Turning the Corner

This is my new operations thread... I've been a struggling Micro-Stakes player for months now, breaking even but hitting my biggest downswing ever now and losing 25% of my bankroll at .05/.10 NL Full Ring.

IT IS TIME TO TURN THE CORNER

So this is the new beginning... Major dissection and study of hands, position play, etc. I'm going to start tracking stats from here on out as a revamp of my whole play. I'm going to study at least 1/2 of my poker time each week. That amounts to 4-6 hours of study per week. I will participate effectively in IRC chat each week. I will participate in more than just the commune and lurking in other forums. I will finish both Sklansky books within the next two weeks.

I will continue to play .05/.10 NL on PokerStars and FullTilt. My starting bankrolls are as follows:

PokerStars: $170
FullTilt: $150

I will update the thread nightly as I finish playing.

Goal for today: Read 10 more pages of Sklansky at work during lunch and post the question it has raised to the beginner forum. Play 1 hour of two table .05/.10 and develop at least two solid player reads. Play 1-2 hours of .05/.10 and play solid tight pre-flop with no chasing allowed. Post results to this forum tonight.

Thoughts, advice, encouragement, anything is gladly appreciated...

Good luck man, I hope you get your groove back, and I hope your studying pays off .

First night in, because of family commitment didn't get the time in I wanted to, but got in about 2 solid hours 4-tabling. Played pretty tight, dumped out of a few hands I think I would have stayed in before, hands for bigger pots. Saw a bunch of horrible play and tried my best to not get fancy. I am correcting my BR estimate in the first post, was a little off on Stars...

PS BR: 177.30
(Up $12)
FT BR: 144.50

Looking at Poker Tracker, so far for last night I played a very tight game, 400 hands at 13.8/8.5/3.2

So I stayed away from marginal hands, didn't try to steal as much, didn't get into battles I wasn't sure I had won. In general tighted up the screws to the point it hurt but I made money.

I hope to continue tonight but we have a party to go to, so I might not get any playing time in. I did want to post a couple of hands but can't seem to find the right files in the processed area...

Sunday update:

Played for a short while Saturday afternoon and late, late evening after a horrid night out with my wife. Was on tilt late and only played about 15 hands. Knew I was tilting and walked away. Sunday I got up and played about an hour or so on FTP then later in the day got in two more sessions.

Studying on Sunday evening after a bad session. Bankroll is down, skill appears to be down. I have somehow reverted to playing the cards, not the people. I know I have tightened up, but am blind because of it to some extent.

I'm changing the BR format a bit here...
FT PS Total BR
11/2 129.55 177.30 306.85

So here are the hands I am struggling with over the last two days... going hand by hand through my history. I think I'm missing steal opportunities, but need to get a little more back on track before I start really opening up the steals.

Hand 1: Is this hand too risky?:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($3.20)
Button ($1.90)
SB ($1.90)
Hero (BB) ($5.55)
UTG ($1.85)
UTG+1 ($2.60)
MP1 ($4)
MP2 ($1.70)
MP3 ($10.60)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, 2
2 folds, MP1 checks, MP2 raises to $0.20, 4 folds, Hero calls $0.10, MP1 calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.65) Q, 9, A (3 players)
Hero bets $0.30, 1 fold, MP2 calls $0.30

Turn: ($1.25) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $0.90, 1 fold

Total pot: $1.25 | Rake: $0.10
Main pot: $1.25 returned to Hero

Results in white below:
Hero didn't show
Outcome: Hero won $1.15


Hand 2: I know I did the right thing here, but if I am seeing this right in PokerStove, I was 40% on this hand, villian is 8/8 but only over 25 hand sample...

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (7 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 ($6.05)
MP2 ($2.55)
CO ($2)
Hero (Button) ($6.10)
SB ($2.05)
BB ($2.35)
UTG ($1.85)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, Q
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.35, SB raises to $2.05 (All-In), 2 folds

Total pot: $0.80 | Rake: $0

Results in white below:
SB didn't show
Outcome: SB won $0.80

Hand 3: NOT A GOOD CALL but the stack size led me into it... figured I was dominated but somehow I sucked out on him...

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP1 ($0.40)
MP2 ($3.75)
Hero (MP3) ($6.30)
CO ($3.60)
Button ($1.95)
SB ($3.80)
BB ($2)
UTG ($13.80)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with 9, 9
1 fold, MP1 raises to $0.40 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero calls $0.40, 4 folds

Flop: ($0.95) 6, 10, K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($0.95) 2 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($0.95) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $0.95 | Rake: $0.05

Results in white below:
MP1 had J, J (one pair, Jacks).
Hero had 9, 9 (three of a kind, nines).
Outcome: Hero won $0.90

Hand 4: Could not get away from this hand, nothing in my mind would let me... and paid the dear price for it...

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (8 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG+1 ($1.70)
Hero (MP1) ($6.15)
MP2 ($6.95)
CO ($2.55)
Button ($3.85)
SB ($3.65)
BB ($2.45)
UTG ($12.30)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with Q, Q
1 fold, UTG raises to $0.40, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.30, 4 folds, UTG raises to $12.30 (All-In), Hero calls $4.85 (All-In)

Flop: ($12.40) 4, K, 4 (3 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($12.40) 8 (3 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($12.40) 9 (3 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $12.40 | Rake: $1.20

Results in white below:
UTG had A, A (two pair, Aces and fours).
Hero had Q, Q (two pair, Queens and fours).
Outcome: UTG won $11.20

Hand 5: Played this well, but got sucked out on... 3 way with AA is a bad position...

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (7 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($6)
UTG ($1.30)
MP1 ($6.80)
MP2 ($2.50)
CO ($1.50)
Button ($2.10)
Hero (SB) ($5.30)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A
UTG calls $0.10, MP1 raises to $0.20, 1 fold, CO raises to $0.85, 1 fold, Hero raises to $2, 2 folds, MP1 calls $1.80, CO calls $0.65 (All-In)

Flop: ($5.70) 7, 9, 2 (3 players, 1 all-in)
Hero bets $3.30 (All-In), MP1 calls $3.30

Turn: ($12.30) 2 (4 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($12.30) 10 (4 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $12.30 | Rake: $1.20

Results in white below:
Hero had A, A (two pair, Aces and twos).
MP1 had 10, 10 (full house, tens over twos).
MP2 didn't show
CO had K, K (two pair, Kings and twos).
Outcome: MP1 won $11.10

Hand 6, seems standard to me, due to stack size of course I'm calling the short stack... but the other stack made it a little risky, eh?

