The beginning - from 5NL

Hey guys,

This will be my first post. And I plan on continuously be blogging on this site. I don't necessarily plan on updating too often, I think once a week should suffice.

I was a recreational player to begin. Just spewing a lot of money, I think that in total I've lost well over 400$ in a period of around a year, but now I want to get serious and actually start winning. I no longer believe this game is about luck but that it is possible to consistently be a winner. I guess that's my goal... To improve my game to the point where I can consistently be a winner at stakes where the money to be won actually matters.

So right now I'm playing at party poker playing 0.02/0.04 NL on Partypoker. I just deposited 50 euros which is around 75$... My cashier is in Euros but the tables on the site play with dollars but i'll be moving up/down the stakes according to euros. Here's my BR management plan.

150 euros = 10 NL
500 euros = 25 NL
1250 euros = 50 NL
3000 euros = 100 NL (please note that 3000 euros is actually equivalent to 4000 dollars)

After this I'll see where it goes. But that's very longterm. Right now my goals are on my game.

1. Post at least one hand review per week on this forum
2. Whilst at the tables make sure to be fully focussed and in my A game
3. Keep self control, learn to control tilt
4. Realize that poker is not about any single hand, or session but rather about the long term
5. Make sure to be making as many correct decisions as possible

So with that... I'll get started on my OP with 50 euros!!!!

Good luck to you. What are your goals/plans for learning? Might not be a bad idea to write those down as well like:
*Watch all mirco videos on FTR.
*Read one poker book per month.
*Join GrinderSchool.
Etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DaD01ng

After this I'll see where it goes. But that's very longterm. Right now my goals are on my game.

1. Post at least one hand review per week on this forum
2. Whilst at the tables make sure to be fully focussed and in my A game
3. Keep self control, learn to control tilt
4. Realize that poker is not about any single hand, or session but rather about the long term
5. Make sure to be making as many correct decisions as possible

So with that... I'll get started on my OP with 50 euros!!!!

---

If I had 2 & 5 down I would be doing a lot better than I am currently! Best of luck with your endeavor. I too started with 50 euro and have been having a rocky enough time trying to climb.

See you at 100nl soon hopefully!

The key is patience. Watch grinderschool videos, they'll give you what you need up to $200nl. After that you're on your own but keep it small to only 2-4 tables until you can average good winnings than stack some more. Your BB/100 will drop but your $ per hour will climb.

The key is patience. Watch grinderschool videos, they'll give you what you need up to $200nl. After that you're on your own but keep it small to only 2-4 tables until you can average good winnings than stack some more. Your BB/100 will drop but your $ per hour will climb.

yeah I plan to only play 2-4 tables max for the rest of my poker carreer... I can't really handle more without seriously losing my concentration on certain hands.


I guess I could sign up to Grinderschool for a month and see how it is, anyone recommend any videos in particular?

also if anyone here would like to talk some poker live or perhaps even do a few sweat session now and then my skype is: pierreyeongjae

I think that, if I actually make a few poker buddies, then my knowledge of poker will skyrocket.

For learning goals... I'd rather not have any rules to abide to, same for playing tbh. I'm sure that I'll be active enough atm since I'm new and still enjoying playing and studying poker so I don't see why I need to put any specific "I gotta play at least 2 hrs/day + study 1hrs/day".

Just reading your posts make me feel very confident you will be a big winner some day.

Know that you have the support of the whole community here at FTR and that people here want you to succeed.

Many of us have gone through the journey you are about to take and everybody can attest to the volatility of the game and how short term luck has tremendous effects on short term winnings.

Keep strong, calm and focused. Be a powerful player which feeds on the demise of lesser opponents. Watch you BR grow and mutate into a beast which preys on better and better opponents.

I wish you all the best.

P

First off, Thank You guys for the encouragement. It sure is nice having some people that actually believe in you :D

Right now I'm basically just trying to up my post count so I can start posting hand histories lol... Need 3 more :(

On the actual poker side of things, things are going alright I guess. I'm bluffing a bit too much, and when a fish does something I don't understand I'm tempted to call my whole stack even if I just got Ace high. Grinderschool seems like a pretty ballin site actually, checked one video out and unlike cardrunners (which I am also a member of) the style is much more suited for the microstakes, slightly less bluffy and aggressive but teaches the fundamentals better and shows how to be conservative and never spazz out.

