Operation: Ben learns poker and builds a roll

Most 100nl regs are bad postflop, but I dont find that as much at 200nl, I'd say thats the biggest difference.

This could border on a whine thread, so I want to avoid that.

Been doing some HEM filters. I'm losing about the amount I'm down in pots where vpip=true, saw flop = true and won or lost BBs less than 30. So basically losing in small - med pots. Of those I'm way down in hands where I call (or check call or whatever) and up nicely in hands where I bet or raise. Seems to indicate that a lot of it comes back to my flop aggression factor again. I've worked my vpip/pfr and 3bet numbers up to nice figures, but Aggr Factor is still low, even though I've been trying to work on it.

I think some of it is actually related to PF. I've been calling too much pf which I think leads to a higher percent of calling postflop rather than betting with initiative.

Theres probably more investigation I should do, go deeper. Like remove the BB filter and see how I'm going in just all pots where I call flop, stuff like that. Seems like a fair path of investigation though.

Double check that your not counting blinds. They are a killer. I usually only look at the four non blind positions and look at blinds separately.

No blinds, I set vpip = true in the filter so I need to choose to put money in.

I officially overused c/ring flops
regs start playing back at me and peeling flops and crap
so now I'm just going to do it when it's like mandatory (like perfect board to bluff)

Did a vid of me playing 200nl. Dont want to make it public, but if people want to watch it and give me any feedback I'd send it to some regs I trust.

Had a coaching session with Renton today. Went really well. Was up a few buyins at one point but ended up dropping a couple in the last 10-15 mins, one due to a miscommunication. It was interesting, because a couple of times he'd advise me about a spot I played wrong, then I'd apply that to what I thought was the same spot and he could correct me and show me why it wasnt correct in the new case (often as a result of different positions).

Lost almost 2 buyins for the day total though. Thats now 9 buyins for the month, my last 6 sessions in a row, and 13 buyins from my peak last month. I'm now actually only up $800 total on Party so far this year.

Chances are I'll be moving down to 100nl again. I havnt actually reached my BRM planned move down point, but as you'd imagine confidence is taking a beating. I'm actually manage to lose at the impressive rate of $100 p/h so far this month. Maybe only for a few buyins, but we'll see how it goes.

Just move down when you feel like it and convince yourself that when you move down you'll own everyone. It will give you confidence faster.

Stayed at 200nl for one more session, lost another $500 (man, so many people had worse 1P that hit 2P on me). Anyway, no more whining.

Roll is down to $5k pretty much on the dot which was/is my move down point. So 100nl it is. I really feel like I should have beaten 200nl, but my confidence is just shot. Feels like I'm expecting to lose (or get all folds). So 100nl, casually from now on. Not going to try to force hands, even if it means I dont clear my reload Bonus. Only play when I feel good and feel like playing. Only 3 tables at a time (been more like 4-5 lately). Really focus on only playing good poker. I think I got up to almost $8.5k which had me real close to my $10k goal. I think a combination of focusing on winning rather than playing well, and emotional impact of feeling like I was basically there and having it snatched away conspired against me, to put me into a bad spot mentally.

Not sure when I'll take my next shot. Will definately be at $6k or above, but could be as much as $8k or more. I'll do it when I feel good about doing it, rather than on some specific amount.

Probably be playing less for a while. Not surprisingly I'm finding myself more interested in other things atm, but will stick with it. Came real close to just quitting. $5k would have given me my immediate and most desired purchases out of poker, but theres no way I could ever start up again, so it would be an all or nothing decision. Not quite prepared to do that yet, would prefer to just break for a month or two if I really couldnt continue.

I have not read this thread, and I want to start reading it from the beginning.

From everything I have read you are an awesome player, but maybe the competition is so hard at 200 NL that there is difficult to gain a significant edge, especially when playing long sessions.

I am starting to think that it is difficult to make serious money at online poker. I have read posts concerning the "Golden Age of Poker", where you could 3-bet all hands in position and bet 1/2 pot every flop and be a big winner. It does not seem as easy anymore.

Luckily I do not rely on money from poker at all, but I can imagine the incredible stress it must be doing this for a living.

