Operation: $2NL to $200NL [PHASE I: Microstakes] - COMPLETE

Ok just finished my last session before I go to NYC. Looks like I'll be playing 10nl when I get back :O. I can't believe I burned through 5nl this fast. 10 hours of playing an average of 3 tables or so.

The sickest heater I've ever experienced. I was also extremely focused on playing well, so that made things easier. Kinda hard to play bad when you run this good though...now only if I can run this hot at 25nl haha, enjoy the graph....

I only stacked off light once, but it was one of those wtf pot odds call type stack offs. Be sick if the heater continues for a bit, but I'm going to brace myself for some gross suckouts now.

Damn this is a great start for a fresh page. Seemed like the entire last one was horrifying :/

[x] $50 at 5nl -------COMPLETE
[ ] $100 at 10nl -------Begins Tuesday

Update:

Alright so I made it back from New York. I had a good time even though it rained all weekend. I'll be back to grinding + study this week. Might throw up a couple tables tonight but I'll most likely start tomorrow. I have 4 books on my list to read so I guess I better get to it.

Good to hear you had a good time dude. Was hoping to catch you on MSN once I seen that your back, o wells. We gotta set up a sweat session some time soon. I need to hear someone bitching me out for trying to double barrel fish lol. Pwn teh 10enels and move up to 25nl already! Wink

lol I have an $820 bankroll playing 10nl. But I'm trying to work out some kinks - it ain't for the money it's for the game.

I'll be lurking the IRC and MSN all week and I'll definately be down for a sweat session.

Yea man, I know why you're doing it, just saying hurry up and make that $100 there so we can beat the shit out of stupid TAGfish! Smile

Aw crap. You're back. I guess that means I'll be seeing you around 10NL? That's definitely not good. GO UP TO 25NL WITH THE QUICKNESS!

Oh yeah...and welcome back. Sorry it rained here all weekend.

just gay bet like $.40 into a $3 pot and I'll fold

Update:

Operation rebuild is going well. I seem to have my focus back and am playing much better. 5nl is complete thanks to a massive heater, and I'm now grinding 10nl for awhile.

May is a busy month for me outside of poker, but I think I might be able to get on pace for a new goal.

I'm not going to go out of my way to put in the volume, however, I think I may have a pretty decent shot at hitting GoldStar this month. Doing so will give me a nice boost for grinding in June since my FPP multiplier will go up (and in June I expect to get in more volume, so more volume=more fpps = more money Very Happy

). Plus I want to gain entry into the GoldStar tourneys since they're of great value.

Anyway, this isn't really an official goal but more of a loose target I guess. I don't want to have to increase tables and let my play deteriorate just because I'm shooting for a certain # of FPP's. I'll see how it goes and determine whether or not it's probable as the month carrys forward.

I don't understand why I run so hot at 5nl yet constantly get sucked out on at 10nl.

http://weaktight.com/1065043 - just a sample

yeah, well I haven't played nearly enough hands in May to worry about the results. I pretty much laughed about yesterdays session since I was coolered a few times and had a few 75% edges all in preflop that wouldn't hold, yet still only managed to be down a buy-in

So no big deal really, the math will catch up eventually.

The hand vs QQ is funny because I imagine he'd probably just call down unimproved to the river for stacks anyway - notice how he limped preflop.

Update:

Been doing a shit load of study relative to play lately.

But I did manage to get in some hands! Though this was a change of pace actually...

I played 31 $1 regular DON SNG's today :/ - Won 22/31 lol. I'm going to play about 100 or so regular speeds at the $1 level till I get a good grasp of them, then depending on how I do at the $5 I'll just make the jump to $10 quicker since I've got the roll.

So today I made a shitty bluff for -20bb.

I called off 55bb in a marginal spot where I was in doubt and probably should have folded.

35bb called in 1 other spot that has been confirmed to be a poor call.

So that is....110bb's that could have been saved. I'm not too impressed so I wrote this note above my workstation and played pretty well since:

"A bet saved contributes to your earnings and improves your win rate."

Played 3k hands today. It's been awhile since I gave it a really good grind. The roll is creeping up. Played some 25nl today for the first time in awhile, more to come later next week/possibly earlier depending on how I feel.

This summer is going to be a huge grindshow for me. I've been doing alot of studying lately to prepare myself for the challenges that are ahead.

Mike Caro has a pretty sick write-up on this in his Fundamental Secrets book. He writes that any money you DON'T lose is JUST as good as money you don't win. This seems obvious...but a lot of players don't see it that way. They treat their wins and losses differently.

