Stampede of Carrots

Welcome to my new OP all. Guess what? I'm now playing poker again. It's been a long and complicatedly annoying summer, that hasn't gone exactly to plan. I didn't exactly get to travel the world like I'd planned, but more about that later. Things are looking up again as then girlfriend and I have just moved into a new awesome flat and got broadband installed today! This can mean only one thing - GRIND GRIND GRIND GRIND GRIND.

Convineiently I took down first place in a £30.00 freezout last night and won £585. This will do nicely to start my 25NL roll on stars and I have just deposited $575 (23 buyins) to start grinding. I'll be playing 6 max just like old times and putting in a ton of hand sbefore uni starts in september. I'll prolly start out 4 tabling then v6 table when I feel I'm back in the zone where I used to be. Since I'm out of practice I'll be getting flamed on FTR and posting hands to help break apart any bad habits I may have formed through the 4 months I haven't been grinding for.

I'll update soon after I play my first session tomorrow and let you all know how it went. Man it feels good to be back in the grind, it's been way too long and everything's changed. The BC is full of strange names like NuttymcNutt and shit like that and it's all a bit much for me right now. What ever happened to the days of M2M and Illfavor?

Anyways,like I said in the carrot corner 6 months ago, my next Opp (this one) will be the start of my porfessional poker carreer where I will slowlty become self reliant on poker. I still intend this to happen and will need all the help I can get.

Goals:

1. Put in 40-50k hands per month.

2. Reach $1750 and 50NL by the start of November

3. Improve Improve Improve.

All 25NL stars regs look out; I is back!

That's it, I'm puttin in for a name change dammit.

GL though. I'm sure you'll get to 50nl faster than I will. No way I could log 50k hands in a month. Damn me and my responsibilities and obligations! Go get it Carroters.

Originally Posted by Carroters

1. Put in 40-50k hands per month.

i cant do that...

but...

GOGOGO!!!!

Thanks guys, 40 - 50 may be a tad ambitious but hey I'm setting my sights high since I have a tendency to procrastinate and put off playing.

Originally Posted by Carroters

The BC is full of strange names like NuttymcNutt and shit like that and it's all a bit much for me right now. What ever happened to the days of M2M and Illfavor?

heh, we moved on (well I did kind of I dunno I dip into 25nl alot and aren't killing 50 yet, I'll get a grip soon)

I'm still around though, I just don't post as much in strat threads as I used to.

gl sir!

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

Originally Posted by Carroters

The BC is full of strange names like NuttymcNutt and shit like that and it's all a bit much for me right now. What ever happened to the days of M2M and Illfavor?

heh, we moved on (well I did kind of I dunno I dip into 25nl alot and aren't killing 50 yet, I'll get a grip soon)

I'm still around though, I just don't post as much in strat threads as I used to.

gl sir!

Indeed, the BC fulfilled its purpose (*ahemgetintheIRCahem*) and we have grown up. Glad to see you're back, and I'm sure you'll get to your goals!

Hey there Carroters. You may not remember me...but I was the guy with the avatar that tilted you.

Glad to see you're back. I was kinda wondering where you went. Anywho, welcome back to the grind!

Thanks guys tis good to see the old faces (avatars) again and I'm thrilled that the stick man remains prominantn M2M.

Boog - Ofc I remember that avatar I think it subconsciously cost me 12 BIs.

So yeah today I played my first session for -2BIs. I've looked over the session and decided I did actually play pretty well apart from one key hand where I got over macho and shoved over an aggro regs BU 4 bet after I 3 bet him from the bb. There was certainly an aggro dynamic going on but there if I'd took a minute longer instead of convincing myself I was being outplayed I could easily have found a fold. I think in a sense because I haven't been grinding in a while that I felt some complex somewhere in my head to prove that I could outplay the 25NL regs (lul) and I think this hand was the only real glich in what was otherwise a pretty solid session:

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($39.35)
MP ($26)
Button ($32.35)
SB ($25)
Hero (BB) ($25.35)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, 6
2 folds, Button bets $0.75, 1 fold, Hero raises $2.05, Button raises $5.25, Hero raises $23.05 (All-In), Button calls $19.35

Flop: ($50.80) 6, 5, K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($50.80) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($50.80) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $50.80

The bet sizing is fucked in that hh for some reason my 3 bet was to $2.10 more so 2.45 total. His 4 bet was to like 6.something.

This was the 3rd time I'd seen him 4 bet and he had a very high att to steal of like 56%. However, due to the fact I'd recently folded to one of his 4 bets I should have relaised this wasn't an oppertune moment for him to do it light. He didn't see me as passive or weak since I'd been fairly active and had 3 bet quite a bit at that table. So in hindsight I don't think he'd 4 bet light very often in this spot.

I think I do need to work on 4 betting and 5 betting regs who I know to 3 and 4 be light, but I need better reads and probably don't have to worry a great deal about this until 100NL or at least 50NL where there is more preflop aggression. Plenty fish to be fired at 25NL, I guess is what I mean.

The other big losing hands seem totally standard to me and nothing to worry about.

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (4 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($17.20)
UTG ($10.45)
Button ($4.05)
Hero (SB) ($25)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, K
1 fold, Button bets $1.25, Hero raises $3.75, BB raises $6.20, Button calls $2.80 (All-In), Hero raises $21.15 (All-In), BB calls $10.75 (All-In)

Flop: ($38.45) 7, 10, 2 (3 players, 3 all-in)

Turn: ($38.45) Q (3 players, 3 all-in)

River: ($38.45) 4 (3 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: $38.45

Results:
Button had Q, 10 (two pair, Queens and tens).
Hero had K, K (one pair, Kings).
BB had K, Q (flush, King high).
Outcome: BB won $36.55

Sickaments Imo ^^^^^^^

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($22.80)
UTG ($38.75)
MP ($26.35)
CO ($29.05)
Button ($27.40)
Hero (SB) ($25.25)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 5, 4
4 folds, Hero bets $0.90, BB calls $0.75

Flop: ($2) 5, 8, 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.55, BB raises $3.10, Hero raises $7.70, BB raises $12.30, Hero raises $14.75, BB calls $6.40 (All-In)

Turn: ($45.60) J (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($45.60) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $45.60

Results:
Hero had 5, 4 (two pair, sevens and fives).
BB had 9, 9 (two pair, nines and sevens).
Outcome: BB won $43.35

Awesome flop no stats on villain, he was new. 45s isn't always an open here, especially if I know the bb is loose or a station. Way to win the exact minimum sir.

I went over a few others in IRC which also seemed okay. I'm $61 under all in EV already

Tomorrow's another day and hopefully things will run a better, including my internet which is unreliable and slow at times. I hate British Telecom. Tomorrow's goal is 1000 hands and any excess I can manage. I'll also start 5 tabling but only if I feel comfrotable and things are going well. 3 Buyin stop loss is also a good idea just to subdue any potential tilt.

I ate a massive Indian meal tonight and feel like I need to drink 78 glasses of water to re-hydrate so I'm gonna get started on that now.

Fuck this I'm not tired and can't sleep (even though I haven't tried at all)

Time to make sure I put in the volume. Tomorrow I plan to go play a live donkament in the evening depending on what's on in the casinos. During the day though I'm going to play 3 1.5 hours sessions with like 30 min or more breaks in between. I get too unfocussed if I play for ages and tell myself I'm ok when I'm drfiting slowly into auto pilot. This isn't good. I'll get up around 11am grind like 12 -1.30 then 2 - 3.30 then 4 - 5.30 - have a break, have dinner then go out and own some horrible scummy donky regs in some £20 - £50 freezeout or maybe £10 rebuy.

I like pwning their souls by raising their relentless limps and watching them screw up their faces in disgustand say "what ye raising fur mate, I wantid tae see a flop." Fucking retards, I should play more live because the field is just so weak every single time and my edge has got to be pretty decent.

This OP is already somewhat of a rant, but stay tune for mucho poker content soon.

Btw Pom-Bears are like the most amazing crisps (chips) ever. They have the most awesome quaver like texture but compact and way nice. A while back my ex flatmate got an assorted flavour multipack of them. I've only got the ready salted ones here and haven't seen the other flavours since. They're rare like all the good shit in life is., cept poker games obv.

