June Review - Less Hands, More Monies

I didn't play as much as I wanted to in June. It was inevitably going to be a low volume month given it only contains 30 days and 4 weekends. On top of this, a missed Saturday for a 24 hour Kelowna vacation to attend an Aunt and Uncle's 50th wedding anniversary affected my volume. Most of all though, I was lazier this month than I have been previously.

On the plus side, I made some minor adjustments to my game, basically making an effort to be on autopilot less preflop. This resulted in me opening more hands, pushing smaller edges and stealing more. I'm happy with the way this went. Variance wise it was an interesting month, but given the results I guess it can't have been too bad.

Winnings graph and table are below. I included the table because I played a little more 200nl this month than normal, and had good results. 600nl results were also nice, hah.



The Bottom Line
$13223.80 winnings
$4530.40 FPP value (80,900 VPPs * 3.5 FPP/VPP * 1.6c/FPP)
$4200.00 milestone bonus ($5000 - $800 FPP value to purchase)
---------------------------------------------
$21,942.20 USD

At today's exchange rate, this equates to ~$25,528 CDN.

Ship the new personal best month!

277.83ptBB/100 at 3/6 NL 6max could work

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	553,130
SNE Pace:	70,890 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	Crimson Gem Saga (PSP)

During my earliest session on Thursday, I ran into a fish who appeared to be overshoving recklessly postflop at 200nl. He quickly left the table however, but I managed to track him down sitting alone at a 600nl 6-max table. He quickly blew off a 20bb ($120 stack) to me, then reloaded for $210 as more folks sat down. This hand quickly happened to busto Mr. Fish:


Poker Stars, $3/$6 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 3 Players
BB: $242 (40.3 bb)
Hero (BTN): $683.40 (113.9 bb)
SB: $368.25 (61.4 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is BTN with Td Ts
Hero raises to $18, SB folds, BB calls $12

Flop: ($39) Kh 5c 3h (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($39) 7h (2 players)
BB bets $30, Hero calls $30

River: ($99) 2c (2 players)
BB bets $194 and is all-in, Hero calls $194

Results: $487 pot ($1 rake)
BB showed 5d Jc (a pair of Fives) and lost (-$242 net)
Hero showed Td Ts (a pair of Tens) and won $486 ($244 net)

Inducing the overshove then not folding vs fish for the win. Over my first 10 hands at 600nl 6-max I'm up a solid $333.40. Not too shabby.

Here's my graph from from Sunday through Thursday, including the terribad Monday downswing:


I'll be flying out to Kelowna for 24 hours or so this weekend to attend my Aunt and Uncle's 50th Wedding Anniversary. On the short flight I'll be breaking open Crimson Gem Saga, a game I have somewhat high hopes for. Unfortunately this also means I'll be missing a Saturday of poker, which is prime time for the fish. My volume this month isn't going to be terribly impressive - I'll most likely finish around 225k hands, and ~83k VPPs. I'm still well ahead of SNE pace as you can see in the Status Update, and the 100k VPPs from playing the WSOP ME will help that pursuit further. Nothing to worry about I guess.

Busto to Robusto... and Prinnies!

Just a quick blog note, skipping the usual SNE chase update etc.

DeucesCracked has the first of a film series available detailing the lives of online players. The first one is on Zeebo, a fairly high profile 2p2er, and has cameos by Phil Galfond (aka Jman28/OMGClayAiken), Jay Rosenkrantz (aka pr1nnyraid) and many others. The production values are very good and I certainly think it's worth watching. You can find it here:
http://www.deucescracked.com/robusto

It's about a half hour long, but definitely worth watching. I feel a lot of valid points regarding the lifestyle of an online pro were made, though personally I think I'm a little less "eccentric" than Zeebo. To be fair however, I'd probably kill for that collection of Simpsons action figures he has.

As I recently finished playing Cross Edge, a game featuring characters from many different RPG franchises, I suppose it's an interesting coincidence that I mentioned Krantz in this post. His screen name of pr1nnyraid is a reference to Prinny Raid, an attack used by Etna (who appears in all three Disgaea games and Cross Edge, among others) which launches a barrage of explosive Prinnies at the target. Given how long Krantz has been around, I imagine he was playing through the original Disgaea upon release when he registered at Full Tilt. Being well versed in geek culture is awesome.

So what is a Prinny you ask? They look like this, and explode on impact:

I recently ordered a plush Prinny, and while I'll tell people it's for my girlfriend (who is actually fond of Prinnies) she knows the truth. It's for me!

Oh yeah, I ran abhorrently bad on Monday which resulted in a nasty downswing. Tuesday was better. 20k USD month one time please?