You mentioned you were close to quitting, but that you could not stand the thought of starting over- I have excactly the same thoughts. To sum them up:

1. Poker takes quite some time, especially if you want to make some money doing it and count for variance.

2. That time, at least for me, is better spent irl honing my social skills and working/studying to become who I want to be.

3. At the stakes where I want to play, most players are professional and they have significantly more experience than me. I do not want to be another Guy Laliberte.

I plan to withdraw all but 100 USD. Then I can play the occasional SNG and some micro cash- purely for the fun of it.

Maybe we just experienced the downswing blues though...

U really have to stop thinking in terms of $$$ and more in BIs. A -500 sesh is nothing in terms of buyins...but is a fair amt of $$$. Also stop fretting over the size of your bankroll...your bankroll is just a tool to make more money and as long as u still have one, you can still make plenty of cash im sure.

Wise words Antman.

I lost a 500 dollar pot today with JJJQQ, against QQQQx- and my pulse meter did not show any rise in pulse whatsoever.

A happy note- I started pwning again. And even if my villains hit every draw and did not make too many mistakes, I was winning. I got my confidence back and started representing on boards that hit my range.

These 200NL regs are so aggressive and often loose too- I started tightening up my range, but made some advanced moves.

For example, a big money winner for me was calling people who 3-bet light, floating the flop, and repping the turn/river.

These guys are good, but imo many of them has lost their patience in their game. They are used to outplaying most players, and thus play too many hands and bluff way too much both pre and post flop.

Good luck BJ, I know you will start pwning these 200NL noobs soon!

The advice may be wise, the execution however isnt easy. I KNOW I need to think in terms of buyins, but when I look at HEM I see -$500, or if I look at my balance on Party I see its $3.5k lower than it was a month ago.

Bankroll is two things. 1 is for BRM. Reaching $5k means I need to move down. Getting close to $5k meant I was close to moving down. On the other hand, I think part of my problem was seeing $8.3k and thinking "man, I'm less than 10 buyins from $10k!!". I mentally banked those ten buyins because I was going fairly well. So emotionally, not only am I back down to $5k, but I'm back down to $5k after being so close to $10k.

I know thats not helpful, and is probably counterproductive, but when I'm lying in bed at night thats how my head works.

Sorry about the recent stuff, Ben. Hang in there buddy. The lying in bed stuff literally gets to me so much. I have just invested in a nice bedding arrangement (god I'm gay) specifically because of poker. Probably doesn't help to have a baby screaming at you nightly I bet.

Lol, our baby sleeps. Only excuse for me not getting at least 8hrs a night is my brain working too hard :p.

No real update, just a note to say I played today. Started Sept with a winning 100nl session, so hopefully things will start to roll on. Played a mix of HU and 6-max. Didnt play great, but able to read things pretty well, made most of the folds I should have (even the ones where I was obviously ahead on turn and river f'd me).

Not sure how much playing I'll get done in Sept. Got some other things I'm focusing on also now, and works still busy. Hope to get back to at least a few sessions a week though.

step one to not obsessing about money would be to stop making money goals which tbh I'm surprised to see you doing because I though you knew better. I can't think of one helpful thing a money goal does for you. I don't want to offend anyone but whenever I see an op banner with money on it I already know that person probably does not have the right mind set. There is a reason this forum is littered with failed $XXXX or bust/by xx/ for my car payment threads and it isn't that the posters are bad at blogging.

Look at the title - ben learns poker and builds a roll. Nice! On what page did it become Ben makes 10k or cries trying? You're not going to miss the benchmarks when they happen and they will still feel just as great (even though it's an arbitrary point you picked on a journey). So setting the goal gives you a chance to feel like you failed, play bad once you almost get there and just barely get passed it (can't slip below 10k!!)... and nothing else.

Also I don't know how much "I'm down XYZ vs EV" you've done in these 20 pages but if you can't stop that, I would quit blogging altogether. Another reason a lot of these things fail (and why I almost never read them) is these blogs are a great place to whine without getting stuff moved to the tilt forum and get people to feel bad for you. That encourages you to keep seeing people putting money in behind against you as a bad thing. We all battle against that after some beats but I really think having a bunch of people smile and nod while you revel in your 'downswing' is very bad for your mindset. You're certainly going to feel it when you aren't running good but the sooner you learn to deal with and process that crap out by yourself the better off you are. If you're too tilted from running bad to play that's fine (or at least a different post) but again I don't see the value in posting about it.