Hey dude, just stopping in to wish you luck, and whatnot. I just climbed out of the rock bottom micro grind and I can attest to the patience and discipline required to beat it. I hope you have the same (if not better) success I had when getting about 2nl, 5nl, and eventually 10nl.

If you are looking to get a subscription to GrinderSchool DEFINITELY check out jym's lecture videos on SPR (Stack to Pot Ratio's) and getting value out of your sets. Those two alone make the money spent worthwhile.

I would also recommend going out and buying a couple of poker books. One I think ALL microstakes players should go out and get right away is "The Poker Mindset." You may not see the point of this book until you experience some negative variance/bad beats/etc, but once you do you will completely understand why I am suggesting it.

A second book you should look into getting is Theory of Poker. EVERYONE has/should have this book.

A 3rd is Professional No Limit Holdem. It's an all around good book for beginners and regulars alike. It has a few interesting concepts to teach, and shores up some of the basics.

Good luck dude!

hey guys...
I'm SOOOO sorry for not updating in a while (since April), but it's actually because my final exam period for my last year of highschool came up and I had to study in order to get into university. Thus I did indeed quit playing poker and posting on forums during that period.

Anyways, I am now a graduate of highscool and am gonna be moving to Tampa Bay next year baby. Anyways, I just came back from senior trip in Ibiza and I did infact win some money from them (god live poker players are sooo bad compared to internet poker players haha). And since I won quite a bit (100 euros from 10NL games in 4 days of poker ahaha), i've decided to start playing again.

I've become a member at Cardrunners but I only plan on really watching the videos there. I plan on posting most of my hands on this site and updating my blog rather frequently...

My Bankroll is sitting at 130 euros and I'm playing 10NL on Partypoker atm.

I just played a sesion and it went decent I guess, I won a buy in but I don't really care about that. I'm actually slightly irritated. Not in a tilted way, but in a way that I know that I could've won so much more if I atually concentrated in every hand and played optimal poker. I think that if I just play robotically and don't really think I can still be a mild winner at 10NL or at least breakeven, but I really wanna kill 10NL because I know that I should be killing it. I think that I am far better than the fish and I have an edge over many of the regs at this stake but I can't take advantage of this unless i really concentrate and unfortunately, for me to really concentrate on just playing my best poker and winning money is not that easy to do... I duno why but I have a low attention span lol. I also belive that at these stakes it should be possible to pretty much be winning every session I play, I don't really think that those 10K hand downswings will happen until I reach 100NL or something. Right now variance should be rather low and unless I have an absolutely horribly unlucky session then I should be coming out of most of my sessions in the green.

Just my thoughts and ramblings... i'll make sure to post more often from now :) and hopefully you guys can follow me journey again :D.

You're wrong about the downswings, they happen at every level. Don't assume it can't happen!

€130 is $180? I'd say as long as you're happy then grind away at $10nl, but don't be ashamed to move down if lady variance bites you in the ass and you lose a chunk, we've all had to do it. Bankroll Management advice on here suggests 20 buy-ins for your stake as a guideline though.

good luck

I'm actually gonna post a hand of what I mean by "I'm not playing optimal poker".

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

MP ($23.99)
Button ($34.67)
CO ($3.85)
SB ($10.76)
UTG ($9.73)
Hero (BB) ($13.94)

Preflop: Hero is BB with http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/4s.gif, http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/4c.gif
UTG calls $0.10, 2 folds, Button bets $0.50, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.40, UTG calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.55) http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/qd.gif, http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/4d.gif, http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/as.gif (3 players)
Hero bets $1.21, 1 fold, Button calls $1.21

Turn: ($3.97) http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/jc.gif (2 players)
Hero bets $1.50, Button calls $1.50

River: ($6.97) http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/8h.gif (2 players)
Hero bets $4.25, 1 fold

Total pot: $6.97

Alright, so basically in this spot, I call preflop because abbcbbc or whatever is really deep and he also has nitty stats. Over a sample of 130 hands he was running at 14/10/2 so I call and expect the fish who is also a calling station to call. I basically call to set mine because I believe I can win a big pot if I hit my set.

On the flop I do hit my set, but problem is I'm OOP. I don't really know whether the best option is to C/R or bet out, but I choose to simply bet out and the nit calls. Now I can pretty much assume he has a big hand such as AK or maybe even a two pair. If he has a set then oh well too bad. Because I know he has a big hand I should really bet big on the turn instead of put in that little pussy turn bet but I want him to call me so I do something stupid and when I bet the river slightly bigger he folds. Now if I bet 4 on the turn then I would've made so much more money even if he wouldn't have called the river, and I actually think that he's more likely to call river all-in too now if I bet the turn big because of pot odds and he's aclready put so much in. I mean this guy isn't an idiot, he's a regular at these stakes... But once again, I don't concentrate hard enough and lose some money for it.

