My project: Baby steps at the Micro stakes

*Last edited by Gobbatino on Thu, 28 May 2009, 6:24pm; edited 2 times in total*

Hello all,

I'm a relatively new poster to FTR, though I've been reading your forums and articles and watching your videos for a good while now. First a bit of background for those interested. My name is Pietro, I started playing poker less than a year ago. In a couple months I read about 10 Poker Books, read hundreds of articles online and watched tons of videos - I can be very obsessive when I get into something. I started out playing 5$ SNGs for a while, built up my bankroll a bit. Then I tried some MTTs, cashed well while I ran well and turned 200$ into 2,500$. Still with good Bankroll Management, I kept playing MTTs but failed to cash again for the next few months. So I decided to give cash games a shot. I played 5$NL for a few thousand hands on Full Tilt and quite liked it. At that point I decided to really focus on cash games and grind the grind. So I transferred 200$ into a new site at Ultimate Bet, signed up for Rakeback and thus this project began.

Very soon I'll be out of a job and taking a 6 month break before I move on to something else. I started two weeks ago and I plan on spending as much time as possible getting in good volume to get a good bit experience, especially once I'm out of a job. Just to be clear, those six months without a job would be happening anyways, to clear my head of this damned office job. I'm not relying on poker sustaining my living expenses or anything like that.

Now, I know I'm not very good. But I know I can get better. I have very little experience with cash games, around 20k hands total. I think I have potential.

For now, my goal is simple. I need to get better. Right now I'm not even thinking of 25$NL. I know the fundamentals, but applying them seems to be the issue. I need to consistently win at 10$NL. This swingy shit needs to stop.

What I'm working on now/short term goals:
*More aggressions pre-flop, bring PFR% a LOT closer to VP$IP.
*Be more positionally aware. Use the button and cuttoff - really need to open up here. Bring ATT% up quite a bit. Stop playing shit out of position. No more completing small blinds with marginal hands.
*Calling big river bets with good hands when I know I'm beat. This is the single most stupid shit I do, and it is beyond me how I am still doing it.
*Tilt. I need to control this far more. It's happened several times already. AA gets cracked, I tilt and lose two more big pots within 20 minutes. I need to either take a break when it happens if necessary, or get that shit under control.
*Ranges, ranges, ranges. I need work better at putting players on a range and adjusting on each street.
*Post hands where I doubt my play. Keep updating this thread, as it will help my discipline.

Long term goals:
*Bankroll up to 600$
*Moving up to 25$NL

Starting BR: 200$
Current BR: 210$

Last but not least, I want to thank everyone here for their input. I've already posted my first 10k (I'll link the thread in a bit) and got my first "lol wtf" - which I well anticipated and yes, even cherish - along with some feedback. Already since then I feel a good change in my play. The good thing is from here I can only get better. Yes, I am optimistic, but what the hell.

Thank you for reading, thank you for your help and criticism. I need it.

-Pietro

10k Hand Review:

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/10k-review-t85543.html

good luck with your OP and don't loosen your button up as much as me.

Good luck!

Oh, and raise more pre-flop ...

Well I've had a couple of tough days, poker wise. It's kind of discouraging to run into such a bad streak after changing my play up after my 10k hand post. I do think I was playing well (better), but it just seemed like every villain made his draw no matter how hard I bet, my made hands got no value and my draws never hit (or did after I folded due to bad odds). So all in all, a bit frustrating. I have some hands to post up later. In the last 2k hands I've been running around 18/15 which is a lot better than the 21/8 I was running during my first 10k hands. I shut down a lot from the blinds and opened up from the button (27 VP$IP) and cutoff (21VP$IP), being a lot more aggressive pre-flop and it definitely makes post flop play a lot more... natural. My ATS% shot up to 28% which is better as well.

Anyways, I hope I can dig myself out of this downswing before having to go down to 5NL.

Things I will be doing/focusing on the next couple of sessions:
*Picking the right time/villain to c-bet - not blindly c-betting any flop I miss
*Cutting down to 2 tables at a time

Also, is there any way to include fold to c-bet and c-bet % stats with PT3 (edit: never mind, found it!)? It seems a lot of you use HEM as opposed to PT, is it better?

