Hey guys...guess I'll start my own one in here. I've been playing mostly MTTs lately, and after winning a mid field tourney which basically slightly more than doubled my bankroll, I started to wonder if MTTs were best for me after going on a 30 BI downswing.

I had studied cash games quite a bit to get good at deep stack play in the early stage of tournaments, and after the downswing, well I figured maybe I would shift towards cash games for a bit since they are a lot more stable even when everything goes wrong.

That being said, I currently have a $1,000 bankroll and have 40 BIs for 25NL, so I guess I could move up to 50NL now, but I only have ~ 3,000 hands of data on 25NL right now so I want to keep grinding to 30K hands or more and hopefully have at least 30 BIs for 50NL by then.

To start us off, here's the first one. Also, I know my sessions will likely be short to start...building up the endurance so to speak.

Session 1:

Hands Played: 585 (2 tables)
Hours: 3.52
C Won: $97.29
BB/100: 66.52

Notes:

Identified one competent TAG at the table, tried to avoid him without premium hands unless I had something like SCs or a small pair that I could call with IP to set mine or go for flush draws. At both tables there were 1-2 loose passive fish that I raised pretty much any time they limped, since as any calling station does they called the raise and built the pot, and pretty much just took them to value town.

I did play back at the TAGs when I saw what I thought were good spots to steal, IE calling C bet on a flop that likely missed them then betting to take the pot away on the turn if they checked.

Did notice that the button tried to blind steal against me quite a bit when I was in SB or BB, although if I was in SB I usually folded if I had junk since I've learned that position is everything. Not sure if I should be 3 betting light from blinds against these button steals more often...maybe a leak I need to plug before 50NL.

Also noticed that stealing from SB vs. BB is not so profitable if your opponent is competent since they can flat or 3 bet behind you and have position for the entire hand if you choose to play.

Did start to notice very exploitable tendencies with some of the TAGs...raised from button with ATC against blinds who had 70+ FBS stats. One seemed to overvalue hands and overextend himself which I ended up stacking off by flopping the nut boat and check calling all 3 streets.

All in all a pretty solid session, up about 4 BIs and close to 600 hands more of data. Right now overall my BB/100 is 15.74 across all 2,976 hands I have in PT4 although we'll see how that changes as I get a respectable sample size.

Session 1a:

Hands Played This Session: 382 (2 tables)
Hands Played Overall: 3,358
Hours: 2.25
C Won: $15.71
BB/100 This Session: 16.45
BB/100 Overall: 15.82

Notes:

Decided to do another short evening session today. I'm still up, so I guess that's good, but I'm pretty annoyed about a bad beat I had which basically chopped my C won in half. Had AA, and this is the second time I've gotten it all in with AA in a row that it's been cracked, and had a super loose CS go all in which is odd but I have the best starting hand so I called...yeah he jammed with about 70 BBs with 88 and hit his 8 on the flop. I didn't catch an ace. I'm starting to hate AA. I'm going to jam with it every time pre flop but feels like I always lose when I do.

Another interesting thing is I'm noticing that some players at 25 NL will really 3 bet light with garbage, although it's tough to call OOP unless you have something decent, especially when you usually whiff the flop. I lost almost a full buy in on one of my tables (was up 3 buy ins on the other table prior to losing that all in which cost me close to a buy in) which makes me wonder if I should have just ditched that table. The only reason I didn't is because the source of the loss was a very aggressive, sticky CS-type maniac who basically called and raised with everything. I was planning to trap him but just didn't happen to catch any good cards so that never materialized. I did make notes on him for future sessions, so the loss is an "investment" I guess, but eh another positive session so I can't be too negative about it.

Session 2:

Hands Played This Session: 649 (2 tables)
Hands Played Overall: 4,007
Hours: 3.40
C Won: $-58.65
BB/100 This Session: -36.15
BB/100 Overall: 7.40

Notes:

Well, this session was a blood bath. At one point I was down a little over 3 buy ins but recovered one buy in at the end of the session. Folded around to SB who min raised, I decided to defend with Q 5 and ended up being flush on flush with SB having J 2 on a flush board so I stacked him.

Otherwise it was a combination of facing really aggressive maniacs and suck outs. I did overplay AK one hand which cost me a buy in. Stupid mistake but part of the learning process...didn't believe the other guy, who had stats of a total donk, would limp then call a 2 bet with AA but yep he did.

One hand stood out in particular which kind of defined my session.

5 handed and I'm UTG with 8 9. I still don't know whether it's profitable to add high SCs into my UTG range but am open to input on this.

Anyway I make my standard 3xBB raise. Fold, fold, SB and BB both call.

Flop: 6 8 6
Pot: 9 BB

Well, not bad I figure given that it's unlikely they have a 6 or an 8 since 2 are accounted for. I'm either way ahead or way behind at this point. SB checks, BB donks into me for 4 BB. I don't want to play a huge pot with just a marginal holding so I flat and SB folds. I think folding just to one donk bet would have been too weak with what I had.