I also have Weetoes (chocolate cereal) to binge snack on. These are immesne and remind me oif when I was a kid and collceted some cartoon character collection that you got in boxes of weetoes. I ate many many a weetoe that year. Still got like 4 goofys or something, ran so damn bad. Coolered to hell I was.

I might have Weetoes when I play my first session tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Carroters

Btw Pom-Bears are like the most amazing crisps (chips) ever. They have the most awesome quaver like texture but compact and way nice.

I also have Weetoes (chocolate cereal) to binge snack on. These are immesne and remind me oif when I was a kid and collceted some cartoon character collection that you got in boxes of weetoes. I ate many many a weetoe that year. Still got like 4 goofys or something, ran so damn bad. Coolered to hell I was.

I literally cannot discern what you mean by any of this...must be a "ruled by a Queen" thing.

Lul we aren't ruled by a queen, she just sits there looking old and frail and people give her lots of monies and wait for her to die.

H1 you posted is really spewy even if you have some sort of dynamic with the villain as your 3bet is more likely to be played back at. I'd pick something that flops better in this case to 3bet, like a SC etc, and if you plan on 5bet shoving you'll probably have better equity vs his 4bet range. 3betting Axo oop when likely to be played back at is no fun. Fold pre.

Yeah spewtastic stuff in H1 agreed. I'm not going to do that again until I understand that I have sufficient Equity + FE vs villains range.

Today went pretty well. Morning session I won 4.5 BIs. Afternoon, my mini heater died out and was replaced with carddeadness. Despite this I manage to put together a BE session until my KK ran into a Reg's AA, all in pre-flop.

Here's a few hands I'm a bit unsure of. Any thoughts much appreiciated.

1. Villain seemed pretty passive and ran 46/8/1.6 over 50 hands.

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($20.75)
Hero (SB) ($24.75)
BB ($10.15)
UTG ($25.65)
MP ($22.25)
CO ($27.10)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 10, 10
1 fold, MP calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero bets $1.15, 1 fold, MP calls $1

Flop: ($2.75) 6, A, 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, MP calls $2

Turn: ($6.75) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP checks

River: ($6.75) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $2.25, Hero calls $2.25

Total pot: $11.25


2. Villain seemed Nitty and ran 10/10/33 over 30 hands. I thought this flop although dangerous, would also scare a lot of his range. I think this hits me much harder than it hits him hence the c/r. After he calls I shutdown and try to make my gutter.

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (BB) ($24.65)
UTG ($23.50)
MP ($28.85)
Button ($23.05)
SB ($25)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, J
2 folds, Button bets $1, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.75

Flop: ($2.10) 10, 7, 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $1, Hero raises $3.30, Button calls $2.30

Turn: ($8.70) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($8.70) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

Total pot: $8.70

3. Villain was 31/27 over 27 hands. I think this is pretty standad since this isn't a good card/board for a 2nd barrell.

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($21.15)
Hero (UTG) ($26.75)
MP ($25)
Button ($25)
SB ($17.80)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with J, 10
Hero bets $1, 1 fold, Button calls $1, 2 folds

Flop: ($2.35) 5, Q, 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.60, Button calls $1.60

Turn: ($5.55) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($5.55) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $3.25, Hero folds

Total pot: $5.55

May have another session tonight if I can regain some mental alertness. BR sits at $608

Going to play a little session today and I'm going to set myself one very important goal for it.

*Don't make autopilot plays and ALWAYS put villain on a range and act accordingly.

It's too easy to not use the stuff you've learned in poker, especially when multi tabling. I'm going to make sure this doesn't happen anymore.

Going to get wasted tonight as people are coming over for a sort of flat warming type thing.

That is all.

Originally Posted by Carroters

Don't make autopilot plays and ALWAYS put villain on a range and act accordingly.

Seems to be my problem after a few days of grinding. Stay focused! Stay disciplined! and GL!

Okay I run like utter shit when all in as a 80-90% favourite apparently. This garph will give you a rough idea how my return to poker has started out.





Despite being constantly 2 outered, I'm feeling okay about my game. The fact I'm only down 1 and a bit BIs is due to that one heater session alone that has been a spark of old poker flame in a bad week of grim reminders. The come back could have started off better, however one definite positive is this: I seriously don't seem to tilt like I used to. I've been really quite calm and logical at the tables thus far. One weakness has been autopiloting and like checking flops I should be c betting because I've totally forgot that I'm the pfr. Only done that a couple of times, but a couple is way too much. Gotta take more frequent breaks especially if I'm playing 5 or 6 tables.

As for putting people on ranges more as I'm playing, that still needs work. What I'm going to do when I get up tomorrow is just sit with pokerstove and go mental reminding myself of equity in certain common and semi-common spots. This will hopefully bide me more time to form a more accurate range at the tables.

It's only a matter of time before my big hands start holding up. So I'm not going to bitch (anymore than I already have) because this time I feel like I have so much to learn and improve on and bitching will only hold me back.

Tomorrow's goals.

1. Play 2k hands minimum

2. Take 5-10 min breaks every hour.

3. Perform some range excersises with HEM hhs and stove.

I am tired. I am very tired, but I like the interwebs. But I like the interwebs. I am brain dead, but I like the interwebs too much to sleep.

Ohh yeah I also played a donkament live this aftenoon and my AA got killed by a JT of hearts all in preflop. That was deep as well, the guy was a moron, nuff said.

I'm going to play some chess now (not vs spoon cos he is horrible and hussles like a nigger.) I'll probably get raped since I'm so tired but w/e, bring it.

BR = $529.00

Had a real good session last night. +2.5 BIs while only 2 tabling. A friend was sweating me so I didn't wanna play anymore than 2 since I was discusssing thought processes in some depth on msn at the same time. I found that only playing 2 tables and actually thinking out loud helped organise my thoughts and put people on ranges more efficiently. If anyone wants to do some sweat sessions over teamviewer give me a shout since I'm going to try and do more of it.

Okay so I'm now up over like 4.5K hands. My game hasn't been great though so far. I've played well in some spots I feel then disasterously in others. Some of it's probably just being out of practice and getting back into the swing.

I'm going to post this one hand that I'm a little unsure of to try and get some feedback on my line.

Villain is a reg, running 21/19 ATS of 40 over 140 hands. I've already squeezed him and 3-bet him once already in this session. He sees me as aggro preflop so his calling range is probably wider than you'd usually expect in this spot. Probably something like 88+, AQo+. I might just call preflop vs a positionally aware reg that opens a tight range utg, but given history I think it's an easy 3-bet. Also, there's a chance he may 4-bet bluff with the bottom of his opening range.

Since we're deep I chose a pot control line on the turn because I don't think there are worse kings in his range.e the look of b/f and b/c. I think this is a good spot to protect my stack since I don't think I get value from too much and I sure hat Basically I think his range is made up of floats, weaker one pair hands that can't stand a 2nd barrel and nut hands that crush me. I do however think he'll bet this turn with all floats (AQ combos and possibly JJ QQ if I check. So I call the turn bet since I've induced it. I plan on c/c most rivers.

How does this look?

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($24.40)
Button ($23.65)
Hero (SB) ($50.15)
BB ($23.35)
UTG ($37.80)
MP ($32.85)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K, A
UTG bets $1, 3 folds, Hero raises $3.35, 1 fold, UTG calls $2.45

Flop: ($7.15) 9, 10, K (2 players)
Hero bets $4.20, UTG calls $4.20

Turn: ($15.55) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $8, Hero calls $8

River: ($31.55) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks

Total pot: $31.55


My BRs now $626.00. Time to work on the worst aspect of my grind so far - volume. As usual I've put off playing as much as I should be. 2k hands today fuck it, don't care if people call me up and wanna do stuff I'll be like "No way man, I've got better things to do."

Ok some realisations.

