[Bankroll Challenge] Return after Black Friday

Finally, a trap well laid that didn't backfire

PokerStars - €0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: 139.3 BB 43/10. The typical CS
Hero (UTG): 171.2 BB
CO: 79.4 BB
BTN: 118.1 BB
SB: 101.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K♠ K♥

Hero raises to 2.9 BB, fold, fold, fold, BB calls 1.9 BB
I should've made it bigger as there's a CS in BB.

Flop: (6.3 BB, 2 players) 8♦ A♥ K♣
BB bets 1 BB, Hero calls 1 BB
BB has 0.7 AF in flop, 0.3 turn, 1 on the river.
When he bets here, I know he has the A.
His bit is ridiculously low, but I think I can extract more form a turn raise if he fire the same 1BB in a 8BB pot and I raise him to 8BBs, than to raise him here to 6BBs.

Turn: (8.3 BB, 2 players) 9♠
BB bets 2 BB, Hero raises to 8.2 BB, BB raises to 135.4 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 127.2 BB
Again, ridiculous bet, but is guaranteed he has the A.
The 9 is a blank for most my range. As if it matters to him!!! OTF, I pretty much show no strength, considering I Cbet 60% (again, as if it matters to him) and allowed him to control action.
Now is the time to raise him, as planned.
His re-raise got me looking to the board and counting that he couldn't have a str8...Amazing betsize from villain 127BBs in 18BBs pot!!!

River: (279.1 BB, 2 players) T♠

Thank you, come again!

4 hands against same villain, by order:

Hand#1:

Hand#2:

Hand#3:

Hand#4:
Immediatly after hand#3. So I made use of tilted image. And it worked!!!

Playing for rake

Originally posted by yangmartins
Freaking amazing time for PS client to go down.
Folded by time out. Afetr waiting for a hand like this against whale.

PokerStars - €0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 112.5 BB
BB: 107.1 BB
Hero (UTG): 103.6 BB
CO: 365.1 BB
BTN: 123.3 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K♦ A♥

Hero raises to 4.2 BB, CO calls 4.2 BB, fold, fold, fold

Flop: (9.9 BB, 2 players) 4♠ J♠ K♥
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: (9.9 BB, 2 players) 6♥
Hero bets 8.3 BB, CO raises to 34.3 BB, Hero calls 26 BB

River: (78.5 BB, 2 players) A♣
Hero checks, CO bets 74.6 BB, fold

Spoiler

CO wins 74.6 BB

This happens to me frequently on our local site. We don't have auto top ups, so you manually have to do it, and this is when the client freezes and kicks you out and sometimes this happens when you in a hand. So, whenever I do a top up, I make sure I am not in a hand at any of my other tables, if I am lucky to be playing more than 1 or 2.

I honestly don't know how I am up. Actually, down in grind, but up because of the bonus...

#1

#2 Against same villain

#3 Different Villain. Wide range below my hand

#4 Can't win a big pot

Been like this since the year started:
Spot the donk. Push ahead. Get a bad beat.

Worst thing is I'm finding it hard to keep my game after so many spots like these.
I give it easy when I get overplayed, or when I make mistakes. But hands like the above kill my game.

PokerStars - €0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 49.8 BB
Hero (SB): 115 BB
BB: 100 BB
UTG: 110.8 BB
MP: 8.7 BB
CO: 100 BB

Hero posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A♥ K♣

fold, MP raises to 2 BB, fold, BTN calls 2 BB, Hero raises to 10 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 8 BB

Flop: (23 BB, 2 players) 6♠ 9♣ 4♣
Hero bets 45 BB, BTN calls 39.8 BB and is all-in

Turn: (102.6 BB, 2 players) J♠

River: (102.6 BB, 2 players) T♦

Thank God, I thought I was the only one doing this

Villain must have learnt new tricks and decided to try them on me.
He has TAG stats 22/19 in 3K hands. 9 3bet and 4.2 AF.
For some reason he decided to 3bet all my openings, when IP. He didn't know when was time to stop, so I needed to show him I know some tricks also. He suddenly slowed down after the last hand.

AQ "standard 4bet"

J8s. Let's see how far we want to go.