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($6.10)
Button ($0.80)
SB ($1.70)
BB ($4.35)
UTG ($9.75)
UTG+1 ($10.35)
MP1 ($2.15)
MP2 ($2.20)
Hero (MP3) ($3.85)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with K, A
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.10, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.45, CO calls $0.45, Button raises to $0.80 (All-In), 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $0.70, Hero raises to $3.85 (All-In), 2 folds

Flop: ($3) A, 10, 9 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($3) K (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($3) 5 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $3 | Rake: $0.30

Results in white below:
Button had Q, 10 (one pair, tens).
Hero had K, A (two pair, Aces and Kings).
Outcome: Hero won $2.70

The rest all seem pretty standard, I'm not running good after turning this corner so far, but will be back on track soon. I don't know if I like Full Tilt's software as much as PokerStars, I might move the whole roll there... but for now I'll leave it alone.

Goals for Monday: Play 1 hour and Study for 30 minutes to an hour. Read 6 pages of one of many books I'm reading at work. Think about starting hand ranges and steals.

#1 even tho its a minraise, I dont like the call pre. Pot odds look great, but Axo is so damn hard to play oop and you´ll face a lot of hard decisions, especially since 3way action is almost guaranteed. As played leading fine, good value to gain from a million of draws.

#2 Im all in

#3 Meh. My first thought was to 3bet, but with 4 left to act flatting is totally fine. I wont fold this ever pre.

#4 Vs an UTG raise I can see us flatting. Im not comfortable with getting this in pre.

#5 Std.

#6 Std


Forgive if this was mentioned before, but why the heck aren´t you playing full stacked?

Originally Posted by XTR1000

#1 even tho its a minraise, I dont like the call pre. Pot odds look great, but Axo is so damn hard to play oop and you´ll face a lot of hard decisions, especially since 3way action is almost guaranteed. As played leading fine, good value to gain from a million of draws.

#2 Im all in

#3 Meh. My first thought was to 3bet, but with 4 left to act flatting is totally fine. I wont fold this ever pre.

#4 Vs an UTG raise I can see us flatting. Im not comfortable with getting this in pre.

#5 Std.

#6 Std


Forgive if this was mentioned before, but why the heck aren´t you playing full stacked?

Thanks XTR... I had been playing full stacked, but had reduced my buy in amount to be roughly equivalent to the others at the table when I joined... the reason being, it seems being deep at the table on FT on Friday and Saturday had brought me grief, everyone folding to any raise, so no action available at all... also I caught myself chasing when someone did open a pot, just for the chance to win their $1. Which is a stupid way to play... in a sense, I lowered my buy in while tightening my range, to reduce the amount of decisions post flop that seem to be killing me.

If that makes any sense...

Just considering the rake, I would recommend moving your roll off of Full Tilt (10% at $10NL sux ass)

As mentioned, the reduced buyin is odd, It could've helped you to fold the QQ hand if you were full stacked there...

#1. A2o If you can just get in the habit of folding all of these AX hands (A8 or less) you would be in a lot better shape. They are nothing but trouble! Obviously you would've easily folded had he raised the turn...

#2. KQs Against the Shorty this is an EASY call. Gamble with the shortstacks in these Head-Up situations.

#3. 99 Are you kidding? How could you even think about folding this? This was a GREAT CALL, don't tell yourself it was a bad call just cause he flipped over a better hand... this is being results oriented, don't go down that path. Villian has a super large range that you are doing great against.

#4. QQ
#1, villian is raising UTG.
#2 Villian has a full stack, in fact, the ONLY full stack at the table, which lends to him being a "better" player.
#3 Your image is tight, and if he knows that then his range is even MORE polarized!
While not an easy fold, (and I don't fold because of your shortstack probably) if you had a full stack, you could've folded here, as villians range is at the loosest JJ+, AQs+ which you only have 44% equity against. Tightening that up to a very likely KK+, AKs gives us 27% which is a super easy fold.

#5. AA Standard. Sucks, but nothing you could do there. Last night my AA < AQs AIPF... happens...

#6. AKo Standard Isolation re-push. Very good, but only because of your shortstack. If you had had a full stack, this could've been a much more interesting hand...

In short, you need to learn to still play tight no matter what your stack size is, but you want to have as big a stack as possible to capitalize when a monster situation comes up. I hope that I don't see a HH from you where you missed out on 150BBs because you only had a 50BB stack...

Hows TTOP going? what chapter are you upto monty?I'm reading it myself lately=)

Originally Posted by LuckySlevin

Hows TTOP going? what chapter are you upto monty?I'm reading it myself lately=)

I'm about 1/4 of the way through Sklansky's Theory of Poker, trying to really absorb it though I'm not sure I'm doing well enough.

I also am working through No Limit Theory and Practice by Sklansky and Championship Hold 'Em (can't remember the author). I'm trying to digest them all in small bits. I tend to read a bit of each randomly, working on the concepts rather than just plowing through them as I have in the past.

Last night opened a session and MIrc and played for about an hour or so. Got in around 200 hands, all with little result. The first 30-40 hands I didn't play a card... bad cards, bad position, etc.

All in all, sufferred one bad beat, one suck out, delivered one bad beat and had rockets hold up once.

Down about $3 in FTP.

MIrc was not really a factor, didn't have any questionable hands to post, and discussions there last night were not about poker, so I closed it out to focus on my game.

Last night may have been the first step in actually making the corner visible. I played well, wasn't frustrated by MIrc and made some money. I went back to PS since I had been depleting my roll on Full Tilt so much lately, played for about 1.5 hours on 10NL, full ring. Started off buying in for table max on two tables. Opened the IRC Chat channel and started working. Had a little trouble with PT3 at the beginning but restarting it fixed that up.

