The "Take My Word For It" Challenge Day 5 Update [Archive]

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Danenania

03-26-2005, 03:05 AM

Five days have passed since my mighty challenge began. For those who missed the inauguration here's the link: Original Challenge Thread (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=holdem&Number=1979735&Foru m=f2&Words=&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Main=1973352&Sea rch=true&where=bodysub&Name=7531&daterange=1&newer val=1&newertype=w&olderval=&oldertype=&bodyprev=#P ost1979735) .

As I mentioned I meant for this to be a poker challenge, not a journal, so let's get to the poker stats. (Edit: fixed image.)

http://img217.exs.cx/img217/7157/challengeday50gh.png

So it is obviously going well both as far as hands played and variance are concerned. The exercise portion has been neglected a bit (I have missed a couple days of running already), but I'm hoping to turn that around. The main trouble I'm having is getting to sleep at night so I can wake up at a decent time in the morning and feel like running (as opposed to feeling like crap). I might need to pull an all-nighter soon to get things realigned.

As for my play during this period, I am relatively happy with it though not 100% content. My handreading feels pretty sharp as does my decision making process, but I am still allowing bits of tilt to creep in at times that stop me from using these faculties well. My main strength as a poker player, in my opinion, is an ability to see a situation fairly well from a poor player's perspective. When I'm on my game I tend to have a pretty good idea as to what is going through a player's head as he calls down an AKJ board with pocket deuces. Oftentimes it is just the rush of tilt, but there are subtleties that exist inside that rush. Anyway, when I start acting too quickly or allow my emotions into the game, all this goes to hell and I lose an important component of my edge. Exercise in fact is a good way to ensure that I stay alert and relaxed throughout my sessions, so hopefully I can improve these elements simultaneously.

Of the stats themselves, the only ones that jump out at me as irregular are the SB numbers. The Vpip from SB is something I've purposely been trying to lower, as through many arguments with one of the tighter (and more intelligent) members of the HUSH forum I have begun to think about position a little differently and see things more from his angle, at least as far as SB completion is concerned. Additionally, my SB defense rate is quite low which seems weird to me as I have no qualms about calling or reraising loose aggressive steal raises with anything playable. My hunch is that this is simply variance shorting me on my share of solid hands when I'm in SB and a steal is attempted.

That's all I can think to report for now. Feel free to ask any questions. Here is the daily breakdown and a couple of hands.

Day 1: 2165 hands, +$2,281
Day 2: 2009 hands, +$419.50
Day 3: 1997 hands, +$480.50
Day 4: 2696 hands, +$1,960.25
Day 5: 2026 hands, +$2,438

*Of course it looks like I have been running extremely well and steadily, but this isn't exactly true. Hourly swings have been quite large and most days started with large downswings and ended with rebounds. The suckout/drawout rate has actually been pretty high but I'm winning some giant pots as well.

Now here are a couple of hands for your pleasure:

Hand 1

There is nothing really special about this one but it was fun to play and does a good job showing the aggression that is typical of these games, and also that flop raises don't mean squat.

Party Poker 10/20 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, A/images/graemlins/club.gif. CO posts a blind of $10.
2 folds, CO (poster) raises, Hero 3-bets, 1 fold, BB calls, CO caps, Hero calls, BB calls.

Flop: (12.50 SB) 9/images/graemlins/club.gif, 2/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 4/images/graemlins/diamond.gif (3 players)
BB bets, CO raises, Hero 3-bets, BB caps, CO calls, Hero calls.

Turn: (12.25 BB) 6/images/graemlins/heart.gif (3 players)
BB bets, CO raises, Hero 3-bets, BB folds, CO calls.

River: (19.25 BB) K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets, CO calls.

Final Pot: 21.25 BB

Hand 2

One area that can be tough is deciding how much action to give with a somewhat strong hand against a player who is loose and often aggressive but not maniacal.

Party Poker 10/20 Hold'em (6 max, 6 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q/images/graemlins/heart.gif, J/images/graemlins/heart.gif.
UTG calls, 2 folds, Hero raises, SB 3-bets, 1 fold, UTG calls, Hero calls.

Flop: (10 SB) 5/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, Q/images/graemlins/club.gif, K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif (3 players)
SB checks, UTG bets, Hero raises, SB folds, UTG 3-bets, Hero calls.