I try not to discuss EV too much, if I do its just in a session (i.e., would have broken even but losing 3 flips in a row left me 3 buyins below EV). Longterm I really cant complain about EV. If I could remove it from HEM I would, but once its there its hard to ignore altogether.

As for money goals, I dont display sigs so I dont see my own banner. I update it approximately once a month. Aside from that, my money goals are really withdrawal goals. $10k isnt significant in itself, but its the point where I've decided I can withdraw $2.5k without affecting my roll signficantly (even though it would be 25% of my roll, it would still leave me fairly comfortably rolled at 200nl afterwards).

I get your points though, and appreciate the advice. I definitely think concentrating on the money has been bad and that I played better when I just played to play well. Maybe just checking results once a week or something might work better, although it would be hard to review hands without seeing my session results.

The doctor makes some great points and I myself have bounced between preaching these and doing these. I for one had a real issue when I started assigning the value of the cash to my game when playing $200NL, I made a few withdrawals and suddenly losing buyins just before a planned withdrawal became "There goes the new chair" " There goes the new DVD" "Could have bought xxxxxx with that" after sessions.

I'm not saying don't look at results, you know +- a BI anyway playing 4 tables I'm sure. The point is the money can't be the goal, playing hands/optimal tables/tourneys or w/e is the goal. you'll think plenty about the money anyway. Again, ask yourself what you're getting out of setting a money goal. I guarantee you'll remember to try and win money regardless.

setting a hand goal and meeting it is something you can do every week and pat yourself on the back. Even better, this goal feels much MORE rewarding when you have a terrible month and meet it anyway.

If you don't want a volume goal, how about something you can do every session? It sounds like you think you play too tight, so every session over X hands try and make one bluff or thin VB you would not have made 3 months ago. Then expand to 2, etc.

Also I say this to everyone whenever they ask anything but learn some new games, maybe take one sess a week and play something else. It will make your poker brain a lot better and may make HE seem less dull and grindy.

Yeah, I dont like volume goals because my standard of play really slips if I try to force hands when I'm not in the right headspace to play.

I like the idea of coming up with other goals though. If nothing else it could distract me. I guess its all well and good to say 'dont set money goals', but once you've started thinking about the money its hard to stop. Even if I just want to play well for a session, I still find it hard not to care if I won or lost, especially as I got close to the $10k. Again, less about the $10k as a figure, but that was (is) going to be the start of actually making withdrawals and earning something from this poker thing. On the other hand, if I make a goal before each session, like you say make one bluff where I'd normally chicken out (the fear of looking stupid as Griffey puts it), then hopefully focusing on that instead will help to detract from the money. At the moment it kind of feels like theres nothing really much else to focus on.

Thanks.

Be process oriented instead of results oriented. The goal is to play your A game as much as possible.

Just a little update here for folks who wonder where I've gotten to.

Been doing a lot of thinking about recent discussions in this thread, trying to sort my head out. I feel really positive about poker again atm, although I havnt played for a couple of weeks I dont think.

I'm going back to just working on improving my game. 2-3 tables at a time. Forget about bonuses and money goals. Dropping my plans for 'withdraw X at Y BR'. I'll just make withdrawals when I feel its appropriate. This way hopefully I'll avoid that "nearly there...ah shit" phenomenon that messes with my head so much.

Gotta work a bit more on my thoughts on the Drs last post. I dont intend or even desire to ever play poker full time. Maybe its a mental thing, as I just cant imagine ever earning enough to be worthwhile. I'd realistically want to be earning twice as much from poker as from my current day job to go fulltime, as thats the kind of buffer I'd want for variance. I earn pretty solid $s now so that would be pretty lofty. Really I just want to get to the point where I'm winning say $2-4k per month as a part-time hobbyist. How viable that is as a goal remains to be seen. Maybe just winning $1k per month at 100nl is the best I can do? For now though thats all off in the future, playing good poker is my aim atm.