Ok, adding one I thought I already was good at, but I now realize was/is one of my biggest problems. PATIENCE. It's called a grind for a reason.

I put in a short session yesterday, and I feel I played awesome. I ended at 7BB/100 and would have been 15BB/100 except for one terribad call. But anyways, it got me feeling confident in my game again and started climbing my way out of the massive hole I dug myself into the last few days. Slowly but surely.

MUST POST HANDS.

Good luck gobbatino, I'll be watching your OP.

I've been meaning to post some hands for review and UltimateBet is down for maintenance, so it's the perfect time to do this. Here we go.

1. No reads on CO, UTG had been limp raising a lot, hence my cold call pre flop. Flop, reckless shove or cooler? When I was reviewing my HH I realized that most hands that are calling me here have me crushed. Hands I'd be pushing out would be AK, AJ (AJ not likely due to pre flop action) and I'm a favorite over them. Hands that could call but I have beat maybe JJ, KK, AT, JKs (AT, JK also not likely). Any Q, TT are definitely calling and they have me crushed. And they did! Razz

But then again, I can't fold that on the flop, and CO would probably push, so I doubt it would have changed the outcome much anyways. Thoughts?

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($4.05)
Hero (SB) ($27.09)
BB ($8.62)
UTG ($5.56)
MP ($27.96)
CO ($18.85)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A

, A

UTG calls $0.10, 1 fold, CO bets $0.45, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.40, 1 fold, UTG raises to $1.90, CO calls $1.45, Hero raises to $5.50, UTG calls $3.66 (All-In), CO calls $3.66, Hero calls $0.06

Flop: ($16.78) 10

, Q

(3 players, 1 all-in)
Hero raises to $21.53 (All-In), CO calls $13.29 (All-In)

Turn: ($43.36) K

(3 players, 3 all-in)

River: ($43.36) 8

(3 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: $43.36 | Rake: $2.16

Results in white below:
Hero had A

, A

(two pair, Aces and Queens).
UTG had 8

, J

(two pair, Queens and eights).
CO had 10

, 10

(full house, tens over Queens).
Outcome: CO won $41.20

2. Bad play much? Villain is 40/9 with AF of 4.8 over 170 hands. He could have just been double barreling here with an Ax but am I correct in assuming a reraise on the flop would have been better? I think his minraise preflop threw me off a bit and I was afraid he had AK, AA or some really strong holding. Not sure about this one at all. Sad

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($8.37)
SB ($10.20)
BB ($15.50)
UTG ($28.57)
MP ($19.91)
Hero (CO) ($8.85)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A

, 10

2 folds, Hero bets $0.40, 2 folds, BB raises to $0.80, Hero calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.65) Q

, 9

, A

(2 players)
BB bets $1.65, Hero calls $1.65

Turn: ($4.95) 4

(2 players)
BB bets $4.95, Hero folds

Total pot: $4.95 | Rake: $0.24

Results in white below:
BB didn't show
Outcome:

3. My train of thought as I look back at this hand is, if I thought my pocket 8s were good on the flop after all the checks, why not raise the turn. Then again, I suppose someone with a AT, KT sort of hand might have wanted to c/r the flop, maybe that's what I was scared of. Good/bad play?

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($22.38)
SB ($24.27)
Hero (BB) ($8.01)
UTG ($2.38)
MP ($12.35)
CO ($4.66)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8

, 8

3 folds, Button bets $0.30, SB raises to $1.40, Hero calls $1.30, Button calls $1.10

Flop: ($4.20) 10

, J

, 10

(3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: ($4.20) 6

(3 players)
SB bets $2, Hero calls $2, 1 fold

River: ($8.20) 9

(2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $8.20 | Rake: $0.41

Results in white below:
SB had 9

, 7

(two pair, tens and nines).
Hero mucked 8

, 8

(two pair, tens and eights).
Outcome: SB won $7.79

Anyways, thanks guise. Gotta start marking hands for review because I can't find a bunch I meant to post for your thoughts. Sad

Hand 1) That was a pretty heavy shove without a read on how they reacted to the flop. OOP I would've checked to see what CO would do. Then on the turn, the K lands and now you're looking to get out pretty easily as many hands beat you.