Anyways, whatever I'll try concentrate more and maximize my winnings.

What about a flush draw? why did you discount it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lucothefish

What about a flush draw? why did you discount it?

---

yeah... I wasn't concerned about the flush draw and wasn't going to be until the flush card came and he showed me a reason to believe that he had a flush. Also he's a nit, I see him with a strong Ace here a lot of the time, perhaps 2p, perhaps trips.
anyways, he took a long time to fold so I'm sure he didn't have flush draw.

Poker Thoughts update

OK... I'm updating really frequently atm. But the point of my blog was so that I had a place to permanently record my thoughts of poker, I really don't care if you guys read my blog or not (although if you do it would be appreciated haha). I'll prolly slow down later though, since I'm just getting back into poker I'll prolly have a whole bunch of shit to record right now lol.

Anyways, onwards with my friggen thoughts...
I like to raise to 4x from UTG and MP but 3x from Co and BU. The reason for this is because typically, my hands from UTG and MP are rather strong hands and I do not want many callers. If someone 3bets me, the hand will be easy to throw away or 4bet or call depending on what I have and because my range is much narrowed UTG and MP I prefer to make my bets bigger.
From CO and BU however, I have a very wide range of hands and in fact I am in many ways simply stealing the blinds and taking advantage of position. A lot of the times, I won't mind playing against several players with my hand in CO and BU because these hands actually can be rather disguised.

I fucking suck at the maths of poker... No... I seriously need to start studying this shit, I think I'm gonna start by reading "the mathematics of poker" rather soon. I've already read some of the books that dRanger requested and they were alright at best lol... I think I learn better from actually playing and making mistakes and reading forums/watching videos etc. Actually I suck at NLHE in general and I always will until I reach 600NL or something lol.

I need some poker buddies... anyone at the micros interested in doing sweat sessions together? Until August I think I'll be playing around 4 hours of poker a day or something so.... I got lots of time haha. I got teamviewer and skype, if interested PM me... I gotta buy me a new mic though lol.

Patience really is a virtue... I really love action, but sometimes, I gotta hold back and wait for the cards to fall my way. I play 4 tables at a time and I don't want to pla anymore than that because I really want to keep improving and focussing on my game. Typically I'll be playing aroud one hand at time, but there's always going to be those occasional stretches where I should be folding 50 hands in a row etc because I'm really getting garbage. I shouldn't be tempted to switch things up and I should just stay solid. I think that as long as I can do this then my game will be good and I'll be a winning player at 10NL and quickly move to 25NL.

I can't wait for 25NL... I've played there before and I lost a lot of money and I couldn't find the "move back down button". The reasons why I was a losing player at 25NL was not because I'm not good enough to win there, it was because I was playing a different game, I was not playing how I normally would and I would tilt off the rest of my chips quickly. This time through, emotional control won't be an issue, and I really wanna move up to 25NL as soon as possible. I honestly don't know when this will be, but it will be when I feel like I'm ready to move up without being emotionally affected.

OMG, Luco, my bad man, I didn't read your first post in this thread until just now when I was reading through this thread. But honestly, I don't believe in 10k hand downswings at 10NL, I don't even believe in 5k hand downswings at 10NL lol, I honestly believe that I can consistently beat 10NL no matter how unlucky I am and that I should finish at least 80% of my sessions in the green until I am at 50NL, if I can't do this then I believe that there are some serious leaks in my game which I am going to have to fix. Again, by leaks I don't just mean the technical stuff, I also mean the emotional stuff, I think that the thing that makes me play bad is tilt not really in a "fuck this I'm gonna spew" way, but more like "OK... I'm bored, I'll play this hand" way or "alright, time to mix things up a lil bit here" kinda way. For now I just need to stay solid.

As you can see, I really don't play with scared money, I love action and I do have some gamble in me. This does unfortunately mean that sometimes I will tilt horrendously, I think that once I can control this tilt that I can become a deadly player. I also have confidence in my game that I can beat my stakes, this doesn't mean that I am ego driven or that I believe I am the best, it simply means that I believe I can crush 10NL if I concentrate hard and play my best, honestly, I think I'm a pretty shitty player, I just think there's a helluva lot of fish in the bond u know? I think that these traits of mine do help me in a way, I like action so I think shorthanded NLHE is good for me. Maybe in the future I'll pick up HU o PLO but for now shorthanded NLHE is really the only option I have. If I played fullring I'd die of boredom, no joke!


