Time to start blogging it - another micro hero.

Welcome to microlevels blog n. 78294.

First things first. The most important disclaimer: english isn't my first language, so please try to ignore the grammar/spelling atrocities.

Now to the blog itself.

Some little info about myself
29 years old, Italian, serving in the Army.
No kids and no long-term engagement, because friends with benefits >>> girlfriends and I'm not much into new age garbage like procreation or making something serious out of my life. Perish the thought.
This means I can grind poker when and how long I damn well please.

Poker background
Definitely a recreational player.
I started playing some home games with a bunch of friends 3-4 years ago. Occasional stuff, maybe one game per month.
Then a couple years ago I deposited 50 euros on Full Tilt, but didn't accomplish much. I just played a bit of everything with absolutely no bankroll management, managed to make it to 100, then down to 60 and I lost interest. Full Tilt obviously doesn't exist anymore in Italy.

This year I decided to try again on GDPoker (ongame.it) and deposited 30 euros.
I'm not a rich person, but I could easily deposit some 500 euros.
Not a life-changing sum, but throwing it away doesn't make any sense whatsoever, so I decided to start from the microlevels.
January and February I barely played at all, and in March I decided to actually start putting some effort into this game.
I was prepared to lose the first 30 euros to experiment a bit, with no regard to bankroll management.
Goal: getting a brief overview on the first levels and different kind of games (FR, 6-max, MTT sngs and standard sngs).

So I played some short sessions up to 50NL and even some 150 hands on 100NL.
Bankroll up to 150 and I deciced I actually want to make something out of this game, wich leads to the first step.


The first step

6-max cashgame.
Playing 30k hands at 5NL. No more, no less. If I'm winning at that point, move to 10NL.
If I'm not winning, play 10k more.

Bankroll management is not an issue.
It's probably a mix of my military background and my passion for mmorpgs.
Hard 'work' (calling it work seems silly - I love playing this game) doesn't scare me.
Beating increasingly difficult levels to climb the ladder doesn't scare me.
I find the mere thought of trying to beat level 4 when I fail to beat level 1 utterly absurd.

So fear not, dear reader. You are not following the amazing adventures of another Slevin.


Long term goals

Well, there is none.
I don't have the arrogance to claim "I wanna drop my job and live on poker". Why would I do it? I love my job. It's the fucking cavalry.
Or "I wanna beat 600NL in a year".
For my first goal, see above.
Medium-term, let's say I'd be happy to be playing 50NL by the end of this year.
Totally out of my reach? Too over-conservative? Frankly, I have no idea.



Current situation

Bankroll around 190 euros.
Played the first 16k hands of step 1.
I'm a slight loser at this point (-0.65 BB/100). More on this later.
But Shizu, you said you were at 150 euros when you started playing 'seriously'. How can you be at 190 if you are losing at 5NL?
Well, I'm running well on a very small sample of sngs (5 euros) and 27-max MTT (4 euros), with a ROI around 60%.


Why am I still losing after 16k hands ot the fishiest level?
First, I am a noob.
Second, I already experienced my first big downswing.
Irrelevant when compared to some horror stories I've read about losing streaks of 50/100k hands, but 3k hands of running kings into aces when my entire poker career consists of 9k hands are...totally not cool.



At least 3 or 4 of those hands are me not giving credit when some passivefish suddenly increased aggression, but most are coolers or total suckouts.
Btw, I'm not playing with 60bb anymore. I sit with the full buy-in.

This little tangent about my first bad streak leads to the next part.


Am I prepared for the inevitable losing streaks?

Yes, I am prepared. There is absolutely no doubt about it.
I'm not saying this because a noob losing streak of 3k hands didn't affect my game or my will to play it.

I'm saying this because I experienced a -REAL- bad swing of variance in real life.
Summer 2008, I fucked my right elbow pretty badly in a horse accident.
NCO selection I already won? 89 winners out of 17k candidates? Forget it.
Three surgeries and 20 months of re-hab.
Office duty because I can't do anything operative anymore. I still love my job, btw.
And a bunch of issues for the rest of my life.

Maybe a bit too dramatic, but yeah. Losing some poker sessions is nothing.


Get to the point already

How am I running lately?
Running ok, I guess.



As you can see, I have set myself the goal to play 1k hands/day.
When not possible, at least 5k/week, multi-tabling no more than 4 tables.



