Keeping Warm in Winter

[AAroddersAA]

120K hands at 25nl is decent volume and worth about 1k a year rakeback on a euro site offering a decent rakeback deal. Some 50% deals still available (I can point you to a decent affiliate). Playing this volume on Stars is -EV. 

You need to consider more than the number of hands though. Looking at what this amount of hands will actually get you from Pokerstars.

12K hands will generate about 1500VPP per month , with Silverstar this equates to 2250FPP
So annually I will make around 27000FPP
Looking at this in it"s most basic form if I exchange this directly for cash it is worth $300
If I exchange it for tournament tickets it is worth around $425
I would also earn $200 in Stellar rewards

So at first glance you are making about twice as much per hand on ipoker.

Pokerstar"s averages about 70 hands/hour and ipoker about 50. So playing 6 tables you will play 420 hands on Pokerstars and 300 hands on ipoker per hour. When I last played on ipoker playing 6 tables was not that easy (although is has now changed and tables can be re-sized, but on "Stars it is a piece of cake). I am still not convinced that it is as easy to multi-table on ipoker. Pokerstars also offers VIP freerolls (ipoker may also do this I don"t know).

So from a rakeback point of view, it probably is -EV but not by much and you are getting far better software and a server that basically never goes down or drops the connection. It is also much easier to Multi-table and the traffic is FAR better (you can literally play any time night or day - this is not true of ipoker).

[TheSnapper]

You need to consider more than the number of hands though. Looking at what this amount of hands will actually get you from Pokerstars.

12K hands will generate about 1500VPP per month , with Silverstar this equates to 2250FPP
So annually I will make around 27000FPP
Looking at this in it"s most basic form if I exchange this directly for cash it is worth $300
If I exchange it for tournament tickets it is worth around $425
I would also earn $200 in Stellar rewards

So at first glance you are making about twice as much per hand on ipoker.

Pokerstar"s averages about 70 hands/hour and ipoker about 50. So playing 6 tables you will play 420 hands on Pokerstars and 300 hands on ipoker per hour.

Where do you get these hourly figures from, it"s a very interesting point if the numbers are reliable. But you might also consider that Stars charge about 8% more rake per 100 hands.

When I last played on ipoker playing 6 tables was not that easy (although is has now changed and tables can be re-sized, but on "Stars it is a piece of cake). I am still not convinced that it is as easy to multi-table on ipoker. Pokerstars also offers VIP freerolls (ipoker may also do this I don"t know).

It seems you haven"t played on ipoker in quite some time then. You can comfortably 6 table on there now (Mr Magoo and his extended family excepted of course)

So from a rakeback point of view, it probably is -EV but not by much and you are getting far better software and a server that basically never goes down or drops the connection. It is also much easier to Multi-table and the traffic is FAR better (you can literally play any time night or day - this is not true of ipoker).

Stars provide far better software of course but ipoker is very useable just the same. I have played many hours on ipoker this year and haven"t dropped connection ever so not sure how or why you get the impression that it"s a relevent point. Star"s traffic is definately better but so is the general standard of play so I suspect you pay small but not insignificant premium in expected winrate, that said I doubt very much you will have any problem loading sufficient tables on ipoker at the times you want to play. Traffic can drop post 3am but I suspect that won"t be your preferred playing time.

Just my twopeneth, good luck at the tables and please keep up the excellent blogging.

[AAroddersAA]

Your twopeneth is always more than welcome in this thread Brendan and I am always happy to have it.

I will take another look at ipoker then as it is likely to have improved a lot since I have properly last tried it, way back when Blonde had a cardroom on there. Will start of on Pokerstars though, if I like ipoker I can change. If you could PM me your affiliate it would be helpful and if you want, your name on there to ensure you get any refferal bonus due.

Have a great new year and hope to see more of your thoughts in the new year.

[AAroddersAA]

Aims and Objective in Poker for January

Play 15K NLHE hands at $25nl on Pokerstars
Play 1K PLO hands on Pokerstars
Play 30 180 Man sit n go"s
Investigate ipoker as an alternative to Pokerstars
Play APAT Online tournaments on 14/01/2012
Play good disciplined poker all month playing only at the correct times to do so.