It's Pretty Big.... I Guess

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	541,080
SNE Pace:	72,540 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	Cross Edge (PS3)

On Thursday I ran brutally bad, ending up something like 5BI below AIEV (and far more in below Sklansky EV). Thanks to two very large pots at 200NL however, I managed a breakeven session. The first of the two pots was actually my largest won pot ever, and the second in my top five. I'll provide the HHs at the end of this post.

My Friday and Saturday sessions had some frustrating points, but the results show that they ended up pretty good. Here's a graph of Thursday through Saturday:


Moving on, I have to mention that a fellow 100NL reg had one of the most epic sessions I have ever seen at 100NL. While he may not like money very much, he is most definitely an entertaining character, and I wish him the best in recovering. The graph of his epically bad day was made into a motivator by someone over at 2p2, and I'm going to shamelessly post it here as I know a few folks who will enjoy it:


I'm getting very near the end of Cross Edge, which has been entertaining thus far. Worth the money, and not necessarily anything special, but a good time nonetheless. The difficulty is certainly starting to ramp up significantly. In what I presume to be one of the final dungeons, my party was ambushed and wiped out in the first turn, leaving me without a chance to even take any action.

Here are the HHs I promised. Villain in the first hand is a megadonk (obviously) and villain in the second hand is a LAG that seems to not be terrible. Thank goodness for 200NL this month, where I don't run like garbage!

Poker Stars, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 9 Players
BTN: $212.60 (106.3 bb)
SB: $207 (103.5 bb)
BB: $514 (257 bb)
UTG: $169 (84.5 bb)
UTG+1: $346.75 (173.4 bb)
MP1: $40 (20 bb)
Hero (MP2): $328.20 (164.1 bb)
MP3: $110 (55 bb)
CO: $374.05 (187 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is MP2 with Ts Tc
UTG folds, UTG+1 raises to $8, MP1 folds, Hero calls $8, MP3 calls $8, 2 folds, SB calls $7, BB calls $6

Flop: ($40) Ac Th 2s (5 players)
SB checks, BB bets $48, UTG+1 folds, Hero calls $48, MP3 folds, SB folds

Turn: ($136) 5s (2 players)
BB bets $458 and is all-in, Hero calls $272.20 and is all-in

River: ($680.40) Kd (2 players, 2 are all-in)

Results: $680.40 pot ($3 rake)
BB showed Ah Jd (a pair of Aces) and lost (-$328.20 net)
Hero showed Ts Tc (three of a kind, Tens) and won $677.40 ($349.20 net)



Poker Stars, $1/$2 NL Hold'em Cash Game, 7 Players
BTN: $434.95 (217.5 bb)
SB: $206.25 (103.1 bb)
BB: $200 (100 bb)
MP1: $220.30 (110.2 bb)
MP2: $443.35 (221.7 bb)
Hero (MP3): $301.75 (150.9 bb)
CO: $180 (90 bb)

Pre-Flop: Hero is MP3 with Qd Qc
MP1 folds, MP2 raises to $6, Hero calls $6, 4 folds

Flop: ($15) Qs 6h 8h (2 players)
MP2 bets $10, Hero raises to $44, MP2 calls $34

Turn: ($103) Jd (2 players)
MP2 bets $16, Hero raises to $126, MP2 raises to $393.35 and is all-in, Hero calls $125.75 and is all-in

River: ($606.50) 3d (2 players, 2 are all-in)

Results: $606.50 pot ($3 rake)
MP2 showed Qh Jh (two pairs, Queens and Jacks) and lost (-$301.75 net)
Hero showed Qd Qc (three of a kind, Queens) and won $603.50 ($301.75 net)

Two Or More Outs and I'm An Underdog

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	524,099
SNE Pace:	69,259 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	Cross Edge (PS3)

I'm feeling really good about my game and have had really encouraging results this month so far. This is all despite the fact that if a fish has two outs against me with two cards to come it's a coin flip at best for me, and if he has three or more outs he's a solid favorite. Regulars flatting 40bb four bets preflop with 63s and flopping trips is great too. One day I'll learn how to run good, perhaps right before a major live tournament or something.

Here's a graph of Friday the 12th through Monday the 15th:


My VPP count so far this month is pathetically low. While illness is a partial cause, I think I'm finally starting to hit some real burnout. It's not that I'm hating poker or anything - it just feels like I can get away with playing less due to my current position ahead of pace and with the 100k VPPs coming from playing the WSOP ME. It's just sort of who I am, if you give me an opportunity to slack off or procrastinate, I'll do it. Supernova Elite will be happening this year though, you can count on that.

Why Is There Hamburger Helper In My Milk!?

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	510,694
SNE Pace:	66,814 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	Cross Edge (PS3)

I've been under the weather recently, and thus have been slacking off quite a bit. I took one day completely off, and have had several sub 3k VPP days this week. I'm feeling better now fortunately.