Hand 2) You didn't play this horribly. He showed a lot of strength as he doesn't seem to raise PF a lot according to his stats, although his AF says he does bluff. I guess it would depend on whether you had any read on him or not. To be safe, that is a clear fold.

Hand 3) This one I'm not too sure. I would've done the same except I would've folded on the turn. That flop is not definitely 88 friendly.

(I would go more in-depth, but I'm at work and I don't have time)

Welcome and good luck dude. I'll be following your OP.

Another 500ish hand session today, I finished at 8BB/100 and that's including 3 sets vs my overpair/TPTK. I need to learn how to stop paying these off. HALP.

1. How to get away from this, plx. Sad

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($4.91)
SB ($4.59)
BB ($17.34)
Hero (UTG) ($13.60)
MP ($6.70)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A

, K

Hero bets $0.40, 1 fold, Button calls $0.40, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.95) 4

, 7

, K

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.80, Button raises to $4.51 (All-In), Hero calls $3.71

Turn: ($9.97) 3

(2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($9.97) Q

(2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $9.97 | Rake: $0.49

Results in white below:
Button had 4

, 4

(three of a kind, fours).
Hero had A

, K

(one pair, Kings).
Outcome: Button won $9.48

2. Similar to hand #1. In retrospect I should've called the flop raise and then reevaluated on the turn, but I guess the drawy board scared me (and him, I assume). These two hands happened within 3 minutes of each other, too!

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($9.66)
SB ($16.17)
BB ($19.26)
UTG ($17.74)
Hero (MP) ($9.15)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q

, A

1 fold, Hero bets $0.40, Button calls $0.40, SB calls $0.35, BB raises to $1.20, Hero calls $0.80, 1 fold, SB calls $0.80

Flop: ($4) 8

, 7

, Q

(3 players)
SB bets $3.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $7.95 (All-In), SB calls $4.45

Turn: ($19.90) K

(2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($19.90) 6

(2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $19.90 | Rake: $0.99

Results in white below:
SB had 8

, 8

(three of a kind, eights).
Hero had Q

, A

(one pair, Queens).
Outcome: SB won $18.91

3. Turn call was stupid. I felt I was beat. At least I didn't pay him off on the river, which I probably would have done a couple days ago. Smile

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($3.94)
SB ($5.71)
BB ($15.87)
Hero (UTG) ($16.19)
MP ($11.04)
CO ($7.13)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q

, Q

Hero bets $0.40, 3 folds, SB calls $0.35, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.90) 6

, 4

, 7

(2 players)
SB bets $0.10, Hero raises to $0.70, SB calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.30) 8

(2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2.10, SB raises to $4.20, Hero calls $2.10

River: ($10.70) A

(2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $10.70 | Rake: $0.53

Results in white below:
SB had 8

, 8

(three of a kind, eights).
Hero mucked Q

, Q

(one pair, Queens).
Outcome: SB won $10.17

Still, despite these pretty heavy losses I ended almost one buy-in up, so can't complain. Was running pretty hot, cards wise.

Bankroll: 204$ - back over where I started at least. woot.

1. AA - hmmm instead of the 5.90 raise , I'd probably have shoved . we have the nuts at this stage there's a 1/2 buyin pot .
3. i'd fold pre. Without button coming along you don't have set odds.If he does come along , you are out of position in a 3bet pot which isn't nice place to be.

second set of hands. Some of these situations are goiing to be read dependant but stacking off with TPTK has cost me plenty at 10NL.
1.AK : when I saw it I thought looks like a set. Ax or Kx he'd possibly have raised Pre , he likes his hand unless he's been bluffing in the past. I'd probably fold this time.
2. SB limp calling twice seems to me to be small pocket pair.Then he likes the flop so he either hit his set or hes on the flush draw or straight draw i'd probably be swearing at him and folding

