My first Ever Blog

Keep the grinding going

2008-12-12T22:46:00.001-08:00

So I put in a nice session today, a little over 1,000 hands.

I think I am playing awesome poker. I pick the good games, I play a TAG strat and I have done well. Picked up a big pot when I raised from the CO with 75ss and the BB min 3bet me (his stats were 50/40 over something like 50 hands). I call. Flop comes 693 rainbow. BB bets out the 2.50 (there was about 5 in the pot. I raise to 7.50 (my stack: ~50, his:~30). I saw this guy play, and he tried to showdown when he had to big pair, so I knew if I spiked, he would stack off. Turn, 4. Bink! He bets out 1/2 pot, I flat. River is a blank. He ships, I call, he shows KK.

For the rest of the session, I can't remember any huge hands, I just grinded up and picked good spots. My BR as of now is 733 right now. I want to get it to 1,000 by the end of the month, which I think is very possible.

Non-poker:
I am going into Cleveland tomorrow to see Lauren and be with her family, besides that, nothing too interesting is going on. I had an online session on a friday night, wow. I'm a degen.

-Ryan

Grinding some more $25 NL

2008-12-11T02:14:00.000-08:00

Well after the weekend, I decided that I would throw in another decent session of $25 NL today, which I think I played well and ran even better. In the first big hand I had, I raise from UTG +1 with JJ to 1.00. Button flats. SB cold calls as well, and we go three to the flop. Flop comes: Js 7s Ah. SB bets out 2.50. I raise to 7.50 and then the button ships his 23 into the pot. SB, who had about 28 when the hand started ships, and I ship. turn comes 4h. river 3d. SB has set 7s and button has 98ss. Ship the about 80 pot to me. After that, I cracked KK with QJcc after flopping the flush. This hand, the villain played it horrible! I raise from the CO to 1.00 with an effective stack of about 30 (villain has about 25 as well). Villain min 3bets me from the BB and I call with position hoping to strike big. Flop comes 10 9 2, all clubs! binkage there. He bets out 2. I raise up to 10, he ships. I fade the 4th club. Ship the pot over. Then the last hand of my awesome heater was where I flopped a flush with AQcc when the board came: Jc 10c 5c. I bet. Villain overships for 25. I snap. turn is the Kc!!!!! river hits another 10. Villian had 55 =).

Besides the heater though, I did play actually well. I made a couple nice squeeze plays. I'm really starting to try to exploit position a lot better lately. I also have been laying down hands that I used to play quite regularly, but realized that it is not profitable at all.

With that, I need to do a few things. I still need to work on not spewing off chips in a bluff, though I have been doing better at that. I also need to get a headset so I can set up skype and start getting more help with people from FCP. With that, I have to put in more volume! I'm only at about 2k hands, and I wanted to put in about 20-30k hands this month, but I don't think I should panic because it is still early in the month and I can still put in a ton of volume.

Another thing that I need to do in relation with poker is to play more 4.40s. I entered the challenge, but have not been able to get anything going in those. I seem to just stay at the middle of the pack for the majority of it, and then when we get down to about 40 or so people, I lose a major flip or get coolered. I know that I have to change my attitude on these tournys because I'm in the challenge, but it just gets frustrating. I think if I stay focused with them, I will be able to start doing better and with that, have a decent showing in the challenge. What I think I might do is play 2 tables of $25nl and play a 4.40 with it, just so I'm doing something and not spewing my chips away in the 4.40

Non poker stuff:
I am realizing how much it sucks to be away from Lauren like this. I mean, we do still see eachother a good amount, but it still isn't the same. Like, during the summer, after we would get off work, we would meet and get something to eat and talk about how we had to serve shitty people all night. I miss doing that. Also, I can tell that she is even more stressed because her family is such a stressful family that she has no release from it and in a way gets engulfed by it. When I was in Cleveland, she had a somewhat escape from it; now, it is always there. The only good thing about the distance is that when we do spend time together it makes it even better. (yeah yeah, I know that is corny, but fuck you people =P).

With this, I think I'm going to get some shut eye. I have to work at 2 and then I'm probably going to put in a ton of volume.

-Ryan

Moved up to the Land of $25 NL

2008-12-06T14:02:00.000-08:00

So I haven't blogged for a while and thought that I definitely need to get one in here seeing that I have officially dedicated myself to playing $25NL for my cash game. I think I have been getting a better understanding of the game from here. One of my big hands was where I was in the CO with 89ss. Action was folded around, so I made a standard 1.00 raise. everyone folds to the BB who calls (he was running like 40/17). flop came out Ah 6s 3s. BB checked to me, and I threw a cbet of 1.75 and he snap called. At this point I really didn't know where I stood and wasn't planning on putting a bet in unless I turned the flush. Turn hit the 10s. Villain leads for 4, at this point I put villain on a big ace and I just flat the turn. River was the 7s (woot woot). Villain ships and I snap off for a nice 40 buck pot.

