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On the 21st of August I posted on my blog that I had reached a bankroll milestone, $5000 it was. Now I can proudly announce that I doubled that figure. It took me a little over 100k hands and my average winrate over all limits was 3.11 ptBB/100
The next big step I am going to take in my poker carrier is going another step up the limits. So 200NL here I come. I had decided I to take my first shot at $9000, but I did not find a good moment to take my first shot. Because switching limits always give me some difficulties, I want to wait for a good moment to try 200NL.
Not much more to tell you, so for those who wonder what is the trick to win a lot of money I only have one answer: VALUEBET!!!

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After every session I try to review my hands, sometimes I just skim the big pots, but sometimes I go into detail. I open up Pokerstove, Pokertracker and my list of notes I made during the session and go over the hands I think I can learn something from. Some of those hands end up on my blog or a forum, if I want some opinions about the hand, other hands I discuss on MSN. If you are serious about poker and want to improve your game this is one of the most valuable ways to do it.
As an example I will review yesterday´s session here and I hope it is interesting. I will discuss all hands here that I review even if it were coolers, cause you always have to be sure it was indeed a cooler instead of bad play. I will not post all hands here on my blog, because that will make it chaotic, instead I will upload my hands to Liquidpoker.

First impression
First I look at my stats of the session, so here is the general info on the session:

Hands played: 1782
stats: 19/15/3.3
W$WSF: 39
ATSB: 29
$ won: 10.85
winrate: 0.3 ptBB/100
MT ratio: 5.7

So my first impression is that I played tighter than I like, I did not win as may pots as I want to, the result was about breakeven and I played a little more tables than probably is good. So overall not a great session. The reasons can be found in the fact I played more tables, so I had less time for every decision, which causes me to tighten up. And I played on Everest, which probably causes my W$WSF to decrease, because of the many mulitway pots and the high amount of players that go to showdown more than 35%.

The hands
I go to session notes, get all hands and sort them by net profit/loss. I will not tell you if I won or lost a hand, cause it can influence your opinion on the hand.

Hand 1

Description: I raise QQ UTG and get a call from a 21/15/2.3. I flop top set, cbet and get raised.

Decision: Getting it in with topset on the flop is always right, but what is his range here. My guess is he has a Tx type of hand for a pair and a OESD, he has a straight with KT or T8, he has 2 pair and some AQo combinations. But I dont think he has all combinations of those hands, it is more likely he will call with suited cards.
Putting this range in stove:

Board: Jc Qs 9d
Dead:

Hand 0: 67.202% { QcQd }
Hand 1: 32.798% { 99, AQs, KTs, QTs+, JTs, T8s, AQo }

It is clear I am ahead of his range and have to put it in here. Easy decision.

Hand 2

Description: The button openlimps and I raise AQo in the SB, BB and button both call. I flop trips and cbet, BB folds and the button shoves. He is 47/7/2.5 and obvious the reason I am at the table.

Decision: He shoves every A and 22, if we suppose he doesn’t bluff.

Board: As Ad 2h
Dead:

Hand 0: 64.694% 54.19% { AcQd }
Hand 1: 35.306% 24.80% { 22, A2s+, A2o+ }

Again easy decision, call.

Hand 3

Description: I raise AA in MP and get 3 calls (everest lol), I flop an overpair on a paired board with some draws and cbet. Two Villians fold 1 calls, he is 65/5/0.88 and WTSD 35% W$SD 33%. I bet the turn again, the turn is a king, no draws completed and villian check/calls. The river is a Q and villian checks again. Do we bet here?

Decision: This is the type of player you can take to valuetown. He goes to showdown way to often. If he was on a draw he will not call here, but he could easily have called the flop with overcards. The turn and river were both overcards, so betting here seems right. The only hand I am afraid off is a hand with 6. But a villian that plays 65% of his hands is as likely to hold a 6 here as he is to hold a K or Q. So bet.

Hand 4

Description: UTG 42/11/4 limps, I raise on the CO with KJs. All fold and UTG calls, I decide to not cbet the flop, cause UTG is going to showdown 35% and in hands we played before he did not like to fold on these kind of flops. The turn gives me toppair and villian donks into me potsize. Do we raise or do we call?

Decision: It is common practice on Everest to smash the bet potbutton whenever someone fails to cbet, but not all villians do it with the same type of hands. I did not have any note on this villian, so I cant be sure if he is bluffing, valuebetting worse or valuebetting better. Constructing a range for this type of villian is quite hard, because they are so loose preflop. So without a read we can assume he is betting here worse and better with equal likelyhood. If he is betting better, raising is bet. If he is betting worse, the question is: is he calling a valuebet? A bluff wont call, a weak flopped pair wont call most of the time, a J will call. So I guess most value is in just calling here. But he could also be betting a flushdraw, that would be a reason to raise.
I am not sure what is the right decision here, so this is the type of hand I will post on a forum. And I did, here.

