The Ramblings of a Low-Stakes Internet Poker Grind

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Articles: 1, 2, 3, 4

PLO Hands... WWJD?
2007-09-09 16:13:00
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1462200Am I a donk, or a genius for re-potting the flop? I won a coinflip, and that's all that matters to me! (btw, the answer is "a donk")http://www.pokerhand.org/?1462216Um mm... did I flop it? I had to look at my cards for like 30 seconds to determine whether or not I had the best hand.http://www.pokerhand.org/?1462235Goo d fold, or bad one? If the river comes a spade, does my hand have any showdown value? Do I check? Do I bet?http://www.pokerhand.org/?1462271How the hell did I miss?!?!? I can't even count all the outs I have.After a while, I kind of hit a wall and started missing flops. I stole a couple small pots and walked away with a +20.00 session.-The Gerk-
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Monster Hand
2007-09-09 16:05:00
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1462176If I want you to look at one hand that I ever post in this blog, this one might be it. Please diagnose the hand in the comments, I'm interested to see how you would play it. Include how many outs you would think I had, how many outs I ACTUALLY had, and what you could put my opponent on.-The Gerk-
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PLO Is Sick
2007-09-09 15:42:00
I like going from site to site and game to game. It is soooooo much better than just playing NLHE on Pokerstars. I can pick a game that suits my mood, and changing where you play is just as refreshing.After my limit session yesterday, I scurried over to FullTilt for some PLO, a game a hadn't played in a few days. Oh boy, did I have a sick session. I more than doubled my stack, then lost a couple huge pots, one with J-8-A-A. The flop was J-8-5 with two spades, and I potted. He called, and the turn was a non-spade 7. He checked, I bet 4.00, and he called. The river was the 6h, and he checked. I just checked behind with four connecting cards on the board, and he showed a busted Q-high flush draw with 3-4. Sick way to lose a pot, I'll tell ya.Anyway, I busted, rebought, and then our table completely lost it. We had one guy that had already gone through 75.00 at .10/.25 in like 20 minutes, and he was potting EVERY hand preflop, or re-potting if it was raised to him. It was insane. I li...

Limit Hold'em, Other Stuff
2007-09-08 18:50:00
Busted out a 150-hand session this morning. Yesterday I only won 1.10, essentially two big bets lol. But I was just scoping out the tables, and I knew today would be different. I scooped 7.90, or 16 big bets in a session just short of an hour and a half. That win-rate equals something around 10 big bets an hour. That is about the standard for a good session, but I would like it to be closer to the 15-20 range. I'll work on it.Some things I've noticed about LHE, including weaknesses in my own game:-The games are just as soft as I expected. My table last night was very loose-aggressive, but this morning they were passive and tight. I can easily adapt my game to beat both ends of this spectrum.-Many players continuation bet with ATC (any two cards) on the flop, whether they connected or not. I'm calling with any gut shot or backdoor draw, and probably raising if I flopped a pair. I may also raise with nothing. This poor donk at my table this morning went through 25 big ones at .25/....
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A Third Game
2007-09-08 05:44:00
I'm going to try to learn Limit Hold'em next. That is to say, re-learn it properly. Of course I already know how to play the game, and I've done it several times in the casino. What's funny is that my biggest singular win in one session ($450) and my biggest one-session loss ($250) both have come in some variation of limit hold'em.I scouted out some of the lower stakes games on UltimateBet this evening, namely at .25/.50 with .10/.25 blinds. I won just over a dollar. I was donking around quite a bit, and I think limit could be a great steam game at those stakes. The players seemed very soft and content with betting down every street with nothing. I think with some playing time and practice I could destroy that game. I absolutely love how math oriented limit hold'em is. J5 in your BB? DEFEND! A-high on the turn? Re-raise! Missed your K-high flush draw? Welp, too bad, you've gotta call the bet on the end because you're getting 12:1, so fuck you.-The Gerk-
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The Gerk Wins UB Friday 7AM NL Hold'em $5.00+.50
2007-09-07 15:47:00
Congratulations! You finished in 1st place. You won $78. You received 3 Ultimate Points for buying into this tournament. You also converted .10 Bonus $ into cash. Thank you for playing.Damn that feels good.I woke up with Carrie this morning around 6:00AM and got on UltimateBet, looking to recoup yesterday's losses in PLO. I haven't updated in a while, so here's what you've missed. Like I mentioned previously, I have more than doubled my deposit on FullTilt, playing .10/.25PLO and .10/.25 NL Hold'em. I like the site and I think the games are softer than probably both Pokerstars and UltimateBet. But since my $70 win a couple days ago, I haven't logged on to the site. I've been playing PLO on UltimateBet. I dropped two buy-ins yesterday in like 10 minutes, and then quit because I was totally steaming. This morning it was much of the same, not winning 60/40s and the like. But I was still up for the day, then in a course of 4 hands lost it all to the same guy. I admit I was o...
More About: Friday , Wins , The G

