Klopzi's Mediocre Poker One man's journey from poker obscurity to poker mediocrity. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 7 0 53 5913

Articles from Klopzi's Mediocre Poker

2K one day, $2K the next... 2007-08-24 07:45:00 I mentioned on Tuesday that I'd be taking a little time off from poker to enjoy a few nights of BioShock on my Xbox 360. Well, consider those nights "enjoyed". Now, it's time for a little poker. I recently (last night) took a look at my bankroll. I'm currently half-way towards playing the $100 NL 6-max games. Unfortunately, I have some doubts that I'll hit the magic $2,000 bankroll required for those games before my next child is born. But given that I'm enjoying my poker right now, I still anticipate being knee-deep in $100 NL by Christmas. I'm think I've found my game at the $50 NL tables which I hope translates into some better numbers. I've found myself winning a little more than I lose and I'm pretty happy with that. Decision-wise, I believe I'm doing alright at the tables. I may be a little too loose when it comes to committing my entire stack to a pot, but a little more time at the tables should help me achieve the proper balance of aggression and patience. T ...

A Lesson in Blind Defense 2007-08-23 07:00:00 How important is it to defend your blinds? You hear the pros talk about it, the 2+2 crowd goes on and on about it, and you'll read a poker blog or two espousing the virtues of blind defense. So...how much should you worry about it? How much of your concentration and effort at the tables should go into defending your posted bet while you sit in the big blind? If you ask me, the answer's pretty simple. Are you playing fixed limit hold'em? If so, then blind defense is pretty important. Losing half a big bet each time you post and fold in the big blind can quickly impact an otherwise solid performance at the tables. Depending on the speed of the game and the number of players seated at the table, the loss of 0.5 BB every orbit can quickly add up and turn a winning session into a losing session. However, I'm not playing limit hold'em right now. In terms of no-limit hold'em, how important is blind defense? Well, it's not. Sure, you can bring up all your meta-game talk and b ...

Books and BioShock 2007-08-21 07:00:00 My wife's birthday weekend was a smashing success. I got to spend a lot of time just relaxing and spending time with my wife and son. I may not have played as much poker as I would on a normal weekend, but my time was well spent. Beginning this evening, there is another distraction entering my life that may also limit the amount of time I put aside for poker. If you play video games, you'll know that BioShock, the critically acclaimed blockbuster game, was released today for the Xbox 360 and PC in North America. I've been waiting to play this game since the beginning of the year and tonight, my wait is finally over! Video games aside, I have a book I'd like to recommend to all no-limit hold'em enthusiasts out there: Professional No-Limit Hold'em: Volume 1. This book was written by Ed Miller (author Small Stakes Hold'em, co-author of No-Limit Hold'em: Theory and Practice, and more), Matt Flynn, and Sunny Mehta and is a must-read for any poker player looking to make money ...

The Fish, The LAG, and Hellmuth's Hand 2007-08-16 18:00:00 Unlike limit hold'em, every single hand that you play in a no-limit texas hold'em cash game threatens to take your entire stack. That's the glass half-full look at things. As you grow more confident in your ability to balance risk vs. reward and to identify the weakest links (a.k.a. the ATMs) at your tables, no-limit hold'em provides countless hours of fun and profit. Take, for example, our current scenario... After a long day at the office and a busy evening, you find yourself relaxing in the warm glow of your notebook computer. You fire up Party Poker, crack the seal on your ice cold can Red Rain (a cheaper, yet just as effective, energy drink offered in bulk at your local Costco), and start looking for tables. After spending a few minutes waiting for a seat, you find yourself sitting at a table with five other unknown players. Rather than come out gunning, you decide to play things a little slower this evening. For the first fifteen minutes, you manage to pick up a couple ...