So as you can see some hands that are easy decisions and some that I am not sure about. There were more hands for discussion, but I dont want to make this post too long.

It has been a while since the last post. The month started swingy, but after some ups and downs, I now found the line up. I am at my all time high bankroll again and closing in on the 200NL bankroll requierement. I started datamining 200NL and I talked to a PN player that is playing 200NL on Ipoker. He told me there are a lot of regs on 200NL and it is hard to find interesting tables. So I am looking for a second pokerroom, so I have a bigger player pool to choose from. Everest poker will be the first room I will look into. Everest has some disadvantages, like PAhud does not work there, you cant datamine and they have no rakeback. (They do offer a monthly bonus.) But the level of play is not as good as on Ipoker. I am also looking into some rooms that offer rakeback, like Absolute poker and some smaller networks. I haven’t yet decided but I am trying to open up some tables from EVP and Ipoker at the same time to get used to playing multiple sites.

I started some coaching again with a 2+2 player, that plays 400NL and 600NL. I had two sessions, in which we first discuss a 30 minute video and then go over some concepts. Last time we talked about 3-betting, next time we will discuss double barreling and picking up more pots in general.
Since my spew project I played 15k hand on 100NL and my W$WSF is now a little over 41%, which is a great improvement compared to the 37% it was before it, but it still needs my attention. I notice that on EVP it is harder to get a high W$WSF, because of all the callingstations, but instead of double barrelling I just valuebet the hell out of them.
Allthough the sample is still small, my winrate is improving as well and is since the spewproject at a little over 3.

1 of the rare occasions where I did not 3bet AKs:

BB ($94.9)
MP2 ($156.84)
MP3 ($147.95) 11/9/2.7
Hero ($98.5)
Button ($103.55)
SB ($41.3)

SB: Post SB $0.50
BB: Post BB $1.00

Preflop:
Hero is CO with Kc, Ac
1 folds
MP3 Raise $4
Hero Call $4
Button Call $4
SB Call $3.5
1 folds

Flop:($17) 7h, Tc, Ad(4 players)
SB Check
MP3 Bet $14
Hero Call $14
2 folds

Turn:($45) 2d(2 players)
MP3 Check
Hero Bet $30
MP3 Raise $129.95
Hero Allin $50.5

River:($255.45) Ks(2 players, 2 all-in)

This is how my month looks like this far, pretty swingy. I was down 1 day more than 6 buyins, and the next day I was over 5 buyins up again. All situations I lost the one day, like set over set, nutflush over 2nd nutflush, I won the other day. I also won my biggest pot ever, you can drewl at it here.
The main points of improvement are still and probably will be for a long time, winning more pots without showdown and handreading. But also I need to work on knowing my equity. I try to work on this by reviewing my sessions and pick interesting hands to do some calculations with.
For instance:

CO ($119)
Hero ($199.65)
SB ($114.8)
BB ($100)
MP2 ($115.59)
MP3 ($99.05)

SB: Post SB $0.50
BB: Post BB $1.00

Preflop:
Hero is Button with Ah, 4h
MP2 Call $1
MP3 Raise $5 21/16/2.8
CO Call $5
Hero Call $5
SB Call $4.5
1 folds
MP2 Call $4

Flop:($26) Th, 2h, 3s(5 players)
SB Check
MP2 Check
MP3 Bet $21
1 folds
Hero

I call preflop cause the table is full of callingstation, so I was pretty sure 1 or 2 villians will call behind me. When the IR bets 80% of the pot in to 4 players he pretty much always has a hand and his most likely holdings are TT+. I did not know what was the best play here so I choose to call. I have a lot of outs, all hearts, unless he has TT, every 5 and probably an A some of the time. That makes about 12-13 outs.
He probably is not going to fold, so shoving to create fold equity seems not an option. Calling will maybe lead to some calls of the two stations behind me. But when I miss the turn I have to give up and if I hit I am not sure if I get much action, cause some of my outs are pretty scary to villian.
Shoving and getting called is +EV, against his range I have 50% equity. 50%*214-94= +13.
But is it more EV to call and see if we hit? 2+2

Another hand I did not know how to play it:

iPoker No-Limit Texas Hold’em (NL100), $1.00 BB (6 handed) SilverKitty Hand History converter by www.pokeronline.com.ua