3. QQ I dont like the turn bet when the straight could have completed and when he check raised you with that straight possible theres no way I'd call. On the flop , i'd like to hear what better regs would say but I'm thinking maybe $1 would be better to make the draws pay to catch their card

Meh. Being the obsessive fuck that I am, I spend a lot of my day at "work" reading poker articles, thinking about hands I played, reading over other's OPs and what not and it gets me all riled up to get home and play. I start playing, all's good, small pots with small hands, I'm up about half a buy in. Then boom boom. KK vs AA all-in PF, couple hands later, AA vs a rivered set and down two and a half buy ins. I don't mean to whine, because I know shit like this happens in poker but damn, it feels like every time I'm in for a big win I'm on the wrong end of the deal. So, new all-time low on the bankroll now. SIGH. Anyways, this post has no point except getting me off the tables until I cool off.

Wow I fucking suck at poker. Going down to 5NL. Bankroll down to 150$.

edit: Actually, there's no 5NL on UltimateBet, only 2NL. What should I do? Bankroll doesn't support 10NL anymore.

can you buy in for 5$ on the 2nl tables?

Up to 4$.

On another note:

These are the stats for my last 5k hands. Is something glaringly terrible here?

I thought it looked better, but I've been at such massive fail this week, and I know it's not only bad luck (though there has been some beats). Not posting my graph because the line going downwards would fall off the screen.

Any tips are appreciated, getting really discouraged. Maybe time to take a few days off. But I WANT to play. I WANT to get better and WIN. Ugh.

I wake up, giving it another shot. Going on. Bad week, lets have a good weekend. FIRST TWO HANDS:

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($3.53)
SB ($12.50)
Hero (BB) ($10)
UTG ($6.25)
MP ($25.47)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9

, 9

1 fold, MP calls $0.10, 1 fold, SB calls $0.05, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.30) 3

, 2

, 8

(3 players)
SB bets $0.30, Hero raises to $1, 1 fold, SB calls $0.70

Turn: ($2.30) 4

(2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.10, SB calls $1.10

River: ($4.50) 6

(2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $4.50 | Rake: $0.22

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($9.85)
SB ($24.29)
BB ($5.85)
UTG ($3.60)
MP ($19.49)
CO ($8)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q

, Q

2 folds, CO checks, Hero bets $0.50, SB raises to $2, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($4.10) 10

, 7

, 9

(2 players)
SB bets $4.25, Hero calls $4.25

Turn: ($12.60) 7

(2 players)
SB bets $12.75, Hero calls $3.60 (All-In)

River: ($19.80) 8

(2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $19.80 | Rake: $0.99

Both rivered 4 card straights. QQ < JJ, 99 < 57o.

/wrist

Anyways, sick of whining, so I'll post again when I'm doing better.

99 - why didn't you raise it up Pre:
- WTF is he calling your flop raise for
- I'd have bet $2 to make flush draws pay to get there.
- river - hmmm - I think i'd have checked too , but would a bet have taken the pot , but if he'd been on the flush draw he'd have called.

Thanks Keith. No idea why I didn't raise that 99. I think I was just starting up the tables and sort of manually checked, it was literally my first hand. Any thoughts on the stats two posts up?

As far as I can see they look fine, maybe a bit on the nitty side but theyre whaqt I'm aiming for in my next 5k hands or so to try and overcome my looseness. Try downloading holdem luck as it will give you an idea of how well you got your money in ,its designed for Poker Tracker 3 as author got fed up waiting for it in PT3.
http://rapidshare.com/files/207718178/HoldemLuck-v0.14.zip

I think I'm playing a lot better than before. I had about 3 positive days, all three would have been much more positive if it weren't for "that one bad call". But at least they are positive. Today it all went to hell. Turned straight, guy catches full house on the river. Overpair, vs TPTK, guy catches two pair on river. Repeat that twice more. KK vs J9 on a A2J flop, for all I'm worth I can't put the guy on an ace and hey, I was right! But he shoves his 30BB stack over my c-bet and catches his third J on the river. My TPTK vs some calling station's worse TP and he rivers two pair. Aaaaaand I'm down the two buy ins I made in the last three days plus one more for shits and giggles. Every time I have a hand, the guy with AF 9 who has been betting his second pair to the river suddenly wakes up with trips, two pair, etc. It's fucking frustrating as hell.