Anyways, I'm friggen tired right now, just had a 4.5 our session, BR up to 160 euros yay... not playing until tomorrow for sure haha... I'll prolly watch some more vids and chat until I sleep. Thx for readin!

meh had some pretty interesting spots today... 10NL players are fishy to teh max lol.

Anyways, I'll post a hand or two which friggen had me puzzled like wtf?

Hand 1
I get AQo in CO so obviously I gotta open it up to 3x, standard
BB is pretty nitty but I only got 70 hands on him, he's playing: 11/7/inf and he calls...

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

SB ($8.76)
BB ($10)
Button ($10.63)
UTG ($4.59)
Hero (MP) ($27.85)

Preflop: Hero is MP with http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/ad.gif, http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/qs.gif
1 fold, Hero bets $0.30, 2 folds, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.65) http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/7d.gif, http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/3h.gif, http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/qc.gif (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks
OK, this isn't standard, normally I would bet here. But I don't want to inflate the pot yet because I don't plan on betting 3 streets anyways, I don't see villain calling me with worse for 3 streets so I decide to delay my bet.

Turn: ($0.65) http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/2d.gif (2 players)
BB bets $0.60, Hero raises $1.60, BB raises $4, Hero folds
Now on this turn, BB bets pot, and I'm like yay he fell for it. So I put it in a decent raise and he insta makes it 4$... I'm like wtf? I actually have no idea what he has, but I can't see him with much other than a hand that beats me. Yeah, it is a really safe board, but his action just screams strength to me... So I fold... what would you do here? Call? Shove over him, notice that if I call then I'm pretty much pot committed.

Total pot: $3.85
[b]


Now I'm just gonna post a hand where I got completely owned, not really to analyze, but just to show you how totally owned I got for entertainment's sake lol. I dunno how he knew I had a J but still... Can anyone fold this btw?
SB is running 20/3.5/1.5

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

MP ($10.18)
BB ($10.02)
SB ($8.41)
UTG ($9.84)
Hero (Button) ($34.11)

Preflop: Hero is Button with http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/jc.gif, http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/qc.gif
UTG calls $0.10, 1 fold, Hero bets $0.40, SB calls $0.35, 1 fold, UTG calls $0.30

Flop: ($1.30) http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/ks.gif, http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/6d.gif, http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/3s.gif (3 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $0.95, SB calls $0.95, 1 fold

Turn: ($3.20) http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/js.gif (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($3.20) http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/jh.gif (2 players)
SB raises to $7.06 (All-In), Hero calls $7.06

Total pot: $17.32

Results in white below:
Hero had Jhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif, Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...miles/club.gif (three of a kind, Jacks).
SB had 10http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif, Qhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...iles/spade.gif (flush, King high).
Outcome: SB won $16.46

Despite winning this pot, he still like 12$ overall at that table. I was like woah!!![/i]

H1: just call on turn, if you raise, you're basically doing the opposite of what you had planned for the hand (which isn't good)

H2: sick spot...uhhh shoving range? for this player I imagine it is very strong. and when he bets 2x the pot that really rapes your pot odds.

Poker Thoughts Post and Updated poker goals... Be warned... LONG POST

I'm doing OK... I wish I could stay concentrated for +4 hours so I could play my best poker for like 8 hours a day in a single session or something but unfortunately I don't think that's possible haha. Typically after 3 hours I start getting burnt out and by the 4 hour mark I'm dead. My longest session so far has been 4 hours long and I won 3 buy-ins in that session, I think I was down 3 buy-ins at one point in that session but I had a switch click which told me to "not panic, take it slow, and play my best poker... the money will come automatically". Bankroll up to 260 euros, hopefully I can keep making 40 euros a day lol, if I do this then I can comfortably move up to 25NL by the end of next week, perhaps even in the middle of next week.

