Results:

So my vacation is over, and only managed to play for about 42 hours during those two weeks.



Add rakeback to this and it comes down to around $2300 in 42.4 hours. I'm quite happy about both the hourly rate and how I approached it. Even while I played for way less hours than I could have put in, I never played when I was not in the right mood, and generally stopped sessions as soon as I noticed I was not playing my A game, even if I were sitting at juicy tables. My hourly rate could be a lot higher by playing more tables, but I have little interest in becoming a grinder, so I'll stick to 4 tables at the moment.

Oddly I won more per hour at NL50 than at NL100. The rakeback makes NL100 slightly better, but the players at NL50 are in general way less good than at NL100, which explains the difference.

My plans for now are quite simple. I will only be withdrawing rakeback which should be a nice supplement to my normal job, and will keep building my roll to get towards the higher limits. Bankroll management and tilt control are the key to this, and I think just withdrawing rakeback is a nice way to do so. The winnings or losses per day/week/month etc don't really matter, since I'll still be making money thanks to the rakeback I'll be withdrawing, and the limit I play at effects that. The bankroll itself should not be treated as money, but more as an investment capital.
Should I have to move down I earn less, and when I move up I make much more. I do however hope to move up to NL200 and higher relatively soon, but I do think that thanks to Cardrunners I'm capable to beat those limits should my bankroll be sufficient to play there.

Sunday - Being a Crazy Nit

Last day of my vacation, so decided to grind it up a bit to end the vacation with nice result. One thing I noticed a lot during my vacation is how the games have changed at NL100. Everyone seems to know nowadays that a reraise does not always mean a strong hand. And it seems that every time there's a raise and a call everyone and their mother squeezes with any two cards. People are 4-betting with all kinds of trash hands and polarizing their ranges.

Some people try to exploit that by being a Nit. Never getting into marginal spots, only playing strong hands and never getting out of line. Only while that seems a good play, everybody who's somewhat decent uses a HUD nowadays which means those 15/11 players just don't get any action. They still beat this game for marginal winnings in general, so something like 2-3ptBB/100.

I decided to experiment a bit on sunday. I was not going to 3-bet light that often, never was going to squeeze or 4-bet bluff, never were going to call a 3-bet with a marginal hand, but I was going to play in such a way that my table image, at least the stats people got on me in their HUD's were still going to be somewhat crazy.

So I played like a total nit other than a few minor adjustments:
- Nits don't steal enough preflop, generally around 20% or less. I kept my attempt to steal as high as possible and on some tables I raised every single button when folded around to me. My attempt to steal was 52% for the day.
- Nits play too tight. I ran around 24/21 for the day, which quite disguises that I'm trying to be a Nit.
- Nits don't do crazy stuff. That's good, I didn't either. Other than some random large river bluffs when having a decent read about opponent's hand strength.
- Nits don't defend their blinds enough. I didn't either, I played extremely tight from small blind, never stealing or restealing, same for the big blind. Yet if the SB even so much as glanced at my BB fireworks were going to show at the table. I think I 3-bet every single hand in the BB if the SB opened a bit too often into me. Play me out of position? Pay for it!

So my stats were going to be all in the red for people who trust their HUD stats, and my table image should be somewhat of a total nutcase, even while I played an extremely standard postflop game with only a few bluffs tossed in. I valuebet thinner, in one pot even with ace-high getting called by a worse ace-high, which was quite funny:

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($67.90)
UTG+1		($92.80)
CO		($131.55)
BTN		($102.45)
SB		($10.50)
Hero		($198.45)

Pre-flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is BB

2 folds, CO raises to $3.50, 2 folds, Hero raises to $12.50, CO calls $9

Flop: ($25.50, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($25.50, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($25.50, 2 players)
Hero bets $16, CO calls $16

Final Pot: $57.50
Hero shows:
CO shows:

Hero wins $54.65 ( won +$26.15 )
CO lost -$28.50


This was pretty standard vs that opponent though. The villain in question is a pretty moody player, hates to fold, and cbetting that board with AK is something you only do vs that player when you dislike money. But on the river it was pretty obvious villain either held nothing or dueces. As played, I expected my river bet to get called by a worse ace-high or even a king. Villain in question is also prone to tilt, so I cannot let such an opportunity pass.

Another fun hand was vs a player who played quite solid, but I think he thought I was a total nutcase. It was pretty obvious that he either had AK or AQ in this spot, perhaps AJ, and was slowplaying vs me to extract more value. So I decided to pot the turn and overbet the river, not really expected villain to fold much:

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($108.75)
UTG+1		($105.95)
CO		($115.60)
BTN		($63.85)
Hero		($217.10)
BB		($113.05)

Pre-flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is SB

4 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, BB calls $2.50

Flop: ($7, 2 players)
Hero bets $5, BB calls $5

Turn: ($17, 2 players)
Hero bets $17.50, BB calls $17.50

River: ($52, 2 players)
Hero bets $101, BB calls $87.05

Final Pot: $226.10
Hero shows:
BB shows:

Hero wins $237.05 ( won +$110.05 )
BB lost -$113.05


I managed to drag in over 3 buyins in 1.5 hours or so and quit for the day. I think I'll experiment with the Crazy Nit style a bit more often.