That said, poker does slip down my list of priorities when its not fun. I cant stop playing when I'm winning and the cards are flowing my way, but when times are rough I do just avoid playing. Maybe I do need to focus on my 'B game' somewhat. Tbh the reason I dont play when I'm not feeling right, isnt just that I dont want to, sometimes I really do want to, I just know from experience that I play crap. The times I dont "feel" it, but play anyway are inevitably my big losing sessions. Often its not that I dont want to play, its that I protect my roll by not playing. I should be able to play more though, and start working on that.

All that said, not sure I'm ready to leap back in now. Particularly hectic at work atm, and doing a lot of bike training atm in preparation for a 100km ride in less than a month. Not going to force my way back into it, but once I do start playing regularly again I'll have to work on ways to maximise my effective playing time.

Glad to see you back, Ben. I hope all is well and your head is in the right mindset. You can definitely do $1k+ at 100NL with very little volume.

So I played a short session before lunch after all. Went well, won some $s. Only 2-3 tables, mostly 2. Played well but not great. Think I did a good job targetting the fishy targets, just got a bit passive v's more reggy players at times. Felt good though.

Jyms and I can no longer play on the same tables. I think because I tried to transfer him funds (we took a joint piece of Alexos' action in the WCOOP) they now assume we're 'associated' and to prevent collusion they wont let us play at the same table. I guess fair enough in a general rule sence, but annoying since we never do collude, and we both use spadeeye to target fish so we're often trying to join the same tables. Given Jyms is normally playing before I do that could get restrictive for table selection.

Ah well.

Just read kminds Op with the post from Jyms about levelling, reminded me of a bit I saw in a vid this morning that literally shot me up out of my seat (on the train too, funny looks). It was vid 1 of the Samo visits the Doctor series on BFP, and they were discussing something about levels and Giggy mentioned the biggest mistake he finds in people he coaches or friends who play around the 100nl level, is they're so caught up in thinking complexly about situations and lvls and suchlike, that they miss the obvious point of considering what level their opponents are on. Even the regs are rarely thinking very deeply.

Man, I think this is a big problem I had in my 200nl shot, and at times 100nl. I keep expecting people to be 'playing back' or 'making moves', but in reality I rarely have any evidence thats the case. This explains why every time I tried to bluff catch, they had it. They just bet when they do. I'm really going to try to take the approach now of assuming people are just playing ABC uncreative poker until proven otherwise, rather than assuming people are playing complex poker without any proof.

I dunno, written out it doesnt seem as revolutionary as it did at the time, but I really think this is going to make a big difference to my game.

This came to me when I was reviewing a ton of hands where I called bets on the river mostly. I was calling some huge bets and even overbet shoves on hands where I am telling myself they are betting to get me to fold, there is no way they want me to call a bet that big. Turns out that I play the hand well and they just overbet because they want to get missed value. Same for flop raises. I keep overplaying guys that raise flops assuming that they are thinking about FE and hand equity together and it turns out, they get a hand and start slamming the pot. These guys are not thinking and in reality it should be a note we take when it's not the case, ie: "thinking player". I bet I won't type that much at all.

Yeah, thats what I'm thinking. Take note of those who can be creative and unless I see that note, assume they're straightforward.

Btw, I'm finally on ADSL so hopefully sweating will work better now. Really hoping in the time I have available to both sweat others a bit more and more importantly have others sweat me.

Not a great day today. Definately hit by variance early on, but then I think I suffered from some stealth tilt. Normally I'm pretty good at recognizing it when it hits and either controlling it or quitting, but looking back in review I think it slipped by this time. I wasn't monkey tilting off stacks, but just a lot of 15-25bb pots that I didnt even realise I was losing really.