Worked over the Christmas period (had just Christmas Day off since 19/12/2011). At times I thought this was a really bad idea but woke up this morning and realized it was in fact a great idea - I now have 10 days off. I am planning to use this time to get on with smashing up poker in 2012. I am busy most of the day tomorrow but might be able to sneak a few hands in, in the morning. The have to watch the darts final on Monday, but have plenty of the day free to grind, can play in the morning on Wednesday before going off to Bath in the afternoon to watch Newport County destroy Bath City. I have Thursday and Friday free so should be able to make a really good start to those goals (although hopefully work will be ringing me to discuss a new role that is coming up within the company at some point). Will keep this blog updated each day with hopefully interesting stuff about how I am doing, hands I think I have played well and mistakes I have made. Hands I am unsure of will be appearing on the PHA board so you can all sign up and comment on those as well if you like.

Oh cheeky little session planned for later today as well. It"s 2011 so I am bound to lose *lol*

[samuel_9]

glk

[AAroddersAA]

Played a quick session this afternoon, here are the results:-

Hands = 575
VP$IP = 12%
PFR = 7%
3-Bet = 3.92%
BB/100 = 3.77
Profit = $10.83

I am going to quickly run through the hands tomorrow morning and will post some interesting ones. The biggest win of the session though was $4.63 and the biggest loss $3.

One important consideration of this session, is that I ran at about a long term expectation. It felt like I was sitting there not doing anything at all just making standard plays, it was quite an easy session to play. During the year not all sessions will be like this. There will be sessions where I run way above expectation winning multiple buyin"s and sessions where I run badly and lose multiple buyin"s. The trick is going to be maintaining discipline when it is going wrong still being able to make correct fold when I have too and not making calls that are too loose and chasing draws against the odds. These are the things that seem so easy when winning and so hard when losing.

Right I am off to the pub so everybody have a great new year, get as drunk as you like and have a great time.

[AAroddersAA]

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY

Played my first session of 2012 this afternoon. I may need to reassess the volume goals I have set, playing 1000 hands was much harder than I expected. 30K hands in a month might not be doable, unsure on this. It did not sound that hard but is actually much tougher than it looked. Not sure where the pros who play 200K+ hands per month keep the concertration for what must be some monster sessions.

I am not totally happy with how I played although it was decent and I was in profit. I made a couple of bad calls that cost me about $18. Both times it was after I had clearly gone behind after being ahead. One hand I flopped two pair and my opponent rivered a set and made a massive overbet OTR. It was pretty clear at that point I was beaten, but called out of stubborness. I did something similar when I had AQ on a queen high flop and bet the flop and turn after being checked too. Then a King hit the river and my opponent fired a pot sized bet at me. He is not supposed to have a king here but I knew he did and called anyway telling myself that he has not played it like he had a king. He obviously did. Really important that I get this right this year. I also need to ensure I don"t catch fancy play syndrome again.

Hands = 1094
VP$IP = 12.25%
PFR = 8.41%
3-Bet = 3.05%
Profit = $17.52 (about $2 above EV)
BB/100 = 3.2
VPP = 59

These stats don"t look that great the VP$IP and PFR are too far apart and it still looks too tight but I am happy with the game I am playing. If every session of the year goes exactly like that one it"s going to be a very good year anyway :-).

May play a bit later, not sure if I will play cash or 180 sitngo"s though. Will also check for overlays in the Sunday Storm and the Bigger $11 just in case they are worth playing.

[AAroddersAA]

OK, played another cash session which did not go very well. I was doing fine then I hit two coolers pretty much at the same time (within a couple of minutes of each other anyway).

First hand I have AJ in MP and raise it to 75c. One caller in the SB. Flop is A-J-2 rainbow. He checks it over to me, I bet $1.50 into $1.75. The SB raises it up to $5.60. I shove and he calls with pocket two"s which is the only hand he can have that beats me. I am pretty sure that I played that hand OK but ran into the top of his range.

Second hand I have pocket twos in LP, there are some limper"s so I limp as well. The flop comes down Q-Q-2 and we get it all-in on the flop. My opponent (who was BB) has Q-2. These two hands cost me about $60.

I come off pretty quickly soon after this as I was coming off pretty soon anyway. Bit disappointing as I had played quite well and can"t do too much about either of those hands. End of day stats looked like this

Hands = 2150
VP$IP = 11.99%
PFR = 8.18%
3-Bet = 3.45%
Total Loss = $21.39

VPP = 110

Still pretty happy with the way I played but do feel like I deserved a winning start to the year. If I keep playing like I did today I should have a profitable year though.

