2020's ChuckM's Poker Blog

[Chuck M]

sesh #15, March 10th

I think I’m about to go busto

Went to play last night

3rd shuffle, 4 limps
I bumped it up to 14 in SB with AJ, one call

Flop (30)
T85
Chk chk

Turn (30)
A
I bet 17, he calls

River (64)
3
I check, he bets 25, I call
He shows AQ, nh

…

I won a bunch of small pots

Flopped a set in a limped pot with 33
Rivered a boat on 3x4x4
Made about 15 bucks

Flopped top set with JJ, no action

Opened KK, x/c a 789 flop
Then we checked down to the river on
7895T, my KK were good

In a straddled pot with a limp or 2, i raised AA to 21, got a call
Flop J33, he folded to my $25 cbet

I was back to even, even a little bit in the profits…

But i also lost a lot of small posts
-Called with sc in position, didn’t hit.
Or hit a draw, call a steet and fold turn.
-Setmine don’t hit
-Open QJ miss, or peal one street with 2nd pair and had to fold turn.

When i was down to 150 i told myself i was just a pot away to get back even.

Then @ 100, i guess i should’ve left, but oh well, was about to, just one more orbit, anyway, i had to leave, was almost 00:30…

Then I opened ATo in ep (should’ve folded, if I follow JL’s charts, yup it’s a fold)
But…

So i open for pot ($7) (too small, but sometimes, it’s enough to get hu or 3way to a flop)…
Anyway, i 7, 5 calls

Flop (42)
QJ5hh
Checked around

Turn (42)
Xx
Guy leads $2, everyone called

River (54)
Kh
I bet 25, folded to btn who snaps 50, back to me…

I must’ve folded. That snap min raise is always gonna be value, and i got a bluff catcher with my nut straight. I mean, of course i get value vs pairs and 2pair combos, but he’d flat with that…

On the other hand, i said to myself had he had a flush draw, he could’ve taken the lead on the flop and/or raise the turn.

Called, he showed 72hh
Nh,
Cashed out for $30

Now, i don’t really know what to do….
I’m down to my very last bullet in my “roll”, i shouldn’t be playing anymore. Or maybe a $60 tourney once or twice a month and hope for a good score.

I study pretty much everyday, i just don’t understand why i can’t win. I watch videos, vlogs, but also educational stuff, I use an app to practice range vs range equity, calculating combos, the equity value of a bet or call, best lines, best sizings, etc…
I used to be a winner (got the numbers for my 10 years of play). But it just doesn’t seem to work. I mean, i think i got the knowledge, but for some reason, i keep losing.
I guess “repping” ranges, betting post flop with range advantage, putting pressure when villain’s range is capped, those concepts just don’t apply to live 1/2. I used to do well when i first started, maybe that’s cause i was instinctively playing exploitative poker (and that’s the way to win at 1/2).

I guess i need a break to reinject money from my job into my poker bankroll. Maybe I’ll seek a poker coach (i actually think i’d like that).
I also ordered a book recently about exploitative play, can’t wait to read it.

Or maybe it’s just variance. Had i had a proper roll, I could play without fear, i could use bigger sizings, i could 3 barrell bluff, i could “hero call”.
And maybe 5-6 buyins isn’t an abnormal downswing. It represents a lot when my whole roll was 5-6 buyins, but had i had 20-30 buyins, that wouldn’t be that bad.
I just don’t get why i only win 30% of my sessions, and as for this year, never more than 65bb profit…
I guess that’s still a short sample, over 6-12 months that’ll balance and i might easily end up even or better…

We’ll see

– – –
2020 so far :
– 15 cash sessions / 49 hours / down 1044 (98 in tips)
– 5 tournaments / 20 hours / down 341 (1 itm, 1 bubble)

[Chuck M]

Quanrantine Updates

So… can’t play live no more :/

I used to play a lot of online poker between 2008-2013/4, but not so much anymore. I thought that the time was good to get back on the virtual tables.

I’m from Montreal, and the Quebec casinos have an online network as well. I had an account on there, but never deposited yet. I decided to give it a shot. Seems soft. I then got the idea to do a bankroll challenge.

I deposit $30 on there, play a little 4NL and see how it goes. Looking to play eventually (soon, hopefully) some 10NL and PLO. I’d like to eventually play 20 and 30NL, but that’s for another time. I played two small sessions before the start of my challenge, won about 8 or 9 dollars. So my roll was about 38 by the beginning of my challenge.

So, I’m now starting my 3rd week, and here’s a little summary of my previous 2 weeks.