1. I have not overcome tilt or gotten close to it.

Losing 3.5BIs causes me to tilt and lose another by being an absolute retard. I don't think want to post the hand because it'll just make me more pissed at myself and I need to think logically right now and formulate a plan to overcome this horrible run of being 4 outered continuously. Basically some guy 3 bet me and I had no fucking reads on him at all because I was 6 tabling and he's only been there for like 20 hands. I'd been 3 bet quite a lor more than usual this session so my emotional brain was getting more and more pissed off. Felt like it was slowly building big gun out rage that it would promptly miss fire with and shoot itself in the face with (stoned similies ftw!) So this random dude 3 bets me from the sb and I just watch my hand 4 bet him for no reaon with T9o, calling would have been better ffs it's 25Nl most 3 bet ranges are still pretty tight. At least if I'd just tilt called instead of tilt 4-bet I'd have had a chance to flop some equity and shove, or flop a monster and stack him. But no. I tilt 4-bet with no reads or reason. He flatted the 4 bet. At this point my emotional mind quickly finished the bazooka thing without realising the cannon was fitted the wrong way round. Flop was AK4r he checked and I chekced (giving up because I had 0 equity and any bet completely commited me by this point.) the turn was a 4 and he checked again. Then my mind fired the fucking cannon at itself and shoved. He snapped with AK I felt sick sick sick, like the old days when I'd tilt often.

What have we learned? Don't do retarded spewy shit preflop for no fucking reason. Just fold to 3 bet, fold to 3 bets THEY ARE USUALLY STRONG RANGES. Only mess with aggro players we have reads on and do it thoughtfuly and sparingly. Why did I get myself into this built up rage frenzy? The answer lies in realisation 2.


2. I cannot handle 6 tables right now, my game is too shit and my mental state not alert enough. 6 tables is a massive jump from 4 and results in me making thoughtless thoughtless auto pilot shit plays. Like c/c when I should be b/f and a simple range estimate will work that out for me, but no I click and move on, click and move on. Not good espscially considering this shitty internet is fucking balls and goes slow as hell half the time. Playing 6 tables is a total catalyst to tilt if I happen to be having a bad session. I'm not ready for 6 tables. I was once okay at 6 but never great. Now I haven't played for a while, I'm balls at 6 tables.

4 Tables from now on until making ranges and thinking out my action on every street of every hand is quicker and more accurate. 4 tables I play way better. I have no doubt that 6 is killing my win rate.

3. I town myself vs fish. Thin value is good vs total stations, but not passive fish that play big hands in a weak "slowplayed" manner. Stop betting when we know half their range is ahead of us. Yes they may call with the 40% that isn't, but they certianly call with the rest ffs.

4. I need to spend more time with my g/f and friends. I can get so obsessed with poker that I neglect people and myself. This is unhealthy and will lead to a weaker emotional brain which will be less proficient at the tables. Balance in life = good healthy mind = good healthy poker. Simple.

5. I suck. I need to stop taking plays for granted that I assume to be right. I need to analyse more hand on my own and with others instead of just forgetting about them. I need to sit and just pull up like 15 hands from HEM and analyse them before I play a session. Ideas will then be fresh and freely catapulting around my brain. Not getting dragged awkardly and slowly out of some trench of last week where they reach the front line thought process battered and distorted. Fuck yeah stoned metaphor ftw!

Ok that's enough epiphany for now. If anyone's read all that, thank you! It was quite a rant, but all stuff I just need to organise in the blog.

Tomorrow I'm going to get up early and play for 2 or 3 hours from 10am - 1pm. I'm going to have a stop loss of 3 BIs to supress any tilt. I'm only playing 4 tables no matter what. I'm analysing hands from today before I start.

Then I'm going to do some painting with my gf cos we need to spend some time together and she likes to paint together even though I can't paint for shit. Then, I'm going to see a movies with some friends. Then I'll hopefully feel better about my game and my life. I also need to relaise that life is pretty fucking good and comfortable. I'm starting uni soon, getting money from the government living in a nice place with a great girl and I have ability to be a decent winning poker player and move up the limits. I just need to focus and learn.

That is all for now.

BR is $505 (20BIs) but I'll reimburse it with another 10 or so if need be. I'm only down 3BIs depsite running and playing like shit. Just shows how soft these games are. Peace.

Ugh, hang in there dude. Things will get better. We all have sessions where we're constantly 3bet by complete unknowns. It sucks. Folding is always an option. Taking a break is too. Getting sucked out on here and there, well I tend to laugh it off. When it happens more than enough, and in unbelievable 1-2 out fashion, well we tend to tilt a bit. Get a punching bag or a small cat and beat the shit out of it. You'll feel better.

lol thanks man the small cat cracked me up .

Just about to eat some noodles then get started. It's a bit later than expected because we watched a shitty Michelle Rodriguez film about crazy genetically enchanced german shepard dogs on an island. Waste of 2 hours imo.

Anyways I'll eat these noodles then do some hand analysis from yesterday and stvoe a few ranges. Then I'll hit the felt and 4 table. I'm going to play for 3-4 hours so that's roughly 1300 hands, that'll do for today. Stop loss limit will be 3 BIs.

I'm still titling. Had a decent session today until I started to run bad and consequently made and other retarded spew. I'm going to post it here to remind myself the consequnces of not stopping when your games dropping and those titled impatient feelings are setting in.

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($25.25)
Hero (UTG) ($32.90)
MP ($78.35)
CO ($18.75)
Button ($3.40)
SB ($26.85)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q, K
Hero bets $1, MP raises $3, 4 folds, Hero calls $2

Flop: ($6.35) A, 3, 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $3.10, Hero raises $8.40, MP calls $5.30

Turn: ($23.15) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $66.95 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $23.15

I have no justification for this other than I wasn't playing well or thinknig clearly. I'd convinced myself that he could be betting JJ QQ Kk like this on the flop and sicne he has more combos of those than he does of AK that this was fine as he'd fold them. The problem is JJ probably isn't even in his 3 betting range to begin with and he probably checks QQ KK back. Or there's at least a good chance that he does put it that way. Went over this with M2M and came to the conclusion that I knew deep down that this play sucked as did the intial call of the 3 bet oop.

What have we learned: Stop playing when the mind is weakened and the B or C game is creeping into effect. Have the discipline to realsie and not lie to myself that I'm okay to keep playing if I'm not. I promptly stopped after this and I do still believe my tilt managment is bette than it was a few months ago. It still has a long way to come though, evidently.

I'm going to chill for a while and cook a prawn stirfry then play some more later when I'm in the mood again.

BR = $553, but I added $30 seperately to cover any losses from donking about at 5NL or 10NL in IRC games. These are a lot of fun, but not to affect BR affairs in any way. So my true BR is actually $523. After 8k hands I'm still running really bad in all ins, but I could be limiting the loss so much more by remaining composed an focussed at all times.

I think I'm too hungover and have killed too many braincells last night to play today. I really need to clear these final 185vpps to make silver star, but I don't think it's going to be a profitable move as I'm not feeling anywhere near the zone and likely the C game will rear it's ugly head.

So I'm going to make the disciplined choice to not play unless I start to feel way more alert. Went to a rave last night and danced to cheesy songs from 1990 - 2009, was pretty damn fun. Problem was in order to enjoy such cheesy gay music, I had to get pretty watsed. Consequently, I still feel fucked after sleeping for 11 hours. Hangovers are getting worse as I get older I tell thee.

Anyways, a recap of some sort:

I'm begining to run better it would seem and am now 3BIs in the black. I'm proud I came through the terrible start without self asploding. Although I've realised my spewy nature preflop was cstly and sorted that out. The last session I played on saturday, I soul read a reg and 4 bet bluffed successfully in what I actually feel was an appropriate spot for once. The soul read involved a tilting reg-semi-lag-feesh. I'd just towned him in a 3 bet pot and he was pissed. In this spot, not only was I expecting to be played back at on almost all flops, but I didn't think there were many aces in his range. He would be likely to 3 bet AJ+ maybe even AT preflop and he wasn't bad enough to just flat with Ax. Basically I felt that I had way more aces in my range than he had in his and also soul read he was full of shit and was itching to play back. Here's the hand:

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($25)
MP ($38.45)
Hero (Button) ($45.55)
SB ($25.80)
BB ($24.65)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 10, Q
2 folds, Hero bets $0.85, 1 fold, BB calls $0.60

Flop: ($1.80) A, 3, A (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.20, BB raises $3.50, Hero raises $7, 1 fold

Total pot: $8.80

Villain is 21/17 with 3 bet of 12.5 over 91 hands.