Turn: (8 BB) J/images/graemlins/spade.gif (2 players)
UTG bets, Hero raises, UTG 3-bets, Hero caps, UTG calls.

River: (16 BB) 3/images/graemlins/heart.gif (2 players)
UTG bets, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 18 BB

Thanks for reading all. Until next time you can find me in HUSH!

Danenania

03-26-2005, 03:06 AM

Hmm, what am I doing wrong with my screenshot image?

bdk3clash

03-26-2005, 03:14 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Hmm, what am I doing wrong with my screenshot image?

[/ QUOTE ]

use this URL instead:

http://img72.exs.cx/img72/8713/challengeday54ub.png
http://img72.exs.cx/img72/8713/challengeday54ub.png
(You have to right click->properties on the actual image to get the image itself's URL.)

And crop your image next time to get rid of all that white space. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

memphis57

03-26-2005, 05:32 AM

Awesome. Keep the updates coming. I actually like your sporadic schedule as daily is just too much to keep up with, once every 4-5 days is perfect.

What did CO have in hand 1? Matter of fact, I think you should go ahead and show results in posts like this, in white so a reader can study the hand before looking if desired. This isn't like posting in the mid-stakes where you're looking for advice and don't want to bias it with results.

I envy the hand-reading ability you mention. That is coming very slowly for me.

DrGutshot

03-26-2005, 06:03 AM

Glad to see you're off to a good start. I assume this is all 4 tabling (sorry if I missed that in the original post)?

Anyways, I hate the turn cap in the QJs hand without a strong read as him being very aggressive with weak hands.

Keep up the playing. One thing you may want to consider is not letting yourself play until you have excersized for the days you designated as runnning days, that will probably motivate you to keep up with your requirement.
-DrG

Alobar

03-26-2005, 12:26 PM

glad to see its starting well!!! and glad to see an update finally /images/graemlins/smile.gif

p.s. go run more you lazy bitch!! /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Grisgra

03-26-2005, 05:06 PM

[ QUOTE ]

Anyways, I hate the turn cap in the QJs hand without a strong read as him being very aggressive with weak hands.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was going to ask about that as well -- I just started 10/20 so I'm still feeling the whole thing out, but the cap seemed like a big stretch to me given the number of hands you could be behind. On the other hand, I've also realized that I don't pound my two-pair hard enough on the turn at 10/20, that people are infinitely more likely to raise with top-pair-good-kicker at 10/20 than they are at 5/10.

But is it really a leak for me to not cap the turn there?

Danenania

03-26-2005, 05:49 PM

For DrGutshot and Grisgra:

My player read in Hand 2 probably wasn't detailed enough. Basically this guy was capable of 3-betting that turn with many hands including AK, AA, KT, probably any pair + flush draw, and maybe even QT. Also I didn't think he was crazy enough to 3-bet the flop with AT unless it was AdTd, but I might have been wrong there. So this wasn't a default play, to be clear. And even against this player I felt I might have gone a bit overboard, which is why I posted the hand.

Danenania

03-26-2005, 05:53 PM

Thanks for the support. I think I will still keep the results secret for awhile as I hope they will turn out to be more than just exhibits and generate some strategy discussion. In a hand like the AA one I probably could have shown the results though, you're right. CO had JJ. I'll hold off on Hand 2 results until we're done discussing.

Danenania

03-26-2005, 06:35 PM

Also, yes this is all 4-tabling. It's funny--for me playing 5 tables feels hectic and 3 feels boring. I guess 4 is my magic number, at least for 6-max.

Your Mom

03-26-2005, 09:08 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Also, yes this is all 4-tabling. It's funny--for me playing 5 tables feels hectic and 3 feels boring. I guess 4 is my magic number, at least for 6-max.

[/ QUOTE ]

I feel the same.

grouchie

03-27-2005, 03:24 PM

[ QUOTE ]

Day 1: 2165 hands, +$2,281
Day 2: 2009 hands, +$419.50
Day 3: 1997 hands, +$480.50
Day 4: 2696 hands, +$1,960.25
Day 5: 2026 hands, +$2,438

[/ QUOTE ]
what happened here on day 3?
C'mon man, if you are going to slack off and not even come close to the 2000 hands one of the days, you may need to rethink your dedication.

/images/graemlins/grin.gif

So far so good, hope you continue to run well and keep up the pace. Looking forward to the next update