Hella Hold'em

After all of that flailing around, losing my shirt at the NL ring games, I've finally done something that I can say for only the second time in my life (and the first time in a very long time - probably 6 months or so):

I've broken the century mark.

Yes, ladies and gents, I now have $104 in my online bankroll.

I continued this afternoon's positive momentum into this evening, playing some more at the $.50/1.00 limit tables. I two-tabled it for a while, but after going up ten bucks on one table and down on the other, I dropped the second table and just focused on the one I was hitting cards on. Again, with the high VP$IP's, I had pot odds to see some flops with good drawing hands, and was lucky enough to have a few hit. I ran into a few suckouts - AA getting cracked by K8 offsuit, called down for raises on every street - things like that. But, in limit, it does indeed limit how much you can lose on those hands. Those suckouts smarted a bit but didn't sting nearly as nastily as the drop-your-buyin suckouts on the NL cash tables.

My evening statistics for the last session of the night:

67 minutes
54 hands
VP$IP 18.5%
Went to showdown: 28.6%
Won $ at showdown: 100%
Pre-flop raise: 9.26%
Post-flop aggression: 1.83
BB/hr: 18.3
$ Won: $20.25

** Check out that pre-flop aggression, WOOHOOOOO!! **

I know, lame - but that might be my highest number yet for a session! Yeah, baby. I'm aggressive. Fear me.

Actually, I've been tricking myself into raising pre-flop with the monsters: JJ through AA, AQs, and AK (suited or not). How do I trick myself, you ask? Well, I don't want to turn this into a rated R blog, but let's just say I use a particular phrase, something like:

"Come on, don't be a (wussy). RAISE!"

Replace "wussy" with your favorite wuss-like expletive, and there you have it. Somehow, hearing that lights a fire under my ass and kinda puts me on the offensive, so I raise. That's what I've been doing since last Saturday night, and it has been working. LOL! All the little voices in my head....

Time to analyze my hands for the session....

My biggest loss on a single hand was $2.00. I raised pre-flop with AKo, got re-raised and called it. 5 people in the pot, and the flop missed me. I called a flop bet as well, and missed the turn, then ditched the hand.

Next biggest loss, $1.50 from the small blind. I held J6 diamonds, flopped a diamond. Checked around, turn brought another diamond, and I bet out 1.00. River did not bless me with the flush, and I mucked the hand to a bet from my opponent.

I think I played both of those hands properly - maybe could have let go of the AK a street earlier, but otherwise I think I lost as little as I could have.

In seeking out the major leaks, I didn't really have any in this session. I didn't lose any hands at showdown, so I wasn't falling in love with losing hands. I limped a couple times with blackjack hands (K-10, Q-10) and dropped them after the flop when it missed me. Those could probably be avoided. My play from the blinds was statistically in line, per Poker Tracker Guide's recommendations. My BB losses were well under half of my win rate at my most profitable position. A solid evening, as I see it.

I also spent some time railbirding for SirFWALGMan - coconuts brought the aces, but ducks had other plans.

I'm tickled pink to be able to go to bed with my bankroll over the century mark. At least for one night, I can say I've got $100 in my online bankroll.

Sweet dreams!

(Oh, and very soon I will be able to say, FOUR more days till Vegas!)