BR is now $672.00

Haven't posted in a while because I was too busy grinding, drinking, eating and sleeping. Things have been going way way better, luck wise that is and I think I'm playing pretty solidly aswell. I've now reached almost 13K hands and now running over 3BB/100 overall. I'm pretty damn happy with this considering the shitty way in which things started out and I do expect this win rate to climb (hopefully to at least 5BB/100.)

Decided I'm going to take 50NL shots at 1500 instead of 1750 which is needlessly nitty imo. I feel like I have the sense to move back down if things go wrong and I drop back to 1000 or start tilting/playing bad.

Man my kitchen is so smoky, it's pretty annoying. Just burned the fuck out of a sausage while talking on irc and being too lazy to get up. The smoke smelled good initially sicne it was sausage smoke, but it's now starting to irritate my eyes. The sausage itself was awesome though after I scarped off most of the ash. Btw it's like a big jumbo thing, I didn't just cook 1 measly gay sausage.

I'll post the garph and some statage up to date now. I'm a little worried about the red line, but at the same time think I'm doing okay. One thing I need to work on though is finding more double barrell spots that are +EV instead of giving up on so many turns. I do feel like I'm making a ton of good laydowns where I need to be though and think this will pay dividends in the long run. At 50NL if the red line sucks after I've ramped up the aggression a little bit, I'll address it more. Or also if I fail to hit 5BB/100 over a decent enough sample.

Gonna shoot for a ton of hands tomorrow before I go out to meet an old friend.

For some reason my g/f is unhappy about me goin' for drinks with this girl even though she's met her and seen how nasty looking she is and should know that even if I was into the practice of cheating on her, it wouldn't be with this girl!

BR = $811, ship the getting slightly closer to 50NL where I can make some actual monies and improve at a better rate. Always been a kinesthetic learner which means I generally need to practically use the shit I read or learn before it sinks fully. I think tougher games will help me improve a ton and am looking forward to the challenge.

Here's da garph n' stats:

Glad to have you back dude! Pwn teh feesh plz.

So....I've been feeling like I've been hand reading pretty damn well recently, like probably better than I ever have before. However, I feel like as one thing gets better, something else slips because I don't analyze enough of my hands to refresh ideas and remind myself how my overall game should be.

I started to feel earlier that I was being lazy with forming ranges again. Like I'd decide that the way some feesh was playing a hand was extremely typical of a certain type of holding and he was therefore very likely to have TT-JJ or whatever. So in trying to soul read opponents because I felt I was reading so well tonight, I neglected basic shit like making sure I knew what his entire range as a whole was and playing well vs the entire range and how he plays it. I guess I was getting a little carried away in the moment. That may not make much sense to anyone, but I'm fucking tired and am not feeling overly articulate just now.

Tomorrow I'm gonna stove some ranges and work out some EV in commonish spots just to refresh some ideas in my head.

Anyways, today I met my advisor of studies in uni. He was a really smarmy, stuck up guy that had clearly been bullied beyond belie in school. Nevertheless I got through the meeting and got him to agree to the courses I really wana do. Baiscally I'll be studying History, Philosphy and Greek, but I'm gona end up doing my honors (majoring for you american ones) in Philosophy since it's aweosme and really interest me. Uni shouldn' start off too heavily and I should still be able to make plenty time to grind between classes (since I live like 5 mins away for the university.)

Oath time, whoo hoo!

Ok.....this one's going to be really really hard. If I fail I'm going to come on this OP tomorrow and berate myself to fuck, and thus everyone will know I'm a huge failure.

Oath: I'm going to get up by 9am tomorrow morning at the latest.

That's difficult shit for me. You have no idea of the extent to which I am not a morning person. Like only 5% of my brain is there and the rest is taken over by some derranged sleep junkie. Fuck it that 5%'s fighting through ftw tomorrow cos I'm bigging it up now.

1st Personal trait to improve on this year = Willpower. I need to level up a good few times and attribute all the bonus points to my willpower stat.

Okay I'm going to go sleep now. Pokerwise, things are pretty good btw. I'm like still 8BIs below All in EV after getting 2 outered again today. But hey, I'm like 4BB/100 over 16k and I feel I'll improve on that forbidding any major downswongs in the near future.

Tomorrow's Plan

9am: Get up, eat breakfast. Do some hand analysis and stove some shit.

10am: Go for a run come back and shower.

11am: Go get my hair cut

12pm: Hit the grind, 5 table 25NL.

2pm: Eat lunch

2:30pm: Grind more until 5pm

5pm: Chill out and see if the g/f wants to spend some time together instead of drawing and painting all the god damn time.

9pm: Play some pokerz if I'm feeling ok and not still spending time with my g/f

12pm: Sleepz imo

BR = $886. G'night!

Okay it's time to start updating this thing a bit more regularly. Just played a 650 hand session and felt like I played well. I've cut down on a lot of spew and stayed out of tricky spots. Also feel like I've been finding the fold button a really good amount and saving stacks. Being a station used to be my biggest leak and since my return to poker, it hasn't been a problem at all. Of course I've developed new leaks now, but nothing as serious and long term as that used to be.

I'm a bit pissed at the pathetic amount of volume I've been putting in. This month is going to be more like 25k then 40 or 50 and thats just not acpetable. I need to play more sessions and make more time for poker, especially with uni starting next week.

Reason I haven't been playing this week so much is that we got a rabbit and I've been spendng lots of time with him trying to get him to trust me and settle in. He's doing really god now, but he has a vets appointment tomorrow ar 10am where all progress will be lost as we bundle him into a little dingy box and carry him about noisy streets. Then he gets thrown into a strnage brightly lit room and held on a table while some strange dude cuts his claws. Ach well.

Anyways, feeling good about poker and just need my monies line to catch up with the Evees line now. It's only been like 17k hands so pletny of time for that.

Tomorrow after the vets, I'm putting in 1.5k hands minimum god dammit.

BR= $926 only another 700 or so till fiddy enamels.

The BR has just creeped past $1000, so thought I'd give a quick update for once to celebrate.







So yeah, really happy with how I've been playing recently.

Goals for this week:

1. Do more studying and learn more concepts that I can apply.

2. Play way more hands like 10k hopefully.

3. Run better in All ins obv.

Can't fucking wait to get out of this 25 ennels and start feeling a greater sense of accomplishment in poker. I feel like I'm beating 25NL pretty damn easily though so volume is key. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are when I have the house to myself and can grind the most. These are uber volume days.

Putting half the hands I wanted for the month is totally unacceptable. Maybes I need a prop bet of some some.

I'll start with this:




Things are going exactly to plan now and I'm honestly thrilled about it. I feel like I'm reaching levels of poker thought I've never reached before. I still have so much fucking stuff to learn and that just inspires me more. I'm well on target for where I wanted to be 1 month into the OPP.

Things I've improved at and will need to solidify:

1. Finding good spots to 4-bet bluff. These are pretty damn rare at 25NL and this is something I will look to do more at 50NL. Nevertheless, I've been finding some decent spots, mainly IP vs light 3-betting TAG feesh. It's been quite effective.

2. Staying cool and not tilting. Although I've been running like Jesus this week, I'm still taking stackings very well compared to how I would in the past. I don't get angry, but simply think about the hand and see if I can spot any mistakes.

3. Double barrelling - I'm doing this in better spots now and more frequently. I'm sure I'm still giving up in too many good double barell spots though so I'll look out for more.


Things I suck at and seriously need to improve.

1. Volume ffs, have some dedication! I would likely be at fiddy ennels right now if I'd played as much as I could have.

2. Dealing with donk bets. I'm getting fucked around by donk betting. Like people are doing it to me and wanting me to raise and I'm obliging way too much. I need to start raising these less without any equity on bad boards and I need to get better reads on the fish doing it.

3. Excersise. Start fucking doing it again because it helps a ton. Sit ups, cycling and running. I'll make a regime soon.

That's all for now BR=$1286 bring on dat fiddy ennels after another $300 or so.

Peace.

What is intersting about this last post is during the time I had developed into a 20/17 type player I had all the same thoughts you just mentioned.

The exercise thing is definately super +EV I suggset getting on that.