I ran very tight, for the first 20 hands I couldn't play a single hand on either table... so 40 hands in I had nothing but blinds leaking away. The cards were just dead. So I finally caught a button spot on one table where there were no raisers ahead... raised and stole some blinds. The second table remained painful though. On the first table I had been closely watching a few players though, finding one who loved to call anything if he had an ace... another who was only playing with pairs, AT+ when in position, so he seemed pretty aware. He was to my left. I caught KK in MP a few orbits later and had a raiser in front. The raiser in front had about half my stack, he raised to 4xBB, I re-raised to 12xBB... player to my left flat called. Original raiser put me to 24xBB.... I flat call, so does player to my left. So now original raiser has half stack in, I'm a little worried about guy to my left but let's see the flop... flop was KT7 if I remember right... so worst case I think to my right is a potential straight draw... guy on my left may have aces but I've got him covered...

Original raiser shoves, I call hoping to prompt guy on my left to shove, he does and I do too... pot total: $26.80 and my set holds up...

On the other table I donked around for a long while waiting for a hand, I limped a few small PP's from MP looking for sets until I hit one, a set of 3's and took down a couple of dollars, then went card dead again. Eventually towards the end of the session I ran with KK then QQ then AJ and pulled out minor gains on all of them...

So a productive night, reasonable IRC discussion and I made a little money. I didn't copy down figures before leaving home this morning so I don't know exact numbers but I'm down on FT but up a little on PS... a decent day yesterday since I made some progress. I hope to continue it this week and make even more progress... have a bunch of ground to make up in the next 4 weeks to clear my bonus.

Haven't had a lot of time to update this thing lately, but have been playing sporadically. Still down a bit, but started last night with my PS bankroll around $198.00. After about the 10th hand, got a great flop from BB with two players in, I have A2 suited, board comes down 345 with two of my suit... so I'm looking at flush draw, already nailed straight though idiot end, figure I've got lots of outs and the two other players look weak. Guy in early positon bets 1/2 pot, SB raises to 1.5xpot, I raise to 3xpot and EP guy shoves. SB shoves behind him and I call... now we've got $21 or so in the pot and next two cards match the other suit on the flop, giving EP a flush, 7 high (he was on straight draw initially) and SB has pair of kings... my straight doesn't hold up.

Other than that, played my average game, up a little down a little, ended up around $186 at the end of the night, or down about 1.5 buyins. I'm still not feeling really good about my game, and when in chat or reading Spoons examples, feeling a bit lost sometimes.

Maybe that is part of the progression, you get lost, find your way, get lost again, etc... I really need to figure out some of the things that Spoon is harping on, maybe I can learn from Chelle's log/history.

Played a bit tonight, wife was out with friends so sat down and got in two hours after kid in bed... damn cat is driving me crazy though.

Let me see what it looks like... in 84 days I've played just under 15,000 hands (need 115 to go). I am running at 16/9/3 and have an almost perfect break even going on. Was down a bunch but have made up about 5-6 buy ins the last two days or so... so variance took a toll, but I seem to be making some headway.

Now, to set a goal for the next three days. My goal is to learn to understand pot odds vs ev better. I have to go re-read everything about EV I can.

BR: 349.94

Good luck, monty.

Things have been going well, I'm running very tight and need to open up slightly to get more play in but I'm up to $270 on stars... should be $280 but I made a really dumb call last night that cost me a buy in.

I'm playing very straight, TAG poker with near to nothing for steals. I'm going to start opening up that area, also getting my numbers up with some aggressive moves with better hands, trying to get into more hands where I can clobber some folks... right now I'm probably averaging about 15/10. I'd like to be playing more hands, but that will introduce more variance I'm sure, so I might just slightly open and see what happens. I am also going to get back on to steals from CO and Button more often, been seeming to get caught on them too much...

All in all the game is coming together a bit, I'm learning a bit and trying to not do anything drastic... things seem to be flowing well...

One thing I have noticed though, tonight my wife and I are supposed to go out on a date... and part of me still wants to stay home and play poker... so yes, it is official, I'm addicted.

Things going well, popped a couple of AIs on .02/.05 when playing around the other night, not really focused... that was nice... then last few nights have not really played much, but have been profitable. Making good moves, developing reads when I can, have found a few players I really really like to play against... up about 5-6 Buy Ins over the last few days... just playing tight, aggressive poker.

Mostly 19 hands poker, opened the stealing back up a bit... but not much. Working on reads...

Bankrolls:
PS: $276
FT: $120
Total: $396

I am considering withdrawing all but $50 from Full Tilt and placing it on PokerStars to add to the roll, Full Tilt remains bad for me as people seem to be tighter and difficult to make headway against...
I updated my operation avatar but it didn't seem to update, maybe a refresh thing...

Anyway, goal for the week is 4 hours of poker before Friday night, get at least 3 buy ins up, make only good AI calls (with reads) and continue to work to impose implied odds into my equations.

Stealing... well I want to start stealing more, within reason. I won't do a steal attempt with more than one limper in the pot, won't do it from earlier than CO, ensuring that I have a reason to steal when I do (either reasonable cards or reads that players will fold to steal attempts).

Let me know if you're following this, it has been quiet in here lately...

following!

Played for about two hours over the holiday... Thanksgiving eve I got in about the same amount of time... Thanksgiving eve I broke even, 4-tabling 10Nl and didn't make much headway...

On thanksgiving I got into a pissing match with another player, couldn't believe he had the hand he did, and lost that one, took some other small losses (nothing really notable, just lost coin flips or races) and ended up down two buy ins for the two days. Not a bad drop, but I've been running pretty hot, so this kind of throttles me back.

Not sure if I'll get much time in this weekend, tonight is a special occasion and tomorrow we were invited to a friends for dinner... sucks too because I'd like to play.

My wife did buy me a laptop for christmas and I have gotten it setup so I can play in the living room and not be so isolated in the office, of course this offers to add distractions and I also have to configure PT3 to work on the laptop too, so I'm running without the HUD for the last two days...

Anyway, hope you enjoyed your Turkey day, will see you at the tables!

I think I might have just figured out a leak in my game...

I'm walking to the cafeteria for lunch, thinking about the hands from last night that didn't really burn me but they are 'lingering' in my head...

So here is a problem I think I have. I think I give villian WAY too much credit. Here is what I mean... I get dealt JJ in MP, I raise to 4x BB against average 10NL player, slightly aware but not a skilled player by any means... he calls from the button, everyone else folds. (This is all hypothetical btw)... so flop comes Axx rainbow... he checks... calling in position like that often I'm putting him on a pocket pair, Ax or some combination of face cards... now the check ahead seems to indicate he missed the flop... I c-bet the flop, often 2/3 to full pot and he does one of two things... folds or raises me.