I actually think most of my wins come from horrible players and fish as well as atrocious plays.... I don't really know when these horrible players will dissapear but I've seen enough 200NL videos to know that there's some bad players at those stakes too. I wonder how Durr, OMGclayAiken and all those top pros became so damn good, they're a level above everyone else who already plays good solid poker and their hand reading must be like no other. I'd love to one day become as good as them, but I know that it won't be easy. I mean those guys play poker 6 or more hours a day and they think about it whenever they're not at the tables. I'm sure that there's gotta be some sort of difference in skill between 100NL and 600NL, I mean, if it wasn't so then everyone would just be winning occasional pots on their big hands, coolers and there'd be a lot of races but that'd be it. I've gotta believe that there's a way so that I can improve my poker and there really isn't a limit to how good one can become, because honestly, I want to become as good a poker player as I can be. I don't know how good I can become but I sure hope that I can one day become a HSNL player and beat it for a good bb/100.

Today I played two session's already. I was tilted for the first time in a long time in one of them.... I'm not exactly sure why I was tilted tbh. I mean at the end I was spewing like a mad man, but even at the start of my session I really wasn't playing my best poker. I don't know why, but I feel as if when i'm tilted, I actually lose confidence in my game and because I play a slightly different game, I see a lot more coolers/bad beats happen, or at least that's how I feel. When I'm playing optimal poker, I'll not even remember the cooler or beat because I know that I played the hand well, but when I'm tilted I tend to remember every single beat and cooler and I blame my loss on the cooler/beat. I've got to stop doing this. Realize that coolers/beats happen regularly, this is poker for gods sake, it's not the coolers/bad beats that are causing me to lose, it's simply the fact that I'm playing suboptimal poker. Whenever I start a session, I need to start it in the right frame of mind, I need to believe that I can end up winning from the session and I need to focus on playing my best poker and exploiting players tendencies.

There's a lot of regulars who have nice stats and all but got no clue how to play postflop poker... Like seriously, I haven't really got a lot to say on this topic, but it's true and I just think it's an important to point out that just because someone has nice stats, doesn't make him a good player. Also, when playing postflop, I'd rather make my decision based on previous hands, reads, and board texture rather than rely on stats. Stats are more of something I go to as confirmation of an action or as a last resort if I got no clue what to do.


Anyways, I think I'm gonna review my last session right now. Let's see if any interesting hands were involved...

Alright, there really aren't any complicated spots I ran into tbh... so no hand histories haha.

New Goals until August 1st!!!
1. Read at least 3 poker books. One of them will be Ryan Fees e-book which I just got yesterday, and I have like 4 books at home that I haven't read yet, I'll pick 2 and read them.
2.Have put in at least 50k hands, I've already put in 5k hands, so basically it means that I must put in around 1000 hands per day, this is basically around 3 hours of 4 tabling/day which I should be able to do.
3. Watch 43 poker videos, this basically means one video a day. The video does not necessarily have to be educational, watching an episode of HSP counts towards this goal for example.
4. Keep learning and improving at poker and always play my A game, basically just play my best poker.

OK... go me!

Aite 2 hands for review, one will be via weaktight just because I was talking about it with someone on skype and I showed it to him via weaktight.
First one I hit trips on flop and a decent player raises me with a lot of agression.

http://weaktight.com/1221897

2nd one, is AK preflop action, villain is running 19/17/1.4 over 70 hands and hasn't 3bet yet.

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

CO ($7.80)
Button ($7.44)
UTG ($2.72)
SB ($10.20)
BB ($10.15)
Hero (MP) ($10.07)

Preflop: Hero is MP with http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/ad.gif, http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/.../smiles/kh.gif
UTG calls $0.10, Hero bets $0.40, 2 folds, SB raises $1.15, 2 folds

Now then, what should I do? Call? Fold? 4bet? and if I 4bet what should I make it and should I call an all-in?

k a few things...
you can get your hand converted through weaktight... just click one of the tabs at the top of the HH..
weaktight hand... I dont know why we are check calling with trips here... go for a check/raise instead... the board is way too dry to be slowplaying also...
if your not going to c/r the flop pls pls pls c/r the turn...

AK hand:
I would raise to like 3$ here and try to get it in PF...


also in one of yoru goals you mention to read 3 poker books, which is not a bad idea in itself but you should just focus more on improving your game, and reading forums since IMO they will improve your game more... reading a book is great and all but your going to learn more when your actually focusing more on your game and paying attention more to how your playing and how to improve yourself... obv you can get a book to help you...
I think an ebook would be a great one to read though just because its giong to focus mainly on the games now and what not and focus on online games...

Hand 1:I bet/called, not c/c
Hand 2: I 4bet to 3 like you recommended and he shoved, now what?

I actually agree with you on the reading books goal... It seems pretty useless tbh, gonna focus on everything else and screw the reading.