I don’t have precise objectives, I plan to play 1000 hands a week, maybe 5k hands a month. Gotta say I’m playing on an old laptop with no tracker, single monitor, so, I’m 4 tabling at max. (used to play 8-10 tables on 2 screens, but that’s another era)

WEEK 1.
3.28.2020 ; 119 hands +0.08 (after being down 2.50)
3.29.2020 ; 310 hands -0.070 (after being down 2.50)
3.31.2020 ; 230 hands +9.42. Plus, I flopped a royal flush worth 23.68 in high hand bonus jackpot, yay! My roll is now doubled, haha
4.2.2020 ; 238 hands +3.29
4.3.2020 ; 121 hands -2.95
4.4.2020 ; 312 hands +1.70 (after being down $3)

1330 hands, +10.84 / 23.68 in bonus = +34.52
—
WEEK 2.
4.6.2020 ; 147 hands -7.11 lost KK vs J9 in 3bet pot on TQ5T8, and 66 vs 87 all-in turn on 56J48
4.8.2020 ; 403 hands +0.90 (after being down $5)
4.9.2020 ; 236 hands -8.61 Played 20 min of 5 card stud HU and had a blast! I played once on Full Tilt and didn’t enjoy it really much, but now, wow, I really liked it, value betting K high on 2-3 streets was awesome… Saw a guy waiting on a table, joined him, and he left after 20 min, I took him a little over 2 bucks (not much, 4 big bets). Then I switched to NLHE. Lost 2 buy-ins (one with AA vs 96 in a 6bet pot all-in preflop (board ran 8TJQx) top2 vs bottom set, had to fold KK on flop after I 3b pre… shitty session overall. I then logged on Stars to play a bit of 8-game. Had fun, started losing a little bit, then won it back, but dropped again, and quit down $12.
4.10.2020 ; 377 hands +9.61 (after being down 2 buy-ins)

1388 hands, -17.48
Total : 2718 hands, -6.64 (23.68 bonus) = +17.04

(first sesh of week 3 ended up +$10, but that’s for next saturday’s blog entry)

[Chuck M]

Online Bankroll Challenge : WEEK 3

Yeah, it went well this week :

13 : 245 hands, +10.09
14 : 243 hands, -3.38
15 : 291 hands, +0.86
16 : 461 hands, +4.44 (includes a $5 win for a 1st place finish in a $10 prizepool freeroll, yeah!)
17 : 202 hands, +4.04

And, I made a little graph illustrating my progression. It’s from the last 3 weeks, so, since 1st session ’till today

Week 3 : 1442 hands, +$16.05
–
Total : 4160 hands, +$9.41 (23.68 in bonus) = +$33.09

My roll on that room is around $87 now. So I’m getting to the 100 soon and there’s when I’m planning to take some shots at 10NL. I’ll set myself rules… Probably let’s say, I play 1 table (of 4) on 10NL and the rest will be 4NL. If I win on my 10NL table, I’ll be able to do the same on the following session, if not, I’ll have to get back to 4/4 tables of 4NL. Either for a session or until my next winning session. Then, when I’ll be around 150, I’ll see, I’ll either play 1/4 tables on 10NL every session, or, I’ll do the same principle but with 2 tables instead of one. Anyway, I’ll confirm the rule then. Also, there’s no PLO under 0.05/0.10 on the room I play, so, that’s another cool thing about getting closer to playing 10NL (an “10PL”)

I know 10 buy-ins is a short bankroll management, but I’m just killing time while live poker isn’t available. Plus, I’ve played plenty of those limits in the past, and I know I’m capable of dropping limits if I face a downswing. And this challenge is a little bit more of an experiment than a real way for me to get back to the online grinder I used to be ;p … but who knows where it’s gonna get me 🙂

[Chuck M]

well, for some reason the graph wont show, dunno why…

[Chuck M]

Online Bankroll Challenge : WEEK 4

another good week, well, was about even until the last session
19 : 206 hands, -4,43
20 : 245 hands, +5,09
21 : 195 hands, -2,67 (after being up a buy-in)
22 : 136 hands, +0,01 (after being down a buy-in)
23 : 104 hands, +2,82
25 : 190 hands, +10,06

/graph here would be cool/ ;p

Week 4 : 1076 hands, +$10,88
Total : 5236 hands, +$20,29 ($23,68 in bonus) = +$43,97

I successfully played 5k hands this month (well, since the beginning of my challenge). Pretty happy with that. I’m a couple bucks away to officially open a table of 10NL, will do this week.

[Chuck M]

Online Bankroll Challenge : Little Update

Yeah, so first session of week 5, I won $15, that makes my roll go over $100 (112)
So I’m ready to take some shots at 10NL. I wanted to expose my rules here before start playing.