The fold is probably 75% of these hands... which, while validates that I was right and had him beat, costs me value... correct? Is there a better way to keep him in the hand when he is behind and build the pot effectively? I think I'm losing value here a lot of the time... really losing value by letting him out easy.

The raise... now that one causes me fits. Check-raising in 10NL is not the most common occurance but puts me on notice... I've learned that 10NL players don't bluff as much as I think they do and I usually get burned, so I'm folding this 95% of the time unless I have a read that they bluff a lot... am I losing a bunch of value here not seeing it out? Is a re-raise justified?

Also, I lost 1/2 BI last night on one hand that is bugging me now... I played it right but got burnt... I had 55 on the button, UTG raised to 2 x BB (min raise) and I re-raised to 8xBB, he flat calls. Flop came something like 579 rainbow... he checks and I bet pot. He flat calls. I'm a little worried here but I'm on a set... his read shows he could have pretty much any high pair here... turn is an eight, he shoves... now I have a gut shot, he might be on a flush draw with two spades showing on the board, I still think he has a high pair... I call... river comes down a Q and he hits his set of Queens. He immediately starts giving me shit in chat for re-raising from the button with 55.

Guess what I'm thinking is, if the situation was reversed, I may have dumped QQ from UTG in this situation after the re-raise or be looking to check it down... if I was in his shoes and just check/folded my way to the end, regardless of the result, I think I would have been losing value... but I see a lot of crap hands, any pair, re-raising or raising pre-flop then checking it down all of the way... are those hands losing value? I'm pondering that now..

November was a good month, I'll have to post my graph here shortly (after I get home). Anyway, the last few days werent' profitable, but I held on.

Last night I participated in the FTR300. While I have mixed feelings about members who don't post playing I did make it to the final 10, then the final 7, only to bust out on a bad beat (IMO). I was short stacked and shoved KQ suited in a 4 handed table, the best hand I'd seen in a while, get called by pocket 5s... flop comes with me being 4-flush to his set of 5s... I hit the flush on the turn, yeah me, going to double up and be back in it... board pairs on the river giving him the house... boo....

Anyway, for the month I did well, will post final figures and a graph tonight... just dropped in this morning to bitch about losing the money by one spot.

Have gotten a little off track the past few days with pokah... but played in the FTR 5 year Freeroll last night, took 5th place. Was frustrated too because I FINALLY caught some cards and turned out it was 99 vs KK and of course I couldn't hit the set... so I'm not mad because I think I won a hoodie!

Poker lately has taken a little bit of a back seat, only playing a couple days a week, minimal time in, no study time, working to get the holidays planned and also get the adoption of my daughter finished. The adoption finishes up on Wednesday and some major issues at work finish up this week as well.

Goal for this weekend: Review last 5 sessions, hand by hand. Dissect the hands and replay them (if I can figure out the replayer in Poker Tracker) and see if I was ahead or behind, making good calls or not.

2) Study the idea of Equity more. I think I understand the pot equity pretty well, but was reading a bit and have some 'fuzzy' ideas about implied odds vs. fold equity and want to clarify that.

3) Only play when ahead, and stop my fancy play. Suffering again a bit from fancy play syndrome, have lost some of my roll to it.

Current stats:

FT BR: $145
PS BR: $285
Total: $430

Running great this week. Played in the FTR300 + gear freeroll and took 5th place, cool. Played the next night in the FTR500 and took 5th as well, after a stupid move against spenda... well... it was late.

Other than that, am running good at cash also. Today had some good hands, maybe a few questionable ones... let me see if I can dredge one up...

On this hand I think I lost value... I was looking to give him the initiative and then call or raise... but this backfired... not a good idea, should have bet it out:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

MP3 ($9.80)
CO ($9.90)
Button ($21.05)
SB ($6.25)
BB ($2)
Hero (UTG) ($10.15)
UTG+1 ($14.20)
MP1 ($17.35)
MP2 ($9.40)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 9, 9
Hero raises to $0.40, 2 folds, MP2 calls $0.40, 5 folds

Flop: ($0.95) 9, 2, 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 checks

Turn: ($0.95) J (2 players)
Hero bets $0.40, MP2 calls $0.40

River: ($1.75) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, 1 fold

Total pot: $1.75 | Rake: $0.05

Results in white below:
Hero didn't show 9, 9 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won $1.70

This one I'm pretty sure he hit the straight... so I dumped it... was a hard laydown for me...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

BB ($6.40)
Hero (UTG) ($10)
MP ($5.60)
CO ($7.10)
Button ($2.05)
SB ($2.80)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with J, K
Hero (poster) checks, MP raises to $0.20, CO calls $0.20, 1 fold, SB calls $0.15, BB calls $0.10, Hero (poster) calls $0.10

Flop: ($1) K, 9, J (5 players)
SB checks, BB bets $0.50, Hero calls $0.50, 3 folds

Turn: ($2) 10 (2 players)
BB bets $1.40, Hero folds

Total pot: $2 | Rake: $0.05

Results in white below:
BB didn't show
Outcome: BB won $1.95

Also, a funny hand came up, I had AK and flopped the nut straight, rainbow board, bet, got raised, re-raised, the guy shoves, I call, it holds up and another player at the board... bitches about how I'm lucky... I thought it was funny because I asked her what she expected me to do when flopping the nut straight, fold it? To which there was no reply.

I'm struggling with losing value. I think I'm having a real problem with stealing, having issue with trying it when it isn't good, hard for me to figure out when it is good lately. I also think that I'm not betting properly most of the time to cause value, too often my opponents are folding out when I want them to stay in the hand... even after I adjust my bet sizing down. I'm going ot have to figure out if that is just the micros or if that is my bet sizing...

Anyway, it has been a good week, here are the stats:

FT BR: $178
PS BR: $315 (28 FPP from my $50 bonus, should clear in a few days)
Total BR: $493

(+gear if I GMML gets time to fill me in on if I gave enough info).

Glad things are running well monty.

TBH, I'm not impressed by either of those hands though... I hope this doesn't sound too harsh.

