AmateurQuest 20,000 month #4

[Cosimo]

I've stopped the previous quest, which wasn't on a calendar-month start date, because I haven't been playing as much. [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] I need to re-commit to getting in the hours. It's kinda tough some weeks because I'm at work so much. We're in crunch mode to get the product out--the time between feature complete and gold master that means massive overtime. But, I could have gotten the hours in if I had spent more of my spare time playing poker, instead of (say) browsing the web, playing other games, or sleeping.

Previous journal entry

I'm re-committing myself to getting the hours in this month. My goal is, again, to play 20,000 hands in 30 days. I'm playing at UB, which limits me to 3-tabling at the max. 20,000 hands works out to just over three hours a day. Win rate will take care of itself: either I learn to play better, or I continue to bleed. I posted a bunch of hands a couple weeks ago and got some really useful feedback--which was mostly "bet the river" and "take off the skirt."

Also part of this quest is to get to the gym on a regular basis. I've been going about three times a week since I signed up at the end of August. Regular workouts are improving my energy level, which I love. I haven't seen much of a weight change yet, but I know weight-loss is a long-term thing. (I'm trying to change my lifestyle, not just lose a few pounds.)

I picked up SSH kinda late, relative to the rest of 2+2. It has helped tremendously, at least when I remember to apply its lessons. I've noticed my swings are higher although the tables play pretty much the same. Since Bloody Sunday (Day 10 in the previous month), I've won about 180BB. I attribute most of that to being more aggressive. The pots I win are usually much larger, and I'm getting sucked out on less.

I think one of the key components is flop aggression. In addition to building larger pots, I'm knocking out some of the weaker draws that will sometimes suck out. They were making a mistake by calling before, but that mistake was small enough that I wasn't getting much value from it. When they call a double-sized bet, they make a much larger error, and building the pot when I'm ahead makes a big difference.

A couple hands today, both AJo on a paired, two-tone, low flop. What's your line?

Hand 1 : button posted out of turn, so no read. Other two players hadn't yet gotten out of line.

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Ultimate Bet 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (8 handed)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="CC3333">Hero calls</font>, <font color="666666">3 folds</font>, CO calls, button checks, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, BB checks.

Flop: (4.40 SB) 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
BB checks, Hero checks, CO checks, <font color="CC3333">button bets</font>, BB folds, Hero ...

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Hand 2 : BB and UTG+2 are loose preflop (any ace); no-one in this hand is particularly aggressive or tricky.

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Ultimate Bet 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (10 handed)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
<font color="666666">2 folds</font>, UTG+2 calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, CO calls, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, BB calls, UTG+2 calls.

Flop: (8.40 SB) 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
BB checks, UTG+2 checks, Hero checks, <font color="CC3333">CO bets</font>, BB calls, UTG+2 calls, Hero ...

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Day 1 : 392 hands, -1.3 BB
Day 2 : 582 hands (so far), +111.9 BB