May Review - Midstakes to the Rescue

May was an interesting month. Coming off an April during which I ran as well I had in a year or more and with a milestone bonus ready to be reached I had pretty high hopes going into May. In every monthly review so far this year I've noted that I wasn't happy with my volume, and in May I put in less hands than in any month of 2011. Oddly enough, I don't really feel like I let myself down from a volume perspective, I simply resigned myself to cut back on work hours and enjoy the other stuff going on (NHL playoffs, outdoor activities, etc). I imagine I'll be more motivated to grind after I get back from Vegas and have had a nice 10 day break from online poker.

With the reduced volume in mind, I certainly can't complain about my table winnings. Thanks much to the 2.6k milestone bonus, I definitely am happy with the total profit number as well. While my winrate was ok (though much lower than April), the really significant factor is that almost half my table profit came from $600NL, $400NL or E200NL (effectively $300NL due to Euro/USD exchange) - what I would classify as "midstakes". Without midstakes chipping in almost $4.5k, my paltry volume would have taken a much more significant financial toll on the month, even with a decent winrate.



The bottom line:
$9071.99 table winnings
+$2285.08 FPP value (40805 VPPs * 3.5FPPs/VPP * 1.6c/FPP)
+$2600 200k VPP milestone bonus
+$560 coaching
+$20 FTP deposit bonus
+$1.12 FTP rakeback
------------------------------------
$14,538.19 USD total profit.

I don't have huge expectation for June, as I'll be taking a ten day break in Vegas to play a few smaller WSOP events. Barring some good results there, it could certainly end up being a very modest month, and I won't be disappointed if that is the case. I think the break will be good for me, and motivate me to put in heavier volume when I return. Of course, it is always possible I'll make a deep run in an event and have a record month. I certainly could use a bracelet for my mantle.

Finally, I was pleased to see that when I pulled up my 2011 results as a whole my winrate on the year thus far is a smidge north of 2.5ptBB/100. This is a small increase from 2010 (~2.2ptBB/100) and a nice bump from 2009 (an exact figure is absent from my yearly review, but iirc it was ~1.9ptBB/100 or so). Granted, in '09 I was playing double the volume to reach SNE, and in 2010 the 50bb tables were around for much of the year. Still, given that the games are always getting tougher I'm pretty happy with how things are going, even when weighing the volume reduction.

As I Was Saying...

It's 11:38pm on a Friday, a time at which I'd normally be grinding rather than blogging. I probably will put in another session later tonight when some of the Euro crowd starts waking up - I definitely should from a volume perspective. I'm going to be lucky to hit 100k hands this month... ugh.

Earlier in the day, I put in ~6k hands and took just shy of 2k off the tables, which isn't far off from "best day ever" status. In terms of big blinds and EV, I actually ran pretty lousy, but as I talked about in the last post this month I can't hold to save my life at small stakes but absolutely can at midstakes. Today was no exception, and I played what for me is a record hand in that while it is my second largest pot ever in sheer size, it is the most money I've won in single hand by a large margin (my largest pot ever was HU stacking a whale for ~155bbs, while in the hand today I tripled up with 100bb stacks at 600NL for a net profit of 1.2k). Anyway, I'll get to some HHs below to show you what I'm talking about. First, the record hand:

The CO in this hand is a reg, while MP3 is obviously a whale. Super thrilled that I held. I think my cold 4bet here is actually pretty non-standard, but this whale was of the 90/15 variety who I just don't think was folding pre period when he had a hand he liked enough to open. The 4bet also may look a bit more like AK to the reg, with flatting perhaps appearing even stronger.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $6.00 BB (9 handed)
Hero (BB) ($600)
UTG ($630)
UTG+1 ($609)
MP1 ($414.05)
MP2 ($609)
MP3 ($1858.55)
CO ($613.50)
Button ($668)
SB ($600)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A♥, A♦
4 folds, MP3 bets $18, CO raises to $66, 2 folds, Hero raises to $132, MP3 calls $114, CO raises to $200, Hero raises to $600 (All-In), MP3 calls $468, CO raises to $613.50 (All-In), MP3 calls $13.50

Flop: ($1830) 2♠, 9♠, Q♣ (3 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($1830) 8♣ (3 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($1830) 7♠ (3 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $1830 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had A♥, A♦ (one pair, Aces).
MP3 had 6♥, 6♦ (one pair, sixes).
CO had K♦, K♣ (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: Hero won $1800, CO won $27


Another hand that demonstrates I can actually hold up at midstakes. Both villains in this hand are fish, with UTG+1 being a full blown whale. I'm really happy with my turn shove as the way the hand plays out MP1 is drawing 99% of the time and I have the whale crushed a lot.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (8 handed)
BB ($200)
UTG ($400)
UTG+1 ($439.55)
MP1 ($280.70)
MP2 ($400)
CO ($558.50)
Hero (Button) ($412)
SB ($218.80)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J♠, J♦
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $4, MP1 bets $12, 2 folds, Hero calls $12, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $8

Flop: ($42) 10♦, 7♠, 6♦ (3 players)
UTG+1 bets $12, MP1 calls $12, Hero raises to $56, UTG+1 calls $44, MP1 calls $44