Anyways. If anyone bothers to read this, feel free to disregard, I just need to vent.

I just pokerstoved all my big losses today. The worst one I went in with 54% equity, after that they were all 70%+. WTF.

Hey, tino, no worries with the venting. We've all been there and know how it feels. And it's all right to vent about it, especially if it helps keep you from tilting at the tables.

GLGLGL, I'll be watching the op.

Cash games make me tilt. This from today's session:

1. I was quite sure he was on a draw, hence my aggressive betting. Should I have slowed down on the turn?

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($8.57)
SB ($10.89)
BB ($3.70)
UTG ($28.28)
MP ($17.01)
Hero (CO) ($15.17)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q

, Q

UTG calls $0.10, MP calls $0.10, Hero bets $0.60, 3 folds, UTG calls $0.50, MP calls $0.50

Flop: ($1.95) J

, 3

, 5

(3 players)
UTG checks, MP checks, Hero bets $1.50, UTG calls $1.50, 1 fold

Turn: ($4.95) 7

(2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $4.40, UTG calls $4.40

River: ($13.75) 8

(2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $13.75 | Rake: $0.68

Results in white below:
UTG had 5

, K

(flush, King high).
Hero mucked Q

, Q

(one pair, Queens).
Outcome: UTG won $13.07

2. Just... fail.

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($15.70)
SB ($9.74)
Hero (BB) ($19.69)
UTG ($9)
MP ($3.85)
CO ($4.54)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q

, A

1 fold, MP calls $0.10, 3 folds, Hero bets $0.50, MP calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.05) 3

, 9

, A

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.70, MP calls $0.70

Turn: ($2.45) 4

(2 players)
Hero bets $1.80, MP raises to $2.65 (All-In), Hero calls $0.85

River: ($7.75) 5

(2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $7.75 | Rake: $0.38

Results in white below:
Hero had Q

, A

(one pair, Aces).
MP had A

, 2

(straight, five high).
Outcome: MP won $7.37

3. Moar fail.

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($12.29)
Hero (SB) ($11.58)
BB ($4.09)
UTG ($16.74)
MP ($4)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q

, Q

1 fold, MP checks, 1 fold, Hero bets $0.50, BB calls $0.40, 1 fold

Flop: ($1) 8

, J

, 10

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.90, BB calls $0.90

Turn: ($2.80) 9

(2 players)
Hero bets $2.90, BB calls $2.69 (All-In)

River: ($8.18) 8

(2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $8.18 | Rake: $0.41

Results in white below:
Hero had Q

, Q

(straight, Queen high).
BB had K

, A

(flush, Ace high).
Outcome: BB won $7.87

4. 3rd time this week.

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($11.24)
SB ($7.58)
BB ($18.68)
UTG ($4.39)
MP ($4.41)
Hero (CO) ($12.73)

Preflop: Hero is CO with K

, K

2 folds, Hero bets $0.40, Button raises to $3, 2 folds, Hero raises to $12.20, Button calls $8.24 (All-In)

Flop: ($22.63) Q

, 9

, 8

(2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($22.63) 4

(2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($22.63) 8

(2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $22.63 | Rake: $1.13

Results in white below:
Button had A

, A

(two pair, Aces and eights).
Hero had K

, K

(two pair, Kings and eights).
Outcome: Button won $21.50

4. Not too bothered about having called the turn because this guy was an aggro donk, reraising middle pair and shit like that. My aces suck in general.

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($5.36)
SB ($3.80)
BB ($5.42)
UTG ($3.72)
Hero (MP) ($8.85)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A

, A

UTG calls $0.10, Hero bets $0.50, 3 folds, UTG calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.15) 7

, 2

, 6

(2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.90, UTG calls $0.90

Turn: ($2.95) Q

(2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $2, UTG raises to $2.32 (All-In), Hero calls $0.32

River: ($7.59) Q

(2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $7.59 | Rake: $0.37

Results in white below:
UTG had 9

, K

(flush, King high).
Hero had A

, A

(two pair, Aces and Queens).
Outcome: UTG won $7.22

I ended the session at break even, so I'm not too dissappointed considering the above hands.