Another way of putting it:

It's hard b/c we see folding as losing the money in the pot, not realizing our stacks are much larger lol.

Citizenwind on Cardrunners calls folding a shit-ton in small pots "dodging bullets." Ideally all our won pots would be medium-large and our lost pots would be small/genuine coolers (so not TPTK on a dry board vs. c/rs at the micros lol) and folding in small pots is the easiest way to ensure that.

The pot is never ours. The pot is shared between all the players in that pot. Once we make a bet...it's a sunk cost and we must forget and not make future decisions based on that sunk cost.

I like Illfavors note on the small pot thing, I need to keep that in mind as a priority when it comes to facing resistance postflop.

Also Mike Caro writes some pretty good stuff regarding tilt etc, I'm definately going to be re-reading his book soon to keep up the momentum.

Just some words for my mind to think about and get me into gear for playing well. I thought I might as well post here and share. Read them over slowly and let your mind embrace them. It's amazing what a difference it can make to just read through this list before a session.

Discipline,

Focus,

Control,

Calm,

Careful,

Confident,

Endurance,

Positive expectation,

Talent.

(I swear I'm not some weird psychotic arts student or anything on acid, lolz enjoy)

Keep going bro. I'm impressed by your dedication, many would be given up on some of the really nasty downswings you had. Out of curiosity, I know you are playing cash games and some MTTs, but what about SNGs?

Also: Gotta update us with a graph. What average no. hands are you playing per day? Just curious.

Update:

Just had a pretty decent 25nl session. Lost KK>AK and had a fish suckout on me a couple times to pad the heater a bit but other than that pretty good session overall, managed to get the money in good for full stacks a couple times so that helped. Nice to actually run good at this level for once Smile

I've come to realize that 25nl isn't all that different from 5nl. Just a few less fish, and the regs are a bit taggier as opposed to being so weak tight at 5nl.

I notice the blawg audiences like to see reults so I'll post some, though I'm not a huge fan of doing it.

I've collected 490 VPP's this month. I'm going to hopefully rake in 100 or more tomorrow (I always say this yet it never happens lol), and get that $16 cash credit before the weekend.

Roll is @ $933

Going to play some DON's tomorrow after I grind cash for a bit. I'm going to finish off my series of $1 games and if I'm still profitable (lol) I'll hit up the $5 ones. By grinding 25nl and DON's I'm hoping to exceed 100vpps on the day.

Alright I'm going to post a couple hands that I played during the week from $10nl 6-max.

Hand 1: Villain is unknown as this is his 2nd or 3rd hand at the table and he hasn't done anything till now. Okay so given villains turn raise, I think his range is actually crushing me here if he has 2 pair broadway combo's, made straights, and sets in his range. However I don't think a set is very likely since we could assume he'd 3bet JJ+ most of the time preflop I guess, and to be even nittier QQ+, so assuming this we sort of knock sets completely out (or use as a small weight to his total range). Thus it looks like his range has alot of 2pair+made draws+unmade draws in it. Probably KT and possibly QT in there as well with some Axs 'some of the time'. What do you guys think? In the heat of the moment is this a crying call or perhaps a fold?

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

Button ($3.25)
SB ($4.60)
BB ($5.95)
Hero (UTG) ($10.10)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A

, K

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

Flop: ($0.90) Q

, J

, K

(2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.60, SB calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.10) 6

(2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.40, SB raises to $3.60 (All-In), Hero...

Hand 2: Okay this hand was interesting because the way it played out I sort of came up with more reasons to bet as the streets progressed, to the point where I fired off 3barrels. I feel a bit meh about it though as I'm reallly dealing with some imperfect information but I ended up making assumptions anyway.

I think I'll explain my thought process on the street(s) that get the most questions and criticism on after you guys see the hand. I think this may be a bit of a spew, though I don't think he has any sets in his range since I probably would have heard about them before the river, and flush draws didn't get there, so I imagine that's a big chunk of his range that can't call another bet.

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

UTG ($29.80)
MP ($10)
Hero (CO) ($20.40)
Button ($7.60)
SB ($16.35)
BB ($11.40)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 7

, 8

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

Flop: ($0.95) 2

, 5

, 3

(2 players)
Hero bets $0.60, Button calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.15) J

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

River: ($4.55) Q

(2 players)
Hero bets $2.60

I'm actually quite unsure what range to assign him on the river, so if there's any thoughts on that I can run the calculations on whether the river bet is profitable or not once I get some more input.

Thanks guys,

-m2m

H1- We need like <25% equity here to call. Do you have it?, etc.