1. Play only one table of 10NL within my 4 (or 5… or 6) tables total.
2. Win : repeat next session
3. Loss : drop to 4NL until another winning session.

After that, let’s say my roll goes :
over $150, I’ll play 2 tables of 10NL
over $200, I’ll play 3 tables of 10NL
over $250, I’ll play only 10NL on all my tables (probably 4 tables max at a time)

Rules 2 and 3 stay the same untill I get to $300 (30 buy-ins). Then, I’ll see… Maybe take a shot @ 20NL, I’ll think about it.

I’m aware this is an “aggressive” bankroll management, but I think the room I play on, the games are softer than what I’ve been used to play. Also, in case of a solid downswing, I can always get back to a more “conservative” roll management.

[Chuck M]

Online Bankroll Challenge : WEEK 5

Super happy with my week, started to touch a bit of 10NL :

04/26 : 156 hands of 4NL, +$15.12
04/27 : 310 hands mix of 4NL/10NL, -$5 (won 0.46 in bonus, a guy made a straight flush on my table)
04/28 : 300 hands of 4NL, +$1.25
04/30 : 212 hands mix of 4NL/10NL, +$3.19
05/01 : 245 hands mix of 4NL/10NL, +$10.88

Week 5 : 1223 hands, +$24.98 ($0.46 in bonus) = +$25.44
Total : 6459 hands, +$45.27 ($24.14 in bonus) = +$69.41

[Chuck M]

Online Bankroll Challenge : WEEK 6

Urgh… here’s how to spoil a whole week in a single session… :

05/03 : 4NL-10NL, 214 hands, -3.51 (nut flush vs set all-in on turn, riv boat / AA<QQ aipf)
05/05 : 4NL, 140 hands, +2.78
05/06 : 4NL-10NL, 207 hands, +4.56 (I make a sick -and correct- fold (trips folded to a fullhouse))
05/08 : 4NL-10NL, 236 hands, +5.01
05/09 : 4NL-10NL, 693 hands, -9.34 (shitty session, AA<JJ aipf, had to fold postflop AA, KK, QQ, flopped set) I guess it could’ve been worse

Week 6 : 1490 hands, -$0.50
Total : 7949 hands, +$44.77 ($24.14 in bonus) = +$68.91

[Chuck M]

Online Bankroll Challenge : WEEK 7

Yeah, nice week. Actually, not that impressive, but still, a winning week, I’ll take it.
Broke even pretty much till the last sesh.

12 : 201 hands of 4NL, +0.02 (lol)
13 : 196 hands of 4NL-10NL, +0.93
14 : 263 hands of 4NL-10NL, -0.87
15 : 284 hands of 4NL-10NL, +0.35 (oops, forgot to look at the previous sesh result, so I played some 10NL even tho I had a losing session previously)
16 : 293 hands of 4NL-10NL, +3.82

Week 7 : 1237 hands, +$4.25
Total : 9186 hands, +$49.02 (and $24.14 in bonuses) = +$73.16

[Chuck M]

Online Bankroll Challenge : WEEK 8

Oh yeah, another good week. Looking forward for the next milestone, which is gonna be 2 tables of 10NL out of my 4-5 total tables.

Here’s this week’s results :

17 : 4-10NL, 286 hands, +4.82
19 : 4-10NL, 223 hands, -6.31
20 : 4NL, 207 hands, +6.70
21 : 4-10NL, 235 hands, +4.02
23 : 4-10NL, 219 hands, +2.48

Week 8 : 1170 hands, +$11.71 (a penny per hand!)
Total : 10,356 hands, +$60.73 ($24.14 in bonus) = +$84.87

So, I reached the 10K hands bar. I kinda wanted to have a look at my winrate, but it’s kinda hard since I don’t use a tracker, so I can really determine how many hands I played on my different limits. If I take my winnings at the table (not counting the bonuses), I got 0.59$/100, that would be almost 15bb/100 @ 4NL. But as I said, I played a portion of 10NL as well… And, 10K hands online, is still a tiny sample. But just for fun, since all of this challenge is kind of for fun, that’s a fun stat to look at. Also, I counted 42 sessions played, 30 up, 12 down, that’s a 71% winning session rate. Pretty happy with that… I wish I’d have similar results for my live 1/2, haha
Anyway, I’ll take a look at those numbers again on the next 10k hands

[Chuck M]

Online Bankroll Challenge : WEEK 9

Yeah! Good week. Even though I didn’t play a lot. But i have been super busy doing my taxes. I also run, usually an average of 23k a week, and this week, due to my busy-ness, i ran only 5.