Bloggy mode. I played a bit yesterday, 100nl 6-max tables were quiet so I started up a 50nl HU match. Opponent was playing about 25/20 to begin with, and he took me for about 2.5 buyins within the first 30-60 mins. Man, he just had it every time. If I had TP he had 2P, if I had 2P he had a straight, when I flopped TP + NFD he flopped a flush, etc. Can't help some of that, but what you can help is reads and thinking levels. I kept trying to get advanced, he kept playing his cards. He even had betting patterns I picked apart early. Prime example, he was always betting 3/4 pot, but then he bet pot on the turn and I called and called a river bet and he had 2P. About 10 hands later he bets pot on turn again and I tell myself since he had a big hand last time he did that, he's likely using the same line as a bluff now. Nope, he had another big hand (straight on turn) and he just bets bigger with big hands. After about an hour I managed to convince myself I really did need to the discipline to accept he was playing pretty much ABC poker, and to play him according to that. A couple hours later I had him down over 2 buyins before I quit (ie, won my money back plus an extra $100). Seems pretty basic and straightfoward, but I really think this is how I should play, and an example of me having trouble accepting that. I keep trying to play levelling games v's people who I have no idea if they're working on a certain level or not, or even thinking at all. Its basically what I talk about above, but its harder than it seems. Frankly, poker is more fun when you get all deep and thoughtful about spots and levels, but the money is in playing to your opponents not how you want to play, and I need to start assuming opponents are straightfoward until proven otherwise, rather than the other way around.

Ok, been thinking more about where I am with poker, and in particular some of the stuff the Dr talked about above. I'm playing a bit again now, but still really not as motivated as I was. Rather than avoiding it altogether, I'm just playing when I feel like it, but I only seem to feel like it 1-2 times per week. Thats really doing nothing for me. Heres what I've decided. Yes I will set myself hand goals, and the reward (rather than penalty) associated is a nominal withdrawal regardless of results. I've been thinking about the approach both daven and Robb have been taking, of withdrawing each month regardless of results. Even if its only like $200, it gives you something to show for your time playing poker. Hopefully it also removes the drive that keeps creeping in to reach certain amounts so that I can withdraw (or at least cut it down). Rather than getting impatient to reach say $10k so I can withdraw a large amount, at the end of the month I'll be withdrawing $200 regardless. I can then just spend that money how I want. Given the family is on a pretty tight budget atm while we try to pay the house off as quickly as possible, I can use that for stuff like books/dvds/taking wife out for dinner, etc. Should be nice. So I pick a hand target and if I reach that, I make the withdrawal, so that should add extra motivation to play. Also, because I plan to have a fairly nominal hand target, I'm thinking of adding other goals in as well. For example in Sept my goal will be to watch all 8 of Tommy Angelos vids Jyms keeps telling me I should watch. My lack of motivation has spread to watching vids and studying, so if I tie that in with a reward it should help. Each month I can pick something different.

All that said I need to pick a hands goal for Oct, but havnt yet. I'm fairly sure I'm away every weekend in Oct (except maybe 1) and travelling for work at least 2 weekdays each week, so I'm really unsure what a viable goal is. Something like 5k-7k seems really small, but that might be all I can realistically make with the time available. Normally it'd be 10k hands I think, but dont want to stretch too hard for starters.

Havnt played as much as I wanted but some. Got a short session in tonight even though I was tired. Change of pace, I played 2 tables of 100nl without a HUD. Was interesting. Ended up down slightly after 45 minutes, but other than a few hands I think I played well. I'll post a few:

Hand 1

Hand I like least, mainly because I just kinda did it on the flop rather than thinking it through. Weird spot where I didnt bet because I didnt want to get raised, but then I go and c/rai because I thought his PSB seemed more like a steal.

No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (CO) ($124.83)
BB ($100)
MP ($100)
UTG ($106.09)
SB ($28.49)
Button ($96.40)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q

, J

UTG calls $1, 1 fold, Hero bets $4, Button calls $4, SB calls $3.50, BB calls $3, UTG calls $3

Flop: ($20) 6

, A

, 8

(5 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks, Button bets $19, 3 folds, Hero raises $120.83 (All-In)

Hand 2

This ones interesting. Against the same guy, but about 30 mins later. I know from results above that he overvalues his hands (he had AT) so maybe I should just keep barrelling, but I decided to pot control it.