Early Weekend

Friday and saturday were pretty much a disaster. Started friday losing 3 buyins over two sessions, and made some quite stupid plays. Decided I wasn't playing my A game so spent my time doing more useful things, like watching the latest "Rambo" movie for new ideas on how to deal with fish.

Anyways, saturday I was quite happy about my game and put tons of hands in, probably somewhere around 3k. Many large pots where I went in as favorite kept moving in the wrong direction but the other hands I played slowly made up for it.

There was one interesting hand on friday though vs another Cardrunners member:

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($155.95)
UTG+1		($113.50)
Hero		($101.50)
BTN		($100.00)
SB		($49.05)
BB		($237.60)

Pre-flop: ($1.50, 6 players) Hero is CO

2 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, 1 fold, SB calls $3, BB calls $2.50



Got a monster so standard open...not really, but I expect my steals from the CO to succeed more often than from button with solid player in BB. My steal attempt was around 49% so perhaps this was a fold preflop.

Flop: ($10.50, 3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $7.50, SB folds, BB raises to $28, Hero raises to $94.50, BB goes all-in $234.10, Hero calls $3.50



I think villain would be CR'ing me here with pretty much anything he holds, be it a gutshot, overcards with A of hearts, some total air, small PP etc. This board looks to miss me quite often, so I would do so to in his spot. But because this is such a good spot to bluffraise, I think a bet/3bet is in order here and I should have quite some folding equity left here. There is another reason to shove here instead of call like I would do vs more taggy players with a disguised draw: I think his checkraise size here seems to be too large for a set, so I put him on air or a draw much more than a genuine hand he wants to get it in with.

Turn: ($342.60, 2 players)

River: ($342.60, 2 players)

Final Pot: $206.50
Hero shows:
BB shows:

Hero wins $203.50 ( won +$102 )
BB wins $136.10 ( lost -$101.5 )
SB lost -$3.50


Anyways, saturday started out well. This was the largest pot for me from the day:

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

Hero		($200.00)
CO		($328.60)
BTN		($154.95)
SB		($198.35)
BB		($108.50)

Pre-flop: ($1.50, 5 players) Hero is UTG

Hero raises to $3.50, 2 folds, SB calls $3, 1 fold



UTG with TJo, but it's only 5-handed and but pretty much everyone has a large stack. I had a normal TAG image so far, and think my UTG opens should get decent respect. Because of stack sizes, I thought this was a decent enough hand to open with and hope to get the blinds or steal the button.

Flop: ($8, 2 players)
SB bets $8, Hero raises to $21, SB raises to $34, Hero calls $13



SB donkleads into me. I do not know what it means, but with an open ended straight draw I made a semi-bluff here to either get him to fold some random junk or fold. Also don't mind building the pot a bit in case I hit. Villain made a very small 3bet here which made me think he probably had a set here. My hand is well disguised, there's enough money left behind so obviously called here with these odds.

Turn: ($76, 2 players)
SB bets $76, Hero calls $76



I hit the nuts, and my hand is still underrepresented. I either have an overpair here or AQ. With the pot size, and thinking villain had a set, I almost shoved but decided against it. What if villain was overplaying AQ here?

I decided to just flat and get the rest in on the river. Would suck if the board paired, but I was still going to get the rest in should it happen. No need to give villain a chance to make a hero laydown now.

River: ($228, 2 players)
SB goes all-in $84.85, Hero calls $84.85

Final Pot: $397.70
SB shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins $394.70 ( won +$196.35 )
SB lost -$198.35


And the most fun hand so far. UTG posted out of position, CO limps behind, I obviously raise, and CO does the 'limp-reraise' trick, which is something I never understood. Obviously I'm weary about aces, the CO should know me well enough to know I do not need much as cards to take advantage of dead money in the pot, but if he got aces that's fine. I got kings!

$0.5/$1 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($24.40)
UTG+1		($128.15)
CO		($174.60)
BTN		($103.55)
SB		($99.00)
Hero		($146.90)

[UTG posted $1]
Pre-flop: ($2.50, 6 players) Hero is BB

UTG checks, 1 fold, CO calls $1, 2 folds, CO says "ok jag", Hero raises to $6, UTG calls $5, UTG+1 says "jag", UTG+1 says "lol", CO raises to $24.50, Hero raises to $65, UTG folds, CO says "jag off", CO calls $40.50

Flop: ($136.50, 2 players)
UTG+1 says "dont loose all my monmey", UTG+1 says "please", Hero goes all-in $81.90, CO calls $81.90, UTG+1 says "omg"

Turn: ($300.30, 2 players)

River: ($300.30, 2 players)

Final Pot: $300.30
CO shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins $297.30 ( won +$150.4 )
CO lost -$146.90
UTG lost -$6.00