Tonight's session...

Boobie Lover · #1 10-18-06, 02:54 AM

I won $1K for the day, although I did lose a 3K pot as a 73% favorite and KK lost to AKo all-in preflop for another 2k. I guess I should not be disappointed in winning a thousand dollars playing a silly game in one day, but it is frustrating.

Talking Poker · #2 10-18-06, 11:26 AM

I hear that. But, in theory, for every time that we lose pots like you described, we should win three more of them... In theory.

Here's something else that is frustrating me... With approximately 10,000 hands played this month (hey - that was my goal!), I should have been dealt AA around 45 times. I've seen that hand just 30 times, less than ANY other pair. It's my highest Average Per Hand hand, so it would be nice to see it a bit more often.

Meanwhile, my biggest loser for the month is AKo. Maybe I'm playing it wrong (this is quite possible), but it would be nice to hit a flop with that stupid hand ONCE IN A WHILE (and still wi nthe hand). I swear, I either miss the flop and my CB gets check raised, or I hit the flop and someone sucks out, or I hit the flop and someone else hit it harder. It's uncanny.

I'm a winner for the month, so like you said, I shouldn't complain too much, but come on. Down $2700+ with AKo??? My next worst hand is J9o - down just $1000.

GTDawg · #3 10-18-06, 11:48 AM

Could you post several AK hands? I'd like to see some discussion on the way you (and others) play it.

I've seen half a dozen "theories" on how to play it from pushing allin pre-flop, to playing it like 45 and only going strong when you hit extremely hard.

Talking Poker · #4 10-20-06, 02:01 AM

I just now noticed this post. I can probably dig some up for you, but considering how badly I get my ass kicked with the hand, I'm not sure what purpose it would serve... I'll honestly attribute most of my losings with it to bad variance, but I'm still probably not playing it ideally.

Talking Poker · #5 10-25-06, 02:50 AM

I'm not going to post graphs every night (don't worry), but tonight's was pretty crazy.

I played 1001 hands. Overall, I ran WELL BELOW average, which is extremely encouraging.

In the middle of the graph, note me getting stacked THREE TIMES in the span of about 6 minutes - all at the same table and ALL with overpairs losing to overpairs that were one better. That was a first for me.

Right before the nice spike upwards is when I started 5 tabling. I usually only play 4. I wasn't on tilt or anything - just saw some good tables and felt like getting more hands in. I have to say, I liked it. I think it FORCED me to focus more and play just a hair tighter.

I stacked a guy when I flopped a set and worked my way from a session low of down $2000 all the way up to $900ish to the good. In my last two orbits, I lost a couple of big hands. The big drop was my AJ vs AA - I flopped top two pair and he flopped top set and didn't raise ONCE until the turn - not even preflop with two other players in the hand. And my final hand of the night - literally with me sitting out of all the other tables and UTG, I had AQs and the flop came Qxx. I called his reraise preflop in position (maybe a mistake), and then called his flop bet... I folded when he shoved on the turn, SURE he had KK..... and he did. So even though I lost $300ish on the hand, I was happy with how I played it.

Anyway, after all this rambling, the moral of the story is that after one hell of a roller coaster ride, I finished up $40.60 for the night. LOL - I probably earned that much in rakeback!!!

lightfungus · #6 10-25-06, 04:28 AM

Glad you fought your way back above the water line. It's always nice to finish in the green.

Kurn · #7 10-25-06, 09:44 AM

Its a tough hand to play because we tend to overvalue it.

Preflop, if you (or your main opponent) are not short-stacked, getting all-in preflop is thin +EV/high variance. If you don't have enough in front of you to maneuver postflop, then getting it all in the middle preflop is optimal.

If you do have a reasonable stack, try to isolate, but if you can't - try to keep the pot small.

Postflop, your play is dependent on position, number(and tendencies of) of oppoenents and flop texture. If 2 of the 3 are not favorable, don't CB and prepare to cut your losses right there.