AK. My air is better than yours

#1

Spoiler

PokerStars - €0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 170 BB
Hero (BB): 163.9 BB
UTG: 96.5 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 135.8 BB
BTN: 101.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K♥ A♥

UTG raises to 3.5 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 3.5 BB, fold, Hero raises to 18 BB, UTG calls 14.5 BB, fold

Flop: (40 BB, 2 players) 2♠ 3♣ 4♥
Hero bets 14.4 BB, UTG calls 14.4 BB

Turn: (68.8 BB, 2 players) 2♣
Hero bets 65 BB, UTG calls 64.1 BB and is all-in

River: (197 BB, 2 players) T♥

Spoiler

Hero shows K♥ A♥ (One Pair, Twos)
(Pre 65%, Flop 81%, Turn 86%)
UTG shows J♠ T♦ (Two Pair, Tens and Twos)
(Pre 35%, Flop 19%, Turn 14%)
UTG wins 187.2 BB

I'm curious about your reasoning in this hand?
Since villain is not raising your hand on the flop, you assume you are ahead? Or why do you almost potbet on the turn?

Originally posted by KoningAlbert

#1

Spoiler

PokerStars - €0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 170 BB
Hero (BB): 163.9 BB
UTG: 96.5 BB
MP: 100 BB
CO: 135.8 BB
BTN: 101.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K♥ A♥

UTG raises to 3.5 BB, fold, fold, BTN calls 3.5 BB, fold, Hero raises to 18 BB, UTG calls 14.5 BB, fold

Flop: (40 BB, 2 players) 2♠ 3♣ 4♥
Hero bets 14.4 BB, UTG calls 14.4 BB

Turn: (68.8 BB, 2 players) 2♣
Hero bets 65 BB, UTG calls 64.1 BB and is all-in

River: (197 BB, 2 players) T♥

Spoiler

Hero shows K♥ A♥ (One Pair, Twos)
(Pre 65%, Flop 81%, Turn 86%)
UTG shows J♠ T♦ (Two Pair, Tens and Twos)
(Pre 35%, Flop 19%, Turn 14%)
UTG wins 187.2 BB

I'm curious about your reasoning in this hand?
Since villain is not raising your hand on the flop, you assume you are ahead? Or why do you almost potbet on the turn?

Either villain:
1- plays range and mine is significantly stronger than his, on this board, since AK/AQs should be lower part of my range and the only unpaired. Thus having string FE.

2- doesn't play range and considering his previous actions in other hands, I may actually be way ahead.

Does it make sense?

Don't you want villain to call when you are way ahead?
Eventually he does call, so I assume you have good reads on him. But to me it looks like you're going to make a lot of people fold that might still call a smaller bet...

Originally posted by KoningAlbert
Don't you want villain to call when you are way ahead?
Eventually he does call, so I assume you have good reads on him. But to me it looks like you're going to make a lot of people fold that might still call a smaller bet...

Ideally, I would. But trust me, is hard enough when I deny their equity. If I'm ahead, or I think I'm ahead, I bet. The best sentence someone ever told me in poker is "no flop-> is a good flop"
It feels every time I allow them a free card, is for them.

I want villain to call?!?!? Trust me, in a 70BBs pot I am more than happy if they fold and I realize my equity.

Look at the graph in spoil and you'll understand why I preffer them to fold.

It feels every time I allow them a free card, is for them.

This makes sense.

PokerStars - €0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 72.1 BB
BB: 63.4 BB
Hero (UTG): 103.2 BB
MP: 102.7 BB
CO: 101.8 BB
BTN: 52.5 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has K♦ A♦

Hero raises to 2.9 BB, fold, CO calls 2.9 BB, fold, fold, fold

Flop: (7.3 BB, 2 players) 2♥ 6♠ 3♣
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: (7.3 BB, 2 players) 7♣
Hero bets 3.9 BB, CO calls 3.9 BB

River: (15.1 BB, 2 players) 9♥
Hero checks, CO bets 11.7 BB, Hero calls 11.7 BB

This is one of those "no mans land flops", why did you bet that turn?

That was a villain specific option.
It is cheaper for me (against him) to bet T, call R, than to call T and call R.
He doesn't raise T enough, so this is my cheapest showdown against him.