[AAroddersAA]

I had intended to leave poker for for the evening then got a message on Facebook inviting me to play in a private game. Thought I may as well play whilst watching the darts. It"s a /10c game with a $25 buyin. I obviously buyin for the max. I only open the one table as I don"t want to play a full session.

So I play a bit, lose a pot to Darren Shallis somehow (how bad can I run *lol* - joking obv). Anyway I win back the $21 I was down earlier, so was pretty happy with that. I decide to stay for a while as the darts was overruning due to all the playing about with the breeze on the stage. I win some more and get myself nearly  back to where I was before the last session. I am about 600bb deep and cover the table. The next biggest stack is about 450bb deep. A hand comes up where there is a raise from EP to 40c. The 2nd biggest stack then shoves about $45 into the middle, I have two Aces, which is useful and elect to call. The EP player folds after thinking for ages and I am up against AK. This is a good thing.

PokerStars Home Game #73130738577: {Xtreme Poker}  Hold'em No Limit ($0.05/$0.10 USD) - 2012/01/02 0:22:58 WET [2012/01/01 19:22:58 ET]
Table "Rostia IV" 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: AAroddersAA ($59.74 in chips)
Seat 3: wansky69 ($14.77 in chips)
Seat 4: Si_player_1 ($19.27 in chips)
Seat 5: DigsyDave ($26.76 in chips)
Seat 8: Dayeface ($20.50 in chips)
Seat 9: bevan147 ($43.53 in chips)
bevan147: posts small blind $0.05
AAroddersAA: posts big blind $0.10
AAroddersAA: posts the ante $0.02
wansky69: posts the ante $0.02
Si_player_1: posts the ante $0.02
DigsyDave: posts the ante $0.02
Dayeface: posts the ante $0.02
bevan147: posts the ante $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to AAroddersAA [ ]
wansky69: raises $0.30 to $0.40
Si_player_1: folds
Dayeface said, " haha what an absolute clown"
Si_player_1 said, "lol"
DigsyDave: folds
Dayeface: folds
bevan147 said, "<-------------DONK"
bevan147: raises $43.11 to $43.51 and is all-in
AAroddersAA: raises $16.21 to $59.72 and is all-in
bevan147 said, "gg lol"
wansky69: folds
Uncalled bet ($16.21) returned to AAroddersAA
*** FLOP *** [ ]
*** TURN *** [ ] []
*** RIVER *** [ ] []
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bevan147: shows [ ] (two pair, Kings and Nines)
AAroddersAA: shows [ ] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
AAroddersAA collected $85.54 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $87.54 | Rake $2
Board [ ]
Seat 1: AAroddersAA (big blind) showed [ ] and won ($85.54) with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 3: wansky69 folded before Flop
Seat 4: Si_player_1 folded before Flop (didn"t bet)
Seat 5: DigsyDave folded before Flop (didn"t bet)
Seat 8: Dayeface (button) folded before Flop (didn"t bet)
Seat 9: bevan147 (small blind) showed [ ] and lost with two pair, Kings and Nines

Actually felt slightly bad about this as the guy I beat is actually a nice guy who had been playing well up until that hand. Still very happy to turn it around and get the pretty good start I had been hoping for. You see what I mean about the swings though.In one day I have been swinging around all over the place losing $60 in two hands then the poker gods decide to just give it back to me. Still happy with how I played this session and over the day.

Hands = 471
VP$IP = 30.79%
PFR = 18.9%
Session profit = $79.80
BB/100 = 86.68

Not bad for one tabling

So my overall result for the day was:-

Hands = 2623
VP$IP = 15.36
PFR = 18.9%
Todays Profit = $60.26
BB/100 = 13.93

VPP = 166

So after one day I am more than one fifth of the way to maintaining Silverstar for the month. No way I am going to do 30K hands and all the rest, will have to review the volume targets.

[Newportlad]

I had intended to leave poker for for the evening then got a message on Facebook inviting me to play in a private game. Thought I may as well play whilst watching the darts. It"s a /10c game with a $25 buyin. I obviously buyin for the max. I only open the one table as I don"t want to play a full session.

So I play a bit, lose a pot to Darren Shallis somehow (how bad can I run *lol* - joking obv). Anyway I win back the $21 I was down earlier, so was pretty happy with that. I decide to stay for a while as the darts was overruning due to all the playing about with the breeze on the stage. I win some more and get myself nearly  back to where I was before the last session. I am about 600bb deep and cover the table. The next biggest stack is about 450bb deep. A hand comes up where there is a raise from EP to 40c. The 2nd biggest stack then shoves about $45 into the middle, I have two Aces, which is useful and elect to call. The EP player folds after thinking for ages and I am up against AK. This is a good thing.

