Balance

Since I am pre-Intel Mac-abled, I am without important tools, such as Poker Tracker and Prospector. I therefore have to rely on a website that purports to give a profile of a player’s tendencies. All one does is type in the opponents name and the poker site of play, and up pops a tag for the player: Calling Station, Greenfish (weak)’ Redfish (strong preflop, weak post)’ Rock, Shark, Bomb, Mouse, Maniac, and short descriptions of what one might expect as general tendencies from these types of players. The information, however, is out-dated, or at the very least defaults in such a way that makes the information gathered and provided limited. For instance, it only rates me from play at Full Tilt, the site I first started playing for cash online, yet one that I now rarely visit. Therefore, I take the information that is provided with a grain of salt, and use it only to get a basic note started for each of my opponents.

As the session progresses, I refine the notes, commenting on the way a particular hand plays out, questionable calls, etc.

>PokerStars Game #20650714292: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) -
>2008/09/24 2:41:23 ET
>Table 'Sylvia' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
>Seat 1: bastinptc ($33 in chips)
>Seat 2: tkfromvan ($50.30 in chips)
>Seat 3: CriticalAA ($25.35 in chips)
>Seat 4: timboaus ($24.30 in chips)
>Seat 5: kosyrev ($8.55 in chips)
>Seat 6: Tupac_Soulja ($23.20 in chips)
>Seat 7: RoyaleGamble ($9.65 in chips)
>Seat 9: Ximinez ($15.95 in chips)
>bastinptc: posts small blind $0.10
>tkfromvan: posts big blind $0.25
>*** HOLE CARDS ***
>Dealt to bastinptc [Kh Kd]

I’m having a pretty good session up to this point, taking down a few small pots. Yet I have had nothing as strong as this preflop.

>CriticalAA: folds
>timboaus: raises $1.25 to $1.50

This player has been at the table for about two orbits. He has been aggressive, and my crib sheet says that he is a “Bomb.” I don’t take his early position raise lightly.

>gotcha75 has returned
>kosyrev: folds
>Tupac_Soulja: folds
>RoyaleGamble: folds
>Ximinez: calls $1.50

I don’t need any crib sheet for Ximinez. I know him well, and have written about him in the past. I have taken to looking for rooms in which he is playing. I want to get involved in a hand with him when I am strong. He is a calling station, sometimes a luckbox, but more often than not, a losing player. Still, I don’t want to make this hand easy for him.

>bastinptc: raises $3.25 to $4.75
>tkfromvan: folds

timboaus goes into the tank.

>timboaus: raises $19.55 to $24.30 and is all-in
>Ximinez: folds…immediately
>bastinptc: folds with some doubt, yet I think that if timboaus is willing to play for stacks, he must be holding Aces. He may have thought that he would need it to be heads up and made the shove to get Ximinez out. Yet, I don’t think my re-raise left much doubt to my holdings. I think I am happy with putting him on Aces, or AK at worse. Not QQ.

>Uncalled bet ($19.55) returned to timboaus
>timboaus collected $11.25 from pot

Of course, when one is holding the Aces, the play is much easier. This next table was quickly losing players and I was ready to call it a night. In that I was playing two tables at once, and I don’t multi-task well, I had not gotten around to profiling all of the players at this table. Yet, I was comfortable at the table, had a good read on several players, and was playing accordingly. I started with $15 and nearly doubled up early, a situation I rarely experience. I had set a somewhat arbitrary goal for myself to make $15 here and leave, yet my chip stack had started to dwindle on some missed draws, etc. This was going to be my last hand before I even saw my cards.

PokerStars Game #20652500901: Hold'em No Limit ($0.10/$0.25) - 2008/09/24 5:56:58 ET
Table 'Isberga' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 2: kuli139 ($5 in chips)
Seat 3: bastinptc ($23.75 in chips)
Seat 8: alex_cern ($7.10 in chips)
Seat 9: Dr.Dittsche ($3.75 in chips)
sbiriguda will be allowed to play after the button
alex_cern: posts small blind $0.10
Dr.Dittsche: posts big blind $0.25
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bastinptc [As Ad]
kuli139: folds
bastinptc: raises $1 to $1.25
alex_cern: raises $3.75 to $5
Dr.Dittsche: folds
bastinptc: raises $3.75 to $8.75
alex_cern: calls $2.10 and is all-in
Uncalled bet ($1.65) returned to bastinptc
*** FLOP *** [4d Kd Ac]
*** TURN *** [4d Kd Ac] [7d]
*** RIVER *** [4d Kd Ac 7d] [7h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
alex_cern: shows [Jd Js] (two pair, Jacks and Sevens)
bastinptc: shows [As Ad] (a full house, Aces full of Sevens)
bastinptc collected $13.75 from pot
alex_cern leaves the table

Mission accomplished. Good night.

A couple side notes:

It seems like it took forever, yet I received my deposit bonus last night, putting me in a slightly more comfortable position for a bankroll. Just slightly (7 buy-ins), but welcome nonetheless. The timing is good, as I feel like I’m starting to get a better feel for playing online cash.

I have tried playing at various times during the evening, or rather, while it is dark outside, and, while not wholly convinced, I think I have found the best time to play in terms of soft tables. Unfortunately, it is long after I should be in bed and I cannot abide such late nights on a consistent basis. More on this later…