Hand 1: Sure, that's a very un-scary flop, but you need to bet like you are bluffing here. Wouldn't you C-Bet with AK here? When he calls your 1/2 pot bet on the turn, you HAVE to put the backdoor flush draw in his range, which makes your river overbet HORRIBLE, he's only calling/raising with better at that point. Bet for value on the river, that is not the point at which you want him to fold...

Hand 2: #1, why are you posting UTG? #2, why are you not raising that flop? #3, why are you not calling that turn? Sure a straight is in his range, but you have a very strong hand here, and idiots at this level will keep betting AK in this spot because they don't know any better. I call turn, check call blank river (obv, just hit the FH and get it all in) Don't always assume the worst, it's usually not true.

This has been a common theme for me though, I'm working on ranges... too often I put them on the best part of their range... giving up too often I think when they are a favorite on, say 10% of their range... if an Ace will pair, I think for sure they are holding Ax, if they could have A-T to complete the straight, I'm giving them credit for it 90% of the time... that is a tough cycle for me to break... especially since people state that at micros they aren't bluffing... I guess bluffing involves some intelligence, but that is my struggle.

Monty if you are value betting then bet 2/3 to a Pot sized bet. If they fold, THEY FOLD. GOOD that means you win that pot NO MATTER WHAT. If they call even better. Don't get upset because they dont call your value bet. You need to be betting the amount that has the highest expected value. So you need to be betting a decent amount to get value. Just my opinion, hope it helps!!

Originally Posted by dranger7070

Monty if you are value betting then bet 2/3 to a Pot sized bet. If they fold, THEY FOLD. GOOD that means you win that pot NO MATTER WHAT. If they call even better. Don't get upset because they dont call your value bet. You need to be betting the amount that has the highest expected value. So you need to be betting a decent amount to get value. Just my opinion, hope it helps!!

While I get the point of value betting, I think that too often I am betting for value, getting called then done with the hand. When they call I often give them credit for beating me, which is what I would like to think I'm calling for if I'm in their position... I think it's a leak and I'm trying to understand it to fix it... betting to build a pot when I feel I'm ahead doesn't bother me... and sometimes bites me in the ass when I make a horrible range for opponent.

Took two nights off after making my pokerstars bonus, of course I donked off about $15 to earn my $50 bonus, but that is that. I have been playing with values and suited connectors, not having much success with either... got to buckle down this weekend and get back to making headway. I've noticed a real trend in my game, open up and try something, then when it fails rather than fix it and find out why it fails, buckle down to TAG poker and earn back the losses... then try something different.

I think I need to really pick a topic and dig into it and understand why it fails, when it succeeds for so many others.

Tough night last night, lost a couple of buy ins. This post is generated by my studying this morning, most of it won't concern you but some highlights:

I currently have 19,219 hands in PT3. I started this morning by studying which hands work for me as my biggest winners/losers:
Winners: AA, AKo, KK, JJ, 99, AQs, 66, 77, AKs, 88
Losers: AJs, K3o, A7o, 97o, K4o, AQo, AJo, ATo, KTo, KQo

Some surprises in there. like 66 is one of my top ten winners. Also the last 5 and biggest losers... all are good hands in position. Why am I losing so much with them.

So let's dig into the losers, since they are surprising. KQo is a good hand with no limpers ahead and raising it from the button, but let's see where I have been playing it from and losing so much... have played it 178 times with a win percentage of 27.8% and a total loss of 23.19. Not good. Let's see, 27 of those times were from small blind (15%) - of those, 5 were successful blind steals. 20 of those hands (11% were from BB), the majority of those were me chasing with second pair. Have to stop that.

Let's see, the next biggest loser hand was KTo, which I appear to be limping way too much, too many folds preflop.

Looking through these hands, I am limping these mediocre hands too often... that seems to be a huge leak.

Now, going back through my last session where I lost a full buy in... I got owned by big stack... he slow played a flush he hit on the turn and I had to show it, loss of $12.

Let's go back through some other big losses over the last few days:

This hand I think I should have bailed on, but straights are hard for me to get away from when they hit...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Hero (UTG+1) ($15.85)
MP1 ($5)
MP2 ($20.25)
MP3 ($11.10)
CO ($10.60)
Button ($10.65)
SB ($10.25)
BB ($2)
UTG ($4.50)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with A, J
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.40, 4 folds, Button calls $0.40, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.95) 3, 4, Q (2 players)
Hero bets $0.70, Button raises to $1.40, Hero calls $0.70

Turn: ($3.75) K (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($3.75) 10 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.95, Button raises to $7.20, Hero raises to $12.45, Button calls $1.65 (All-In)

Total pot: $21.45 | Rake: $1.05
Main pot: $21.45 between Hero and Button, won by Button

Results in white below:
Button had 9, 8 (flush, Queen high).
Hero had A, J (straight, Ace high).
Outcome: Button won $20.40

This hand was just horrible... after he raised my air I should have gotten away:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Hero (CO) ($10.35)
Button ($4.85)
SB ($9.85)
BB ($8.45)
UTG ($10.40)
UTG+1 ($0.50)
MP1 ($5.30)
MP2 ($11.65)
MP3 ($6.35)

Preflop: Hero is CO with K, A
2 folds, MP1 raises to $0.30, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.20, 3 folds, MP1 calls $0.90

Flop: ($2.55) 7, 10, 6 (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets $2, MP1 raises to $4.10 (All-In), Hero calls $2.10

Turn: ($10.75) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($10.75) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $10.75 | Rake: $0.50

Results in white below:
MP1 had Q, Q (two pair, Queens and tens).
Hero mucked K, A (one pair, tens).
Outcome: MP1 won $10.25

And this hand... villian is 13/7/2 over a couple hundred hands. This hand shocked the crap out of me, I don't think I played it bad knowing some history on him, but dang did I get stomped:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

SB ($2.65)
BB ($13.40)
UTG ($15.15)
UTG+1 ($3.75)
MP1 ($10.30)
MP2 ($10)
Hero (MP3) ($9.30)
CO ($10)
Button ($8.60)

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with J, A
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.10, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, 3 folds, BB calls $0.30, UTG+1 calls $0.30

Flop: ($1.25) A, 5, 4 (3 players)
BB bets $1, UTG+1 calls $1, Hero calls $1

Turn: ($4.25) 10 (3 players)
BB bets $4, UTG+1 calls $2.35 (All-In), Hero raises to $7.90 (All-In), BB calls $3.90

River: ($22.40) 4 (3 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $22.40 | Rake: $1.10
Main pot: $11.30 between BB, UTG+1 and Hero, won by BB
Side pot 1: $11.10 between BB and Hero, won by BB

Results in white below:
BB had 2, 3 (straight, five high).
UTG+1 mucked A, J (two pair, Aces and fours).
Hero mucked J, A (two pair, Aces and fours).
Outcome: BB won $21.30


I'm still studying, probably more today than all week... advice is appreciated... I'll post my graph when I break 20,000 hands and really be seeking advice..