The purpose of this blog

Improving my game obviously. I've always been a strong supporter of after-action report in videogames as a fantastic way to improve.
Same concept applies on poker,

This is just an intro, but I'll start posting hands and asking for advice.

I still don't know how often I will update this blog.
Probably not daily, but I intend to keep it pretty active.

good luck!

[and fwiw, your english is f@cking excellent]

Thanks DoubleJ.


Update

Played 1300 hands today and lost over 3 buy-ins, breaking even with yesterday's winnings.

Not terribly concerned about hands like this:

OnGame - €0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BTN: €9.82
Hero (SB): €5.12
BB: €4.29
UTG: €2.18
CO: €5.20

Hero posts SB €0.02, BB posts BB €0.05

Pre Flop: (€0.07) Hero has Q Q

fold, CO calls €0.05, fold, Hero raises to €0.20, BB raises to €4.29 and is all-in, fold, Hero calls €4.09

Flop: (€8.63, 2 players) 3 4 2

Turn: (€8.63, 2 players) 7

River: (€8.63, 2 players) 6

Hero shows Q Q (One Pair, Queens) (Pre 81%, Flop 11%, Turn 5%)
BB shows 3 3 (Three of a Kind, Threes) (Pre 19%, Flop 89%, Turn 95%)
BB wins €8.16


Or Kings with flush draw vs flopped nut flush:

OnGame - €0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BB: €4.09
UTG: €5.11
MP: €1.64
CO: €4.88
BTN: €9.07
Hero (SB): €4.95

Hero posts SB €0.02, BB posts BB €0.05

Pre Flop: (€0.07) Hero has K K

UTG calls €0.05, MP calls €0.05, fold, fold, Hero raises to €0.25, fold, UTG calls €0.20, MP calls €0.20

Flop: (€0.80, 3 players) Q 4 8
Hero bets €0.55, UTG calls €0.55, fold

Turn: (€1.90, 2 players) J
Hero bets €1.00, UTG raises to €2.96, Hero raises to €4.15 and is all-in, UTG calls €1.19

River: (€10.20, 2 players) 4

UTG shows 9 A (Flush, Ace High) (Pre 32%, Flop 97%, Turn 100%)
Hero shows K K (Two Pair, Kings and Fours) (Pre 68%, Flop 3%, Turn 0%)
UTG wins €9.64



But I could use some input on the following hand.



OnGame - €0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (BB): €5.89
UTG: €9.20
MP: €4.42
CO: €4.06
BTN: €5.66
SB: €3.83

SB posts SB €0.02, Hero posts BB €0.05

Pre Flop: (€0.07) Hero has K Q

UTG calls €0.05, fold, fold, fold, SB calls €0.03, Hero raises to €0.20, UTG calls €0.15, SB calls €0.15

Flop: (€0.60, 3 players) Q A K
SB checks, Hero bets €0.32, UTG calls €0.32, SB calls €0.32

Turn: (€1.56, 3 players) 8
SB checks, Hero bets €1.00, UTG raises to €2.00, fold, Hero raises to €5.37 and is all-in, UTG calls €3.37

River: (€12.30, 2 players) A

Hero shows K Q (Two Pair, Aces and Kings) (Pre 29%, Flop 14%, Turn 25%)
UTG shows A Q (Full House, Aces full of Queens) (Pre 71%, Flop 86%, Turn 75%)
UTG wins €11.62


Villain is 55/20 over 40 hands, 7% 3-bet (1/14).
He's not completely passive and I expect a 3-bet with AA, KK, QQ or AK.
So I think I'm losing only vs AQ and TJ and winning vs the rest of his range (JJ, TT and smaller pairs, a bunch of Ax, Kx and Qx combos, a bunch of flush draws)

Is there a valid reason to fold this on his turn raise?

H1 unlucky
H2 fold turn
H3 not folding vs this villain on this turn with this hand for this raise size. I prolly call and re evaluate the riv. His line looks alot like TJ or A8 getting it in is prolly still +ev as he could prolly have K8 Q8 not sure how aggro hed play these on this board.

run better and GL

gl sir!

Added some 3k hands in the last week, approaching 19k.

Running so bad it's almost embarassing. -2BB/100 at the lowest level.
But embarassing myself on a public blog is good, if it leads to good advice.