Turn: ($210) 5♠ (3 players)
UTG+1 bets $28, MP1 calls $28, Hero raises to $344 (All-In), 1 fold, MP1 calls $184.70 (All-In)

River: ($663.40) J♥ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $663.40 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had J♠, J♦ (three of a kind, Jacks).
MP1 had 3♦, K♦ (high card, King).
Outcome: Hero won $660.40


Finally, a hand to illustrate how I've been running at small stakes. I won't bore you with all the other instances of getting AA in pre drawing dead vs ATC (A8o was my favorite, 888 flop obv), but one outers are always special.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, €1.00 BB (8 handed)
MP2 (€225.30)
CO (€65.55)
Button (€102.95)
Hero (SB) (€100)
BB (€100)
UTG (€65.95)
UTG+1 (€152.20)
MP1 (€80.40)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 6♥, 6♦
1 fold, UTG+1 bets €3, 3 folds, Button calls €3, Hero calls €2.50, 1 fold

Flop: (€10) 5♦, 3♦, 6♣ (3 players)
Hero bets €8.50, UTG+1 raises to €18.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to €41.50, UTG+1 raises to €149.20 (All-In), Hero calls €55.50 (All-In)

Turn: (€204) 5♠ (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: (€204) K♣ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: €204 | Rake: €2

Results:
Hero had 6♥, 6♦ (full house, sixes over fives).
UTG+1 had 5♣, 5♥ (four of a kind, fives).
Outcome: UTG+1 won €202

Aside from poker, I finished Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky for the PSP a couple days ago. It was a really good game, but definitely had enough flaws to not reach "great". It is the first game in a trilogy, and the ending did a very good job setting up the next entry. Too bad it'll probably be a year or more before it gets released. Next up on my gaming plate is FFIV:Complete Collection for the PSP. I wonder how many times I've played through FFIV in its different incarnations by now - I'd bet the over/under should be set around 10. At any rate, this remake seems to make a good thing better, so I'm happy. The arranged music is the nicest addition in my opinion.

Running Bad At The Right Stakes

If you're going to lose 9 out of 10 times with top set against a bare gutshot, lose the 9 times it's for $200 pots and win the one time it's for a $1200 one. That pretty much sums up how poker has been for me this month. Unlike last month where I ran pretty well, this month has been a lot more variance prone. The positive thus far is that holding up in a handful of midstakes pots has kept the monetary results respectable. Having the occasional FPP pro overshove AK high on the river of a 3 bet pot into your stone nuts doesn't hurt either.

It always surprises me to see how fish migrate up stakes based on the time of day on weekends. You don't find really fishy games at midstakes until the fish are chasing losses, drunk, or both. It makes sense, but an interesting phenomenon nonetheless.

I sure hope the San Jose Sharks get their shit together for Game 4, which goes down in around 9 hours. I'll probably sleep through most of it. I liked the Shark's chances heading into the series with Vancouver (probably somewhat wishful thinking on my part), but despite a Game 3 win where the Canucks seemed to beat themselves, the Sharks haven't showed up for a complete 60 minute effort yet. RIP Derek Boogaard, your fight with Eric Godard in a tilt with the Flames a few years back was epic to behold live. Oxycontin is a hell of a risky drug, as my friend who is a police officer and has to deal with trying to keep it off the street knows all too well. Boogaard's goal against the caps this year unloading a clapper on a breakaway was pretty sick, you can see it below.


I'm watching Season 2 of "The Wire" with my girlfriend currently. We just viewed the episode where *SPOILER ALERT: white text follows*
D gets murdered in prison. I'm a little pissed about it because I thought he was one of the most interesting characters on the show, plus the actor who plays him does a heck of a job. I've been told Season 2 is the weakest of the show, but it is holding our attention pretty well so far.

"As you know, the key to victory is the element of surprise. Surprise!"

Title quote courtesy of the one and only Zapp Brannigan.



I suppose it's not that funny without the visual of the floor dropping out underneath the surprised soldiers sending them into immediate battle.

I was a little surprised tonight (which is early morning for everyone on normal schedules, of course) that when I stopped by the CR forums to reply to a few strategy threads I found my video had been released hours before! This is Episode 5 in my "Full Ring: Theory and Practice" series and my 6th video overall, the other being a special feature I prepared about chasing SNE and mass multitabling efficiently in general. At any rate, since it had been ready for some time I'm glad to see it accessible, though I wasn't expecting it to be on the schedule until much later in the month. I guess I'll have to get working on an Episode 6 sooner rather than later.

Poker in May started great for about 5k hands, then turned to garbage over the next 20k on the weekend. Luckily the magnitude of the heater from the 5k was large enough that its not the end of the world. As expected, on Sunday the 1st I reached the 200k VPP milestone which netted me $2.6k bonus money. I never get tired of milestones.

I've been putting small chunks of time into Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky for the PSP, which is a really good game. It has what I'd call an older school feel, with a vibrant world that a lot of RPGs these days lack. Lots of text too, though it is localized exceptionally well so it isn't a problem. As it has finally become warm enough in Calgary to melt the snow, Tennis is back on the menu and I get to work on being a little less out of shape! Due to my metabolism I never look out of shape, but damn do my lungs tell me otherwise after a winter of close to no cardio.