LAGs to the left of me... 2007-08-15 07:00:00 Have you ever sat down at a table determined to play a solid game? No matter what, you tell yourself, you'll avoid putting your money into the pot drawing slim to dead. And if you happen to fall victim to a little bad luck, you'll embrace your inner gamble and push aside all thoughts of full-on poker tilt. Psychologically prepared and ready to play, you play tight for a few orbits and take note of the bad players around you. Unfortunately, the table's most active player is sitting directly to your left. Hand after hand, you find yourself getting pushed off hands, constantly re-raised pre-flop and post-flop, and generally getting owned. You tell yourself, "I can't wait till I get a hand! I'm gonna bust this prick!" After a few more orbits and still no hands, you raise in the CO with your KJ and fold to an all-in re-raise from your nemesis. Tilt...starting...to...bubble up...Must...hold...on... And then, a couple orbits later... Party Poker Converter Stack sizes: UTG:... ...

Money and Midnight Oil 2007-08-13 07:00:00 A new week has started and I'm already exhausted. For anyone keeping track, my son has now refused to sleep soundly for well-over three weeks. Averaging roughly 3 hours of restless sleep a night, I've wondered if my poker game has taken a turn for the worse. As things stand right now, my results are dismal yet inconclusive. When August started up, I was riding a solid winning streak at the $50 NL 6-max tables. I think that the level of commitment and effort that I was bringing to the tables and to my bathroom reading (a.k.a. "The Library") were having very positive effects on my bankroll. However, variance soon reared its ugly head, forcing my game into a slight tailspin. Absolute Poker was my site of choice for about a week's time. With both rakeback and bonuses, my overlay was as good as could be expected in this post-UIGEA era. However, a few things bothered me about Absolute Poker:Roughly 80%+ of all NL games at 0.25/0.50 blinds and higher are jackpot tables.All 6-max N ...

Time At Home 2007-08-07 22:04:00 Although I try to post three or four times a week, life has kept me quite busy and away from my computer for the past week. As I mentioned this past weekend, I'm still playing poker (and losing, mind you). I'm keeping track of my sessions and I look forward to reviewing some of the hands that are making and breaking my meager bankroll. I assure you that some of the hands are played so terribly that looking them over is akin to watching a train wreck. I hope to be back in full swing in the next week or so. In the meantime, I'll continue posting on a reduced schedule. Visit my site for the rest of this story and other content. ...

Session Review #10: Titan Poker, $50 NL (6-max) 2007-08-05 00:00:00 Well, it's been a few days since my last post and I apologize. Unfortunately, both work and life have thrown me their fair share of curve balls in the past seven days. All I'll say is that everything is going pretty well now. I'm tired and a little worse for the wear, but pretty damn happy too! The session below is a review of my last session in July 2007. Though Titan Poker helped make my transition back to the world of online poker pretty painless, this session proved that luck can conquer skill, or a lack thereof, in the short run. Titan Poker ($50 NL) SB ($49.50) BB ($32.60) Hero ($51.25) UTG+1 ($31.20) CO ($55.55) BTN ($20.92) Hero is UTG with K? K? Hero raises to $2.00; UTG+1 folds; CO folds; BTN calls $2.00; SB folds; BB calls $1.50; (Still new to the table, I had no read on either the BTN or BB. I'll admit that I'm always happy when I raise with Cowboys and get a couple callers.) Flop: K? T? J? ($6.25) BB checks; Hero bets $7.00; BTN calls $7.00; BB ...

Session Review #9: Titan Poker, $50 NL (6-max) 2007-08-02 07:15:00 After spending a couple days away from the tables, I returned to Titan Poker on Sunday evening. With no bonuses to clear or any other goals set out for me, I was free to focus on playing my best poker. Although my evening started off quite well, my game and stack sizes were eventually dragged, kicking and screaming, back down to their usual mediocre levels. I don't mind playing a long break-even session of poker. In fact, I don't mind losing all that much either. What's most important right now is that I play each hand well. I'm a big believer in the "long run" and I force myself to step back and see the big picture whenever I feel like the Poker Gods are having their way with me. You tell me: should I be happy with this session? Titan Poker ($50 NL) Hero ($50.75) BTN ($73.78) SB ($64.85) BB (Villain) ($48.20) UTG ($117.10) Hero is UTG+1 with K? K? UTG folds; Hero raises to $2.00; BTN calls $2.00; SB folds; Villain calls $1.50; (Villain (in SB) had been playing fair ...