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

The exercise thing is definately super +EV I suggset getting on that.

Yeah, tomorrow I'm gonna go for a good long cycle somewhere and see what I find. There's some good quiet routes around where I live.

Was in uni today, enrolling in classes. Was kinda cool and I'm actually really looking forward to starting now. My only regret is I, I'll have less time to grind (or procrastinate.) But, fuck it, I mean if I all this empty time just now and I still can't sit and grind for 6 hours a day then I fail at commitment. I think uni may help with that. I'll basicaly have to organise time for studying etc and therefore time will be more precious. So...hopefully I'll see poker as something important that deserves it's own time slots and still be able to do 3-4 hours a day.

Looking forward to Hisotry and Philosophy, the courses look really interesting. I'm also doing ancient greek just as something different to try in first year, although I'll be dropping this after 1 year max. I really want to live in Greece one day because I just love the country, so this will hopefully help with respect to learning modern greek one day as well. Also, I'll be able to wander around Greece saying shit like "Hath art thou thi fine dayeth?" and all that old English shit. I have such a mature attitude to education lulz.

Playing a live donakment tonight with my friend who's leaving on saturday. It's a total shame he's leaving to go 300 miles away, since he's one of the few out of my friends I can actually talk poker with. Thing is, he went mental a few weeks back when we went camping and tried to attack everyone and was pretty fucking violent. We had to physically hold him down and call the police so he wouldn't go and attack some random campers nearby. That was pretty fucking nuts and noones really spoke to him as much since. In a way I just have a feeling we wont see much of him again after he leaves and that's kind of sad since we've been friends for like 6 years. I think he has some issues and isn't the nicest of people to be honest, but still a good friend. When you think about it though, few if any people aren't morons in some way.

Next week will be strange starting uni and hopefully meeting some new people. Times are changing, but one thing that will never change is my love for poker. Whatever happens, I'm making it as a successful 200NL or 400NL reg by this time next year. Whatever, I do with my life/degree or whatever, I know it wont be as fulfilling as being self reliant and rich from poker. I can't do anything about that, so I will never strive for anything else in the same way. It's time to commit to volume, studying and learning and get to where I want to be in poker and in life.

Uni is really good for me right now for a few reasons:

1. It'll broaden my mental abilities give me something to get up and work at besides poker.

2. Getting a degree will make my Dad fucking happy and he deserves to be for working hard all his life and always helping me out when I fuck up over and over.

3. It;s a good back up plan for if poker doesn't work out.

4. I get government funding to help me live while not having to withdraw too much BR during my developemnt as a player through the limits.

Okay time to go off and pwn some retarded scum bag live regs. Later all.

Hey buddy it's your old Scottish pal haha, I went off the radar for months due to tilt, cashing out and splittingup with the girlfriend but am getting back ino things now and been browsing the forums for a few weeks so if you ever want to talk poker (give me pointers ) just hit me up with a PM and we'll sort something out because I really need to learn some pokerz and get the hell out of 10NL!!!

Sent you a PM man, we can get something arranged. I'd be happy to help out a fellow countryman.

Haven't been playing much in the last few days, but had ano ther +2BI session yesterday. I feel like I can't have losing sessions just now the way I'm running. Wont last forever though. I hope I'm still running good after I make another $200 and move up to 50NL. Wont be long now at this rate!

BR = $1416

Playing like a fucking retard tonight. I could feel it coming on last night. Just general confusion and not being sharp with what people's ranges were. I could feel the shitty emotional brain and its hordes of excusing closing in. I think it must surely be something to do with how tired I am due to uni starting and not getting enough sleep. I'm going to go to bed at like 11pm tonight just to catch up.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll play poker instead of emotional check the cashier button every 7 seconds, and make dumb ass plays based on how I feel and not what I'm thinking logically.

Fuck it, I've came to far as a player to revert back to the shit I used to do last year. I need to play when I'm fresh and can enjoy making the right decision and not winning $20 so my fucking BR looks a lil prettier.

It must be a result of my new busier schedual that I've made to cram in uni and poker stuff for like 8-10 hours a day idk. I'll sleep on it and hopefully tomorrow I wont play like a tilted zombie.

BR = 1372

Not that it means much coming from me, but I just want to say don't give up or be hard on yourself too much. I don't say this to many, but judging by some of your posts you really seem to have plenty of potential. Seriously, keep at it and I trust that you'll figure out how to overcome some of your tilt issues.

Hey bro...I started school recently as well. As a result, I obviously don't have much time for poker. Understand that poker is something for us on the side. Don't push yourself to hard. Don't force yourself to get hours in. Try to get all your school shit done so you can focus on poker. You'll find a balance in a couple of weeks.

I read this OP and I feel like I am looking back on myself as you're only a step or so behind me. PM me in IRC sometime if you wanna have a good chat.

Go go go carrot!

Thanks all the support is extremely welcomed and needed.

Kmind - That does mean a lot man, it's reassuring to know I'm not disiullsioning myself and talking shit all the time. I'll sort this mental shit out soon. It seems sometimes I just fucking forget, or forget to implement everything I know about poker (not sure which)

I really need to get the emotional brain back under control. I think it is just a mix of uni and things not being great with my girlfriend recently. We as humans, need vices and punch bags for all the negative shit in our heads. Sometimes this can be poker. We need to treat our poker carrers with the respect they deserve and not as a punch bag for emotions that we don't want in our heads.

Boog - Yeah I agree with what you say. I've made myself this rigid schedual of poker to fit around classes and I think it's making me play when I'm not at my best. It needs to be flexible and in tune with my mood.

M2M - Appreicate that man, I'll defo hit you up at some point. And yeah I feel like you leap frogged me in those 4 months where I stopped playing for the summer. It's like a pacemaker in a race type thing though. Your progress is a really good bench mark for my short term goals.

Sup3rman - TY sir we can pwn these 25ennels feesh together before we move up.

So yeah stuff IRL is defo fucking up my head just now and affecting my play. I wish things were back to hoe they used to be with my g/f. Feels like the relationships either dying or we just have nothing in common to be happy about together anymore. I seem to just have all this negative feeling towards her right now and my minds starting to wonder if the relationships jus gonna burn out and fail. I feel like I have to force myself to be a decent person around her. That sounds really fucked up, but I my natural disposition around her is often that of a moron. And that isn't who I am or who I want to be.

I don't fucking know what's going to happen. I'm sick of pretending everything's fine though. I guess we need a big talk and then deecide what we can do to spend a lot of time together and get back to the way thing used to be. We need common things to be happy about together. I'm not ready to give up on what's been the best relationship of my life up untl the last 2 months or so.

Fucking hell, why do we not just buy little diary books with flowers on them to bitch about this stuff. I'll stop ranting there. I'm going to go for a cycle just now to stay active then I'll play a few hours this afternoon. Friends are coming over for drinks tonight, so I'm just going to try and empty my mind of the shit going on and have fun. It's been a long fucking week, I'm defo in need of fun.

BR = $1527, only 3 more BIs till I move up. I can't wait just to get to grips on a new level and learn some more stuff.

IRL things are totally looking up as well. Getting on better with my g/f and we're spending more time together again and actually enjoying it so that's swell.

Uni's still going well so I really can't have any real complaints right now. I'm going to hammer in another few hours of grindage now and try to earn these 3 BIs!

Peace.

So....I came within $20 of $1600 last night (the point where I can move away from fucking 25NL (hopefully for good.) Unfortunately though, it didn't happen I ran 4 BIs under All in EV in like 800 hands and dropped a few BIs. I dropped another couple today by playing shit and getting coolered for medium sized pots. So the BR now = $1478 again and I'm like 6BIs away.

This is really irritating because I feel that after my break from poker and last year and my history of playing underolled and tilted in the past couple of years, I've just failed through my own laziness and lack of sel control to get what I can actually get out of this game. I know I could be at such a higher limit if I'd stuck in through the last couple of years, admitted my flaws far sooner and practiced proper tiltless BR managment. Now that I feel I'm finally doing everything as right as I can be, I'm getting impatient and that mental desperation is seeping back becasue I came so close to moving up and failed. It's fucking retarded though because it's mainly just variane and I know I'll get there pretty damn soon. I just wish I could stop my play suffering as a result of my state of mind.

