September 7, 2004
First Party
Played my first 500 hands of Party Poker over the last day. Since I had never played online before and I don’t have a large bankroll, I played it safe and only went in for two 50 dollar bonuses – that way, if I made money off the bonuses, I’d have some money built up to play through a bigger deposit for IGMPay. My plan is to build a small online bankroll from bonus whoring exclusively – I don’t have the means to play beyond that. Playing 1/2, I was technically a little down after the 500 hands, but I was, in terms of actual money in my pocket, way up because of the bonuses. Nothing like getting paid to practice my poker game. Once my next deposit goes through, I’ll start towards the next bonus, eyeing a move to 2/4 where the rake is better.
I’ll have more to say about this session later. Again, some real bad luck (I cannot seem to win with Aces, Kings, or Queens), but, again, more mistakes.
One piece of SSHE that I have incorrectly implemented is playing overcards. I always pay attention to the backdoor drwas but I don’t think I measure the strength of the board enough. I tcan’t just be raggedy; it’s got be raddedy and not TOO coordinated (otherwise, there’s probably something reasonably strong out there) but not too uncoordinated either (in that case, they aren’t on a draw and must have a pair and possibly a reverse dominating one). I also don’t think I have a good enough sense of how to measure whether I can get people out by playing aggressively in a large pot. Particularly in the 1/2 games, people have resolved to stay in the hand or not whether it’s one bet or two.
I also make a wide variety of river mistakes. On my first time playing in a casino ever, I raised way too much with the second-to-absolute-nuts. I thought, “well, he might call me with X” when that was highly unlikely or “he might have been raising with just a set that can’t beat my flush” when he had a full house. Really silly stuff. Then, I swung in the other direction, and didn’t bet enough on the river. I’d go into a shell with solid hands, even when draws didn’t come through.
Last night, there was one time where I made the former mistake by betting only when I could be beaten and I should have known he rivered his fullhouse given the betting patterns (he had raised pre-flop, I flopped the nut straight to the ace, we had been raising to the limit on flop and turn, so the board pairing should have clued me in – duh). Oh well, one BB lost, not a huge deal.
But there were many other more complicated situations with varied results. Throughout the 500 hands, I noticed people (in general, not just against me) check-raising the river. Mostly, they had the nuts, but sometimes it was indeed a bluff-raise. There was less predictability, so betting for value was harder to do. When semi-scare cards would fall, I found it difficult to figure out how to play.
My biggest problem is when I’ve got something like AK, with an A on the table, with board semi-coordinated. If they called my raise pre-flop, and they check-called with me all the way, have they hit their draw? Did they hit a two pair?
I also made some good laydowns in medium-sized pots. But there were enough mistakes of these varieties to make me notice the issues.
Filed by at 7:51 pm under dtrStories
11 Comments
How big is your bankroll? I really beleive in the 300xBB rule. I would stay with .50/1 or 1/2 until you have 1200 in your Bankroll. I know it is slow and the competition is not great but your gonna have bad days and you do not want to be in trouble when that happens. Just a thought.
I agree it sounds like you are playing in too big of stakes if you only have a couple hundred in there. I mean, 2-4 is really a big jump so you should be beating the 1-2 game consistently.
Also, from your post it sounds like you are thinking too much for this level – overthinking can be dangerous.
If you have 6 or 8 bets in on the river, and you have a hand, it doesn’t matter what card falls – you are going to make the last call. You can’t let someone bluff you off of a 16 or 18 bet pot! The smart play is to *just* call, and avoid re-raising and losing another 2 or 3 bets.
At the low limits, you should be winning. This is not 1bb per hour territory. When I sit at my .25/.50 table, I play until I have won 20 bb, and that is usually an hour or less. I can’t average 20bb per hour playing all day, but getting up 20bb is not difficult if you play only premium hands. Well, you may need to liven up the table a little when you sit down, just to ensure you get action later. A typical session for me is to sit down and raise the first two or three pots, knock my $20 down to $18. Then I wait and hit 2 hands and walk away with $30. That’s small money but that’s how I am building my bankroll. If the strategy holds at 2-4 I’ll be making $40-$80 per day and that’s fine with me.
Generally, people don’t bluff in these low limits. If they show aggression and you don’t have the nuts, smooth call and see what happens. At least, until you have a read on the guy (and with the turnover, that may be difficult). There isn’t a lot of check-raising unless someone flops trips or better. A lot of people will do you a favor and wait until the river to bet when they have the nuts. In such a case, I’ll pay my 1 BB and be fine with it – they are saving me money! Plus you may draw out on them.
Anyway good luck and be patient. Sounds like you are playing too many hands too, BTW.
Damien
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