roadtorobusto

So I realize this probably hasn’t been the best example of proper bankroll management. I put in quite a few hands of PLO today (mostly $50 buyin but one table of $100 buyin) and feel like though I played well, I played with a very aggressive high-variance style and ran well. These particular games are well suited for the way I was playing but I also ran good in some big pots, and even though it probably should go without saying, I’m definitely not advocating running off and playing several tables of a game you’re new to and aren’t bankrolled for as proper bankroll strategy. It’s probably better than blackjack, but it doesn’t really count as “taking a shot” like I was talking about earlier.

That said, playing new games is a hell of a lot of fun and I’m +$300 on the day, which is a fortunate but significant improvement to the bankroll. Daver is gonna hate me.

Road to Robusto Status: $1050

I’m having fun while working (1-tabling PLO + writing up some software guidelines for programs we’re going to run on DeucesCracked) and I have to admit, this is a pretty crazy game. As far as I can tell people are really really really bad in general, and I’m sure I’m not that much of an exception to that. That said, I’m still about where I was earlier (+$30 on the day) and have, at one point, had a stack of 400BB. It’s back down to ~200BB after a few hands like this:

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1086264 – From 68% equity pre to 65% equity on the flop to 0% equity on the turn. Hot. I was even thinking of making a river hero call vs. this villain; I’m glad he didn’t bet.

http://www.pokerhand.org/?1086154.

For the most part I’m just your standard issue donk in these games, but at least I feel happy that I’m not routinely donking off my stack.

Even with huge variance, it’s nice to take a break from Hold’em. 

Rob

The past week I’ve been pretty busy working on a bunch of stuff. I’m moving into an office this weekend / early next week (once we get DSL installed) to help me grind more hands and spend more time blogging, posting on DeucesCracked, and working in general — I feel pretty strongly that getting outside of the house should really help me.

All of the work I’ve been putting into the site and work in general has left me feeling a bit hold’em-exhausted. So, for a change of pace, I decided to play a bit of Pot Limit Omaha today. I’m playing on my Mac, so I’m limited to Full Tilt and consequently my Road to Robusto project bankroll, but I think the session has actually brought up a few things that need to be mentioned to players who are following my efforts and have thought about doing similar things themselves…

If you’re playing a ton of poker, you’re very likely going to get sick of it. There are various ways to alleviate this but when you’re trying to be a grinder, weeklong vacations don’t come easy and hinder your progress; playing new games, on the other hand, is not only fun (it stimulates that new gamblegamble feeling that you often miss when you only play one game), but it’s also often going to help aspects of your game, as long as you’re paying attention. Pot limit and no limit games, I’ve found, really make you understand concepts like pot bloat and implied/reverse implied odds. In PLO specifically, it comes up in just about every aspect of the game — preflop in terms of hand selection and positional awareness, and postflop in terms of what sorts of flops you’re willing to get lots of money in the pot. Here’s a hand I just played, for example, that I think illuminates this a bit (it’s fairly standard as far as PLO goes, I think).

1 bad limper limps with 100BB behind. I pot it ($2.25 total) with Ah9dQhAc. The SB, a horrible 20BB shortstack, calls. So does the BB, who has about 110BB (I cover and has been playing very snug. The flop is 9c7d4d, and the BB bets $9 into the $11 pot. First limper folds and I muck.

Anyway, I’ve been playing for about an hour now — I kinda wish I would have recorded it so I could send it off to beset to have him tell me how much I suck, but the point of this was not how horrible I am at PLO — it was about how I can enjoy playing poker sometimes even when I don’t necessarily feel like it, as long as I’m willing to take a break from my usual routine.

Balance was around $740 before I started the session, and it’s sitting at $775ish now. Let’s hope I can stack someone soon and get another few bucks for the road.

So, as I posted in the last blog, took a “shot” today at $2/4. I talked a lot in the video about when and why shot taking is appropriate, and the risks and also advantages of doing so. Fortunately, after trying to convince people that taking shots is a good thing, I ran at an astounding 100% W$SD (only 10% of my hands went to showdown though) and collected on around 20BB, bumping the Road to Robusto bankroll up another $75-80 (I forget the exact figures and I’m on my Mac now so I can’t double-check) to $750ish. Given only 4000 hands and a less-than-aggressive stance toward bonus hunting, I feel fairly happy with the results so far and what they should hopefully show all of you microlimit grinders out there: it’s still a long road, but it’s certainly navigable (ok, so I’m mixing metaphors here) and I don’t see any excuses for the rest of you out there who might be thinking of giving it a shot.

Chris Ferguson’s $1 to $20k story may have seemed far-fetched to a lot of you out there, but I’m not putting in nearly the hours out there (granted, I had a gigantic head start in terms of bankroll), but it really is feasible to expect that with hard work, a grinder’s mentality and a bit of luck, you’ll be on the same path in no time.

Check out the videos over at Deucescracked.com for great resources on how to do the same thing — for those who don’t know, memberships are free to people who hit $100 in MGR on a new rakeback account through DeucescrackedRakeback.com, and even if you’ve already got an account there, memberships will always be free for those who hit $500 in MGR.

$2/4 for the Road to Robusto project (shot taking FTW!).

MP, who I feel has been opening a bit lightly in the past few hands, opens. He’s MP or the equivalent of UTG 5-handed, I guess, but I 3bet 66 anyway. I think the decision is actually pretty close here. Anyway, one of the blinds calls a bunch of bets, and the opener calls. Flop Q78 and it’s checked to me and I go ahead and fire a shell. Both players call.

The turn is the 6h, putting two hearts on board, and I get checkraised by BB who has $13 left in his stack. I spend a while talking to the video and start to time out but decide it’s probably best to just call and raise any boardpairing river, instead of gassing it now. Capiche?

The river is an 8. He bets ($9 left), I raise, he 3bets ($1 left), and I 4bet his last $1 in.

I think there are two close decisions in the hand besides preflop. Any comments? The video should be up within the next day or so, so you’ll be able to hear my comments, but I feel like posting this one now. Continue reading…