I need to fucking distance myself from results ffs, why do I find it so fucking hard to do this?

I suck at volume because I suck at keeping my A game going for long periods of time. I suck at dedication and admitting I'm a lazy self convincing fuck at times.

I'm beating 25NL for like 5.4BB/100 over 34K hands. I'm not overly happy with this at all, but it's showing promise and I feel I have ran below average overall. What's wrong with what I've just said? It prooves exactly my problem. I care about my win rate and my short term results.

I swear it's the most counter productive thing ever. When this depserate impatient emotional thought pattern gets in it reeks havock by making me play worse and recklessly to try and win more money in the short term. Now I don't go nuts or lose complete control like I used to, far far from it. It''s the feeling of "omg maybe I should just stack off look at his fold to 3 bet % over 60 hands!" These self convincing excuses to make what I know deep down is the wrong choice. This is what bothers me the most.

Tomorrow class finishes by 3. So I'ma start grinding at 3.30. I'm going to play with no IRC, MSN, FTR etc for 3 hours till 6.30pm. No more than 5 tables and completely focussed. Moreover, I am not allowed to check my BR at all unless I feel I am nearing the stop loss which will be 4 BIs. I am not allowed to check it 1 fucking time - not once. Nor am I allowed to let short term results influence my play or my state of mind. I've built this fucking roll up pretty fast from $575. I know I can build it much further so I really need to stop obsessing over short term results and what they've done to my fucking win rate or graph in HEM. I know all this. Why the fuck can't I implement it.

So tomorrow's LAWS that I cannot break.

1. No more than 5 tables.

2. No distraction of any form whatsoever.

3. Take my time over every decision and think objectivley as if I have no emotion.

4. play for 3 hours befroe dinner and 2 hours after dinner MINIMUM.

5. Don't ever check the BR EVER unless nearing stop loss.

6. I will update this OP after the session to organise and discipline my mind.

The reason I write all this is for self therapy. I need to drum it right the hell in to my lazy self convincing skull. I will use my potential, I will not let emotion stand in the way of my aspirations. I will be strong and logical in all situations.

I will be as robotic as iopq, god rest his FTR soul.

Peace all.

Originally Posted by Carroters

So tomorrow's LAWS that I cannot break.

1. No more than 5 tables.

2. No distraction of any form whatsoever. - I find having IRC open is a pretty bad thing to have open while grinding. NO DISTRACTIONS (except pr0n)!

3. Take my time over every decision and think objectivley as if I have no emotion. - I like to keep my hand off the mouse and NOT put my hand on the mouse until I've reached a decision.

4. play for 3 hours befroe dinner and 2 hours after dinner MINIMUM. - I hate this rule. Don't force yourself to play hands. Stop playing when you aren't playing optimally. Take regular breaks...but don't make yourself play any minimum amount of hands. This'll be -EV.

5. Don't ever check the BR EVER unless nearing stop loss. - m2m has a great idea (that I joined in with him). Every time either of us (it used to be just him) looks at our HEM/PT3 DURING a session, we ship the other $1. It's funny how, when I got the urge to look last night, I think "I really don't feel like shipping m $1." I know there's no way to PROVE the other looked though :P

6. I will update this OP after the session to organise and discipline my mind.

I will be as robotic as iopq, god rest his FTR soul. - This makes me sad.

Peace all.

Also, I pretty much hate that you look at all-in EV a lot. That's probably the stupidest thing ever to look at.

So I said I'd update this yesterday after my session and I didn't. That's because I totally forgot. Had a +$60 session and played reasonably okay for most of it, but did level myself and 5 bet bluff all in preflop vs a regs min 4 bet b vs b.

Idk why the fuck I get myself heated up into the frame of mind where I'm paranoid and waving my dick about preflop. I need to stop doing this. I've found some decent spots to 4 bet bluff since there are a ton of light 3-betting dumb ass tagfeesh at 25NL 6 max. What there isn't a ton of though, is 4 bet bluffing. So let's just assume a 4-bet is fucking strong unless I have some really good read that it likely isn't and not just a (He thinks that I think omfg here's my cock look it's bigger than yours fuck yeah shovelll!!!!!!"

Not good, 5 bet bluffing is going to stop now almost indefinitely fo the time being.

Okay so 3 more BIs and it's time to move up. I don't care about this anymore though because I'm about to start a session and it's going to be a focuses and un emotional one. The whole almost at the 1600 mark then boom geting stacked was tilting. I don't care if it takes another 2 weeks cos I run bad. I'm just going to play my best game.

I'll probably play a good 5 or 6 hours today since I'll be away tomorrow. Volume volume volume!

Ok so it's 11.58pm as I'm writing this which means no $20 for Justin!

I refrained from going out and getting even drunker which is defo a huge plus. I'm going to make some food and go to sleep since I'm fucking exhausted and have class tomorrow pretty early.

I haven't upfated this in a while so for a short lazy recap: BR= $1709. I'm a 50Nl reg now and feeling good about my game. I'm going to grind a good ton of hands tomorrow after class and give this a proper update.

Peace for now.

Just had an uber gay -4BI session at 50NL. I'm not really phased by it too much though. If anything I've been less tilty since moving up. I think the 4 spots where I lost big pots were really all standard and after being stacked 3 times I still layed down AA to a turn raise on a dry board from a passive fish.

I'm going to play some more now and have a 3BI stop loss. 7 BIs in one day would possibly be enough to start the tilt process. I'll stop playing if I feel at all weak or like I'm playing badly. Also, I wont check the BR at all. I've started doing it again since moving up so it has to stop. I still have another 10.5BIs to lose before I have to move back down so let's hope it never get to that stage.

Well, it's been a while since I updated this mofo, not really sure why. I've been putting in a little more volume than usual over the last few days and adapting to 50Nl quite well.

If you'd asked me how the move up had been going yesterday I'd have said "Well not really got anything going yet, running pretty shit and jus not getting into a momentum."

If you ask me now I'll say: "Fucking heaterments FTW 10BI day ship it bahahahah!"

The last 1400 hands are from tonight.



Okay so the roll sits nicely at $2077 now and I'm looking forward to 3k where I'm going to cash out $1K and but an amazing computer set up with huge monitors etc. I know I promised no more cash outs, but....I like to think of this one as an investment. If I can get a nice big comfy ass set up to last me for a long time, I'll be able to focus in luxurious playing conditions and pwn even more feesh.

Things I've notcied since moving up.

1. There's tons more 3-betting, 4-bet bluffing becomes way better more frequently.

2. People also fold to 3-bets more so we can 3-bet the shit out of the regs until they over adjust and asplode at which point we own their souls, ez game.

3. The fish are just as bad and still stack off with wtf hands for no reason.

4. I get check raised on the flop more often when I c-bet. Adjustment = c-bet less in spots vs these sort of players and own their stabs in position with my middle pair, weak top pair type hands in the right spots. Also, find a few flops to 3 bet bluff. I successfully found one of these tonight. It was greta because when I'm running ood I always play my ultra A game and as soon as I c bet this 974R board BU vs SB with an aggro image, I thought, if you raise me sir you rep like 3 hands and I'm 3-betting your ass. Sure enough he di and I took the pot down. Results FTW whooop.

There's more subtle differecnes too but those are the main striking ones so far. I'll need to update the OP more frequently. Next goal = 3k and sweet ass new set-up. It shall only take 2 more days like today, but I fear my luck boxing spree will be a short lived one.

Adios fellow feeshes.

Nice heater. Ship some boom switch my way.

The heater turned into a big cooler. No mountian without a valley etc etc. Lost like 7 of the BIs I won, but ohh wells it's not the end of the world since I didn't get time to fully appreciate my 2k+ roll anyways.

I need to sort a few things out in my game and one major one is to find better spots to play back at people when I defend blinds or flat in position preflop. I seem to be weary that they're going to aggro me out the pot since so many regs are jus too cock waing in all the wrong spots. Nevertheless I need to note the guys that I can play back at profitably and just get better reads as I'm playing. That's going to be the goal for today's sessions.