I have been playing a lot of Mtts as well and thinking I have been playing well in them, though I seem to be getting bored and lose focus in the midstages. I definitely need to get better with that and keep focus throughout if I want to FT one of these someday.

Last night I get a little drunk and got online to see Aimhigher online. Him and I talk a lot about strategy and poker. He said he wanted to get back into mtts, so I threw him a stake to the $11 buyin 5k gtd tourny and he finished 12th, shipping me about 50 bucks. My BR right now stands at 599.48 which is awesome. I definitely want to get that up to about 1,000 here this month and think if I get more help, I can definitely accomplish that!

Non-poker stuff:
Today is my mom's annual Christmas party which is usually a good time. I have a few of my closest friends and my girlfriend here and get drunk and have a damn good time with all my parents friends. We seem to be a huge dysfunctional family (lol).

The girlfriend and I have been apart for a bit of time because of break. I decided to come back to my parents place in Willard and she stays in Cleveland. It just sucks not being able to see her as much as I usually do and we seem to argue a bit more now because of it, though tomorrow we are going to Athens to party and see about her house that got broken into. So that should be fun

I think thats all....I will be back later this week talking about my sessions.

-Ryan

Another Session, doing decent again.

2008-10-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

So I started a 3table $10 NL session. Though I have been playing nitty, I think I have been playing pretty solid. There was a hand where I had 66 in the SB and a guy in MP raise to 40. I flat b/c his stats were pretty TAGish about 24/15 over about 80 hands or so. Flop comes out 245 rainbow. I lead out for .90, and villain flats. At this time I was thinking he might of had mid PP as well. Turn comes out is a 7, I lead out for 2 and villain flats again. At this point I'm kind of confused and I really had no plan going to the river. The river comes out is another 4. I think and decide to throw a block bet of 2.75 out there. He tanks and then raises to 6.25. At this point I think he is slowplaying a set, so decide just to let it go, I don't know, I think I played it too aggro and should have just let off after the flop, but I don't know. So now my roll is up to $230 and I just got to keep playing my game and I think good things can come of it.

Non poker related stuff. My girlfriend and I are leaving Athens tonight to go back home for the weekend. I think it is a good thing since there has been some rough times here lately, and we just need to get a weekend away from school. We have been dating for about 6 1/2 months. We are going to see Harland Williams in Cleveland and we are excited. I think a weekend of being sober and just us will help a lot.

Hopefully I can keep improving and keep moving up in the world, my goal is still to get up to $500. Everyone has been helping me out, lets keep it up

Alright, I need to pack

-Ryan

My first ever poker blog

2008-10-22T19:09:00.000-07:00

So alright, this month I deposited a nice $100 dollars to try to build a bankroll. My main problem with building a bankroll is that I haven't been sticking to strict bankroll management, but I am going to keep it up. I have this blog because I have finally doubled my bankroll. I started off nice with some final tables of 2.20 180 sngs. My best finish was 2nd for a nice 72 dollars. I owed my buddy money, so I transferred him the money to try to build a roll. I kept playing .02/.05 blinds and been told by a few FCPer's that my BR is enough where I can play $10NL comfortably. So I started playing it, and I must say, that I play pretty aggressive and I think it has helped me tremendously. I'm going to keep playing $10NL until I get to a roll of $500. The one thing I definitely need to do is stop overplaying hands. I had a hand where I had tens on the button. The BB had been 3betting me when I would raise on the CO or button, but I never showed a hand down with him. so its folded around to me, and I make it .40, SB folds, and button makes it 1.20. I flat call, thinking that his range of hands was AJ+, 88+. I had a stack of 34, he had about 12 before the hand started. The flop came out 875 rainbow. BB bets out 1.70 and this is where I made my mistake. I thought that if he had 88, he would have checked it to my aggression, so I cut out that hand, not giving him credit for a higher pocket pair. I raise him to 4.50 and he flats. Then turn is another 7, he checks, and I spew out a shove, he tanks and calls with AA. GG me. But I still had about 20 dollars. I felted the same guy with flopping nut straight. I raise from the button with JTs, he flats (same villain) flop comes AKQ rainbow. he bets, I raise, he 3 bets, I shovel. I fade a pairing of the board I end up for the session. I'm going to keep this blog thing going.

I need to get better at going with 4 tables of cash. I'm out for now.
-Ryan