H2- Meh, I think this is probably spew. 2barrelling w/o an idea of the villains calling range is like burning money, except you don't get to see the fire so it's even worse. Meh, his range. Some ideas about rivar ranges: 44,66-99, Ax/Kxss.

I guess a picture is worth 1000 words...so I won't bother saying anything else.

nice work

gogogo!

nice werk so far

Thanks guys.

Well interestingly enough..I've been playing alot more 6-max lately, to the point where I don't even consider full ring my 'main game'. Full ring tilts me to no end. I just get bored and end up forcing things. I've spewed at full ring so bad for the past few weeks, I guess I'm just sick of it.

I have to admit this is majorly influenced by running really well at 6-max. But given the 'action' in 6-max games I find it easier to pay attention and take notes, and not have to play as many tables to keep myself from going insane.

I'm trying to work out some things in my 6-max game and I feel like I've improved alot over the past 10k hands. I'm still uber-nitty though, but I think I'm slowly becoming accustomed to playing more junky hands and learning how to better leverage position.

First lesson with spoon on Thursday. I'm pumped.

Good work on the 1k dude! You'll be flying by me before too long. It's ok if you are playing 6max lol. Its YOUR blog/op, theres no need to placate anyone but yourself. I switched from 6max to FR, and might be switching to LHE in mine before too long :/. I don't really care if anyone likes my decisions or not, I'm doing what I think needs to be done to make me a better player and obv what I WANT to play.

I'm so frickin jealous you're getting coaching while I'm gone. Sad

You're gonna be raping 50nl/taking shots at 100nl by the time I get back imo. Good luck man!

Dont sweat opening your range up in 6-max. For starters its not the most important thing at micro stakes, and it just tends to open up gradually. I went from 15/12 to 21/16 and really couldnt say when or what I changed, it just evolved as I became more comfortable.

should be pretty easy to tell how your stats change that much, I'd think.

I do agree that as you get more comfy they should open up naturally

Yeah it makes sense that VPIP would eventually open up a bit for me. I gave it some though and here are some of the reasons why I think bjaust suggested that I will open my game up over time:

a) after getting more experience at 6max I will be able to identify thinner value preflop that I otherwise overlooked, thus will slowly begin picking up more spots to open/isolate that I never saw before.
b) I will begin to develop a better sense of when to 3bet light/squeeze, which is something that hasn't quite developed yet for my game since I'm still grinding micro's, thus the games are softer so there's not usually a need to be 3betting light unless coming across another TAG who is stealing alot.
c) getting better postflop will naturally give me more opportunity to play wider ranges preflop, because of the ability to outmaneuver opponents.

I've began isolating much wider vs a few opponents in my last couple sessions who I had reads on postflop. One player would c/f almost any missed flop, while another would always donk the turn when I checked the flop, so I could check back alot of missed hands on the flop and raise turns where I felt he wasn't representing anything on the board that fits in his range.

I suppose it's really a matter of really paying alot of attention to your opponents and finding 'non-standard' plays that exploit their tendencies to gain more EV.

I've also discovered that in 6max you can use your image to your advantage more, even at the micro's. For example after showing down a strong hand after making a preflop raise you can really run the table over until they adjust (adjust = get sick of you raising alot and then make spew plays back at you).

Yeah, even though a lot of your EV comes from the blinds folding, becoming more confident postflop definately helps your confidence in raising weaker hands PF.

Hey dude, like I told you on MSN, I'm kinda just going through everyone's blogs and saying goodbye before I ship. It's been fun talking poker with you these last couple months, and I can't wait to hit up Niagara next year sometime.

I'm pretty eager to see where both you and BooG are at when I get back. It will be depressing playing catch up, but I get to shoot an M16! Laughing

Please be raping 50nl by the time I get back lol.

Good luck this summer man, you deserve to run good for the next 5 months imo.

fml.

this operation has lost all direction

'EV' is about + 1 buy-in. Which doesn't account for the numerous ridicoulous set/sets on flop, KK vs AA all in preflop etc. etc. etc.

I obv spewed a few, bet/called instead of bet/folded in a few spots..but seriosuly. I'm only human. Any other micro grinder going through this would be compelte bust imo. I'm just lucky I use extreme Bankroll Management.

O dat big giant line is set/set twice and AA all in 3 way preflop, all within literally a few seconds. Then obviously I didn't play good after that.

After that there's 1 buyin spew where I got into a raise war with some reg with the second nut flush draw + gutshot draw on flop, then I bet/called the river with AA getting 5:1 when it was lol obvious I was beat cuz min raises are the nuts.