Turn: 6
Pot: 17 BB

Yeah, as you can imagine I'm pretty happy with the 3rd nuts. BB shoves for his entire remaining stack of 33.56 BB. I'm just going to take my chances that he has the last 6 or 88, since that's all that can beat me, and I call. He turns over Q 2. Total air. But the river?

River: Q
Pot: 84.12 BB

Yeah, that's how my day went. Can't win 'em all...I guess I should just be happy I didn't go on tilt and actually didn't really get angry the entire day despite just getting hosed. I guess I just got desensitized to getting screwed over from MTTs. Not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

Thought about this hand a little more and realized I mis-read, far from the 3rd nuts although pretty close if you think about range. Any pair makes a boat but JJ-AA villain probably would have 3 bet...why flat and play a premium pair OOP? The only credible hand villain could have is 99-1010, so I'm losing to 2 possible hands but I'm beating 22-77 so beating 5 other pairs. It's unlikely he has the last 6..if he has an 8 then he has 8s full which also beats me but unlikely as well.

Biggest reason I think calling the jam is correct is if he actually had 99+ or a 6 or an 8, why such a huge jam on the turn? It's going to scare away any hand you're beating whereas if you raise smaller you can encourage them to come back over the top which from villain's point of view is likely since I expressed interest in the pot already.

Also, a 3rd number coming on the board seems to be the same as a 3rd suit...great board to bluff at so your range is pretty polarized...you have total air or you have a boat or a quad. Since I'm beating at least half of the boats, and all of the air, I think the call is mandatory.

Screw it, I'll just post the graphs from now on instead of typing in the stats. I'm lazy.

Session 3:



Notes:

Well, Monday evening so I just did a short session after work on 2 tables as usual. I didn't have any motivation to do more than a couple hundred hands, and the session went well when I was thinking about stopping, so I figured it would be best to end on a good note.

Two hands really stuck out.

Hand 1:

First one I had 5 6 in BB and we're 5-handed. Fold fold, button limps for 1 BB and SB raises it up to 2 BB. I'm already half priced in so I call with my speculative hand since there's 2 people interested in the pot. Button calls and we go to the flop.

Flop: 5 A K
Pot: 6 BB

Well, not a great flop for me despite catching a piece of it, but limping on the button and min raise from SB doesn't exactly scream strength so maybe this flop missed them. SB min bets for 1 BB and we both call. I'm wondering if a small bet equates to weakness with SB...will have to make a note for later. I'm making a lot of "sm bet = weak" notes lately it seems.

Turn: 5
Pot: 9 BB

Alright, now I'm a lot more interested in the hand with my trip 5s. SB checks, I check behind because my read on button is that he'll try to take it down since no strength has been shown so far and he has position. Button bets 2 BB, SB calls and I raise it up to 5 BB. Button calls and SB folds.

River: A
Pot: 21 BB

I'm not sure how much value I can get here, button hasn't shown a lot of strength, but I have the 3rd nuts with 5s full of aces so I'm definitely betting. I bet 10.4 BB into the pot and button goes all in for his remaining 15.48 BB. I'm getting such insane pot odds I have to call.

It seemed unlikely he had an ace anyway, giving him the nuts, since I would think since the turn looks like a brick he would have bet bigger around 1/2 pot or maybe a bit higher. He flips over A T and scoops the pot. Yeah, it sucked, but getting like 9:1 odds with the 3rd nuts I'm always making that call so I don't feel bad about it at all.

It's tough though because having an ace in hindsight is the only card that makes sense for that play. I raised it up on the turn, and then bet half pot on river, so he's gotta be thinking I have more than a pair. Would he have limped with AK or KK? Unlikely and KK is the 2nd nuts so its beating me anyway. Especially given how prone players are to playing Ax, I dunno, what are your thoughts on the river? Would love to hear input.

Hand 2:

On this table I was on a great run of cards. Picked up K K in SB and we're 5-handed again. One player had posted a penalty blind of 1.4 BB so the pot started out a bit bigger. UTG folds, the penalty blind player checks in cutoff, button raises it up to 4.8 BB (thanks for raising it up so much bud I appreciate that) and I 3-bet to 10.4 BB. BB folds as does cutoff and button calls for another 5.6 BB.

Flop: Q 6 7
Pot: 23.2 BB

Not too bad of a flop. If he has 67, 66, 77, QQ or AA I'm beaten but otherwise I'm doing well. I can safely toss AA out since he probably would have 4 bet me. Calling a 3-bet in position with 67s, 66 or 77 isn't a play someone with his stats (mega fish) would make so I'm not terribly worried about that since I'm guessing he has a "pretty hand" like AQs or KQs.

Still, there are some draws out there if he has two spades, 45 or 89 so I'm charging him a healthy amount to draw if that's what he's doing. I bet 20 BB and he calls.

Turn: 2
Pot: 63.2 BB

Total brick. My game plan has not changed, but for psychological reasons even though he only has 17.76 BB behind and I have 100+, I don't want to jam and scare him off so I just bet 20 BB even though it's the same thing. Fish don't know that though and fish are going to be fish (we hope). He calls for his last 17.76 BB.

River: 2
Pot: 98.72 BB

What did he have you wonder?