But anyways, going slightly off topic, since this OP is about cash games buuuuuuuut last night and this afternoon I took a break off of the tables and went to play some SnGs and tournaments and ran pretty hawt. At least it got my confidence up from my fail at cash games.
1/45 5$ SNG for 85$
7/687 2$ tourney for 46$
4/268 3$ rebuy for 214$

woot!

Tino, just keep grinding, my friend. Work on your game, and keep grinding. The results at the micros will follow.

Thanks Robb. I will grind the grind no matter what.

I've gotten a lot better at extracting value out of small/medium pots, I think, and it helped sooooooo much in the last 5k hands or so. I've also been getting better at putting ranges on opponents and narrowing down on each street. It's so awesome when you value bet the river, he calls, and you know you bet just enough to be called by his range. This must be second nature to all you more experienced people but when I get it right I feel like doing a victory dance.

I put in a few more hundred hands after my post and ended up two buy-ins up for today.

Oh em gee, I think I just had my very first heater. Man I ran like a god, 3.5 buy ins in 600 hands, 30 ptBB/100! The aces and kings held, the sets hit left and right and I actually got paid off by just about everything. Sweet! Very Happy

That's +45$ this weekend from cash games.

Teh bankrollz I put on UltimateBet is at 368$, although this includes winnings from some tournaments and a bit of Bonus. I also have about 80$ worth of rakeback coming soon, so my bankroll makes me want to touch myself a little bit.

Winning is ftw.

Crappy session today. Started off decent then ran into a better set and lost a buy in, couple minutes later AI on a flop with 53% equity with an overpair and flush draw vs two pair but his two pair held up. Another buy in and a half. Then between being slightly tilty, being card dead and hitting fuck all I blew off another half buy in to finish the night at minus three buy ins. Gots to love the swings.

I did review my session and I only spotted a couple mistakes and none of them were huge, though. So I'll write this one off to variance.

On another note, I signed up to the micro version of GrinderSchool for a month and I'm watching videos and reading articles for at least one or two hours a day until the month is over. Hope it helps.

I'm getting really close to calling this thing off. Every session goes the same. I grind slowly, up a buy in or two, then kings go up vs trips or two pair or some such shit and I'm back to where I started. Rinse, repeat. (I'm actually down almost six buy ins with kings alone) I'm making no progress on the bankroll at all, it's just breaking even including Rakeback. I've lost confidence, on one hand I fold the overpair facing agression and villain shows some random bluff or middle pair, the next time I decide to look him up he's got the nuts. I'm completely off my game.

So I'm taking a break from cash games, going back to tourneys and SnGs where I actually showed a profit. I'll get back to cash games at some point when I've cooled off, I guess. It sucks because I quite enjoy it, but it's just not working atm. I hope to update here again when I'm back and if I'm doing well. Otherwise thanks for those who showed some interest in the OP and gave some feedback either here or on the BC.

God it fucking sucks to feel like a whiny quitter. But I'll be back, I hope. They do say taking breaks is necessary now and then.

Over how many hands have you been break-even? And never feel bad playing the pokerz that make you the most money. Once you build some roll, there's always time to learn new games and formats. I even have this crazy idea that some day I'll learn to play SnG's and tourneys.

Yeah my roll from MTTs and SnGs is still healthy, since I set aside a part of it for this OP and have still been winning in the meantime. And it's not like I've lost the money I set aside for cash games either, it's just frustrating not to see results, like, at all.

I broke even for the first 12k hands, then dropped about 8 buy-ins in the next 8k, then have been breaking even since then for the last 10k. When I see others who raped through 10NL in 30k hands it just makes me feel like I suck, and I guess I do atm.

I'm running a TAGGish 19/15 for the last 20k hands (the first 10k were 23/8 fishy shit). When I look back my biggest losers are usually overpairs, bottom/mid trips, straights, etc. And lately I just find myself making the wrong decisions everywhere because I'm scared of my made hands getting busted - which they usually do.