No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (UTG) ($197.41)
CO ($120.50)
Button ($125.58)
SB ($102.18)
BB ($107.81)
MP ($229.39)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q

, A

Hero bets $3, MP calls $3, 4 folds

Flop: ($7.50) 8

, J

, A

(2 players)
Hero bets $5, MP calls $5

Turn: ($17.50) K

(2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $14, Hero calls $14

River: ($45.50) A

(2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $25, Hero calls $25

Total pot: $95.50

Hand 3

Didn't have a read that this guy was stationy, so didnt think there was a lot of value on flop, of course shitty turn card comes. He insta checked on turn, I read that as weakness, but then again if he turned a draw he probably thinks a little (of course you'd expect him to think a little if he turned the flush also). In the end he seemed capable of making dumb moves so I stationed up.

No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($134.78)
SB ($223.40)
BB ($100)
UTG ($34.93)
MP ($58.27)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 9

, K

UTG calls $1, MP calls $1, Hero bets $5, 3 folds, MP calls $4

Flop: ($12.50) K

, 7

, K

(2 players)
MP checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($12.50) 8

(2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $7, MP raises $14, Hero calls $7

River: ($40.50) 6

(2 players)
MP bets $12, Hero calls $12

Total pot: $64.50

Hand 4

This guy hadnt been at the table long, but seemed kind of taggy/reggy. Btw, its when I start making calls like this pre-flop that I decide to quit. Loose calls are definately a sign that my game is slipping.

No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($157.41)
BB ($120.50)
UTG ($100.18)
MP ($102.31)
SB ($272.39)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J

, 8

UTG bets $4, 1 fold, Hero calls $4, 2 folds

Flop: ($9.50) 7

, 2

, 4

(2 players)
UTG bets $7, Hero calls $7

Turn: ($23.50) K

(2 players)
UTG bets $16, Hero calls $16

River: ($55.50) 8

(2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $55.50

Feedbacks appreciated, I feel rusty.

Also, just to flood the topic and ruin page sizing, heres a picture of my stats since joining Party Poker. Top row is 200nl and bottom row 100nl:

Interesting eh? Is to me anyway. My stats are almost identical accross the two. Not saying they're good (and I welcome feedback on them), but its not like I grossly changed my game and lost all my $s. Main difference was the distribution of my PFRs and my 200nl was 'better' in that sense than 100nl.

Also stood out just how few hands I really played in that time.

Btw, I also did the filter on 100nl for all this year and I'm winning at slightly over 10bb/100 over 30k hands of 100nl for the year. This should give me confidence that I have a winning game and to get back on the horse. Just for some reason still finding it a bit tough to do so.

I notice that your quite a bit tighter than me (23/18) but your aggression numbers are a little more passive than mine (2.12/28.5) and your showdown stats are about the same. I think I am not aggressive enough and see showdown a little too much. That is with my stats for this month where I lost 25 BI's to start off. I think that you need a ton more preflop looseness IP and your aggression needs to be uncovered.

15k hands is kind of a small sample to really go into the differences (or sameness) of the two. Also, your 3b% is significantly different.

About river call efficiency. When I saw your post I looked it up. Mine is over 2, and that implies that I don't call enough on the river, which is a bit of a surprise to me. How do you interpret that stat?

Hmm, I thought I replied to this already.

River call efficiancy is the return per $ for calls on the river. So every time I call $1 I win $1.20ish, whereas you win $2. I guess the question is am I making too many bad bluffcatching calls, or are you not making enough? I think its more likely that I'm making too many bad calls. One reason I used to do well on Everest is that people there love to bluff and I love to call. On Party they dont bluff as much but I keep calling :p.

Couldnt sleep tonight, after a long days work, so against usual rules I got out of bed and fired up a session. I'd just watched nbr 2 of TAs vids (yes I'm running behind schedule for my goal) about lopping off our c-game. I found it really useful. Rather than find myself doing things and quitting because I knew I was starting to play bad, I was catching myself doing it, or better yet catching myself ABOUT to do it, and stopping it. It being any number of bad C-game type stuff. I feel it was one of my best, most disciplined sessions in months, and at a time when usually I'd be at my worst. In particular felt really good about my folding. I made good folds. Results were good, but less focused on results on more on the achievment of playing a session I'm proud of.