PokerStars Home Game #73130738577: {Xtreme Poker}  Hold'em No Limit ($0.05/$0.10 USD) - 2012/01/02 0:22:58 WET [2012/01/01 19:22:58 ET]
Table "Rostia IV" 9-max Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: AAroddersAA ($59.74 in chips)
Seat 3: wansky69 ($14.77 in chips)
Seat 4: Si_player_1 ($19.27 in chips)
Seat 5: DigsyDave ($26.76 in chips)
Seat 8: Dayeface ($20.50 in chips)
Seat 9: bevan147 ($43.53 in chips)
bevan147: posts small blind $0.05
AAroddersAA: posts big blind $0.10
AAroddersAA: posts the ante $0.02
wansky69: posts the ante $0.02
Si_player_1: posts the ante $0.02
DigsyDave: posts the ante $0.02
Dayeface: posts the ante $0.02
bevan147: posts the ante $0.02
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to AAroddersAA [ ]
wansky69: raises $0.30 to $0.40
Si_player_1: folds
Dayeface said, " haha what an absolute clown"
Si_player_1 said, "lol"
DigsyDave: folds
Dayeface: folds
bevan147 said, "<-------------DONK"
bevan147: raises $43.11 to $43.51 and is all-in
AAroddersAA: raises $16.21 to $59.72 and is all-in
bevan147 said, "gg lol"
wansky69: folds
Uncalled bet ($16.21) returned to AAroddersAA
*** FLOP *** [ ]
*** TURN *** [ ] []
*** RIVER *** [ ] []
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bevan147: shows [ ] (two pair, Kings and Nines)
AAroddersAA: shows [ ] (two pair, Aces and Nines)
AAroddersAA collected $85.54 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $87.54 | Rake $2
Board [ ]
Seat 1: AAroddersAA (big blind) showed [ ] and won ($85.54) with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 3: wansky69 folded before Flop
Seat 4: Si_player_1 folded before Flop (didn"t bet)
Seat 5: DigsyDave folded before Flop (didn"t bet)
Seat 8: Dayeface (button) folded before Flop (didn"t bet)
Seat 9: bevan147 (small blind) showed [ ] and lost with two pair, Kings and Nines

Actually felt slightly bad about this as the guy I beat is actually a nice guy who had been playing well up until that hand. Still very happy to turn it around and get the pretty good start I had been hoping for. You see what I mean about the swings though.In one day I have been swinging around all over the place losing $60 in two hands then the poker gods decide to just give it back to me. Still happy with how I played this session and over the day.

Hands = 471
VP$IP = 30.79%
PFR = 18.9%
Session profit = $79.80
BB/100 = 86.68

Not bad for one tabling

So my overall result for the day was:-

Hands = 2623
VP$IP = 15.36
PFR = 18.9%
Todays Profit = $60.26
BB/100 = 13.93

VPP = 166

So after one day I am more than one fifth of the way to maintaining Silverstar for the month. No way I am going to do 30K hands and all the rest, will have to review the volume targets.

You utter luckbox!!

[AAroddersAA]

Working over Christmas was a REALLY good idea, it seems everybody else has to go back to work today and I am still of for the rest of the week. I see Des has given a clue that the first event of season 6 may be the last weekend of Feb.

Going to play online today of course, hopefully get a good few hands in but not at home so playing on my laptop without my main setup so volume might be a little lower. Will start off with cash games but likely to switch to the MTT"s later today to start on the aim of 30.

[AAroddersAA]

Played a bit of poker today, still not 100% happy with myself but maybe I am over-rating my own ability. I am going to make mistakes. Today I logged on, got lucky and got ahead by binking a house on the river when I got allin (only for effective stacks of $10) with AK on an A-A-J-7 board against JJ. A seven hit the river and I win the pot. Then I get JJ myself in the SB, I 3-bet a 3x raise from the button and a flop of A-J-8 looks great for me. I bet, he raises, I shove and he calls with AJ, I win about $18 on that hand so am off to a good start. I get to being about $35 up.