Got my fair share of suckouts in the last 3k hands (AK<A4, nut flush vs full), but I can't always blame it to bad beats.
Time to find the main leaks and fix them.


Problem n.1

Loose passive players. Big money should obviously come from these, but I can't properly exploit them.
TAGs are quite predictable at the microlevels and I usually have little problems with them.
LAGs at these levels usually are utterly retarded and I can exploit them.

But I struggle against loose/passive types, especially so in multi-way pots.
By loose/passive I mean stuff like 45/8. There's a metric fuckton of this kind of players, up to insanity like 80/1.

Example (not a real hand, just a made up example of a typical hand I'd struggle with ):

ThTd on the button.
2 limpers (34/7 and 39/5), 1 fold.
I raise x5, BB folds, SB folds, 2 limpers call.

3-way pot with a good but not fantastic hand. I have no fucking idea about their hand.

Flop is Js 4h 7h

Check, check, I bet 2/3. Call, call.

Turn 8s: check, check again.

At this point I still have no clue. Any overcard is scary, any draw is scary. Did they hit a set with a small pair. Did they hit two pairs. Are they chasing draws. Top pair with shit kicker. WTF are they c/calling me with?

So how do I deal with these players?
Tightening up seems SO wrong, considering the garbage they are limping with.


Problem n.2

I'm losing a shitload of money from the blinds.

Fold BB to steal is 89%.
Fold SB to steal is 91%. Ninety-one fucking percent.

I hate playing marginal hands oop, but it's costing me a lot of money.
See above and combine problem n.1 with problem n.2.
Marginal hands oop vs multiple stations.



Some important stats

Didn't mention any stat so far, but it's time to destroy the main leaks.
Stats are over 19k hands at 0.02-0.05, 6-max.

VPIP/PFR: 13.90/8.37
I'm fine with the VPIP at this point, but there's too much limping.
If it's folded to me on the button or CO, I don't limp. If I want to play the hand, i raise it.
If there are already 1 or 2 limpers and there are more passive stations behind me, I tend to limp small PPs or stuff like 9-10s, 10-Js from the button or CO.

Att to steal: 14.18.
This must be higher. No way around it. I'm losing money when stealed and not getting it back because I'm not stealing enough.

3bet%: 2.49.
Obviously too low. Nobody notices this at the lowest level, but it needs fixing.

Fold to 3bet: 80%.
Pathetic.

W$WSF: 37.33.
This seems very low, but I have no idea.

W$SD: 55.99.
At least this one seems decent.





What am I doing next?
- Playing no more than 2 tables and a couple hundred hands/day.
No more 1k/day on 4 tables because at this point it's obviously beyond my skill level.

- More accurate HH review. Right now it's mostly about "LOL suckout". I need to concentrate more on small losses.


Any input about any part of this rant would be much appreciated.
What should be the first thing to fix?

Last 800 hands went well (slightly below 10BB/100).
I'm playing 2 tables max and no more than 2-300 hands in the same session. Better decisions, less spewing.
Also dedicating more time to HH post-session review.

About the mentioned leaks, I'm trying to gradually improve my blind play.

On a side-note, in the last 10k hands I went from a neutral EV graph to -330 BB.

DISCLAIMER: rant ahead

New goal: fucking break even at 5NL, no matter how many hands it takes.
When breaking even, play at least 10k more winning hands.
22k hands and I'm still at -2BB/100.

Here are the winnings since I started playing less tables and shorter sessions:


What am I trying to improve lately?
My game against stations, implementing what I learned in THIS thread.

I think I'm actually making progress. Thinking more and spewing less overall. Trying not to play huge pots with marginal hands.

I know there are huge flaws in my game and I'm working to fix them, but after going from neutral EV to exactly -400 BB of all-in EV in the last 13k hands, I'm starting to feel a bit discouraged.

I often find myself playing as if I know in advance I'll be sucked out in the worst possible way.