If your finding yourself getting back into th poker groove, you may want to finish those vids. They are really good. I have watched quite a few videos lately and that series is tops. On the other hand, the new 2 part SSNL series by phil galphond sucked ass and was very disappointing.

If your looking for videos on the mental/tilt side of things, I don't remember if you have seen the Stox vids by Jarred Tendler or not, but are a close 2nd with the TA vids.

nice work on the discipline dude!

I downloaded them all but only got about halfway through the 2nd one I think. His adult learning model stuff. Was really heavy going and the DRM crap was annoying me on my bad connection at the time. That and it meant I couldnt convert to PSP. Probably worth trying again though, I never actually got to his tilting stuff.

Posted a few hands in SHNL forum, but had another one I questioned so I'll post it here rather than flood there.

Std TAG type op, no special reads.

No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00 BB (5 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($106.10)
MP ($200.48)
BB ($121)
SB ($115.82)
UTG ($186.19)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J

, A

2 folds, Hero bets $3, 1 fold, BB raises $9, Hero calls $7

Flop: ($20.50) A

, 2

, Q

(2 players)
BB bets $14.61, Hero calls $14.61

Turn: ($49.72) 7

(2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($49.72) 5

(2 players)
BB bets $28.86, Hero folds

Total pot: $49.72

Very nearly quit poker today. Actually decided to and started withdrawing funds to Neteller to get them all in one spot for withdrawal to me. Nothing to do with results or poker at all. Been going relatively ok this month. I just haven't had much time to play, and its only going to decrease going forward. I really need to start doing extra hours/study for work, and its spring so I'm wanting to do more stuff outside. Gym/fitness has struggled lately also. Just other priorities.

The main thing I wanted to pay with from poker is to build a basketball area. Almost a half-court size in our backyard. I expect it'll cost about the same to build as I currently have in my roll, so I really wanted to get that done so I could enjoy it during the good weather. Rang my Dad to ask about some stuff though, and since we need to do some earthworks to get the area level (we're on a hill) he let me know we'd need to leave it at least 3 months, preferably over a winter period before concreting on it. So at least 3 probably almost 12 months (Bad timing).

Without a rush on that, I might as well leave my money in and see how things go. As long as I dont lose too much in the meantime I guess.

Real pity is that since I didnt see myself starting again from micros I cashed out my points at the lowest possible rate, $140 for 5600 points. I could have bought a $350 Bonus for 4000 once I got goldstar back again. Ahh well.

About breakeven for the month in poker, which includes 2 pretty poor sessions in the beginning when I really played badly so relatively happy with how I'm going atm.

Think I'm going to spend some time working on a time schedule to help fit everything into my days. Then of course I have a 16month old son who doesnt help routines, but somethings better than nothing Wink

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Not sure anyones reading anymore. Sorry for poor poker content.

Been thinking about things after my last post. I really like where this leaves me poker wise. Other than my monthly stipend I talked about earlier, I plan to make no withdrawals until I'm ready to finish off this b'ball area. That means I have around 10 months with no plans pokerwise. Rather than setting goals and trying to reach certain amounts etc, I'd just like to have at least what I have atm then. Hopefully this takes a lot of pressure off myself, and I can just focus on playing good poker, and improving myself as a poker player in the meantime. Practise good BRM and just do my thing.

October just about over, very few hands but will finish my goal of watching the Tommy Angelo vids (only 1 to go). I'll spend a couple days thinking of targets for November (targets, not goals). If anyone's reading and chooses to discuss thoughts, heres one thing:

I'm tempted to set a hands target. Gotta start getting hands in. On the other hand, this new freedom of mine has me more tempted to do learning type stuff, like 1-2 tables of HU, or playing other game styles, or 2 tables HUDless or whatever. With that in mind, I'm not sure a set number of hands is the best idea. Maybe something like an hours played target, or X sessions in the month (regardless of length) or something like that, thoughts?

Also, any suggestions for a secondary target, similar to my vids one in Oct. Maybe a certain amount of review, or maybe certain stat targets for the month, or something? Throw some ideas out guys. Stuff that should help me with improvement.

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