/wrists now

Going to be doing alot of studying this week.

TAP needs to be read to the end still, as do many other things.

In that case, I won't be playing much.

Okay I'm done spazzing now. Everyone experiences variance so fuck it. It's just gay that it seems to ONLY happen at 25nl and then I just run sick hot and 2 outer everyone at 10nl etc. etc. so lol my $/hour is higher at 10nl ({acronym Renton hates} I'm losing at 25nl) and I can't seem to lose a pot at 10nl unless I do something uber retarded like shove T high.

KK, here's the fucking game plan. It is designed to avoid any incling of tilt/spew etc. or even play at a level below 100% maximum focus. It's also designed to get me to start improving faster and learn more from sucking so badly.

Rules:
1. $25nl will be played for 2 hours each day MAX, a stopwatch will be used. Immediately after the alarm goes off, I must sit out next blind.
2. $25nl will be played on no more than 6 tables.
3. $25nl will NOT be played more than once during each day, ONLY ONE 2 hour session. Anything other poker MUST be played at 10nl or lower, regardless of how good the tables are, hot I'm running etc.
4. Minimum 3 hands from each 2 hour $25nl session WILL be posted in this blog. NO excuses.
5. ABSOLUTELY NO IRC/MSN Music/Windows open/Looking at PokerTracker Graph while playing 25nl. (It's okay at lower stakes for now but I'll have to find some way to kick the habit)
6. For every 2 hours of $25nl grinding you must study poker for 1 hour. If the study is not done, the play will not be attempted.
7. This list will be re-read before every session so I don't do something stupid like forget about it.

Well that's my list of rules. Let's hope I stick to them.

[x] wants to grind NOW

Just poppin' in one last time dude. I'm literally minutes from walking out the door and decided to see what was up. If you seriously stick to that schedule, you will rape 25nl, no question. Makes me sad lol. Wink

I'll see you in 3 months man, crush these fish for me while I'm gone ok?

WILL DO SIR!

Damn sucks to hear you hit such a negative turn. No worries though, what doesn't kill us (due to your extreme BR management) only makes us stronger. Funny how I didn't realize till a few weeks back that you and Dranger had such a large bankroll. Anyways, I hope your $25NL play has benefited from your rules. How was your first session with Spoon? Mine was last week and it helped cement basic principles down for me. Did you guys go over betting?

Yeah I'll definitely hit you up on Sunday (that's my next free day). I never see you on mIRC though. LOL I still remember the first time I saw you on IRC, I didn't realize it was you cause your s/n was m2mcash or something. Dranger was like "duh.. what'd you think m2m stood for?" and I replied "mouth to mouth = cash?"

Anyways, let me know what your schedule's looking like for Sunday.

lol, I'll be around all day probably. I'm on the east coast so I think I'm a few hours ahead of you

Here is basically a squeeze gone wrong. I just 3bet the villain who opened on another table like immediately before this so I was planning on jamming over his 4bet, but that didn't happen and this guy in the middle ends up calling. Looking back I think this is a really terrible board to cbet and I probably should have tried checking it down and just look to get it in if an A or K fell.

PoPokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

CO ($14.35)
Button ($25)
SB ($17.95)
Hero (BB) ($25)
UTG ($9.20)
UTG+1 ($31.20)
MP1 ($4.90)
MP2 ($24.05)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A

, K

5 folds, Button bets $1, SB calls $0.90, Hero raises to $4, 1 fold, SB calls $3

Flop: ($9) 10

, 7

, 6

(2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $5.50, SB raises to $13.95 (All-In), Hero folds

Total pot: $20 | Rake: $0.95

His line is just so weird..you know when donks 'put you on AK' exactly...well I think he may have done that and gotten me to fold the better hand, but I have no clue because I have no reads since I JUST sat down this hand. I don't get what he's repping really, though I suppose his range consists of at least some sort of pair. I guess he's jamming flush draws and overcards as well, but I dunno, anyone have experience in these spots? I would appreciate some feedback on this one, thx.

Also, I didn't get 3 hands to pick because I ended my session an hour early. I decided to implement a stop win for pyschological reason as every good start I've had to a session in the past at this stake has gone to complete shit right around the end to the point where I end up moving backwards quite a bit. As long as I maintain my focus I'll be unstuck in no time.

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Operation: $2NL to $200NL [PHASE I: Microstakes] - COMPLETE

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Operation: $2NL to $200NL [PHASE I: Microstakes] - COMPLETE