Three highlights from the last session:

OnGame - €0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BTN: €12.34
SB: €8.05
Hero (BB): €4.98
UTG: €6.07
MP: €3.04
CO: €1.50

SB posts SB €0.02, Hero posts BB €0.05, CO posts DB €0.05

Pre Flop: (€0.12) Hero has 8 8

UTG raises to €0.15, fold, CO calls €0.10, fold, fold, Hero calls €0.10

Flop: (€0.47, 3 players) 4 8 4
Hero checks, UTG bets €0.40, CO calls €0.40, Hero calls €0.40

Turn: (€1.67, 3 players) 6
Hero checks, UTG bets €1.26, fold, Hero raises to €3.00, UTG raises to €5.52 and is all-in, Hero calls €1.43 and is all-in

River: (€10.53, 2 players) T

Hero shows 8 8 (Full House, Eights full of Fours) (Pre 18%, Flop 91%, Turn 95%)
UTG shows T T (Full House, Tens full of Fours) (Pre 82%, Flop 9%, Turn 5%)
UTG wins €9.95




OnGame - €0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: €11.71
Hero (BB): €4.93
UTG: €4.93
CO: €3.48
BTN: €2.13

SB posts SB €0.02, Hero posts BB €0.05

Pre Flop: (€0.07) Hero has A A

fold, fold, BTN raises to €0.25, fold, Hero raises to €0.80, BTN raises to €1.35, Hero raises to €4.93 and is all-in, BTN calls €0.78 and is all-in

Flop: (€4.28, 2 players) A 9 3

Turn: (€4.28, 2 players) J

River: (€4.28, 2 players) 6

Hero shows A A (Three of a Kind, Aces) (Pre 82%, Flop 96%, Turn 82%)
BTN shows K K (Flush, Ace High) (Pre 18%, Flop 4%, Turn 18%)
BTN wins €4.05




OnGame - €0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

UTG: €9.08
Hero (MP): €5.05
CO: €4.93
BTN: €0.64
SB: €1.91
BB: €3.14

SB posts SB €0.02, BB posts BB €0.05

Pre Flop: (€0.07) Hero has A K

UTG raises to €0.10, Hero raises to €0.30, fold, BTN raises to €0.64 and is all-in, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls €0.34

Flop: (€1.45, 2 players) J 3 8

Turn: (€1.45, 2 players) T

River: (€1.45, 2 players) 6

Hero shows A K (High Card, Ace) (Pre 64%, Flop 22%, Turn 23%)
BTN shows J 2 (One Pair, Jacks) (Pre 36%, Flop 78%, Turn 77%)
BTN wins €1.37



Are these hands affecting my game?
I'm pretty sure they aren't putting me on tilt. Not in the 'traditional' sense.
I'm not raging. I don't start playing stupid hands to get my revenge.
I also am disciplined enough to move away from the PC after a couple of these hands.

But it's affecting my game in another way.
Like here (first hand on this table, mis-clicked 'always wait for big blind' and flopped a set):


OnGame - €0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: €2.37
BB: €14.73
UTG: €7.40
MP: €2.24
Hero (CO): €5.00
BTN: €5.05

SB posts SB €0.02, BB posts BB €0.05, Hero posts DB €0.05

Pre Flop: (€0.12) Hero has 2 2

fold, MP calls €0.05, Hero checks, fold, fold, BB checks

Flop: (€0.17, 3 players) J 2 T
BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets €0.08, BB calls €0.08, fold

Turn: (€0.33, 2 players) J
BB checks, Hero bets €0.15, BB raises to €0.62, Hero calls €0.47

River: (€1.57, 2 players) 3
BB bets €0.78, Hero calls €0.78

BB shows 7 A (Flush, Ace High) (Pre 51%, Flop 26%, Turn 0%)
Hero shows 2 2 (Full House, Twos full of Jacks) (Pre 49%, Flop 74%, Turn 100%)
Hero wins €2.96



Boat vs nut flush. I should have won a stack here.
His flush was fucking obvious on the turn, but my brain told me "you are going to get sucked out again, or he'll show JJ, TT or JT", so I didn't put my stack in the middle.
Net gain 1.43 when I should have won a buy-in.

This needs to change.
I don't know what kind of bad streaks I'll have to go through at higher stakes. 13k hands of this garbage surely aren't a stroll in the park, but probably nothing against real, prolonged downswings.
It's not tilting, but it makes me play like a scared bitch.
This needs to change if I want to accomplish anything in this game.