Session Review #8: Titan Poker, $50 NL (6-max) 2007-08-01 18:30:00 When the weekend hits, you head home from work anxious to bask in the freedom offered by two days off work. Maybe you spend a little time with the family, maybe you unwind with a movie or a video game, or if you're like me, you head to the online poker tables and try to earn some extra scratch. I turned in a pretty solid session on Friday night. And it would have been a great session had I not forgotten one simple rule: do not make large river bets when worse hands will fold and better hands will call or raise. Seriously - how many times should I make this mistake before it sets in? I've probably fallen victim to this proven money-loser ten or so times over the past month for a loss of at least $150. Why do I feel this need to lose the maximum on my losing hands? I can't tell you...but maybe you'll be able to shed some light on my disease after taking a look at my shame. Titan Poker ($50 NL) BB ($12.69) UTG ($48.50) UTG+1 (Villain) ($14.00) CO ($59.85) Hero ($49.30) SB... ...

Session Review #7: Titan Poker, $50 NL (6-max) 2007-08-01 07:35:00 Well, I'm back after taking four days off. I'd like to say I'm well rested but I'd be lying. Still, a little fatigue can't keep me from the tables...as long as I have a few cans of Red Bull lying about to help clear the cobwebs. This session took place at Titan Poker last Thursday evening. I think I played most of my hands well that night, though you may not be inclined to agree after reviewing the "footage". You'll notice that, as usual, my passive opponents always seem to get the best of me when ever we're in a hand together. Titan Poker ($50 NL) Hero ($53.40) SB ($51.05) BB ($59.37) Villain (Villain) ($44.70) Hero is BTN with A? A? Villain raises to $2.00; Hero raises to $6.00; SB folds; BB folds; Villain calls $4.00; (Villain was pretty tight. When he called my re-raise, I put him on AA-JJ or AK. My image at the table should've been pretty solid at this point.) Flop: 3? 8? J? ($12.75) Villain checks; Hero bets $10.00; Villain raises to $20.00; Hero ca ...

Not posting but still playing 2007-07-31 09:51:00 I just thought I'd drop a quick line letting everyone know that I'm still playing poker. Unfortunately, things have been a little busy at home with the family. And when things get busy, it's hard to play and post with any regularity. That being said, I've been storing up further session reviews for posting later this week (hopefully tomorrow...). Things are still going pretty well at the tables: Titan Poker continues to impress me with the number and quality of $50 NL (6-max) games going at any one time. I also feel that my game is coming along nicely as well. I'm finding myself faced with fewer and fewer "hard" decisions while playing: whether this is due to my good play or my opponents' bad play is hard to ascertain at this time. Besides a little poker and a lot of time with my family, I managed to finish another Xbox 360 game this past weekend. You can read my review for the game over at The Greedy Gamer. I hope everyone's enjoying life and enjoying poker. That's wh ...

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Session Review #6: Titan Poker, $50 NL (6-max) 2007-07-27 07:00:00 After finishing up my bonus at PartyPoker, I decided to get back to the crazy action over at Titan Poker. Until recently, I believed Titan Poker to be a low traffic site, spreading very few games featuring nothing but nits. If my recent sessions are any indication, Titan Poker is one of the better sites to play (especially if you like 6-max NL...and as long as you're not a U.S. player...unfortunately). My primary focus for this session was to increase my flop and turn aggression. Recently, I'd become pretty weak on these two streets which resulted in difficult river decisions on a number of hands. And when my river decisions happened to be easy, the pots were small or my opponents were folding to my bets. NB: There are very few hand history converters for the iPoker Network's hand histories. I had to write up a little program to perform a quick conversion on the hand histories in order to have them appear nicely on my site. I'll continue to refine my program until I'm happ ...