I then lose $19 when my AA runs into a set of fours, standard hand and nothing I can do about that. Then I make what I think was a good fold, it won"t look like it as a hand history but I think it was.

http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/view.php/id/3938041

My opponent who seemed quite capable was playing 21/19. Pretty aggressive but I have seen him hit a set and check it already. Only had 41 hands on him but this spot just felt bad and I am glad I had the disciple to fold it, maybe shoving the flop is a better play but I really think I was right in this specific spot.

Needless to say I am a long way from perfect and this is a hand played badly

http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/view.php/id/3938045

Basically this was only the other players second hand at the table. I see a flop with my 77 (this is fine). The flop is a good one for me and I do have position on my opponent. He bets $2 into the $2.75 pot. I call this as it can easily be a c-bet. The king lands on the turn. He bets $2.75 which looks weak. I get fancy play syndrome and decide that he could have the bare Ace of hearts and I am winning, after all the king is a great card to fire the second shot with and it does complete a flush draw. The bet also looks a little weak to me so I call it not really having a plan of what to do OTR. I think I was going to hope he checked and fold if he showed any real strength. The river is a heart. He checks and I think he can"t have a good heart. This is reasonable enough of course. I think I can therefore steal the pot. There is a pot of $12 so I bet $8 ($6 would actually have accomplished the same thing). I have not played the hand like I have a high heart so I think his call on the river is a good one. I have not played the hand well though and my story is inconsistent.

I then call a couple of raises and miss sets and some c-bets don"t get through and I am suddenly $15 down less than half an hour after being $35 up. SIGH.

The good news is I do not tilt. Not that I am going too at the moment I don"t think, I am not in that mindset. I take a break for an hour and get back to it. I run pretty good with some of the below hands being totally standard imo.

http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/view.php/id/3938059

http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/view.php/id/3938236

http://www.pokerhandreplays.com/view.php/id/3938240

I also play it fairly well at this stage and am making good bets at the right times and make a good comeback. I also manage to stay away from the kind of marginal spots I am great at losing money in. I"ll give myself a B+ for today, it was not perfect but I am still happy enough with my game.

Overall today

Hands = 1630
VP$IP = 10.49%
PFR = 7.12%
3-Bet = 3.31%
Today"s profit = $29.18
bb/100 = 3.58
VPP = 92

I will play some Sitngo MTT"s later and post results

[Des]

Working over Christmas was a REALLY good idea, it seems everybody else has to go back to work today and I am still of for the rest of the week. I see Des has given a clue that the first event of season 6 may possibly be the last weekend of Feb.

Going to play online today of course, hopefully get a good few hands in but not at home so playing on my laptop without my main setup so volume might be a little lower. Will start off with cash games but likely to switch to the MTT"s later today to start on the aim of 30.

FYP

Liking your early stats btw Steve.  Hopefully some form of charts will follow.  I really love charts!

[AAroddersAA]

Working over Christmas was a REALLY good idea, it seems everybody else has to go back to work today and I am still of for the rest of the week. I see Des has given a clue that the first event of season 6 may possibly be the last weekend of Feb.

Going to play online today of course, hopefully get a good few hands in but not at home so playing on my laptop without my main setup so volume might be a little lower. Will start off with cash games but likely to switch to the MTT"s later today to start on the aim of 30.

FYP

Liking your early stats btw Steve.  Hopefully some form of charts will follow.  I really love charts!

Cheers Des, obviously quite happy with the start I have made, much better than last year.

What kind of chart are you thinking of? I could export the session stats from Poker Tracker at the end of each month. This would allow people to see how I have done each day of the month and what the daily stats were.

[Des]

Working over Christmas was a REALLY good idea, it seems everybody else has to go back to work today and I am still of for the rest of the week. I see Des has given a clue that the first event of season 6 may possibly be the last weekend of Feb.

Going to play online today of course, hopefully get a good few hands in but not at home so playing on my laptop without my main setup so volume might be a little lower. Will start off with cash games but likely to switch to the MTT"s later today to start on the aim of 30.

FYP

Liking your early stats btw Steve.  Hopefully some form of charts will follow.  I really love charts!

Cheers Des, obviously quite happy with the start I have made, much better than last year.

What kind of chart are you thinking of? I could export the session stats from Poker Tracker at the end of each month. This would allow people to see how I have done each day of the month and what the daily stats were.

I"m a bottom line man.  Culmulative profitability on a daily or weekly basis is something that would always be of interest.  Perhaps against a forecast line that reflects your projected winnings based on your targeted ROI.  But crikey, don"t start adding work - sounds like you have enough on your plate already to get your hands in.