EDIT: I also removed the occasional SnG from my game.
Just doing some 2.5€ satellites here and there to win 100€ tickets, but I'll remove them pretty soon as well.

btw the blinds thing, remember folding is a -100bb/100 play. Yes people say it's 0bb but I don't give a fuck. Looking at it in terms of losing 100bb/100 for folding and losing 50bb/100 for calling and c/fing a tonne with marginal hands is the best way to look at it. Just remember this. You don't have to WIN with a hand out of position. You just have to do better then you will by folding.

I don't really know what to do at this point.
I'm pretty sure I am improving some weak parts of my game, especially vs loose/weak types.

But it's starting to feel like a massive waste of time. A monumental effort in futility.

I didn't play 1k hands today. I played 73.
Seventy fucking three.

On hand #19 I got this:


OnGame - €0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

MP: €7.42
CO: €6.91
BTN: €5.56
SB: €2.04
Hero (BB): €5.23
UTG: €5.60

SB posts SB €0.02, Hero posts BB €0.05

Pre Flop: (€0.07) Hero has 7 5

fold, fold, fold, fold, SB calls €0.03, Hero checks

Flop: (€0.10, 2 players) K T J
SB bets €0.05, Hero calls €0.05

Turn: (€0.20, 2 players) 8
SB bets €1.94 and is all-in, Hero calls €1.94

River: (€4.08, 2 players) K

SB shows J K (Full House, Kings full of Jacks) (Pre 62%, Flop 65%, Turn 9%)
Hero shows 7 5 (Flush, King High) (Pre 38%, Flop 35%, Turn 91%)
SB wins €3.86



And this on hand #71. Flop shove is caused by a lot of notes about this retard:


OnGame - €0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BB: €3.10
Hero (UTG): €4.79
CO: €6.07
BTN: €4.51
SB: €5.18

SB posts SB €0.02, BB posts BB €0.05

Pre Flop: (€0.07) Hero has A A

Hero raises to €0.20, CO calls €0.20, fold, fold, fold

Flop: (€0.47, 2 players) 5 J Q
Hero bets €0.30, CO raises to €1.37, Hero raises to €4.59 and is all-in, CO calls €3.22

Turn: (€9.65, 2 players) T

River: (€9.65, 2 players) 6

Hero shows A A (One Pair, Aces) (Pre 87%, Flop 82%, Turn 89%)
CO shows Q 6 (Two Pair, Queens and Sixes) (Pre 13%, Flop 18%, Turn 11%)
CO wins €9.12





I know I'm ranting.
I know variance is a big part of the game and it will even out sooner or later. But how much fucking time is 'later'?
I know what I said in the OP about bad luck, but at14k hands my EV graph was neutral. Approaching hand 28k, I'm almost 500BB below EV.
13k hands of suckouts when my entire 'serious' poker career consists of 20k hands? Really?

I'm not raging and I'm not hating the game. On the contrary, I'm craving to play more poker and more pots with me starting at 90%.

But it surely is affecting my game, wich isn't exactly spectacular in the first place.
I've already realized I'm playing somewhat scared when I should be betting

Originally Posted by Robb

like a f**king house afire when you have a big hand.

So today I started betting like a fucking house afire, only to get sucked out again.
And again.
And again.


To complete this rant, I want to make it perfectly clear.
I'm running bad because I'm bad. No doubt about this. Maybe not so bad as I was 20k hands ago, but there are huge amounts of work and study ahead.
Still, it would be nice to win a pot when I fucking deserve it.

good luck, shizu, hope you do well!!

3-parts update.


Part 1: it's not going to stop

Not surprised anymore by some hands. I just look at the screen with a blank expression, thinking "did you really expect to win this showdown?"


OnGame - €0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

CO: €1.79
BTN: €6.47
SB: €8.75
Hero (BB): €4.93
UTG: €1.70

SB posts SB €0.02, Hero posts BB €0.05

Pre Flop: (€0.07) Hero has K 9

fold, CO calls €0.05, fold, SB calls €0.03, Hero checks

Flop: (€0.15, 3 players) 3 K 9
SB checks, Hero bets €0.08, CO raises to €0.39, fold, Hero raises to €2.00, CO calls €1.35 and is all-in

Turn: (€3.63, 2 players) 7

River: (€3.63, 2 players) Q

CO shows Q K (Two Pair, Kings and Queens) (Pre 74%, Flop 16%, Turn 7%)
Hero shows K 9 (Two Pair, Kings and Nines) (Pre 26%, Flop 84%, Turn 93%)
CO wins €3.43





Anything before hand 17k was 'recreational' play at variousl limits. At hand 17k I started this blog
Reading shit, analyzing HHs, trying to improve my game, all at 5€ NL.