The Mastery of Two Games
2007-09-04 22:40:00
Many poker players who are successful can play more than one game variation very proficiently. Until I began reading CTS's blog (from Card Runners) a month or two ago, I could only consider myself a one-trick pony. At this point, however, I can say that I can play two games profitably. I have been a quick learner in PL Omaha, and my recent success shows that.Yesterday I banked like 30.00 playing PLO on UltimateBet. Today I switched over to FullTilt, and played a quick 6-handed NL Hold'em session before class. I bought in for 13.75, and ballooned it up to 26.00. I was down to around 20.00 when this hand came up. I raised UTG+1 to 1.00 with TT. The cutoff called, the button called, and the SB re-popped to 3.50. I called- this is a pretty loose aggressive game, he may very well have 99 or AK here, and I know the other two callers are just as loose, so I'm getting like 5:1. The other two donks called too, and there was over 17.00, or over 75BBs in the pot preflop. The flop was a wet ...
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Send It
2007-09-03 17:10:00
I played in a couple 5.50 NL Hold'em tournaments on UB this morning- nothing to report, besides that fact that I'm still running bad in Hold'em. In the first tourney ( a six handed beauty) I worked my stack to over 2100, then called 140 in the 20/40 level with 55 on the button. The flop came ten high, the UTG+1 raiser bet the pot, and I re-raised it all in. He thought for a moment and called off his last 300 with 44. The turn came a 4, and gave him his two outer. Now, with my remaining 1k, I got it all in with 7d5d on a 7s-2d-3d flop. He has 2h3h, and I have a million outs. The turn is a 6, and the river a non-diamond queen, and so his bottom two fade 19 outs to bust me. In the second tourney I got it all-in with K7 on a K-7-T flop... he of course had 77. I had about 350 left, got it in with A6, and ran into AQ. It looked like the poker gods were going to send me some reprieve when the board ran out A-2-7-6, but the river came another 7 and counterfeited me out of another tournam...
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Links for 2007-09-02 [Digg]
2007-09-03 07:00:00
Interview with a Political Party:Libertarian National Socialist Green Party Environmentally aware Nazi's? The Nanny Diaries, The Ex (Fast Track), and Adaptation Movie Reviews Reviews of The Nanny Diaries, The Ex, and Adaptation. The Top Ten Things Old People Would Destroy (If They Could) Everyone loves / hates / has sex with old people, especially Drokk. But what if one day, instead of putting up with us young whippersnappers, they tried to revolt and change society? This list brings together the top ten things they would most likely get rid of... before bedtime at 7.
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Can You Ever KNOW Someone Has Aces?
2007-09-01 23:55:00
I'm going back to my grassroots, playing NL Hold'em on UltimateBet and FullTilt. I dropped 25.00 on Fulltilt two days ago, in a frustrating session where I ran my QsQd into 8s9s on an all spade flop. Some times, a raise preflop doesn't matter, and a LAG player is always going to call with that hand in LP. And it's the kind of flop you've got to be aggressive with, as to not give a free card to As-rag. I didn't suck out. Then later on I finished 12th in a NL Hold'em tourney where top five paid. I got it all in with Q9 when I pushed on the button. 33 called in the BB, and I was racing with a chance at an average stack. The board ran out 7-Q-K-Q...3. Brutal.Yesterday I put in a good session where I doubled my stack, many of the chips coming from a hand where I raised in MP to 1.25 with KK, and the guy immediately to my left pushed. I called and his AJ's 3 outs didn't come.Today I hit up Fulltilt, and played a solid two hour session. I felt just dead on today, most of my reads w...

