Quarter

I’ve gone and done it. I changed my picture in my profile from a dime to a quarter. My last 3500 hands have been 25NL, minus my 6max Experiment, so, it only makes sense. I may drop down to 10NL if I have a bad run, but for now, that’s where I’m at. I don’t have 20 full buyins, but I have enough to play 20 buyins of $20, so that’s what I’m going to do. If I drop below $200 on UB, I’ll drop down. I don’t feel nervous or uncomfortable playing at 25NL. There are a lot of rocks, but a lot of them are weak tight (I consider myself weak-tight, but they are way worse than I am). There have been no players that have had me scrambling yet. I don’t always know where I’m at, and I’ve gotten myself into trouble, but I haven’t ever felt like I was the sucker at the table. I feel like I’m still one of the top guys at every table I sit down at.

I’m still seeing the same betting patterns – making a smaller bet on the turn than was made on the flop – guaranteed to fold to a raise or river bet, min blocking bets for bottom pair or a draw that will usually fold to a raise on the turn. 2 barrel bluffs that give up on the river. I still occasionally run overpairs or top pairs into sets, or kings into aces, but I think that will always happen. I’m slowing down a bit with them depending on the player, but if the stack to pot ratios are reasonable, I’m going for it.

I’m tightening up and calling fewer raises, playing less out of the blinds, playing more on the button, and playing strong with my big aces and pairs.

We’ll see how it goes.

The Return Of The 6Max Experiment

All that being said in my last post, I did get a chance to play some poker last night. I played full ring 25NL and was up about 1.5 buyins, which is great as far as I’m concerned. My PTBB/100 for 25NL is still at about 7.5, which makes me happy. I got paid off on a set of queens and a set of sixes. I would have been up another buyin, but a crazy loose player rivered 2 pair on me against my TPTK on a very non-threatening board. We got it in on the turn and I was way ahead.

In addition, I’ve been sneaking in some 2NL 6Max. I’d still like to work on my shorthanded game, so I’ve been playing it when I have a chance. It’s fun to play 2NL, because even if I get stacked, it’s not painful. I haven’t doublechecked my stats, but I’m up pretty good in my past 2 sessions – about 1.5 buyins. I still think I’d like to make the conversion, but the game is wilder and the swings are bigger, so we’ll see. I guess I’m just too conservative

6max Experiment, Day 1

Bought in for 3 at 4 tables of .01/.02. Started out with a huge run of cards right off the bat. Great starting hands, was connecting. I was raising preflop a lot more than usual because of the shorthanded tables. I felt like I was playing pretty well.

As the session went on, however, I started to bleed money. My AKs, AQs, AK, AQ, and similar hands were not connecting. I’d raise with JJ and the board would be AKQ. It got pretty ugly. I played 542 hands in very short order. by the time I was done, I was down $2.63. It doesn’t impact my bankroll, but it makes me wonder if 6max is just the wrong game for me. Granted, it’s only 500 hands, but I felt lost a lot. Too much aggression. Everyone betting and raising. None of my bluffs worked, even though they seemed credible to me.

My VPIP was significantly higher than normal, which is expected. My AF was slightly higher than at .02 full ring ( 1.35 vs. 1.14) due to a higher river AF (2.70 vs 1.36) It could be just an anomaly from the small sample, but it shows right now in the results – my won at showdown for 6max is an ugly 46.15 vs. 54.9 for full ring at .01/.02. Some of that was a rough run of cards, but some of it was due to having bluffs called, or calling with a set against a flush. I have a tendency to become suspicious when a really crazy guy – 70/30/5 is betting in to me the whole way, I assume he couldn’t have backdoored me, but alas, that’s what was happening.

Anyway, it was interesting, but I’m leaning towards dumping the idea.

UB – 148.70
PS – 131.62

6max Experiment?

I’ve been checking out some blogs lately, especially people who are doing personal bankroll challenges – trying to get their BR to a certain point in x days. I’m not doing one of those challenges, because the amount I can play is limited by work and family responsibilities, but I figure I can read about them and gain some knowledge, and perhaps expand my game a bit.

The one thing I’ve taken from all these challenges is that all these people are playing 6max. I’ve always eschewed 6max because the game is very aggressive – lots of contested pots, lots of reraising. It forces you to really trust your reads and make some aggressive plays and questionable calls. You have to re-evaluate your starting hand requirements, and your postflop aggressiveness. These guys are showing me that the game is profitable though.

The big reason? More hands equals more opportunities for better decisions than your opponents. In lots of cases, people are playing 8 tables and 125 hands per hour. I’m playing 4 tables at about 55-60 hands per hour at a full table. If I could manage a winrate similar to what I have now at a full table (7 PTBB/100), I’d double my $/hour by playing twice as many hands, and making better decisions than my opponents. Really, I don’t think I could maintain that kind of winrate at 6max, but it’s leaving me curious. I do think I could play 8 tables if I had enough screen real estate, but I only have one monitor, so I’m stuck at 4.

With that in mind, I may try a little 1 week experiment – playing 4 tables of .01/.02 6 max. At the end of the week, I’ll compare my stats (PTBB/100, hands per hour, $ per hour) against my .01/02 full table stats, and see where I stand. It will slow my bankroll growth for a week, but I’m curious to see how it goes. If I can handle the aggressiveness, I may try a week at .05/.10 and see how that goes. If it’s obvious that I can’t handle it, and I lose more than 5 buyins (due to poor decisionmaking, not due to suckouts), I’ll go back to my standard game.

I’ll keep you posted on whether or not I decide to do it, and how it goes.