What does this graph tell me?
This is an honest question. Maybe I'm overestimating the impact of variance. Maybe it's mostly about my poor skills and not about villains hitting their 3-outers over and over and over and over.

I look at the graph and think:
According to the EV line, I tend to make decent decisions. The EV line tells me I should be winning around 2BB/100 over 12k hands. Nothing to write home about and miles away from moving up to the next level.
But I should be winning. Pennies maybe, but still.
In the real world, I just see the spread between EV and reality getting wider day after day.

In the recently bumped Alexos' thread, I see him running FIFTEENFUCKINGTHOUSANDDOLLARS below EV.
And he starts doubting his poker skills. Bad luck or sudden, massive leaks?
Comparing me with alexos is like a 8-yo with down syndrome playing football against Cristiano Ronaldo.
But, on completely different levels, I see some analogies.
In the end, he just shrugs it and goes back to raping lower levels.
Me? I don't know. I love the game. I want to play and I want to improve. But everytime I log-in, it's like walking to a firing squad ready to execute.



Part 3: Rant over, what am I doing about the game?

In the quest to improve my game vs stations, I got this reply:

Originally Posted by Fnord

Thin
Value
Bet

First reaction: WTF?
Then I did some research, got one of those revelation moments and tried to implement it in my game.
Well, it works.
Got paid by a fair amount of worse hands.
Forced them to fold another fair amount.
And I folded myself to big raises when the station was desperate to get more money from his runner-runner-runner straight.

When a winning and respected player drops a one-liner, don't dismiss it.
Every bit helps, and 3 words from a winning player are way more useful than an essay from a mediocre microgrinder.


Part 3: old site back online

A week ago I received an email from titanbet.it.
They are back online, offering the following promotions:
- 10€ bonus for creating a new account
- 10€ bonus at the first deposit
- 200% first deposit bonus, up to 600€

The site is new and small and there are three big well-established poker rooms in Italy, so I'm not going to invest big sums here.
Probably 20€, making it 10+10+20+40, more than enough to play 0.01-0.02.
Minimum on my main site is 0.02-0.05, but from the first 500 hands, they play pretty much the same.

The first session went well. Ran kings into aces once, but I still won 2.5 buy-ins overall.
Hopefully this will help on the self-confidence aspect.

EDIT: fuck them.
Made my first deposit today. I tried to deposit 10€, but the shitty interface tricked me into depositing 20.
Basically in the cashier there's a section to register the credit card and another section to make the actual deposit.
In the card section there's a 'deposit sum' line to fill and all the usual stuff: card number, expiration date, etc. Below there's a bigass "REGISTER CARD" button. Not a "DEPOSIT" button.
So it looks like a default sum you set-up for future deposits.
Then I went to the actual deposit section and deposited 10.

It turns off I deposited 10 twice. No big deal, so I asked the support to give me the 200% bonus on 20€. The two deposits are three seconds apart, so it's pretty obvious.

But no: "sorry if you deposited twice by mistake".
What if I deposited 300€ twice? 600€ bonus down the shitter.
So I'll just clear the bonus, withdraw and disinstall.
Not going to deal with obvious amateurs.

Just want to encourage you. We've all run like dogsh!t. I haven't had a chance to look through many HH's, but I will in the next couple of days. If you're playing solid, the win rate will follow. K9 hand above is good - you got all the chips as a 3 to 1 favorite. All you can ask. Stay strong. Play good poker.

Originally Posted by Shizu

What does this graph tell me?

That your EV line is 125BB up from where you started taking things seriously. Looks like you're doing ok. (Definitely room to improve, of course.)

The EV line tells me I should be winning around 2BB/100 over 12k hands.

You don't 'should' anything over just 12k. Bad EV runs can last much longer.

It's obviously good that you're studying theory and analysing hand histories and stuff. Technical skills, however, is just one (the least important) of the three pillars needed to become great at poker. The other two are bankroll management (most important) and psychological balance (second important). From your comments it seems that you may be starting to get into a permanent low-intensity tilt, which is dangerous.