I have to ship monies to a friend of mine should I fail to put in 1500 hands minimum today. This shouldn't be oo difficult and ensures I get some volume done at 50NL. If I lose 4Bis or more I'm allowed to stop though since playing on titled is not what I or my BR needs right now (or ever)

I'll report back at the end of the day hopefully having played a bit better than I have been.

Good luck sir! I just moved up to teh fiddy enels as well. (FR though) Had some decent success for my first day. (+2.5 BIs over 2k hands) Hopefully it continues and me and you continue to rape these fish on both fronts. (You at 6m me at FR)

Tear it up today sir.

Ok, today is the day I get out of this rutt of running bad = losing money = playing bad = losing more money and blaming it on running bad.

Fucking horrible rutt to be in and I've just not ben sharp with ranges etc recently or even tried very hard to be. Today, I'm well rested and feeling very focussed and unemotional. I'm going to 4 table for the first half an hour to practice thinknig aloud every thing that should be going through my head in any given spot and finding the best play based on factoring in many relevant aspects. This is just so much more +EV than "Meh but he could have 88 in which case I'm drawing dead so..." I know that a range needs to be looked at as a whole so it's times to stop making impulsive rushed semi emotional decisions.

3 BI stop loss, play for a few hours with breaks.

Goals:

1. Do not check the BR or that stupid cheating pop up on the HUD that tells you how much you're up or down on each table. This is even fucking worse than checking the BR and takes longer lolz.

2. Take my time!!!!!!

3. Always form a range as accurately as I can in any spot.

4. Cut back on 3-betting oop and 4 betting until I'm feeling more confident and re-settled. Play with like a 5% 3-bet for a while until feeling better about preflop spots.

5. Cut back on c-betting bad spots and triple barreling passive fish just because they're range ought to include plenty small/med pairs or whatever.

6. Stop playing if I feel emotions are dictating any action whatsoever.

7. Play with conviction, but don't self convince in bad shitty spots just because I don't feel like taking the best line (folding.)

Time to pwn the 50 ennels imo.

Later.

Ok this is getting fucking rediculous now. Every single time I ever 3-bet light they call or 4-bet. Every single time I call a c-bet with a pair the turn is an ace. Every single I get it in as an 80% favourite I lose.

Btw if you're reading this and thinking "OMFG what a whiner, he must be bad player cos he's whining about variance omfg we have no time for that here at FTR!" then you are a complete moron. Here's why. This is my OP and I'll be unhappy and state how I feel in it if I chose to. So please refrain from posting some typical narrow minded shit like:

"Maybe you're losing because you're so upest about variacne and are on tilt and making bad palys doi doi I am police droid of ftr imo"

I just stopped because I was feeling pissed off, fuck bags, and stuck to all my goals there as much as I possibly could. As for the people I know and trust here, I'm guessing you aren't thinking like FTR robots and can appreciate how horrible a relentless downswing can be and can forgive my bitching.

God I feel like poker is just punishing me right now. Just pummelling me repeatadly for every play I make. Like can people see my fucking hole cards, or do I just run into AK when I 3-bet 97% of the time? The final straw in that session was getting it in with 99 on 982 vs TT and getting runner runner flushed for my stack.

I'm trying to remain positive but it's fucking hard, I tell you. If this was the old days I'd have exploded like tuff fish already and spunked my roll away slevin style. The other fucked up thing is that I'm only actually down 2BIs since moving to 50NL. The rest of the downswing has just desinmated what I'd won before it started. Like wtf though, do I just suck complete balls preflop? I get played back at every single time I open or 3-bet except when I have my 3-bet value range. I run like 23/19, It's not like I'm some super lag with a fold to 3-bet and 4-bet of 65,000%.

Fuck poker right now. I'll be back on monday. Going out to get rediculously drunk tonight and forget about the shitty little things that piss me off in life and the brutality of the last week's poker.

Peace.

I had a pretty bruatal swongy ass mofo of a sesh last night too sir. Had a total tard stack me 3 times (or twice, once for 200bb when I got it in with KK on a K35 flop vs his A4. Turn is a 2 of course. ) But I ended up down about 2 BIs on the night, and from the spew yesterday morning of 1.5 BIs, I'm back to almost b/e since moving up. It's frustrating as hell I know man, but we gotta keep pushing dude. It'll clear up soon enough. Just remember what it was like when we were raping for those first few days and get back to what we were doing. Ez game.

Thanks man, I know deep down that it's all good and the skies will clear eventually. In the heat of the swong though it just feels endless.

Part of it as well is that I'm just not happy with my preflop play, or play in 3-bet pots at all. Really need to work on these areas as my main adjustment for the move up.

I'm sure we'll get back to pwning fish souls soon. Race to 100NL is on imo

Fuck all the FTR robots that think beats hold no place anywhere and tilt never happens. They're delusional imo. There's an entire forum for this...it's obviously part of the game and doesn't make you any more of a bitch.

The important part is tilt control and not playing when you know you're tilting (which you're doing a good job of). Avoid poker for a while, enjoy friends, catch up on your social life, then come back on Monday to pwn the fishies.

LATER!

Thank ya Boog I shall do exactly that. Not everything revolves around poker, I just need to remember that. Healthy outside of poker life = healthy game so I'm gonna make sure the first half of that equation holds true.

I read your tilt article when I was furious with poker - it defo helped keep things in perspective.

Also Carroters, building the new kitten avatar as we speak.

Awesome I'm totally excited about this!

Oh btw today when I lost that pot with the set of 9s to the runner runner flush some random guy that I'd barely played a pot with wqs like "YES!!! STICK IT TO THAT CARROT TOP MORON!!! IM GLAD SOMEBODY TOOK HIM OUT!"

It seems the Carrot Man does tilt the feeshes much!

hahahahaa win!

Originally Posted by Carroters

Oh btw today when I lost that pot with the set of 9s to the runner runner flush some random guy that I'd barely played a pot with wqs like "YES!!! STICK IT TO THAT CARROT TOP MORON!!! IM GLAD SOMEBODY TOOK HIM OUT!"

It seems the Carrot Man does tilt the feeshes much!

Not gonna lie, if I didn't know you, your avatar would tilt the fuck out of me.

Wait til u see my new one imo. I doubt its going to tilt anyone, but they will probably be more than a few WTFs. (once i get around to making it that is.)

Originally Posted by Carroters

3 BI stop loss, play for a few hours with breaks.
6. Stop playing if I feel emotions are dictating any action whatsoever.

nice work on quitting the session. It's harder than it sounds

downswings suck. The only good that comes from them (as far as i can see) is when they stimulate you to examine possible leaks in your game. Which is kinda crazy, cos we should be doing that anyway, and if it's a true variance downswing then why is this a better time than any other?
best of luck getting through it.

Originally Posted by Carroters

Part of it as well is that I'm just not happy with my preflop play, or play in 3-bet pots at all. Really need to work on these areas as my main adjustment for the move up.

get to work! interesting that pre-flop is an area you are not happy with, post some stats by position etc if you want some comments from a 6-max-only-occasionally type.
as for 3-bet pots - relative position, not calling too often, ranges, bet-sizing (e.g. c-bet 1/2 pot as standard, but up to pot with appropriate reads), the list goes on

Thnaks Daven here are some positional stats from HEM.

smallish sample but it looks like you're spewing from the blinds (BB in particular) or just running bad in that position.

could probably 3bet more OTB and CO but I think you're probably doing it fine.

Fucking hell, I just can't get out of this bullshit downswing. I was playing really well in that session there felt I was making good decisions on what I thought people's ranges were and was playing a nice balanced game. Then AK gets it in in a 3 bet pot on AJx to be rivered by AQ for a stacks. Then 66 gets killed by 97s on A685R for another stack. Then I 3-bet a reg who folds to a ton of 3 bets BU vs CO and he insta 4-bets. So I just shove my 87o cos I'm a major spewtard and think retarded things when I'm losing like "Well he obviously knows I 3-bet light from the BU and has finally decided to play back after folding to 80% of 3-bets for 400 hands. Erm no. He has AA. There goes a 3rd stack.

The last one was a retarded messy result of the 2 before and I'm so pissed because before the 2nd stack fell I was playing really well, like I just felt in the zome. My new rule is going to be to have a 2BI stop loss in every session so I can take like a 30 minutes break to make sure I'm not mentally affected before continuing.