Hahahaha 40 More Dollars For Me
2007-08-28 23:20:00
I played an hour or so at Warren, a .10/.25 PLO table on UltimateBet. I got stuck two buy-ins, and then went on a tear, surging back to above even, before doubling up to over 70.00 at the table, and subsequently donking off 8 bucks with a flush draw and a gut shot that never got there. At that point I figured it was a good time to get the hell out of there, so I left, up around 40 for the session. Here's a look at some funny shit, make sure you check out the last hand...http://www.pokerhand.org/?1420521I just called on the flop with a pair and a flush draw. Made two pair on the turn, but it was a bad card that completed his gutshot. No outdraw for me. Maybe should've raised light on the flop?http://www.pokerhand.org/?1420504If my friend Drokk was playing my hand here, and I asked him what he had when he bet the pot on the river, he would say "BALLS BABY!"http://www.pokerhand.org/?1420493I think this was my best played hand of the day. I made a ridiculous call on the end, and he ha...
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That Hand From A Couple Days Ago
2007-08-28 17:00:00
http://www.pokerhand.org/?1419134There it is, in all its glory.This guy was pretty new at the table, so after I potted pre-flop I didn't think he was making a move or anything. I was close to 100% sure he had aces. After running the percentages through Cardplayer.com's odds calculator, I am slightly better than a 2:1 dog pre-flop, and I was getting the right price on a call, with position on my opponent. After the flop, the hand is a dead coinflip, but I still got it all-in pretty light, something I shouldn't be doing. On the turn I am somehow behind 55/45, despite needing any 9, T, J, K, A, or spade to take the pot.If you were that guy, and I re-raised all-in on the flop, would you call your stack off with aces?No, me neither. As Ian said, I would probably put you (me) on a set of queens. Either way, that pot put me at even on UltimateBet.I started playing on FullTilt yesterday, and so far so good, the PLO games are juicy there too. I'm up 15.00.-The Gerk-
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Tilt Talk, A Huge Hand
2007-08-27 17:13:00
My PLO excursion over the last week has been filled with ups and downs. Some days I felt like I was playing pretty well, given my relative skill level, and I would squeeze out a buy-in or two profit. Other days, I would be tilting pretty hard, without ever taking a beat to encourage such bad play, and I would drop 2, 3, maybe 4 buy-ins before I finally signed off in shame.Let's talk about tilt for a minute. "Tilt " is a word generally used to describe the frustration of a player due to any number of causes, and the resulting effect on the way he plays. Most times, a particularly bad beat will send a player into tilt mode, causing him to try to recoup his losses as quickly as possible, by playing more hands and pushing all-in with very modest holdings. Sometimes, when a player is tilting badly, he just wants to bust and get away from the table. It is important for a successful player to understand who at his table is steaming so that he can adjust his play against that player. When ...
More About: Talk , Huge , Hand

PLO
2007-08-26 19:48:00
I've played a fair amount of Pot Limit Omaha over the last few days. Overall, it has been an up and down affair- sometimes I play well, sometimes I play poorly, but either way I'm still running pretty badly (although some of that is definitely my fault). I played in a 100-person NL Hold'em tourney on UltimateBet this morning and finished 25th, five places out of the money. I nearly doubled my stack in the first two levels, but then lost a coinflip with AQ when I raised in MP and he pushed from the cutoff with 55. The board came 9-high. I got it all-in later with AQ again, on a flop of A-7-3. I had raised pre-flop in EP and attracted two callers, one from the button and one from the small blind. The small blind bet out weakly at the flop, kind of like a "Is my A5 good?" bet, I moved all-in, and he called. He showed A3 and I needed help. The turn came a K, giving me 8 outs on the river, and I spiked a Q to double up. My stack went up and down, and soon we were nearing the money, an...

