My first FTR Post - player history and HH.

[xB34Nx]

Hello Everyone here at FTR
So being a long time reader of the forums I have finally decided to man up and get involved in some of the great discussions taking place here. This is my first post so I have lots to say, sorry in advance for the lengthyness.

First of all I have been playing online poker for little over 3 years now. I am in no way a professional at this game – I am an engineering student and I like to play when I have the time. It is just this past year or so that I have really started to take playing seriously. I have been reading several of Robb’s post and I would definitely like to commend him for his great poker advice and awesome analogies – I think about how poker is a stone cold whore every time I play. That said Id like to try and quickly run through my poker history.

I signed up at PartyPoker and did my min deposit of 50 bucks where I would then play at 25NL and make enough to move up in stakes progressing from 50nl up to 200NL. My initial reason for this is the though that I can make more money this way. It worked maybe once and I was able to cash out a sizable amount. However I have spent the greater part of 3 years learning the hard way that you can also lose more money this way. In the end, I lost more than I won

After going broke several times, I started to read, I mean read A LOT of poker strategy guides, books, forums etc. I love NL holdem cash games but I just did not have the bankroll to be playing at any stakes other than 5NL and to me it was a waste of time .I finally decided that MTT’s are for me because of the huge return on investment possibilities. I was and still am determined to become great at these tournies. At first I found them difficult – but as I became more disciplined and more patient I was slowly able to increase my placement. Finishing in the early stages, finish mid stages, finishing just outside the money and soon I was finishing in the money every time, even if it was only 50 % return on my buy in. Recently I have made my first 1st place finish in a 500 person tourney. The excitement for me was overwhelming – I went from having $23 bankroll to having near $700. I told myself – I finally have a bankroll to enjoy playing at the 25NL tables again. So I did just that and eventually I felt confident enough to play at 200NL again. I couldn’t have been more wrong – i know , a donk move not considering my BR management - I ended up losing $300 over the course of a couple of weeks, and since I was no longer playing tournaments and making money I felt devastated. This is when I turned to FTR forums once again.

I have been making my way through Robb's advice givin in the FIRST 5K hands lesson. This greatly differs from the style of online play that I have been following for the past 3 years. In the past my style of poker has progressed from being an all out donky / river monkey to being a fairly well informed player. Able to make moves here and there and follow the basics of TAGG poker. Poker is a continual learning process and I have learned that I absolutely cannot multi table. I already knew this, but I was trying to keep an open mind and try new strategies – Robb seems to know the 10NL fairly well so I decided to try next 1K hands at these stakes After 500 hands played on 3 simultaneous tables I was down 3 BI’s and had to call it quits there. I know its like giving up early but I couldn’t handle the full ring (PP doenst have 6 max 10NL tables). I would get called in places where at 25nl I wouldn’t have, I would be faced with big decisions on two tables and make the wrong ones – fold when I shouldn’t have, Or even fold because I ran out of time to decide. It seems no matter what kind of reads I think I have on the other players at the table, I cant seem to concentrate enough to make great bluffs, nor make a nice laydown on hands where I may be behind.

So for now I think I will keep reading and implementing some of Robbs advice. I think I need to sit at only one 25NL table as well as get back into my MTT’s for a while. my bankroll is ok for this limit and I know I can beat it as I have before. One big issue at these stakes is table selection, party is full of multi-tablers and its important to know when your at a table with someone who is also at 6 other tables, they generally wont give action and will only play into you if they have something. So I think working on my table selection discipline is necessary at these stakes.

Again thank you, all of you here at FTR and thanks Robb – its your posts that motivated me to be more involved.

All that being said, id like to leave you with some HH and a question:
I have the trial version of PT software my HUD doesn't work all the time - is this some sort of glitch? how do I fix it?

( I dont know how to convert my HH to FTR version too)

Later, xB

***** Hand History for Game 7128721005 *****
$200 USD NL Texas Hold'em
Table Table 151544 (No DP) (Real Money)
Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 6
Seat 1: low_roller63 ( $236.70 USD )
Seat 3: seigers ( $254 USD )
Seat 5: pdtspa ( $421.70 USD )
Seat 6: xB34Nx ( $145.95 USD )
Seat 4: baaaard ( $210 USD )
Seat 2: WheelsteR ( $222.55 USD )
WheelsteR posts small blind [$1 USD].
seigers posts big blind [$2 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to xB34Nx [ 5d 5h ]
baaaard folds
pdtspa raises [$7 USD]
xB34Nx calls [$7 USD]
low_roller63 folds
WheelsteR folds
seigers folds
** Dealing Flop ** [ 9c, Th, Tc ]
pdtspa bets [$11 USD]
xB34Nx raises [$29 USD]
pdtspa is all-In [$403.70 USD]
xB34Nx folds
pdtspa shows [ Kc, Jh ]a pair of Tens.
pdtspa wins $457.70 USD from the main pot with a pair of Tens.