After a very depressing night at the tables last night, and a crappy weekend at a friends house feeling overwhelmed by the live players... I made a decision. No, I'm not quitting.

I have heard nothing but good things about Grinderschool.com. So I decided to give it a shot. Today I completed my registration and paid, so i'll be there as well for the next 3 or 4 months trying to learn why my game isn't progressing quickly enough.

Wish me luck, I'm hoping to find that fire again and play some killer poker... just short of 20,000 hands at this point and have levelled off, want the graph headed up again.

What if you turn the corner and there's a fucking vampire waiting for you? That would suck.

Originally Posted by bigred

What if you turn the corner and there's a fucking vampire waiting for you? That would suck.

Well. you're right on so many levels. Vampire, Whore, Vacuum, they all suck.

Originally Posted by Monty3038

Originally Posted by bigred

What if you turn the corner and there's a fucking vampire waiting for you? That would suck.

Well. you're right on so many levels. Vampire, Whore, Vacuum, [b]rilla]/b] they all suck.

fyp

Originally Posted by bigred

What if you turn the corner and there's a fucking vampire waiting for you? That would suck.

lolz

Originally Posted by Monty3038

I have heard nothing but good things about Grinderschool.com. So I decided to give it a shot.

WP and GL!

So what are your thoughts on grinderschool? Be honest, Jymz is not big and will not beat you up if you didn't like it.

Originally Posted by bigred

So what are your thoughts on grinderschool? Be honest, Jymz is not big and will not beat you up if you didn't like it.

Being honest, I haven't really had time to explore it. My wife has a broken ankle now and I'm swamped at work. I am hoping to look at a couple of the videos and cruise the forums in the next day or two... it's been crazy.

Originally Posted by Monty3038

Originally Posted by bigred

So what are your thoughts on grinderschool? Be honest, Jymz is not big and will not beat you up if you didn't like it.

Being honest, I haven't really had time to explore it. My wife has a broken ankle now and I'm swamped at work. I am hoping to look at a couple of the videos and cruise the forums in the next day or two... it's been crazy.

Gotcha. That'll teach her to talk back, amirite?

Originally Posted by bigred

Originally Posted by Monty3038

Originally Posted by bigred

So what are your thoughts on grinderschool? Be honest, Jymz is not big and will not beat you up if you didn't like it.

Being honest, I haven't really had time to explore it. My wife has a broken ankle now and I'm swamped at work. I am hoping to look at a couple of the videos and cruise the forums in the next day or two... it's been crazy.

Gotcha. That'll teach her to talk back, amirite?

ROFL!

Damn, wrote a whole post and it didn't take, ISP went down.

Anyway, had mild success at 6-max last night, 10NL. Up about $2. Watched a couple of Grinderschool vids before playing, changed my strategy a little... still developing.

Plan for this weekend is watch at least 3-4 grinderschool vids from Spenda and Jyms, play more 6-max and keep getting it in good.

So today studied a bit on grinderschool and watched one of Spenda's vids... then played a session, 1 hr at 10NL 6max, ended up in great shape, up nearly two buy ins... current stats:

PS BR: $375
FT BR: $120
Total BR: $495

Grinding away... learning every day... really liking 6-max though.

Originally Posted by Monty3038

So today studied a bit on grinderschool and watched one of Spenda's vids... then played a session, 1 hr at 10NL 6max, ended up in great shape, up nearly two buy ins... current stats:

PS BR: $375
FT BR: $120
Total BR: $495

Grinding away... learning every day... really liking 6-max though.

Nice one Monty, keep on truckin

Ive played just 6max for the last few days. Theres plenty of differences from FR and TBO if you are good at poker you should be able to beat both but OMGFISHEVERYWHERE!

interesting thread, Count me in for your journey

So far, 10NL 6-max is very fishy.

Also, you definately get paid when you have a hidden hand...

That is all for today.

Merry Christmas everyone, may Santa bring you all a great day at the tables.

I don't know if it was Robb or IOPQ who posted it, I think it was Robb.

Anyway, plan for New Years Day: Take hand histories and spend a solid 2 hours reviewing big hands and develop reading skills by playing them through hand replayer in PT3.

I want this game to improve. I need this game to improve. I'm becoming frustrated with my lack of improvement but know it is due to a lack of willpower to do the work.

If anyone has suggestions on the most effective way to do this work, other than going hand by hand through the replayer, let me know... I need to get this done and do it right. Not just spin wheels.

Spent 1.5 hours on new years working through hand histories till my eyes fell out. Replayed big hands, didn't really learn a lot though other than I can't get away from big over pairs and I can't recognize flush draws until it is too late...

I am working on putting players on ranges, trying to get to level two thinking. I have really enjoyed the Spenda hand reading posts, but feel I'm just not getting hand reading for some reason. I understand the math they are talking about, but find it nearly impossible to do... and I used to love math. I think it is a statistics thing... takes me a long time to make that stuff click.

Rilla has also got me re-thinking my betting strategy with c-bets or betting on a dry flop... have been playing with that a bit.

This weekend sucked for me at the tables... lost a buy in early in two sessions and it tilted me on both. On another session got badly beaten on hands twice... lost my willpower to continue.

Finally, Sunday night I fired back up with a clear head and won back about a full buy in, so for the weekend I was down about 4 buy ins total... a crappy one overall but working through it and trying to develop some actual REAL skills at this game.

Was asked to post this one during the free roll tonight... here it is...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tournament, 20/40 Blinds (7 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

UTG (t4255)
MP1 (t7245)
Hero (MP2) (t1655)
CO (t2410)
Button (t2125)
SB (t2340)
BB (t2380)

Hero's M: 27.58

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 7, 7
UTG calls t40, 1 fold, Hero raises to t200, 5 folds, UTG calls t160

Flop: (t460) 3, 8, 10 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets t340, 1 fold

Total pot: t460

Results in white below:
Hero didn't show 7, 7 (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won t460

Have not been active on this blog lately, sorry for that. Have been studying videos at GrinderSchool and working on my game, playing a number of hands and rebuilding. I have made some strong headway but still struggle. I will get better though...