Anyways, just had a bad session, down 3.5 buyins, 1.5 were spew. The rest to coolers/beats... anyways, rather not talk about that crap. My ptbb/100 soared down to 12 from 17. I think I'll take a break for the day and hopefully I can grind my roll back up tomorrow.

OK... I did something really stupid.
I cashed out all my money on partypoker thinking I'd be able to put it onto my FTP account, but I couldn't because I forgot I already had an account on FTP with rakeback which I cannot play on until July 18th because I decided to self-exclude myself for a few months since I had exams coming up and didn't want to be tempted to play poker etc. So now I basically goota either wait until July 18th or put some money back into my party acc. but it won't be through my BR money it'll be through extra money... Not really sure what I should do tbh...

why not try an alternative site and go for the 1st deposit bonus and or rakeback. e.g betfair or minted or ipoker skin

lol just fixed the problem, decided to give my cheque (275 euros) to my parents and they put 200 euros on partypoker... gonna be a slow grind I lost around 75 euros(like 14 buy-ins lol). I got to keep the 75 euros at home, but I'd rather use it for poker, but they think 200 is already a lot of money for poker so whatever... I can still play

anyways gonna be updating more frequently again.

anyways goals... Honestly, my only goals are to put in 40k hands by august from today.(around 1k hands/day) and to become a better poker player. No other goals apart from that.

thx for the advice keith :) I only just read it now though haha

Actually I do have one other goal. And I know this isn't necessarily something a lot of you guys will agree with but I want to be playing at 50NL by the time I start college at the end of August. The reason for this is because in college, I would like to use my poker money as an additional source of income and I don't really think 25NL or 10NL will be making me much money... especially since in college I doubt I'll be able to keep playing 40k hands/month. Gotta take full advantage of the holidays baby.

I believe that I can manage to make it to 50NL by the time my college starts, (orientation is August 24th...) I obviously won't move up without the correct bankroll requirements, so I'm hoping I can make it up there!!

Hrm, I guess reach for the stars, but that sounds pretty ambitious. Following good bankroll management, you'd need to be a solid winning player and log a TON of hands to traverse 3 full levels. Good luck, though.

Hey man, its alex. Have an account here but never really used it :D. Looking like a pretty good blog you got going here.

A couple things..

I really think its better to raise 4bb for the moment up until at least NL50, maybe NL100. Don't know personally about party, but they don't respect anything, and with your big hands, you want that money in there and no reason to bet 4bb with big hands, and 3 with just decent hands. Anyone paying attention enough will recognize that.

Get a moneybookers account, now while you're still in europe. They'll send a letter to your house to verify your address and you can cash in/out as you please. In Pokerstars I know as much as you deposit, you can cash out just instantly. Its really nice and a good thing to have, once you get to america you can't open one, so do it now :).

As well as posting hands, I don't know how it works here at FTR but I'd also browse through the hand posting forums, and make your comments on hands there, even if you're not sure. Say your idea, and wait for people to respond, you'll be wrong alot of times, but hopefully you'll see where you're wrong, from people explaining it to you, I found this to be huge to fixing some leaks!

I'll be checking in on this regularly and hopefully catch ya on skype sometime even with time difference. Good luck on the tables man

thx for readin man!
anyways, I like raising to 3x OTB and in CO because my hands in these positions suck in general anyways, and I'm happy to play a hand IP... Also, the 3bet size is much smaller when I open to 3x rather than 4x so that's another benefit... When I raise UTG or in MP it's different though because I usually have bigger hands where I wanna extract value and my hands here will usually be rather strong.

I already got a neteller's account, just never use it lmao. And yeah, I try take part in some of the discussion the beginner's circle and I watch videos on other sites too. I'm reading ryan fee's e-book right now. You should read it if you wanna improve your sixmax cash game!! See you roud dude!

Meh, small update for now I guess
running at 10ptbb/100 over 5000 hands which is decent I guess. BR almost 300 euros. Err, not much else to say... Sometimes I make a few hero calls, and I made one huge bluff today that ended up being a complete fail... But yeah, things are progressing ata steady rate.

Just remember if you're never caught bluffing, you're not bluffing enough :)

By the same token, if you never call someone's bluff, you're folding too much.

wise words of wisdom Jason!

lol
on a sidenote... I do wish I had more time to post up a few hands and post a bit more in the beginner's circle, but from wednesday to saturday this week I've been real busy saying bye to a bunch of friends and stuff, so I'll try catch up on posting comments next week for when I got nothing planned!