Despite my read on this player being fairly aggressive I felt I was beat.
Good fold or bad fold?

[celtic123]

Thats a good post, i am intrested in peoples progressive poker pasts.

I am not experience enough to analize hands , but id like to add my ideas.


When he went all in , he wasnt giving himself the best chance to extract the most amount of money from you.Which suggests to me he didnt want to give you a chance to improve.

But I arrive at this conclusion only after the event.

Welcome to FTR. Now go read a book and try not to donk off your roll again.

[Scattershot]

Granted I am a 10NL noob, but 55 underpair on a paired board with a flush and straight draw on the board facing a 3bet shove isn't the hand I pay my stack to see if someone is bluffing.

Wait for a better spot.

[xB34Nx]

Welcome to FTR. Now go read a book and try not to donk off your roll again.

Any book suggestions?

[Stacks]

Make sure to read everything in the Beginner's Digest first, then go to the subforum of the game you choose to play and read everything in the digest there.

Make sure you adhere to proper Bankroll Management. Due to variance, you need to have enough money in your account to continue playing at the stakes your at when your bad swing comes (and it will come!!!). When you first deposited your $50 you said you played 25nl. That's absurd. You only had 2 buyins for 25nl. You didn't have enough of a roll to comfortably play 5nl let alone 25nl. Bankroll management really can't be stressed enough. Even the best players go on bad run in which they have to rely on their deep roll to keep them going. Also remember bankroll management doesn't just tell you when to move up, but also when you need to move back down.

As for the multi-tabling, it takes time to develop. Have you tried both the tile and cascade format?? You may find one easier than the other. And you shouldn't go from playing 1 to jumping up to 6 or so. Just add another table and play 2. Then when that gets easier add another and play 3 etc. Keep doing that and you'll find you can play more comfortably. Which will increase your hands per hour and if your a winner, it will speed things up.

As far, as book suggestions, here are a few that I've been recommended. Theory of Poker, No Limit Hold'Em Theory and Practice, Ace on the River, Harrington on Cash. I've read through most of Theory of Poker and NLHET&P and they are both solid reads. And if you are playing MTTs or SNGs then you will probably want to pick up Harrington on Hold'em Volume I and II. I've read one and he gives alot of examples and help you work through why he is making the play he does.

As far as the hand goes, I personaly would toss it to his continuation bet because your call preflop is merely for set value and since you didn't hit you should just toss it. I think that there may be an argument for flat calling his flop bet (floating) and assuming he gives up on the turn you can take it down (or you have the better hand). I really don't like raising because there are few better hands that you make fold. Calling would at least keep the pot small, which since your hand is marginal at best you want to do.

I'm assuming because he showed you the bluff that is why you are showing this. If he hadn't you would have chalked it up to being beat and moved on. Keep your head up and play smart and you'll be back to 200nl (correctly) sooner than you think.

Some of my fav's...

No Limit Hold'em Theory and Practice (Sklansky/Miller)
Ace On The River (Barry Greenstein)
Super/System (Doyle Brunson)
Harrington on Hold'em Vol. 1-3 (Dan Harrington)

I also recommend Winning Low Limit Hold'em (Jones?) and the stickies at the top of each forum.

[xB34Nx]

Thanks for the Info guys!
Stacks - bankroll management is something that I have been trying to work on, hence the reason for playing MTT's. I played solely $2 buy in MTT's at Party for the longest time, eventually build my roll up to about 170 and had a go at a couple of $6 buy ins. I know this goes against what BR management tells me, I was at the point where I felt confident I could at least break even - I ended up winning and now when I play NL its never at anything higher than 25 NL - I play here because the full ring of 10NL seems to be a harder game for me.

As far as books go - I am halfway through harrington on holdem I, so far I like it a lot. His explaination and reasoning and hand examples are great! I have also read most of Roy Rounders advice - some of it is decent . Ace on the River - is that not more for live poker? Ill get to reading the forum stickies ASAP.

Anyways, thanks again for the advice

xB

[Stacks]

One thing to remember concerning BR management is that the 20 buyin minimum (which as I said is cutting it thin) is strickly for ring games. You will need a deeper roll for SNGs and MTTs are there is much more variance. I'm not sure of the guideline for MTTs, but it's a bit bigger than 20 buyins I believe.

And I haven't read Ace on the River yet, so I don't know if it's more live based or not, but I'm sure it still has tons of useful advice. I would really recommend NLHET&P though. So far it's spectacular.

But yeah, there is a wealth of info in the digests here, and if you really want to progress I highly suggest you come join the FTR IRC room. The thread is in the commune. It's stickied I believe 2 or so from the top. There are always a few regulars that are in there willing to help with theory and what not.

Good Luck.