Not the easiest month, so far.
Been battling EV for a while, but things are starting to get together.
Somehow, looks like the new year brought a lot of fishes to the tables and not only they were/are getting their outs, I was failing to adapt to them.
At the same time, after 1 month playing only NL10, the regs started to be aware of my moves.
All in all, when one is down almost 10BIs, can't be only bad luck. Take such opportunities to evaluate your game even more.

So far, is looking like this:

Good things now:
Reached gold status on PS. Think I can put in volume to keep it monthly.
Managed to unlock a 38€ bonus and am 345/475 for the next one, with 7 days to do it. Think it'll be a little under 4k hands to do so.

Despite the difficulties at the tables, bonus are making for a small profit.

BR: 724.61€. Getting close to objective. Will re-evaluate after if I will keep it until I reach the 750€ not counting bonus, or if I will get a different challenge.

GL @ the tables.

Challenge finished (counting bonus)

Before opening the bonus:

After opening the bonus:

Through the challenge:

428.48€ at the tables, in 95k hands
101.00€ at the beggining
247.15€ in bonus

Taking the next couple of days off from the tables and will think about what next.

Nice

Originally posted by yangmartins

428.48€ at the tables, in 95k hands
101.00€ at the beggining
247.15€ in bonus

Taking the next couple of days off from the tables and will think about what next.

The bonus amount is superb!

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by yangmartins

428.48€ at the tables, in 95k hands
101.00€ at the beggining
247.15€ in bonus

Taking the next couple of days off from the tables and will think about what next.

The bonus amount is superb!

Yep, I'm happy with PS reward system.
It "forces" me to put up some volume, sometimes in short periods, but is worth.
Just made the math now and am kind of sad I've left December pass by.
Let's hope they keep treating me like this, with 40% on month challenge and now 18% on gold chests.

January was somewhat different. Good and "bad".

January graph:

28k+ hands
only 1.57BB/100
AI EV doesn't show how this month treated me. Profit is profit and I won't cry over small profit.

Graph since beggining:

Challenge completed! It is only completed if I count the bonus
Rakeback is part of the game, same way rake paid is. For me it plays a great part.
It took a little less than 100k hands. Honestly better than I expected.

For the time being, I have no plans of starting a new challenge, at least one as the previous.
I am thinking about using this blog to set some life and game challenges, but not as the previous challenge.

So far, except for December, I've managed to unlock all the monthly challenges from PS. That's part of how I got a good amount of bonus to help clear the challenge.
:f_cool:PS now (or at least for now) made my bonus weekly, instead of monthly. I think it is easier for me this way, as even if I have one week out, I can "burn" that week and not an entire month.
To add on that, with a little effort concentrated in the beggining of the month, I've reached gold level, meaning my bonus got a little better.
All added, I think I have 58% rakeback on PS, if I play for the bonus!!!
So, my main challenge, for the times coming is to keep this going, unlocking maximum montlhy/weekly chests and maintaining gold status.

BR:

GL @ the tables!!!

Originally posted by yangmartins
Challenge completed! It is only completed if I count the bonus
Rakeback is part of the game, same way rake paid is. For me it plays a great part.
It took a little less than 100k hands. Honestly better than I expected.

For the time being, I have no plans of starting a new challenge, at least one as the previous.
I am thinking about using this blog to set some life and game challenges, but not as the previous challenge.

Congratulations!

And of course the bonus counts!

Biggest pot so far!!!

Before you call me donk, I have info on the villain. That's why the PF limp and overshove on a flush board.

PokerStars - €0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

SB: 80 BB
BB: 129 BB
UTG: 188.5 BB
MP: 69.4 BB
Hero (CO): 238.2 BB
BTN: 257.9 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has 3♠ 3♦

fold, fold, Hero calls 1 BB, BTN raises to 4.5 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 3.5 BB

Flop: (10.5 BB, 2 players) 3♥ K♥ 4♥
Hero checks, BTN bets 10 BB, Hero raises to 43.3 BB, BTN calls 33.3 BB

Turn: (97.1 BB, 2 players) J♦
Hero bets 190.4 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 190.4 BB

River: (477.9 BB, 2 players) 2♠