CO ($98.5)
Hero ($173.21)
SB ($99.5)
BB ($67)
MP2 ($48.47)
MP3 ($29.7)

SB: Post SB $0.50
BB: Post BB $1.00

Preflop:
Hero is Button with Qs, Ah
MP2 Raise $3 49/6/2.3
2 folds
Hero Call $3
2 folds

Flop:($7.5) Qh, 3d, 5s(2 players)
MP2 Bet $4
Hero Call $4

Turn:($15.5) Js(2 players)
MP2 Bet $10
Hero Call $10

River:($35.5) 5h(2 players)
MP2 Bet $20
Hero Call $20

I play this hand pretty passive, but I dont see any value in raising anywhere. Villian has a small raising range and fires 3 barrels.
I think his range is JJ+,AQ,KQ:

Board: Qh 3d 5s Js 5h
Dead:

Hand 0: 39.130% { AhQs }
Hand 1: 60.870% { JJ+, AQs, KQs, KQo }

Considering his VPIP his AF is high, so he I think he will fire with his whole range 3barrels.
I felt like a donk calling him down when he showed KK, but against his range I dont think this was a big mistake.

I played a nice session, played very well, but made a big mistake in the hand below. I realy feel stupid not shoving this river and missing valuetown. The reason that I did not bet the river was because I was thinking more of the hands that beat me instead of the hands that I beat and will call. I prepared the hand prefectly on the turn, leaving him a pot size bet behind on the river.
Villian was 53/18/2.3 over 152 hands and is going to showdown 41%, the perfect opponent to take to valuetown, but I didn’t.
Read it and weep:

iPoker No-Limit Texas Hold’em (NL100), $1.00 BB (5 handed) SilverKitty Hand History converter by http://www.pokeronline.com.ua/

SB ($396.91)
BB ($48.65)
MP3($103.8)
CO ($100)
Panic($96)

SB: Post SB $0.50
BB: Post BB $1.00

Preflop:
Panic is Button with 6c, 5s
MP3 Call $1
1 folds
Panic Raise $4.5
2 folds
MP3 Call $3.5

Flop:($10.5) 6d, 5d, Ks(2 players)
MP3 Check
Panic Bet $8.5
MP3 Call $8.5

Turn:($27.5) Jd(2 players)
MP3 Check
Panic Bet $20
MP3 Call $20

River:($67.5) 4s(2 players)
MP3 Check
Panic Check

The spew project has come to an end. I played 15k hands NL50 to open up my game and practice to win more pots when I see a flop. I played on Carlospoker and a little on Everest poker. On Everest it seems not profitable to cbet and double barrel a lot, cause most flops are seen by 3+ players and Everest is the home of all callingstations. For the almost 14k hands I played on Carlos here are the stats:

Vpip/pref raise/AF: 23/19/3.2
W$WSF: 44%
ATSB: 36%
WTSD: 25%
W$ASD: 53%
Winrate: 6.5 ptbb/100

Except for the blinds my W$WSF is above 53% and has a maximum at 60% at the hijack. This used to be between 45% and 52%, so I realy made some progress there. In all positions except UTG I opened up my range, on the button I now play 35/32, this used to be 28/25. My cbet percentage has gone up from60% to almost 70%.
But there are still some things I can work on. For instance I still float too little. I do float when I have some sort of chance to improve on the turn, but with complete air I dont float yet. Besides that I dont bluff raise the turn when Villian double barrels. If Villian checks the turn, I do fire a barrel, but maybe I have to include bluffraising or semibluff raising in my game as well.
Then I still fold a lot to river bets, between 65%-70%, I dont know why this is such a high number and if it is good or bad. Maybe one of the readers can tell me what a good average is.

So now it is back to 100NL and see if I can keep up this game there as well.

Wish me luck!

I have read Phil Gordon’s Little Green and Blue Book in the last month. I liked both books very much, but the Green Book contains a lot of basic stuff. But it is always good to go over the basics and see the perspective of another writer. What I liked about the Green Book is that it is not too theoretical, so you can read it quite easy in the train or the plane. A lot of standard situations are discussed and Phil explicitly tells that he explains the way he plays those hands and that it isn’t always the only way. The situations he discusses are applicable in cashgames and in tourneys, so the book is suited for different type of players.
When you have read the Green Book and understand the basics, the Blue Book is a great addition. The book is filled with hand discussions and split up in a part about cashgames, early stages of tournaments, late stages, final tables and at the end some hands about satellites. Every situations is illustrated with a picture, so you get a good idea about the situation. Reads are also included and before Phil describes what he did (cause most or all hands are taken from real situations) he describes what he knew and what went trough his head before he made a decision. That makes reading those hands in such a structured way very easy and you can realy think about what you would do. Phil plays a Taggish style with some marginal hands to mix it up. His style realy suits mine, so a lot of situations seemed familiar.
So I liked both books very well, the Green was somewhat basic and the Blue had all kind of applications. All chapters are pretty short, so it are great books to take with you when you travel.