My Wednesday session was one of the worst I've had in quite some time. I was one outed twice. The first time I held AsKd on a Ad5d2d4c board, against villain's 9s9c that he decided he wasn't folding. He of course hit the one nine in the deck that would make him the best hand on the river. The second was getting KcKx in on the turn of a 3b pot against a pretty aggro reg - the board was Tc8c6d5c. Villain of course decides to call it off with red queens even though he beats nothing, and spikes his 1 out. Some other fun hands included getting J8 in on a J82 rainbow flop vs AQ for 100bb - of course the retard goes runner runner. On Thursday I had much better results, which is good for my sanity.

Here's June 7th through 11th:


I received some emails from PokerStars today informing me that as a Supernova VIP playing the WSOP ME, I'll get some gift cards for food/spa at the Palms, as well as my choice of one Vegas activity for myself and a guest. Options for the activity include a helicopter ride over Vegas at night, the Mystere and Zumanity varieties of Cirque du Soleil, Blue Man Group, Penn and Teller, Cris Angel, and some other entires I can't recall at the moment. I'll be letting the girlfriend pick. There will also be some 6max tourneys running for Supernovas where the winner gets entry to a freeroll with a 1mil prize pool of cash + tourney packages, while the first to busto wins $100. So at worst, it's a free $100 for sitting down and playing. Should be good times.

I should also mention that "The Hangover" is a very funny movie, and may end up in the same class as "Old School" and "Wedding Crashers". Go see it if you haven't, unless you have the sense of humor of an old person.

If you are confused by the title of this blog entry, you don't watch enough South Park.

Milestone #4 - The Half Way Point

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	501,311
SNE Pace:	71,131 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	Cross Edge (PS3)

I've finally reached the half way point in my Supernova Elite Chase. Upon some quick reflection it has gone reasonably smoothly so far, though the incredibly ugly variance throughout January and especially February was a little disheartening. THe latter half of May wasn't exactly a walk in the park either.

Clearing the 500,000 VPP mark also means another milestone bonus, this time in the amount of $4200 free money ($5k - $800 FPP cost). Two more milestones to go this year.

The days of poker since my last post have been interesting. Wednesday was awesome for a weekday (>$1k winnings + rakeback). Thursday contained a 10BI downswing worthy of much baby-punching, though I believe I ended the day at -$250 or so. Friday was very mediocre for one of the two weekend money days - mostly because the games sucked ass (!?!?). I have since learned that the game quality was so poor this weekend due to PokerStars having a temporary problem with their E-Cheque provider thus preventing many American fish from depositing money which they could then donk off to me. Fortunately, I still managed to put together a pretty solid Saturday.

Here's a graph of June 3rd through 6th:


Perhaps you also noticed that my "currently playing" entry changed to Cross Edge this entry. The game is an RPG crossover between many successful (in Japan, anyway) franchises. It has been reviewed somewhat poorly, most complaints stemming from the game being very complex and having a very steep learning curve. I'm thoroughly enjoying it so far, despite only being familiar with a small portion of the cast (Etna and Prinny of Disgaea fame, specifically). The gameplay mechanics are most definitely complex and in some cases a little convoluted, but it makes for a decent challenge. The localization and musical score has been top notch so far. I only wish I'd played some of the Atelier, Ar Tonelico, and Darkstalkers games (ok, technically I've played one Atelier titles, but Cross Edge doesn't draw from any of its characters).

Why Buy A Mattress Anywhere Else

-- Status Update --
2009 VPPs:	486,598
SNE Pace:	67,378 AHEAD
Currently Playing:	Chrono Trigger DS (NDS)

Last week I purchased a new pillow top mattress, which set me back around $1.5k (on sale from a regular $2.3k). Service and delivery from Sleep Country was stellar, and it is certainly more comfortable than my old mattress + foam combo, the former of which was made in 1974 - 10 years before I was born. That said, I'm not certain I'm sleeping any better necessarily, though it isn't like I sleep poorly. I really like sleep, which is probably why I get so much of it.

Moving on to poker, it appears that the doomswitch which plagued me for the final two weeks or so of May has been turned off for the first two days of June. I also feel like I'm playing better, pushing some smaller edges I had been ignoring by "auto piloting" too much preflop. As a result, my VPIP/PFR/ATS have increased a tad, as has my flop cbet% (which is probably still one of the lowest amongst winnings regulars, since a bunch of them don't understand ABCD theorem/game theory). Here's a quick graph of June 1st + 2nd:


I'll be out and about running a bunch of errands tomorrow, hopefully including setting up a US funds account. This should allow me to withdraw money from Stars in US dollars and keep it way until the Canadian dollar eventually falls back into the $0.80 range I know and love. Unless Obama has a ton of magic up his sleeve it might be a year or more for that to happen however.