. Two of the hands were pretty much unavoidable on my part (Thanks, Lee Jones), but they sent into such a tizzy that I decided that my 88 had to be good on a T high flop if I played it aggressively enough against a guy who was making weak play after weak play. Alas, I was wrong. He decided to take his TQo to the felt (and yes I was in position, had raised PF, and re-raised the flop). Oh well, such are the breaks. Anyway, took some time off to watch some PLO videos on CardRunners and play some low stakes PLO on UB. In the past week or so I found $18 on my UB account and rolled it up to somewhere near $140 playing 25PLO with absolutely no concept of the game. The people playing there are *that* bad. It's a welcomed break from the NL tables, and I'll probably dedicate that account to learning the game. I decided to play some more 50NL later in the night, and didn't fare any better. Lost another buyin and simply could not hit a hand that didn't face resistance.
In other news, Heroes has absolutely become my favorite show of the moment (edit: 24 is still pretty insane, but has lost its grip on me due to its outlandishness and boring subplots that I care little about; Lost is just interesting enough to keep me watching; Smallville has sparked some interest due to the Justice League subplot, but if it turns back into some teen romance crap it I'll be pissed; Entourage starts again soon; and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia will have to wait until the summer for its 3rd season, and Danny DaVito better not hog the screen because he detracts from the overall hilarity of the show). I knew from the first few episodes of Heroes that it had potential... the plot is quite interesting, and the characters and backgrounds are fantastic. I've never loathed a villain in a TV show so much as Syler, but he's such an enthralling character that you're always waiting to see what he's going to do next. And even though there's multiple story threads going on at once, I'm rarely finding myself in the spot I am currently with 24... the "I don't care about this character, get me back to the *real* story" mentality. The one time I found myself starting to think that way about one of the subplots in Heroes, they devoted an entire freakin' episode to that storyline; and it was one of the best damn episodes to date. Kudos to you, Heroes writers. Keep up the good work.
Today: -$214.65
To Date: 1,259.85
To Go: $13,740.15
Hands: 350
ptbb/100: -61.35
Hand 1: http://www.pokerhand.org/?880779
Thanks Lee Jones, I appreciate it.
Hand 2: http://www.pokerhand.org/?880777
And literally less than 3 minutes later against the same guy. Fantastic.
Hand 3: http://www.pokerhand.org/?880776
A hand from Session 2 that I normally fold. I was not in top form tonight. His line screams "I nailed the flop, please pay me off like the donk you are tonight, moniquer." And I gladly obliged. Lame.
i amM0NIKER at 9:22 AM 0 comments
quickie
02 March 2007
Quick update for last night's stats. Really wasn't in the mood to play at all after my marathon run to end February at gold status, but saw a favorite fish sitting at 50nl and jumped in for a couple hands.
Today: $34.35
To Date: $1,474.40
To Go: $13,525.50
Hands: 50
ptbb/100: 58.90.jpg)
i amM0NIKER at 1:22 PM 0 comments
if i were an element, you'd find my picture next to [Au], fool.
01 March 2007
Well, it’s official. I am now a certified balla, and I get to roll around in gold bling for a whole month (at least in PokerStars terms, which really means nothing and is utterly insignificant in the grand scheme of things). Anyway, I finished the month of February on what can only be described as a streak of complete and utter face-smashing of the 50NL game (20+ buyins in a week). Whether this is due to something about my game clicking, a massive streak of good luck, or a combination of both, I don’t really care; I’m not one to complain (sidenote: It could be that ever since I discovered the glorious video of Dora the Explorer doing the Chicken Noodle Soup dance on youtube that's been my pump up video... search it out and decide for yourself. Let it rain, bitches, let it rain). And if it makes the poker gods any happier, I am more than ready to do any sort of tribal dance or sacrificial offering to ensure that this streak continues. Cute little lambs and first born children beware – I’m out to beat last month’s results with 31 full days of domination in March (and maybe I’ll even go platinum… Prince, watch out). Below are my stats for last night, as well as some graphs and stats for my month of February. I’ll probably do a complete recap of the month once I sit down and analyze what in the hell happened as I’ve been too preoccupied with the whirlwind of winning mass buyins in large chunks to do an in depth review of my sessions.
Today: $362.80
Total Bankroll: $2,440.05
To Go: $13,559.95
Hands: 1286
ptbb/100: 28.21
Hand 1: http://www.pokerhand.org/?865521
Villain 1 (mcculloch227): 15.76 / 10.9 / 5.15 (165 hands)
Villain 2 (FoldyMcMuch): First hand at table; no history
Even though I missed the flop here and it's a 3way hand, I figured I'd take a stab at taking the pot down right here. Since this is how I'd play my big hands TT+ the bet was also to serve sort of as a protection for my big hands later (as talked about in sbrugby's latest CR video). I obviously didn't like 2 calls and was willing to just check/fold the turn. When the river hit me a K, I don't exactly know how I should react to the value bet since I'm getting just under 5:1 odds. I could see him doing this with a fairly wide variety of hands, and would say I'm probably ahead maybe 20-30% of the time (just my general feel at the time). Advice?
i amM0NIKER at 2:07 PM 1 comments