I think a break will be good. I'll just have to try to stay away from the tables until I feel better about my game. The problem is I still want to play. Razz

Or maybe that's a good thing. I'm not sure.

So I'm back to playing after my 5 day break, I'm feeling alright about my game, I realize I was playing a weak tight game, which seems to be what I tilt into when I get a few bad beats.

Played two sessions since the break and one ended about half a buy in down after a sick all-in beat, would've been two buy ins up otherwise. I feel I'm taking the beats better, toughening me up, so to speak. Today I ended up almost 3 buy ins up. I also received the Rakeback for last month which puts my bankroll aaaaaaaaaaattttttt:

*drumroll*
408$

So there is a little bit of progress, I'll just keep grinding away. I've also gotten in touch with DaD01ng, another poster from here who's got an OP and playing at my level as well; we'll be doing some sweat sessions sometime which I hope will help both of us. The last couple sessions I was mentally telling myself what I was doing and why, and I think it has had good results. I stop myself from making stupid mistakes and sort of make a plan for each hand.

Main issue right now is playing 3bet pots that I miss, but I'm working on it. I just have a hard time c-betting these, especially OOP. Typical situation is AK/AQ from the blinds after a LP raiser, I 3-bet and they call. Flop misses and then I just don't know what to do.

I'm reading stuff on GrinderSchool and watching their videos/lectures. I also ordered NLHE:T&P, which should have arrived yesterday hopefully I'll have it soon. I've heard "Poker Mindset" is really good, and considering I tilt so badly (it's subtle so sometimes I don't even know I'm doing it, but it fucks with my play) it might be a good read.

Ok, enough rambling for now.

Down three buy-ins this session. The usual, was about one buy in up, then someone rivered a straight with his TP 2nd kicker vs my TPTK, no draws completed eeeeeeever, set over set (the only set in 1k hands) and QQ, KK busted to K4s, A7o type of hands and then there go the day's profits. OH FUCKING WELL. I'll play some more later, see if I can actually hold on to my winnings a bit more.

Quick update before this topic falls off the end of the page.

So I took a nice break, read and studied some and came back feeling a lot better. More than anything I realized how much I fucking tilt.

1. Like, at first I was all like, "I don't tilt, yo, I has teh self controlz."
2. Then I was like, "Hmm, maybe I tilt but I don't realize it. But nps, now that I realized it, it'll never happen again. I has teh self controlz, rait?"
3. After that it was like, "Hey I'm tilting right now, stop it and kill everyone on the table through your superior playing skills."
4. But then I was like, "Omg, I actually tilt like a 14 year old cheerleader losing her pom-poms every fucking time AK misses and my c-bet get check-bombed on the flop. It's like I try to make that money back in another hand and play far too aggressively, which of course results in more loss and more tilt. There must be a way to control this instant-tilt after every small loss!"
5. Then I realized tilt comes in very disguised forms, very subtle and very lethal to the game. I realized I have next to none self control and that the best thing to do is gtfo the tables immediately. Poker will always be there, there's no rush to make 25NL by the end of X period, there's no rush to anything. It will only take longer if I am not playing my A game and lose as a result.

Anyways, after a nice little heater after my break I ended the month slightly positive (about 5 buy-ins).

BR: ~450

I've been thinking a lot about iopq's Impulse Control, Willpower, Ego and the article he based his OP on. It never really sunk in how important these things are, even after reading and re-reading that article, it took weeks of mulling it over for it to start to sink in. The funny part is the article actually says just that, and if it weren't for the sentence saying something around the lines of "in fact, most people that read this article won't do anything about it," I probably would have forgotten it in a day. But it kept nipping back at me and recently I've made some (not nearly enough) changes in day to day life to sort of prove to myself that I have the willpower to do so.

Anyways, I feel those changes reflected in my play style lately. I'm more humble, not letting my ego get the best of me. That was part of my tiltage. Mustering up the willpower to play mathematically correct poker (or as close as I can to it), and finally thinking of my decisions more clearly, taking my time and basing my decision on specific reasons = impulse control. Also been running well, so that helps, too.