But I’m happy nonetheless, cause it’s been a nice winning week, getting me to the 2nd milestone, a 150 roll, allowing me to play 2 tables of 10nl out of my 4-5 total

25 : 233 hands, 4-10NL : +8.49
(including 3.44 in bonus, since twice in my sesh, a guy made a straight flush on one of my tables) (not the same guy nor same table)

29 : 193 hands, 4-10NL : +2.13

30 : 253 hands, 4-10NL : +5.30

Week 9 : 679 hands, +$12.47 (+3.44 in bonus) = +$15.91
Total : 11 035 hands, +$73.20 (+$27.58 in bonus) = +$100.78

[Chuck M]

Online Bankroll Challenge : WEEK 10

yeah, good week this week.

06/01 : 119 hands of 4-10NL, +6.38
06/04 : 307 hands of 4-10NL, +9.95
06/05 : 625 hands of 4-10NL, -3.37
06/06 : 167 hands of 4NL, +0.99 (lost $3 on the very last hand KJ vs QQ on QT7A7, all-in on the turn)

Found out how to insert a graph 🙂

Week 10 : 1218 hands, +$13.95
Total : 12 253 hands, +$87.15 (+$27.58 in bonus) = +$114.73

[Chuck M]

Online Bankroll Challenge : WEEK 11

Played a bunch of hands but I got a so-so week. Nonetheless, I end it up a bit above even, that’s not so bad. But I kinda ran bad during my last two sessions.

06/07 : 325 hands of 4-10NL, +6.64
06/09 : 188 hands of 4-10NL, +5.21
06/10 : 322 hands of 4-10NL, -6.13 (cold deck)
06/12 : 513 hands of 4NL, -3.95 (AA<KK allin on turn on 2664K / AQ<77 on xAA7K / AK<TT on A6789)
oh well, that kind of sesh… kind of happy I wasn’t down more than that!

WEEK 11 : 1348 hands, +$1.77
TOTAL : 13,601 hands, +$88.92 (+27.58 in bonus) = +$116.50

[Chuck M]

Online Bankroll Challenge : Week 12

Urh… played only 3 sessions this week 1000 hands achieved tho. Started well then I lost all my winnings on the last sesh, not the first time (and probably not the last one either).

06-14 : 182 hands of 4NL (since previous session was a loss) : +$7.24
06-17 : 328 hands of 4-10NL : +$1.22
06-20 : 511 hands of 4-10NL : -$7.90 –> lost a bunch with AK vs 77 on 887K3. Dropped down quite short, 35bb, I iso potsize after a bunch of limps with AQ, one call, I shoved flop 766ss for a potsize. V tank-called with 33 turn 3, riv A, nice… Those were my biggest lost pots, but there was a bunch of JJ pfr, then fold to a dbet on flop AQx… KK on J74r, V raise my cbet I call, turn pair J, he leads for pot, gotta fold. That kinda session… anyway, that could’ve been worse I guess. At least I end up the week a tiny bit in the green…

Week 12 : 1021 hands, +$0.56
Total : 14.622 hands, +$89.48 (+27.58 in bonus) = +117.06

[Chuck M]

Online Bankroll Challenge : Weeks 13 and 14

Two weeks in one post, today. Forgot to write a blog for my last week’s sessions. Didn’t have time to play much either.

<u>Week 13</u> : 593 hands, profit of $5.98
Well, I certainly played more than that, probably close to 1000. Those 594 hands are from two sessions of cash game I played on OkPoker. I also played two sit and go’s on Stars on my cellphone.

<u>Week 14</u> : 439 hands, loss of $1.57 (won 1.03 in bonus)
at one point I was down 8.50, but I managed to grind it back to almost even. Feels quite good. Lost AJ < A6, lost QJ in a preflop allin called by 53, hits a pair. I also overplayed a set on a KT86x board, in a multiway, with lots of action on the river, lost vs two straights.
And finally, maybe I played tired or idk, never happens to me, but I missread my hand. I was sure I had 76, played the whole hand like so.
board was 76K7x. I bet bet bet, villain called down, and tanked a little bit on the river before calling me with K2… I actually had J6… oops…
Someone caught a straight flush on one of my tables, so that was worth $1.03 for me, yay!

No graph this time, not on my desktop computer, will do next week

Week 13 : 593 hands, +$5.98
Week 14 : 439 hands, -1.57 (+1.03 in bonus)
Total : 15 654 hands, +92.86 (+28.61 in bonus) = +$121.47

I didn’t played 1000 hands for my last 2weeks (and I think it wasn’t the first time) but I still have over 15k hands in 14 weeks, so it works… 🙂

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