My bankroll took a little hit tonight, and last night, but overall I'm up to nearly $600 total roll between two sites. My goal is to hit $1,000 total by the end of April, then move to 25NL. Here is my graph so far... I have a number of leaks to plug, am working on learning them and their causes...



My stats are not wonderful, 18/12/2 so I'm limping too much but I know I have some issues with positional play, need to get better there...

Thanks for the support everyone and I'll see you at the tables...

first time i've read this thread.. keep up the nice work man, you're slowly making progress.. i hope to post my own very soon..

Thanks BAO. I appreciate the kind words.

This weekend will hopefully open a new chapter in my poker life.

My wife and daughter are leaving friday evening for 10 days straight on vacation, leaving me both to fend for myself and to have total concentration on poker for 10 days.

This will be an interesting experiment.

Here are my goals:
Spend 1 hour per evening (weekdays) watching Grinderschool video. Then spend 1-2 hours playing utilizing what I've learned. Spend 1 hour studying results and reviewing that session's hand histories, in detail.

Spend 2 hours each weekend studying videos, threads, etc. Spend 4-6 hours playing time each day. Spend 1-2 hours reviewing sessions after they are played.

Overall goal:
Increase bankroll by 30%.

That means, with my starting bankroll at a combined total of $560, my goal for the 10 days is to get to roughly $710 or more.

I intend to play smart, positionally aware poker, without the need to play 'show me' poker. I will update this thread on Friday when the experiment begins. I will update during each study session as well. If you're on Grinderschool, look for a similar thread from me.

Monty

gogogogo

So... LIFE Tilt!

Wife bought the plane tickets for the wrong day. Now they aren't leaving for two more days, which we had to rebuy the tickets for. SOOOO... operation will be somewhat limited today and tomorrow, get back to plan on sunday.

So last night wasn't great, down two buy ins over 400 or so hands. I made some bad decisions while playing, maybe wasn't focused enough, but got in a little over an hour at 4 tables on Pokerstars. Here are some HH's of bad moves/plays that concern me/things that got me in trouble...

IN no particular order:

Hand 1 (This hand got me into trouble, and was an overall bad move by me, should not have continued);

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

BB ($12.60)
UTG ($3)
MP ($7.55)
Hero (Button) ($9.60)
SB ($9.70)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9, K
UTG calls $0.10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.40, 2 folds, UTG calls $0.30

Flop: ($0.95) 7, J, 10 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.70, UTG raises to $1.40, Hero calls $0.70

Turn: ($3.75) 4 (2 players)
UTG bets $1.20 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $3.75 | Rake: $0.15

Results in white below:
UTG had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: UTG won $3.60


The call after the raise was my downfall... very poor play IMO.

Hand 2:
One of my good hands from that session:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

BB ($5.35)
UTG ($17.50)
MP ($4.80)
Hero (CO) ($9.45)
Button ($23.55)
SB ($2.55)

Preflop: Hero is CO with K, K
1 fold, MP calls $0.10, Hero raises to $0.50, Button calls $0.50, 3 folds

Flop: ($1.25) 5, 2, 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.70, Button calls $0.70

Turn: ($2.65) 2 (2 players)
Hero bets $2, Button calls $2

River: ($6.65) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $5, 1 fold

Total pot: $6.65 | Rake: $0.30

Results:
Hero didn't show K, K (nothing).
Outcome: Hero won $6.35


Hand 3:
Really bad move here, had only been at table for a few hands, no reliable reads, but was feeling frisky and it cost me:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

UTG ($8.45)
MP ($10)
CO ($10.10)
Hero (Button) ($9.70)
SB ($7)
BB ($1.70)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 8, 8
1 fold, MP raises to $0.40, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.35, SB raises to $2.30, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.95

Flop: ($5.10) 7, 4, 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $7.40 (All-In), SB calls $4.70 (All-In)

Turn: ($14.50) 5 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($14.50) A (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $14.50 | Rake: $0.70

Results in white below:
Hero mucked 8, 8 (flush, Ace high).
SB had J, J (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: SB won $13.80

Hand 4:
This guy had been all over the place the last few hands, playing a lot of weak aces and single high cards... and I thought I'd take a shot...

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (4 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

BB ($1.95)
Hero (UTG) ($9.45)
Button ($3.05)
SB ($8.05)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 3, 3
Hero raises to $0.40, 1 fold, SB calls $0.35, BB raises to $1.95 (All-In), Hero calls $1.55, 1 fold

Flop: ($4.30) J, Q, J (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($4.30) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($4.30) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $4.30 | Rake: $0.20

Results in white below:
BB had 2, A (two pair, Jacks and fours).
Hero mucked 3, 3 (two pair, Jacks and fours).
Outcome: BB won $4.10

Hand 5:
Got my butt kicked when he hit his set here... of course, I was behind pre-flop but felt it was more of a flip situation... not upset about this call at all.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (4 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

SB ($10)
Hero (BB) ($9.60)
UTG ($7.60)
Button ($3.95)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, K
1 fold, Button raises to $0.30, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.10, Button raises to $3.95 (All-In), Hero calls $2.85

Flop: ($7.95) Q, 6, 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($7.95) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($7.95) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $7.95 | Rake: $0.35

Results in white below:
Button had 6, 6 (three of a kind, sixes).
Hero had A, K (high card, Ace).
Outcome: Button won $7.60

Hand 6:
Villian was 41/17 over 21 hands...
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

MP ($9.95)
Hero (Button) ($9.95)
SB ($7.30)
BB ($5)
UTG ($7.95)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9, 9
UTG raises to $0.30, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1, 2 folds, UTG calls $0.70

Flop: ($2.15) Q, 3, 8 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $1.50, UTG raises to $6.95 (All-In), Hero calls $5.45

Turn: ($16.05) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($16.05) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $16.05 | Rake: $0.75

Results in white below:
Hero mucked 9, 9 (one pair, nines).
UTG had Q, Q (three of a kind, Queens).
Outcome: UTG won $15.30


Anyway, as you can see, some bad play, maybe a bad beat in there... but overall wasn't a great start... getting ready to watch second video today and review my hand opening ranges from last night, then start a session.

