Bright Side

While it is tough to get past the Pokerstars VIP changes (which stand to cost me personally ~12-15k next year if there is not compensation added), I am very happy with how the game quality has been over the past two weeks or so, particularly the last 7 days. Typically late December is the worst time of the year for game quality, as people scramble to finish up SNE/milestones. This year however, Black Friday crushed the dreams of many early on, and I get the feeling the fantastic fish:reg ratio of late has been caused more than anything by US regs either going home for the holidays or having used up their 6 months in Canada.

The result of this is that I'm having a very successful month at the tables in terms of winrate, despite running somewhat poorly.

Case in point, when someone has outs to having one out I'm in trouble at my normal stakes:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (8 handed)
UTG+1 ($100)
MP1 ($40.90)
MP2 ($100.80)
CO ($100)
Button ($67.45)
SB ($39.90)
Hero (BB) ($105.15)
UTG ($100)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5♣, 5♥
5 folds, Button calls $1, 1 fold, Hero checks

Flop: ($2.50) 9♦, 3♣, 5♦ (2 players)
Hero bets $2, Button calls $2

Turn: ($6.50) 3♥ (2 players)
Hero bets $6, Button raises to $16, Hero raises to $26, Button calls $10

River: ($58.50) 3♠ (2 players)
Hero bets $65.50, Button calls $38.45 (All-In)

Total pot: $135.40 | Rake: $3

Results:
Button had K♠, 3♦ (four of a kind, threes).
Hero had 5♣, 5♥ (full house, fives over threes).
Outcome: Button won $132.40


Fortunately for me, at midstakes I can occasionally fade bare backdoors. Pretty much the story of my year.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $6.00 BB (8 handed)
Hero (SB) ($600)
BB ($279)
UTG ($276)
UTG+1 ($526.25)
MP1 ($600)
MP2 ($711)
CO ($600)
Button ($240)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K♣, A♦
UTG calls $6, UTG+1 bets $12, MP1 calls $12, 3 folds, Hero raises to $72, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $60, 1 fold

Flop: ($168) 6♠, A♥, 6♥ (2 players)
Hero bets $117, UTG+1 raises to $454.25 (All-In), Hero calls $337.25

Turn: ($1076.50) A♣ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($1076.50) Q♣ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $1076.50 | Rake: $3

Results:
Hero had K♣, A♦ (full house, Aces over sixes).
UTG+1 had 7♠, Q♥ (two pair, Aces and Queens).
Outcome: Hero won $1073.50

I've got another 1.4k VPPs to grind for my 500k milestone bonus. I'll put in another short session tonight then finish things off tomorrow afternoon. Expect my December Review and then Yearly Review shortly.