TerryToma's blog

Hello everyone,

Im a FR 25NL / bonuswhore who would like to improve. I have Poker Tracker, gametime+, 2 1600x1200 monitors. Recent PT stats 29/7.
Thinking about getting pokeracehud.

I would like to join this community, as I have been a long time luker. Embarassed

(edit: Lurker double Embarassed

)

Goals:
1) Move up with correct Bankroll Management. 100NL by Halloween
2) Be able to sustain 1200$/month in withdrawls to pay for a new car for the wife. [edit after I make it to 100nl]
3) Maintain a 6bb/100 at 100NL.
4) Cut down on tilting.
5) Dabble in MTTs, I have won a couple on WPEX already
6) Become a positive contributor on here, with a blog by 2/07.

I feel that my stay down at 25NL has been wayyy too long, and it has led me to some bad habits. I had my worst 24 hrs in poker yesterday, and I am on my second time around the newbie circle of death. I have been playing on hollywood and PokerStars recently.

Thanks.

(update, here is my current graph, ill update THIS image every post. y axis = USdollars)

Thanks for the hospitality Flomo Very Happy

Tonight I played a small session. I have scrapped my entire game plan, as it has run me around the newbie circle of death for the second time. I think reading Super System 2 always gets me in some bad habits. I win a few hands with crappy starting hands, then start losing some big hands.

I have now dedicated myself to Renton's strategy. My stats are 27/10 tonight after 400 hands. I played well but ran a flopped set into set and a flopped str8 into nut str8. Basically broke even tonight.

I dont think my numbers will stay at 27/10, but at hollywood 25NL, there are a ton of hands where everyone limps, plus the small blind is .15c, which may lead me to completing more than I should.

FTR is a great community with an excellent interface, I'm glad to be a (newb) part of it.

Are you playing full ring to see table averages like those?

don't withdraw while playting 25nl

Going to pay it off in a year?

Still following Renton's PF guide for the most part. Running 7bb/100 at 25NL FR on PokerRoom skins.

Stats for last 2 days:
VPIP/PFR: 22/9
AF: 1.93/2.7/2.5

I have been working on my 2nd barrels, especially against weak/tights with high VPIPs. I read in Slansky that donks call a lot of pot-sized flop bets with a draw, even mid pair, but a quick to let go on the turn to any more resistance.

Advice/encouragement appreciated.

As I said earlier, most of the tables I play at are 25/5 overall. Can anyone give me a few examples of table norms at full ring at the 50NL/100NL/200NL?

.toma

best of luck to ya.

Ouch, this hurts. I have imploded since my last post. I stopped my session in 80 hands b/c my confidence is gone right now.

I'd post hand histories but the converter isnt working.

I lost 2.5 buyins in 80 hands today (in order)
1) got sucked out: bb special nut st8 ai on flop. On turn, 2 villains hit flush
2) got pushed off QQ on 678 rainbow flop by 99 (who 4bet preflop)
3) got aces cracked multiway pot AA << 777 (probably tilting from #1&2)

Yesterday lost net of 1 buyin:
Lost AA to 99 on a 889 flop. Half stacked c/r'd AI K62 flop 62o v my KQ.

Weekends are crazy. Usually my most profitable days but also most variance due to the maniacs.

Any advice/encouragement is appreciated.

Welp the rest of the night went much better. I spent a good part of the night thinking about the strategy that got me started in online poker.. The dreaded shortstacking appraoch. I wrote about it on this thread.

www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/forum/poker-40796.htm

I used this strategy for a few months in Dec 2005, early '06. I would alternate between 6max & ring and play pretty steady/low variance poker.

I wrote about why I couldnt be profitable using it b/c I was too aggresive now. Well I took that as a challenge to myself and actually played a little shortstack 50NL (bought in at 15$) on PokerRoom, made 70bb at a rate of 17bb/100. No doubt I was running a little hot, but I took that confidence back into the ring game.

It seems that my problem was blind aggression. I was just trying to force hands rather than "pick spots" as they say. I was trying to run people over with my AA, even though I could have found out they were cracked.

