Operation: Become a winning player over 100,000 hands

A little background:

February of this year was the first time I have ever played No-Limit Hold'em, as a matter of fact, it was the first time I have ever played any sort of poker or even gambled. I went to a home game, got my ass kicked, but had a ton of fun. And then it caught on with me. The game is awesome, although frustrating at times. I'm down about $1,600 over my limited 5 months of playing.

So today, I truly want to get serious about becoming a winning player. I thought I was going to get serious a week ago, but after spewing, tilting, and some bad beats, my roll is down to $73.70 (started at $95.00, grinded up to $170). I want to point out some things that I know I have to work on:

1. Stop tilting. Alright, maybe not stop, but limit it, and know what causes me to go on tilt. This is my biggest money loser over the last couple months I think. Most of the time it's not even a noticeable tilt, but just some player irks the living piss out of me, and it goes to hell from there. And i won't even feel angry, which is why it's hard for me to catch sometimes.

2. Don't get married to hands. I tend to overplay way to many hands, which is the second biggest loser I think for me, maybe even contention for first. I guess I'll to post some hand histories to right this wrong ship, to make sure I really am overplaying these hands.

3. Ease up on the aggression. I know you are like WTF?, but I feel like I'm overly aggressive and some players catch on to that and c-call like it's there job, cause they know I'll throw out a big bet. I need to find out when to be aggressive, and how to be aggressive.

4. To go along with the previous point, know when and how to mix it up. I always raise 4xBB+1BB for each limper. I don't know if thats random enough preflop. Post flop I always c-bet if I am first raiser preflop. I almost always fire a second barrel if I miss. With my good hands though I always bet bet bet. Maybe sometimes I need to check, or c-raise.

5. Limit my bluffing at the uNL games. $5NL games don't allow you to bluff. There are to many players out there that call down with second pair on a 3-flush, 4-straight board.

I think if I truly work on those 5 things above, I can be a consistent winner at NL Hold 'em.

Like I said, I'm starting with $73.70, so I'm going to buy in to my 5NL games for $3, so I can have at least 20 buy-ins. I'm going to 4-table (I've been practicing this for a while, if things go sour, I will bump it down to 3, but generally I can play 4 tables without to much troubles).

Also, every 5k hands, I'm going to post my PT stats to get a little checkup from you guys, either in this blog, or one one of the other forums depending on traffic.

Wish me luck

good luck!

welcome aboard, good luck!

Thanks

Alright so I just finished my first 2 hour session, logged 533 hands 4-tabling 6max 5NL

Sad story short, down $7.71

I think I played pretty well for the entirety of the session. Here's a couple of hands though that may be ugly

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

BB ($1.48)
UTG ($5)
Hero ($3.10)
CO ($0.96)
Button ($4.25)
SB ($4.98)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A, J. UTG posts a blind of $0.02.
UTG (poster) checks, Hero raises to $0.08, 4 folds, UTG calls $0.06.

Flop: ($0.19) 2, 4, J (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.14, UTG calls $0.14.

Turn: ($0.47) 6 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.45, UTG calls $0.45.

River: ($1.37) 2 (2 players)
UTG bets $4.33 (All-In), Hero calls $2.43 (All-In).

Final Pot: $6.23

and this one I know I spewed

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP ($6.30)
CO ($2.22)
Button ($2.11)
SB ($1.22)
Hero ($5.05)
UTG ($0.58)

Preflop: Hero is BB with J, Q. UTG posts a blind of $0.03.
UTG (poster) checks, 2 folds, Button calls $0.02, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($0.09) 4, Q, 6 (4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.06, UTG folds, Button raises to $0.16, SB folds, Hero calls $0.10.

Turn: ($0.41) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.3, Button calls $0.30.

River: ($1.01) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.63, Button calls $1.63 (All-In).

Final Pot: $4.27

The first hand, if there is one thing I need to take away from it, is, when a big bet comes, all other things take a side seat. It doesn't matter how the rest of the hand had played out, the big bet is a completely independent matter. If that extra two comes, and the Villian goes all in, yes, that does mean he has 25c (yes, that is what he had).

The second hand, I just figured since he had limped in he didn't hold a high card. Well, frankly, he held pocket A's. Maybe something should have clued me in. I went all in on river because I thought with only 2 cards that beat me, my chances are pretty good and I've seen many people call those all in's with any heart (or appropriate suite)

Anywho, here's a EV graph


Any tips?

Alright, heres a little update with where I'm at

7,197 hands into my quest, stats are 19.12/12.31 with AF of 2.78

I'm up a total of $9.42 for a winrate of 3.27 BB/100

My winnings graph looks like a roller coaster. I've been on a couple or bad runs coupled by a couple of really good runs. I've decided to drop down to 2 tables as my 4 tabling wasn't up to snuff. I talked with one of my buddies about it at work and he said it was a good idea, so I experimented today after work, and ended up winning 3 or so buyins and finally putting myself back in the green. This is all still at 6-max with a brief adventure at the 9 man tables (which was successful).

Looking at my PokerEV stats, I noticed a trend making too many -EV bets/calls/raises on the turn and river, it's one of the things I really need to start focusing on. I still think I bluff a little too much, and it costs me all the time. I gotta realize poker isn't in what it looks like on TV. It's a slow game, many hands are folded or not played past the river. I'm not going to get action on all of my good hands all the time. Once I get past this, that will take care of a huge leak in my game.

My BR is at $78.93 at the moment. I've played a couple of tournies and Sitngos with no success sadly. I'm trying to still play exclusively cash.

So heres to continues success and progression.

TILT IS ABSOLUTELY KILLING ME!!!!

I don't know how to control it, spewing/tilt is still one of my biggest leaks and I'm trying to control it but I don't know or have the mindset to be able to do it.

A couple of hands up for review, a couple are "WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING" and the other is one which I'm wondering if I played it well, despite losing

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

This is the one which I'm wondering if I played it well.

MP ($4.75)
CO ($3.56)
Button ($1.22)
SB ($3.40)
BB ($4.96)
Hero ($4.96)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with K, A.
Hero raises to $0.08, MP calls $0.08, 2 folds, SB calls $0.07, 1 fold.

Flop: ($0.26) K, 8, 5 (3 players)
SB bets $0.1, Hero raises to $0.3, MP folds, SB calls $0.20.

Turn: ($0.86) K (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.5, SB raises to $1, Hero raises to $4.58, SB calls $2.02 (All-In).

River: ($6.90) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $6.90

This one I have a decent read on the opponent (he's a maniac straight up, I've been able to bluff him out of a couple decent pots though as I could tell he's afraid of big bets). Anywho, I thought he was pulling his same ol' same ol this hand

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

SB ($0.59)
Hero ($6.39)
UTG ($5.79)
MP ($1)
CO ($4.05)
Button ($5.15)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , . MP posts a blind of $0.02.
1 fold, MP (poster) checks, CO raises to $0.04, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.02, MP folds.

Flop: ($0.11) , , (2 players)
Hero bets $0.12, CO raises to $0.24, Hero calls $0.12.

Turn: ($0.59) (2 players)
Hero bets $0.3, CO raises to $2.6, Hero raises to $5, CO calls $1.17 (All-In).

River: ($8.13) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $8.13

Thats it for now, i can't find the other hand. Anywho, I know what I did on it wrong, I fired a second barrell, felt committed to the pot, and fired another big bet on the river with nothin that was called with TPBK

Anywho, I'm playing better these days, and if I could just throw out the tilt, I would have BB/100 that is much higher than the 1.76/100 that I'm pulling right now