Time to start blogging it - another micro hero.

[Shizu]

3-parts update.


Part 1: it's not going to stop

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


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

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

SB posts SB €0.02, Hero posts BB €0.05

Pre Flop: (€0.07) Hero has K 9

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

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

Turn: (€3.63, 2 players) 7

River: (€3.63, 2 players) Q

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





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

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

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

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



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

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

Thin
Value
Bet

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

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


Part 3: old site back online

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Fielmann]

What does this graph tell me?

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

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

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

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

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

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

I lol'd.