Then I 8 tabled for a few hours tonight on stars/hollywood. 2000 hand later I won back my previous losses + another 3 buyins. Variance leveled back and even after my first horrible 80 hands I'm back to 7bb/100. I have been running 23/8 last 2k hands. I'll post my pt stats once I get to 10k hands.

The hand histories in the other forums have really helped me think a bit more about how to get more value out of TP and overpairs. Overall I was trying to muscle people out of the pot whenever I had them, and fold to resistence. Talk about minimizing my gains/increasing losses.

Thanks for reading! If anyone has any q's about my shortstack strategy, let me know. It seems to be pretty hot in the 6max/high stakes holdem lately. As I said, I always run a full 100bbs at 25NL, and top off. But the shorstack at higher levels really lets me take a break from the monotony.

.toma

I complete alot as well, but i always remember what i'm trying to accomplish with the cards I have. I tend to not complete with trash, but anything that can make for a str8, flush or an invisible 2pair I will play but play it for what you originally intended. don't get all worked up with 2 pair against aggression and chase your flush and str8's when you have odds.

Well I decided to rename this post from "First post, with goals" to "TerryToma's blog."

I am excited about how many replies this thread has had, so I have decided to keep it going. I will post thoughts about what works and doesnt at my current level of poker. Current level is 25NL, dedicated bank rolls is ~600$. I will not be withdrawing, and I will be moving up using the 20buy-in rule. I cannot wait until I am at 100NL, as I feel there are a number of bonuses that will become quite profitable at this level.

Today was all about learning to adjust to the tables. There were definitely higher avg pots than I have seen in a while (10-15$ on PokerRoom skins, and 8-11$ on PokerStars). I truly believe that the college students are getting back to their dorms with some extra time on their hands this week. This lead to much looser play by opponents. I was playing my standard raise any pocket pair from any position if I'm the first to act, and cbet most flops. This turned out to be a bit of a leak at this level. People were calling down with mid-pair all over the place!

I was also getting re-raised preflop like crazy! I'd put in a raise in MP with 66, then a re-raise would happen, then an all in by the blinds. I'd have to fold. Table averages were much closer to 32vpip/9pfr at the start of my session. I decided to be a bit more selective about my pfr's in early/mp.

This was really exciting to be able to win a big pot with TPTK again. When tables are this loose, my AA/KK are much more profitable as people like to rr before the flop, and raise if they flop a draw. I finally got to practice a c/r AI on the turn with KK as an overpair today against someone who was a bit too agro with his draw.

Later on after midnight, the tables started tightening up back to around 24/5. Then I could start to loosen up and win more pots with c-bets. I am really trying to incooporate the table stats into my game. I ended up about 11bb/100, but would be nearly double that if top 2 pair didnt fill up against my flopped set. Overall I feel as if I played very well tonight. I am optimistic in general.

I am a bit worried about the senate trying to push through the bill. It seems frist+republicans are going to try and distance themselves from the scandal plagued jack abramoff. I really hope the bill gets killed.

Ok enough rambling, Im going to post some HH's. I will also post my first 10k stats since joining FTR at the appropriate time. I am currently at around 7k.

.toma

Good luck man. I will keep an eye on this one Smile

Welp, switched it up a bit today. I played 8 tables of 25 POT Limit Poker on PokerRoom. I made a killing. Havent played against players this bad in quite some time. I ran 77BB/100! I adjust my game to the pot limit structure as well, was 30/12 pre flop. I would like to get into a discussion about the differences in potlimit .25/.25 vs .15/.25NL if someone is interested.

However, here's an example of the horrible players:

Poker Room skin
Pot Limit Holdem Ring game
Blinds: $0.25/$0.25
8 players
Converter

Pre-flop: (8 players) Hero is Button with :8s :6s
2 folds, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, CO folds, Hero calls, SB (poster) checks, BB raises to $1.25, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, Hero calls, SB folds.

Flop: :5s :10s :7s ($5.5, 4 players)
BB checks, MP1 bets $5, MP2 folds, Hero raises to $10, BB folds, MP1 calls.

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