Anyways, random blurb + BR update, I cashed in some Ultimate Points for 10$ and had another short but nice session yesterday.

BR: 515$

Yesterday I had a long, kinda frustrating breakeven session for over 1.5k hands. It was good in that I didn't tilt and just kept playing my game. I felt I kept playing well and was simply not really getting paid off. Today I went on a 6 BI heater as soon as I sat down and kept winning right up until the end of the 900 hand session. So far, July is awesome. If I keep his up I might be taking shots at 25NL sometime in August, woot.

BR: 565$

sounds like we're both on a scorching July so far. my roll is 570 so we're neck and neck.

I went back to the tables after my short session in the morning only to have a 1.5k hand session of swing swongy fail. Both times I had grinded my way back up I got all ins with AK vs AA which both cost me over a buy in and a half each. I still ended yesterday with +5.5 buy ins so I can't complain. Maybe I have to stop 4 bet shoving AKs.

I've gotten in very nice volume so far this month, at around 6.5k hands already, which is more than half of what I did in all of June. Of course it helps to be running good, too.

I just had a lol revelation. So I was about to open up the tables and I had this nasty feeling. I didn't know what it was at the time but I stopped, rolled a joint and talked to my girlfriend for a bit. Halfway during the conversation it was all revealed to me. Unfortunately it also meant I spent ten minutes nodding and laughing along with my girlfriend before I realized I had no idea what she was talking about. That was -EV in terms of girlfriend sex expectation. Which brings me neatly to this post's point.

So it turns out that because I've been running hot for my last 7k hands or so, I've now built this sort of monetary expectation out every session. And that was my nasty feeling. But that's the worst possible thing to do before a session. The short term does not matter. If I'm playing good, keep playing good, and play with +EV moves, then cool - if I get coolered a couple times or sucked out on when I put it in with the best of it then so fucking be it. In the long term, you just made money. What's important is keeping a straight head through it all, and that includes not expecting a specific monetary goal out of a session because in poker, shit happens - take it or leave it.

Frustrating week, I've been breaking even a lot.

I'm going off to Barcelona next week to visit family and chill on the beach for a while, doubt I'll be able to play much so I want to put in some good volume this weekend to make up for that.

BR: $585

you're pulling ahead ....or should i say that i'm falling behind. Dunno if you are finding ythis ....but I'm running into maniacs left right and centre the last couple of days.Easy to build a stack against them but also very easy to blow a stack against them.

Short but sweet session tonight. I have to post some hands in here to make it a bit more interesting.

BR: 620$

Some hands:

1. Villain is 27/19/3.3 - note on him says he is very aggressive with marginal hands, I'm not really sure how well I played this hand. Is the turn call spew?
Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop

Button ($23.35)
SB ($13.49)
Hero (BB) ($19.82)
UTG ($10.94)
MP ($1.93)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8

, 8

3 folds, SB bets $0.40, Hero calls $0.30

Flop: ($0.80) J

, K

, 4

(2 players)
SB bets $0.50, Hero calls $0.50

Turn: ($1.80) 2

(2 players)
SB bets $1.20, Hero calls $1.20

River: ($4.20) 2

(2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $4.20 | Rake: $0.21

2. Villain is 11/9 - ubernit, I've been raising her blinds nearly every orbit, the times she has played she folded to a c-bet. The turn raise scared me with that flush on the board and the deciding factor in the end was how much I'd been pushing her around before. Thoughts?
Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (4 handed) - [url=http://www.flopturnriver.com/reviews/Online-Poker-Absolute.php]Absolute/UB Cereus[/url] Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop

Hero (Button) ($13.61)
SB ($6.41)
BB ($12.42)
UTG ($5.21)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K

, K

2 folds, Hero bets $0.40, SB calls $0.30

Flop: ($0.80) 4

, K

, J

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.50, SB calls $0.50

Turn: ($1.80) 9

(2 players)
Hero bets $1, SB raises to $4.80, Hero raises to $9.60, SB calls $0.71 (All-In)

River: ($12.82) 7

(2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $12.82 | Rake: $0.64

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