Rollin' Along

March is beginning to shape up quite nicely at the poker tables despite the fact that most of my sessions have being incredibly frustrating. I managed to put in just over 6K hands on Saturday and booked an $800ish win but played pretty badly throughout the day. It was just one of those days where I was being way too much of a calling-station and would go against my read because the standard play would seemingly be to call. I think that I'm definitely capable of making huge laydowns a lot of the time in spots where most people would snap-call but I was totally off of my A-game today. That said, I was a little unlucky to be put in such tough spots but hey, that's the name of the game. I managed to run really hot in the last 1500 hands of the session getting lucky on more than one occasion, including 1-outing TYROMPER when I got it in with set under set with a flush draw out there and binked the river. The games were also very good so I was able to find a lot of spots where I could get my money in as a huge favorite and ultimately grind out a decent profit.

Here's an example of a hand that I'd like to have back from Saturday where I probably should have folded. This was against a reg and while his shove is pretty lol, there really aren't any other hands that he would likely do this with unless he was just tilting like crazy, I guess:

No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (8 handed)
MP2 ($420)
CO ($400)
Button ($400)
SB ($955.20)
BB ($451.70)
UTG ($469)
Hero (UTG+1) ($597)
MP1 ($414)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with K, K
UTG bets $12, Hero calls $12, 2 folds, CO raises $400 (All-In), 4 folds, Hero calls $388

Flop: ($818) 5, 7, 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($818) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($818) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $818

Results:
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and fives).
CO had A, A (two pair, Aces and fives).
Outcome: CO won $815

Annnnd here's a hand where I got lucky! This hand happened shortly after the hand posted above. I don't usually shove in these spots against randoms because while their hand is almost always face-up as a medium strength pocket pair, they almost always make the bad call anyways. They don't seem to care that they can't really represent anything of actual strength and are essentially guessing whether or not that they are crushed. It was a bad move on my part to even think that I had fold-equity but I was kinda steaming from the KK hand a few minutes prior:

No-Limit Hold'em, $4.00 BB (9 handed)
MP3 ($325.60)
CO ($237.95)
Hero (Button) ($400)
SB ($858.95)
BB ($523.40)
UTG ($412.20)
UTG+1 ($433.50)
MP1 ($529.20)
MP2 ($400)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, J
5 folds, CO calls $4, Hero bets $20, 2 folds, CO calls $16

Flop: ($46) 4, 7, 4 (2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $24, CO raises $52, Hero raises $356 (All-In), CO calls $165.95 (All-In)

Turn: ($481.90) J (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($481.90) A (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $481.90

Results:
Hero had A, J (two pair, Aces and Jacks).
CO had 8, 8 (two pair, eights and fours).
Outcome: Hero won $640.95

Finally, here's an example of getting my money in good risk-free!

No-Limit Hold'em, $2.00 BB (8 handed)
Button ($117.85)
SB ($81.20)
Hero (BB) ($369.40)
UTG ($331.65)
UTG+1 ($180.60)
MP1 ($215.50)
MP2 ($301.15)
CO ($200)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 4, 10
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $2, 5 folds, Hero checks

Flop: ($5) 10, 4, 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $8, Hero raises $26, UTG+1 calls $18

Turn: ($57) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $42, UTG+1 raises $152.60 (All-In), Hero calls $110.60

River: ($362.20) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $362.20

Results:
Hero had 4, 10 (full house, fours over tens).
UTG+1 had J, 10 (two pair, tens and fours).
Outcome: Hero won $359.20

All in all, I think that I'm up around $5K at this point and will hopefully be able to close out the month strong. I'm looking at about $4-$6K in bonuses this month so another 5-figure month is in sight. I'm currently sitting at 42K VPP's for the month and will likely close around 50K-55K VPP's.

I've also been working on some training videos for PokerStars's Poker School Online. I've got to get two videos finished by the 31st and currently have the footage done for one and need to add the audio tomorrow. It's certainly going to be a busy next few days but hopefully I can get everything done and run alright to finish off March.

Away from the tables, life is good. The weather is finally getting nice outside and it looks like spring is finally here in Vancouver. I got to dust off the old sunglasses + football the other day and enjoy some time outdoors. I've been going out a reasonable amount as well this month and despite this blog almost ruining my chances for me to hang out with this girl that I met 2 weeks ago, she decided to give me a chance. Gotta love it when a simple google search can lead to how I will only talk to girls that are > 7/10 to go along with detailed write-ups of my nights out. I probably should have seen this coming but what can ya do.

gl at the tables.