I need to swallow my ego when I'm losing and stop being a spewtard preflop. I don't do that sort of thing too much but I have done like 3 times in 40k hands (shoved needlessly vs a premium hand with trash that is.)

Fucking hell the BR is now $1545 and this has been a total breakeven month. I know you guys hate people banging on about all in EV but I'm actually now $600 below it and I only play 25 and 50 NL ffs.

I think if I can run good sometime soon my game will be crushing for 50NL like I really feel like I can crush it if I can A: Stop running like shit and 2. Stop spewing preflop as a result of it.

I hope the 2BI stop loss rule will sort this out once and for all because god dammit I should be doing better than this. I don't feel at all uncomfortable at 50NL so I guess that's a positivie thing. My winging is now over so I'll finish by saying I think I'm going to pwn this 50NLs soon and I'm looking forward to it. Bring on the good times please stars, k thanks now bai.

stats review
dude, your pre-flop play looks good to me. So does your win-rate. Hell, you're almost breakeven from the small blind, nh. only real comment is that you maybe 3-bet a little too much from the big blind. But, again, your loss-rate from there isn't bad at all!

M2M's comment about blind spew is interesting, wonder if he noted that you're reporting in bb/100, not BB/100?

don't change too much. The advice i received from nutsinho when I posted stats ages back may apply?

Originally Posted by nutsinho

play no more than 6 tables (preferably only 4), keep your PFR above 20, and get that wwsf up

Originally Posted by Carroters

I think if I can run good sometime soon my game will be crushing for 50NL like I really feel like I can crush it if I can A: Stop running like shit and 2. Stop spewing preflop as a result of it.

from what i see of your stats and hands posted you need to do only one thing, and that is to stop making mistakes. By mistakes I mean calls/raises that you know are bad, especially during hand review. I need to do the same.
expecting you to be at 100nl in 2009 if you keep the spew in check.

Originally Posted by daven

stats review

M2M's comment about blind spew is interesting, wonder if he noted that you're reporting in bb/100, not BB/100?

I didn't before but I do now, thanks for pointing that out daven.

Carroters, it seems like your leaks are probably geared towards postflop, and possibly the types of hands you defend/3bet with in certain situations preflop. Overall it looks good though, getting someone to sweat you would be ideal.

Also, big swings do happen, play through, don't spew, and you'll be fine.

Thanks guys, I know I just need to keep a lid on the spew and yeah I possibly do 3-bet too much from the bb vs guys that just don't fold to 3-bets enough. I am still adjusting to the higher preflop aggression at 50NL and some trial and error has definitely dropped some monies in the last week or so. I think I've found a decent balaance now and if I can sharpen my reads a bit I should be able to patch up preflop quite soon.

M2M that's interesting what you say about post flop when I'm defending my blinds. I do often feel more lost in a hand without the initiative so it's something Im going to be taking a look at for sure.

I'd really appreciate a sweat from someone over the weekend or start of next week or what not. I'll be in IRC so if you have even like half an hour to spare hit me up and that'd be awesome. Unfortunately I don't have a mic since my laptops port is fucked and the sound is crappy on this thing anyway, but I have teamviewer and am happy just using MSN and IRC since I can type pretty quickly.

Ok time to pwn this 50NLs and get up to the 100NLs imo.

If I don't play 35k hands this month minimum, I ship my friend $100.

Time to hit the grind and play 2k today and tonight that'll put me on track for where I want to be. A big part of this OP this month will be to keep track of volume and stop the laziness.

I'm going to check to see if there's anything good that's worth watching on leggo then do some 5 tabling with my new gold star status. FPPs and monies will now come to da carrot man.

Hai Gais

November has started out really well. I'm pretty damn happy about my game overall now. Feel like I'm finding some really good spots to capitalise on FE and am barrelling a good amount in decent spots.

This Is my garph so far of all 25 and 50NL hands.



I do feel I'm able to comfortably pwn 50NL and have began to realise most of the regs are pretty fucking shit at poker. BR sits at $2014 and I have a good chance of getting platinum should I play enough hands. I've defo got the time this month as uni isn't too heavy yet or anything.

$3K and that new sweet set up is looming. Just another 20 more BIs. I can haz rediculously sick +$1000 session pls?

lol lifetime -AIEV is fun.

Just a quick update before I start my session, given that I've been neglecting the shit out of this thing recently.

November has been pretty swongy in that I lose every time I get it in pre with AA vs QQ and win when I get it in with KK vs someone's AA.

The last few days have been fun though as I've put in some decent volume (2.5K a day) and maaged to win some BIs. I have in certain spots played like utter shit though. I missed a rediculously easy value shove on the river yesterday by convincing myself his range was the exact nuts and bluffs when it totally wasn't.

I could really use a sweat from someone, because I'm sure there's plenty spots I'm still being retarded in and I need to take more steps to improve my play; so if anyone has some time to kill today or early next week and fancys taking a look I'd be more than grateful.

Time to play a sesh and pwn some souls now imo. This is a graph of all my 50NL hands to date.

I'd like to sweat you, since I'm just now switching over to 6Max and would like to get some of your feedback on what you're doing and I can compare that with my thought processes, if you're up for it! We can plan something or hit me up in the irc/skype!

Yeah man sounds like fun. I'll be on tomorrow evening UK time and also Wednesday too I'd imagine. Anytime between like 3pm and 12pm I can just about manage.

This is dependant on me being able to find a usb headset tomorrow as my puter's standrad ports are fucked. Shouldn't be too much of an issue I wouldn't think.

I'll be in the IRCs so hit me up when you're ready.

Think I'll play a little mini session now, don't want to play for too long since I'm still a bit worn out from last night. If I feel I'm playing less than optimally, I'll just quit.

Today was another swongy ass day where I got coolered 3 times for stacks KQ vs 66 on QQ6 and AQ vs 77 on QQ7 etc etc. I then set mined TT to a small 3-bet from a nit and flopped my setaments to get it in and face a 2-outer on the turn. Despite this though I managed to reamin BE for the session and am still feeling pretty confident about my game.

My win rate for 50NL is less than 2BB over 30k, but I am still confident I have been running like shit for the most part of it. If this continues over another 40k or so I'll start to get worried.

The priority now for this month is volume volume volume. I need to improve and do tons more studying aswell, but volume is what I struggle to commit to. I need to play 35K hands in november and have so far played only 18k. So this means 17K over 11 days which probably doesn't sound like much to some of you grind machines, but to me it kind of is just now due to the sheer amount of uni work I've got leading up to exams etc. I figure I'll do most of this in december when I've got this hand target out of the way.

So some sort of plan for the days to come to make sure I'm on track.

Thursday: 2000 hands

Friday: 2500 hands

Saturday: 2000 hands

Sunday: 1000 hands

Monday: 2000 hands

These are rough targets and can be improvised upon if I A. I feel I can do more on a certain day or B. Feel too tilted and need to stop for some reason.

BR is still stuck at $2130, bring on that $3K so I can haz awesome new set up and massive monitor.

I will update with how many hands I have played and will need to complete by monday night in order to meet that mini target of 9500.

Peace.

[x] Achieved daily hand quota
[x] Sucked out a ton on people
[x] Spewed a lot
[x] Played well in the afternoon session
[x] Played tired in the evening and lost focus in my final session
[x] Won nearly 4BIs
[ ] Am happy about the way I played overall

I'm glad I achieved the target, but have realised playing tired is seriosuly -EV no matter how much I tell myself I'm fine. I need to shoot to get more hands in earlier on in the day when I am more alert and in the zone.



I made some pretty neeldess spewy bluffs, barrels and aggro tilted shit in general tonight. I need to take my time more on hands, think about my villain's range always before clicking out of frustration. I don't do this when I play alert so much, so obviously only playing when I'm alert is a great way to reduce this.

I listen to music now through headphones when I play and I thin that really helps to keep me focussed and involved in what I'm doing. Musaics ftw.

Tomorrow is a 2.5K day. I finish class at 12 and will grind from like 1pm onwards and bang in like 4-5 hours in the afternoon while I'm fresh. If I manage more than 2.5K then ship it, but this is the minimum.

Bai.