Read up on how to develop mental strength to deal with running bad. 'Poker Mindset' is an excellent book that covers this topic, but there are plenty of other good texts available on this site and elsewhere.

Comparing me with alexos is like a 8-yo with down syndrome playing football against Cristiano Ronaldo.

I lol'd.

BR management is not an issue. I started this blog with 35 or so buy-ins.
Not even sure about the roll atm. Honestly, I rarely check it.
I'll have to deposit more if I keep running like shit obviously but I'm not even considering 'shots' at the upper limits.
Current goal is trying to break even at this level.

What do you mean by 'low-intensity tilt'?
Not smashing things around the home and raging to the poker gods, but still playing in an altered state?
Yes, probably.
I'm aware I'm playing somewhat scared. See the above boat vs flush hand.
Expecting to be sucked out again and not playing for stacks when I should.

I will surely look for more in-depth reads about the psychological part of the game.
Also, I think playing on the new site at 2€ NL is helping the morale.
1k hands, up 4 buy-ins. PT not supported, so I'm not tracking it.


EDIT: just finished 18th in a beginners' freeroll with 369 entries. Won 4€ and a nice confidence boost.
EDIT 2: and finished 23rd in another freeroll with 1106 entries. Won a 1€ token lol. Not a very productive time investment, but it's still good training. They donìt seem to adjust between cash/tournaments at these levels, so I got 450 hands of training for free.

Played some solid 1k hands in the last 2 days, running around 13BB/100.
Lost a buy-in in a set over set hand, wich doesn't bother me at all.
No major suck-outs.

I'm focusing on my game vs stations and I think it's improving, mostly on river bet sizing. I think these players will be the main source of $$$ for a few levels, so extra work here is my top priority in this stage.

Blind play and steal/re-steal mechanics. Not worth the effort at the lowest stakes, I think. Most players are at level 0-1, so they usually don't value position. If they raise from the button after 3 folds, they would probably have raised from UTG for the same amount with the same hand.

So, I still highlight players with high fold-to-steal % and try to exploit them. But I avoid getting involved into big pots to defend my blinds with marginal hands.
This will gradually be implemented in my game, as I (eventually) climb the levels.



Final note, my first quads.
First quads in a poker career deserve some celebration, so here is the hand.
Too bad the villain was short-stacked.


OnGame - €0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

UTG: €2.45
MP: €7.18
CO: €4.86
BTN: €5.24
SB: €3.38
Hero (BB): €5.13

SB posts SB €0.02, Hero posts BB €0.05

Pre Flop: (€0.07) Hero has 7 7

UTG raises to €0.15, MP calls €0.15, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls €0.10

Flop: (€0.47, 3 players) 7 5 7
Hero checks, UTG bets €0.36, fold, Hero calls €0.36

Turn: (€1.19, 2 players) 3
Hero checks, UTG bets €0.60, Hero raises to €1.20, UTG raises to €1.94 and is all-in, Hero calls €0.74

River: (€5.07, 2 players) 5

UTG shows T T (Two Pair, Tens and Sevens) (Pre 81%, Flop 0%, Turn 0%)
Hero shows 7 7 (Four of a Kind, Sevens) (Pre 19%, Flop 100%, Turn 100%)
Hero wins €4.79

nh sir

Remember that "folds to steal" isn't the only stat that matters on the button. Certain villains are easy to play against post flop in position, and you can play a wider range against them for a profit.

First month of this blog is over, with mixed feelings about the outcome.



EV line shows expected winnings around 2.2 BB/100, wich isn't exactly spectacular, but I think it's a decent start.
I kinda ruined it with a very poor last session, losing over 2 buy-ins in the last 700 hands.
No major suck-outs or coolers, but just a bunch of small/medium pots lost without any significant winning to balance them.

Running the entire month way below EV has been useful to put things in the right perspective and helped me figure the effects of bad variance on my game.
It's probably better to get through this reality check right at the beginning and not at higher stakes. It's good to keep one's expectations at reasonable levels, I think.

Next month will be entirely played at 5NL because I'm not rolled for 10NL and I'm not skilled enough yet.
Even the EV line shows a mediocre 2.2 BB/100, so there still is a huge amount of work to beat this level.

Comfortable with 2 tables, so I will add a third and try to play at least 20k hands in the next month.