Send It Back Baby!
2007-08-24 04:43:00
I am thoroughly convinced that the best game to play (that is to say, the game that is the most +EV) is PL Omaha. I had moderate success on Pokerstars playing PLO, but I only saw maybe 400 hands and I played like a donk because my bankroll was getting so low. But now that I am playing on UltimateBet, I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that the players on this site have no clue whatsoever as to how to play PLO correctly. I'm sure there are some real studs at the higher limits, but for the stakes I'm playing I am confident I can beat any 6-handed table on any given day.There was an opponent I encountered today that checked 95% of the time when the action came to him. I saw him check down the nuts on every street multiple times, and he refused to bet with hands as strong as top set. It was unbelievable. Many other players, however, are trigger happy morons who can't wait to put their money in the pot with draws, whether they are dead or not. The majority, I've realized, are loose...
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The Two Worst Beats I Have Ever Taken
2007-08-23 17:07:00
UltimateBet, I should have never given you a chance.In my short time on the site, I was up about ten bucks, and at .05/.10NL, that isn't too bad. Today I dropped a buy-in at the .05/.10 NL Hold'em table, and then bought into a .10/.25PL Omaha 6-handed table. In case you weren't aware, the Omaha players on UB are pretty terrible at the lower limits. Case in point, a 50 person tournament I entered yesterday, and took 6th place at despite my lack of Omaha experience. Well today I suffered two incredible beats in back to back hands. (I don't know how to access my UB hand history, so until I figure that out I can't post the hands on pokerhand.org.)Here's what happened:UTG raises pot (.85)UTG+1 calls.MP calls.I re-pot to 4.00 with AhAsKh9sBlinds fold.UTG calls.UTG+1 folds.MP calls.(Pot is upwards of 15.00)Flop is 3h- 9s- AcUTG checks.MP checks.I bet the pot.UTG folds.MP tanks... and calls of his last 6.00 with Ad- 7d- 5c- JsTurn is 4d.River is 6c.MP takes the pot with a straight, th...
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Birthday Full of Games, New Life on UltimateBet
2007-08-23 15:35:00
It's been a few days since my last post, so it's time to fill you all in. I hosted a few tournaments on Monday, the eve of my birthday. My girlfriend made me a World Poker Tour cake that looked pretty kick ass, and Drokk made me a much simpler cake with my face on the Queen of hearts printed out on a piece of paper stuck to the top of it. As far as the poker went, I played decently, but nothing fantastic, I made a bluff in the first tournament that cost me half my stack, and I ended up rebuying twice before taking home zero for third place. I took an interesting beat when I got it all-in three ways with AK against Ian's AQ and Drokk's 66. Ian flopped a Q, which won him the side pot, and Drokk spiked a 6, which gave him the main pot. I split the second tournament when Ian and I got it heads-up. We played another hold'em tournament and PL Omaha tourney too, but I can't remember who won either one of them.I have no money on Pokerstars anymore, but I did make deposits on both Ult...
More About: Life , Games , Birthday , Full , New Life

Links for 2007-08-22 [Digg]
2007-08-23 07:00:00
Superbad, Disturbia, and Rear Window Review A review of the new movie Superbad, a review of the new dvd release Disturbia, and a review of the Alfred Hitchcock movie Rear Window
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Links for 2007-08-18 [Digg]
2007-08-19 08:00:00
Long Lost Family Feud Surveys Now for the first time, only on Arabianmonkey.com, you can witness first-hand the amazing surveys that the rest of America didn't get to see.
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Links for 2007-08-17 [Digg]
2007-08-18 07:00:00
The Five Celebrities I Hope NEVER Have A Sex Tape Every warm-blooded American man loves three things- football, beer, and a good old-fashioned celebrity sex tape. But just like some football games are boring (the preseason) and some beer is unpalatable (Red Dog), some celebrity sex tapes could (theoretically) be disasterously disgusting. Featuring: Hillary Clinton, Bob Barker, and Oprah.
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The End, and a New Beginning
2007-08-17 17:50:00
In case any of you are curious, here's the pot that the rest of my bankroll went into: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1380872Although it's not a total cooler, that is a very, very bad spot to run into, seeing as my two pair is virtually dead (no redraw for a full house, only quads). I still had nine hearts though, but none came.So now that your Pokerstars Cashier says that you have exactly $0.00, what are you going to do now? Well, I'm going to deposit two checks into my account today and then take some of that and deposit it on at least two, maybe three sites. Pokerstars for certain, UltimateBet is probable, and so is FullTilt. If you have any suggestions or bonus codes, now would be a good time to leave them in the comments. I'll see you at the tables again this weekend. :)-The Gerk-

Links for 2007-08-16 [Digg]
2007-08-17 08:00:00
The Gerk's Poker Blog An amazing poker blog detailing the life and times of a low stakes internet poker prodigy.
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Good Morning Mr. Stone Cold Cooler
2007-08-16 17:33:00
When I woke up this morning I was excited about hitting the PL Omaha ring games. I ran well last night, and I was hoping for a repeat performance. Not so much.http://www.pokerhand.org/?1377638The first hand I played I called of a bet on every street drawing totally dead, only to make the second nuts on the river and be forced to pay him off.http://www.pokerhand.org/?1377635Very soon after, I ran into one of those legendary, unavoidable Omaha confrontation where an absolute monster runs into the dead nuts. I would like one person reading this to tell me that they could've laid my hand down.http://www.pokerhand.org/?1377626I rebought, and tried to rebuild. But my stack and my confidence were ailing after that AA hand. I doubled through once I got shortstacked when I checked my flopped K-high flush and then bet the turn/ potted the river.http://www.pokerhand.org/?1377619Th en I ran flush into over-flush, but I really didn't belong in this pot. I almost folded on the turn- Puuha-Pete i...
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Busto? Not yet baby!
2007-08-16 07:03:00
The end is on the horizon for the wreckage of my Pokerstars bankroll, but the sun hasn't set just yet. If you check out the refurbished forums under the "The Gerk's Poker Blog" folder, you can take the poll I posted and it should reveal to you how I busted out of a pretty significant tourney I was in a couple days ago. Since then I have donked off a stack or two at .10/.25 NL, a 5.00+.50NL 9-handed Sit & Go, and a full buy-in at .10/.25PL Omaha. I had registered my very last 2.20 in a huge super satellite (a 3x shootout) to the Sunday Million, but I withdrew it because I was sick of waiting for it to fill up. I took that meager stack to a .02/.05PL Omaha ring game and decided to let it ride. What happened next was a major heater combined with really awful opponents that multiplied my bankroll by 8 times. I currently sit with almost 18.00 and I'm ready to fuck up those tables again tomorrow. Here are some key hands courtesy of Pokerhand.org.http://www.pokerhand.org/?1 376052I make ...
More About: Baby