Bad play by Villian:

SB ($50.25)
BB ($56.5)
MP2($51.95)
Hero($77.21)
CO ($8.45)
Button ($8.75)

SB: Post SB $0.25
BB: Post BB $0.50

Preflop:

Hero is MP3 with Js, Qs
MP2 Call $0.5
Hero Raise $2.25
4 folds
MP2 Call $1.75

I try to open up my game lately, so this suited connector I raise UTG+1
I get 1 call by the UTG limper, he is 32/26/1.3 over only 19 hands. His range is probably suited aces, small pairs, suited connectors and some random trash.

Flop:($5.25) 2s, Jc, 8s(2 players)

MP2 Check
Hero Bet $4
MP2 Call $4

Great flop, top pair and a flush draw. Villian check/calls, range is a flush draw, a straight draw with 9T, a weak jack, considering his stats I think he would raise any better jack than QJ, or a badly played set.

Turn:($13.25) 6s(2 players)

MP2 Check
Hero Bet $10
MP2 Raise $30
Hero Raise $60
MP2 Allin $15.7

The turn brings me the flush, Villian checks again, obviously I am valuebetting here. Villian decides to check/raise. I am not laying my hand down so I push allin, too bad if he has a better flush. Villian calls

River:($128.95) Th(2 players, 2 all-in)

MP2 has 2d, 2c

Total pot $125.95 Rake $3.00
Hero: wins $125.95

I played the hand very standard, but I posted this hand, because I think Villian played this hand very bad.
First he limp calls preflop, every pair in every position on a 6max table is a raise.
Then he check/calls a very drawy flop.
On the turn he decides to check/raise, and I think that was the worst mistake. Because I will almost never call him with a worse hand. If I don’t have a flush/flushdraw, a hand like AhJd, I have a realy hard time calling. If I have a better set he is drawing almost dead and if I have a flush he is putting his money in at the wrong moment.

As the title of this post says, I dont have a coach anymore. The guy who was coaching me has a busy schedule and dont think it is fair to offer me coaching while he doesn’t have enough time for it. I understand his decision and agree that it is not a good idea to be caoching with such a busy schedule, but now I am coachless again. I contacted some guys from Pokernews and 2+2 already and I will be looking for a new coach in the coming weeks. If I cant find one, KOTS (my ex-coach) has said that I am the first he will contact as soon as he has more time.
My improvement plan is still in action, but I am not able to do as much as I wanted because of other stuff, like my master thesis. But still I try to read 2+2 strategy posts and watch CR vids. My spew project is also running quite well, although some people think that I should open up even more. Coming from a 19/15 game, I now play 24/19, so I guess that is not all that bad. But I agree I could open up my game even further. I played almost 5000 hands now on 50NL and here are the stats:

VPIP/pref. raise/PF AF: 24/19/3.5
W$WSF: 45
ATSB: 37
winrate: 0.36 bb/100

And here is a hand of last session:

NL50, 5 handed
Hero ($86.75)
BB ($50)
MP3 ($58.05)
CO ($53.1)
Button ($43.3)

Hero: Post SB $0.25
BB: Post BB $0.50

Preflop:
Hero is SB with As, Ah
1 folds
CO Call $0.5
1 folds
Hero Raise $2.25
BB Call $2
CO Call $2

obvious raise, I get two calls.
Both players are loose.

Flop:($7.5) Kd, Kh, Qc(3 players)
Hero Bet $5
BB Call $5
1 folds

I flop an overpair, so I bet and get 1 call. This Villian is 45/15/9 over only 20 hands. I think his range here is a K a Q or a draw with a hand like TJ. It is almost a coinflip.

Turn:($17.5) 9h(2 players)
Hero Check
BB Bet $7
Hero Call $7

I am not sure if this c/c is the best line, but if he is holding TJ he just turned a straight. Besides that I think he will bet a Q here fairly often, but will not call with a Q that much. He bets smallish, I need 23% so I call.

River:($31.5) 7c(2 players)
Hero Check
BB Bet $15
1 folds

Here I am lost, he bets smallish again, I need 25%, but I highly doubt he fires again with a Q here. So if he doesn’t fire with a Q, but does with the rest of his range, then this is a clear fold. But the question is, will he show up with a Q, more then 25% of the time?