10 day operation continues... but not by much. I've cut it down now to starting over a bit after tonight. I played a short while the last two days, mostly studying videos on GS. I have played maybe 300 hands in two days. Still on a downslide but it has levelled off. Tonight I have a coaching session scheduled, hopefully that will get me back on track.

Current PS Bankroll: $370 (coaching fees removed)

Total Bankroll: $490

On a side note, I did visit my thread in the BC about lowering my presence here and am slightly surprised by the fact that few understood or actually read it fully. It probably was not the best method but we all have been frustrated. I'm often accused of being a little over reactive and I stated that in the post that I I was probably being unreasonable, thus I'm glad Spenda locked it. For those who seemed to express concern about me leaving/reducing my participation, thank you for your concern. I'll continue to work here on my operation and occasionally be around the other forums, as I said... but my participation will remain reduced.

Hey man, do what you gotta do, if that means taking a "break" off of some of the other forums cuz freetrollers life tilt you () then do it. But I think you should still swing into the commune every now and then cuz thats where the real shit goes down lol.

Good variance! (cuz it aint about luck anymore )

Had a good run last night, about an hour session and ended up about 2 buy ins. After my training session with CodeRedRulez the night before I played with the skill set he helped me put together and played much better, if not much more comfortably. We worked on position and starting ranges from position, eliminating open limping, re-raise ranges, 3 betting and some other factors.

I will not come close to my goal for the 10 day project, but if I can keep variance at bay, I hope to at least end up ahead for it.

Minus coaching fees and with the success of the last two days, current bankroll total is $520 or so.

Been an ok week, I'm back up to nearly where I started the operation, but playing time has been reduced this week. I have found myself playing stronger, but I have identified a leak where I keep calling down when behind and 'feel' I'm behind, playing 'oh yeah, you didn't hit it, show me' poker, which is costing me money. I can definately attribute 1.5 buy ins to it this week.

10-day Operation is officially over and a failure, but in the long run I'm going to come out ahead. I hope to get in about 4 hours of table time and 2-3 hours of study this weekend, going to try to do some deep analysis of some of the wider hand ranges I'm working with, from position, against certain holdings to see what kind of favorite I am against them.

PS BR: $430
FT BR: $125

Total BR: $555

Was running break even yesterday, ended up down a buy in after this cooler... was proud of getting it all in good, but the end results was sucky. I didn't let it bother me, made back about $2 of it in the next twenty minutes, but the cooler still sucked... it is here for posterity... and because it stuck in my hand review...

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

MP ($10.43)
Hero (Button) ($10.94)
SB ($12.01)
BB ($11.62)

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, A
MP calls $0.10, Hero bets $0.40, 2 folds, MP raises to $1.40, Hero raises to $4.35, MP calls $2.95

Flop: ($8.85) J, J, 4 (2 players)
MP bets $6.08 (All-In), Hero calls $6.08

Turn: ($21.01) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($21.01) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $21.01 | Rake: $1
Main pot: $21.01 between MP and Hero, won by MP

Results in white below:
Hero had A, A (two pair, Aces and Jacks).
MP had K, K (full house, Kings over Jacks).
Outcome: MP won $20.01


So, BR is about the same... stupid cooler.

Turning a new corner...

A few weeks back I came to a real crossroads in my poker life. I found that I was spending 10 hours a week or more on poker, had a lot going on in my personal life that I was hiding from behind the computer, and was staring golf season straight in the face. My time with my wife was growing more distant, my evenings were nothing but poker.

A confrontation ensued with my family, basically my wife told me I appeared to be 'hiding' each evening from her and from my daughter by playing poker. An average evening was this... get home from work around 5:30, eat with the family, help guide my daughter through her homework till about 7, watch about an hour of tv with them and then disappear into the 'office' where I play poker till 11, then tumble into bed exhausted... sleep and repeat.

I found myself incredibly focused on my bankroll, just working my ass off to try to build it, so I could move up. I made it to nearly $600 total in my roll before this happened, and my stress level both with a challenging job and my failure to be able to break out of that $600 range making me crazy. My card playing suffered greatly, I started taking stupid risks, went on major tilt and started a backslide. I worked with videos, coaching, etc... all with no effect.

About 3-4 weeks ago I made a major decision. Life had to get better. I wasn't sleeping, wasn't eating worth a crap, was tired all of the time, etc. I knew golf, my number 1 relaxation and competitive sport, was just around the corner. My decision... FOLD.

I dumped poker, didn't even play for about a week. I felt better, I wasn't so overly caught up in trying to race for the elusive bankroll. I took some time and attended a golf event, getting fitted for new equipment and working on my game. I started focusing more on my family and making the most of my time with them. It worked. My general attitude improved, my golf game improved and is ready for my first tournament in a week and a half. I improved, I play poke now maybe one or two nights a week, with the ability to walk away from it at any moment, not on tilt.

My bankroll though, has not improved... down to around $400 total... but comfortable. I'm playing mostly 10NL and 5NL now, sitting in on FTR tourneys when I have nothing else to do. My game is more relaxed, I do take some chances but I've identified that I'm a gambler, not a pro. I do find myself enjoying my time and using it for what it was supposed to be, a relaxing hobby.

Last night I played a 2.5 hour session, ended up down 1 buy in, but made it nearly to the money in a 6000 person tourney. I think that this op is over... that my op in general is over. I've turned the corner... back to enjoying the game for what it is for me, a distraction when I need one and a hobby when I've got time.

If you take one thing from this entire post, this entire operation, take this... poker can be fun, poker can be life... whichever you choose, don't get trapped in that decision forever... it leads to life tilt and poor poker. Enjoy yourself, good luck at the tables, if you see me around sometime, say HI!

Monty.

It's crazy the amount of paralells we have there man. I also have cut back a lot on my poker playing. But I think I'm actually on the other side now and going to ramp it back up some. GL with all man!

Chris

Hey dude, good to hear you pulled yourself out of it before it was too late with your family. A person needs to play poker for the right reasons for themselves, it has gotta be a relief to finally find your place. Good luck with the golf season, and don't be a stranger around FTR.