Links for 2007-08-13 [Digg]
2007-08-14 07:00:00
Interview With a Presidential Candidate United Fascist Union' Jack Grimes Fascist Jack Grimes would allow over the counter sales of cocaine...anyone dead relative of Keith Richards would be in trouble Bourne Trilogy Review A good review of the Bourne trilogy
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The Analysis of a Hand
2007-08-13 17:55:00
If you haven't read the comments section of the previous blog post, refer to them first before reading this one. In summary, this particular hand decided a 5-handed NL Hold'em tournament that some friends and I played on Friday. My opponent seems to believe that the call he made was correct, and that I shouldn't "gripe," but the objective of this analysis is to prove that it was not only an incorrect call, but a VERY incorrect call.In the tournament in question, there were five players and two rebuys, with each player starting with 20.00 in chips. Therefore, there are 140.00 of chips in play. We are heads-up at this point, and I have just doubled up to take a VERY slight chiplead when my TT held up against Ax all-in preflop. After I lost the pot in question, I was all-in with my BB the very next hand- my opponent called in the dark and we played the hand with the hole cards face up. Therefore the stacks were approximately even, with me having a 6.00 (or one BB) chiplead. The hand...
More About: Analysis , Hand , The A , Anal

Run Badly, Break Even
2007-08-12 21:09:00
Survival.Not one word is more important in the grand cosmic ideology of poker.One must always keep his head above water, if nothing else. That should be his primary concern; not to win big, not to play a certain style, or to play his cards. Surviving is always paramount, and not just in tournaments, but in cash games too. If your bankroll is in trouble, then you need to do whatever you have to do guarantee its immediate survival- lower your stakes, change your playing style, or switch games.I have become a master of survival in the last few weeks. I have been consistently (probably 75% of the time) beating the .10/.25 NL game on Pokerstars since my bankroll train-wrecked. Winning in a game filled with so many loose players is quite a task, and to do so I've had to tighten up many loose ends strewn throughout my game. I am only taking about .75-1 buy-in every hour and a half or so on average- but I am surviving. I am being forced to take huge chances by accepting 5:1 edges before t...
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Links for 2007-08-07 [Digg]
2007-08-08 07:00:00
NBA Referees Bet Team Owners that "They Probably Would've Lost Those Games Tim Donaghy, the official accused of colluding results of NBA contests by betting on games he refereed in, has been the focal point of a media firestorm in the last week. In an interesting turn of events Tuesday afternoon, a group of fellow NBA referees has openly announced that they have offered a bet to several NBA owners. HUMOR
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Live Games Are My Specialty
2007-08-02 18:44:00
I have had no success whatsoever on the internet lately. Every time I've had a chance to make a splash in an MTT or even a 9-person Sit and Go, something terrible always happens and I bust outside of the money. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've run QQ into KK, KK into AA, or AK into KK. I feel like even my monster hands are about to be outdrawn or counterfeited. It has been a very long time since I've felt this insecure at the poker table. I am playing scared- and scared poker is losing poker.My Pokerstars bankroll is very, very low. Dangerously low. Like, I could very soon have no Pokerstars bankroll low. My bad run the last few weeks has absolutely destroyed me- I've switched gears, games, and playing styles and yet nothing can get me out of this internet funk. I'm not sure what I'm doing differently that is resulting in me losing money, but I need to get out of it and save myself before I lose it all.Meanwhile, I am incredibly happy with my live game. Although ...
More About: Games , Live , Ames

Links for 2007-07-29 [Digg]
2007-07-30 07:00:00
The World Player In Sports: Michael Vick Bonds Donaghy Michael Vick Bonds Donaghy and the sport of underground puppy punting...
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