The Power of PT

Warning: This post contains a bad beat, a hand history and an exclamation mark!

Played for 1 1/2 hours last night after spending most of the evening reading blogs/forums etc.
Stuck to .25nl and hadn't seen too many good hands when this happened.....

I get 10 s 10 c in mid position.I've been playing a tight game ( not that I'd expect anyone at .25nl to notice) and there was one limper when it came to me. I raised to $1.50 and 2 players called.We saw a flop of Jd 10d 3s.

With a possible flush and straight out there it was time to take it down.As I was considering the size of my bet Mr Fish bet $3 and the other player folded.I considered he could have J 10 or possibly be semi bluffing with a straight or flush draw and there was no way I was going to allow him to do that cheaply.I reraised him to $10 which he called.The turn was Ac and he checks.I'm sure my trip 10's are good and bet $13.25 putting myself all in and forcing him all in if he calls.

He calls and in an instant the river card comes Qs and he takes the pot showing Kh 10S making an A high straight. "lol nh" I say in the chat.

Thankfully I was able to laugh at this and realise that its guys like Mr Fish who have got my bankroll where it is.I read a quote that said that most professional players would struggle at low limit because players gamble so much and don't play in a logical readable fashion and to some extent this is true.I think if I replayed that hand a million times I'd never put Mr Fish on K10 o/s.This is partly why I like $1nl so much.Obviously its still a very low limit but the play is more "by the book" and predictable.

Although I'm keen to play $1 nl and above I think part of the reason I was able to laugh off a beat like that was because I'm playing well within my bankroll at .25nl. If I'd lost a $100 buy in at $1nl it may not have been so easy to get over.

I reckon I am though because I played on for another 40 mins and although I never pulled it back I didn't lose any more either and felt like I was still on my A game.If I blow my roll tonight I'll be back to edit this post....


Ok I'm going to break my hand history rule but just a quickie to show the power of Pokertracker.I found the stats on my best ever hammer hand in seconds and can even replay it on the game simulator.

I've played 27403 hands.72 o/s 224 times.72s 86 times.AA 126.AKs 60,AK 251,KK 127. I've seen Q10 the most at 282 times! 98soooted is number 6 in my top ten net money winners at $208 yet 98 o/s is my biggest losing hand at $278.Am I right in assuming that my average number should be aprox 162? 24403/169?

Followed some great links from comments left by Will Wonka and GaryC25.There's a lot of good quality poker material out there and the Pokertracker info is just what I need.Thanks again guys.


Ok its HAMMER TIME!!



Texas Hold'em $1-$2 NL (real money), hand #862,671,225Table Greenwich, 1 May 2005 4:30 AM ET
Seat 2: joj_the_dogSeat 3: LeonzeslayerSeat 4: mtsherman02Seat 5: ted bundySeat 9: Zagga [ 7D,2S ]

ANTES/BLINDSZagga posts blind ($0.50), joj_the_dog posts blind ($1).

PRE-FLOPLeonzeslayer calls $1, mtsherman02 folds, ted bundy folds, Zagga calls $0.50, joj_the_dog checks.

FLOP [board cards 5C,3H,4H ]Zagga checks, joj_the_dog checks, Leonzeslayer bets $6, Zagga calls $6, joj_the_dog folds.

TURN [board cards 5C,3H,4H,6C ]

Zagga checks, Leonzeslayer bets $7, Zagga bets $20, Leonzeslayer calls $13.

RIVER [board cards 5C,3H,4H,6C,10H ]Zagga bets $50, Leonzeslayer folds.

SHOWDOWNZagga wins $103.


SUMMARYDealer: ted bundyPot: $105 Rake: $2joj_the_dog loses $1Leonzeslayer loses $27mtsherman02 loses $0ted bundy loses $0Zagga bets $77, collects $103, net $26