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.

Turn: :9s ($25.5, 2 players)
MP1 bets $5, Hero calls.

River: :jh ($35.5, 2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero is all-in $12, MP1 calls.

Results:
Final pot: $59.5
MP1 shows 2d3s
Hero show straight flush

I think I found my new home for a while.

Well my win rate is starting to plateau at 43bb/100 right after 1k hands >brag<. I dont think I have ever won this many buy-ins on a weekday before (8). Thanks to LimpinAintEz for sharing his secret goldmine!... With the infi amounts of bonuses on this network I think I can last here all the way up to 100NL.

The pot limit style is great for limpng Axs. It also punishes people that slowplay. I have lost my share of hands to sets, but they dont bet them! Thus the river bet doesnt hurt so much when its only 2.50$.. There dont seem to be nearly as many set hunters/AA crackers at these tables either.

I still dont know how to play KQo cuz its a consistant loser of mine. I have lost 8/9 hands with it, even though I have raise 8/9 times I have had it.

I have been good about checking/calling bottom 2pr on the flop, because when I dont, this is what happens:

both villains were about 62/5 and are basically calling stations, and had full stacks. I went a little nuts with my raise, but I thought I could get them to stack off with Ax.

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

Pre-flop: (9 players) Hero is CO with :4s :3s
UTG folds, UTG+1 calls, MP1 calls, MP2 calls, MP3 folds, Hero calls, SB (poster) checks, BB (poster) checks.

Flop: :ah :3c :4h ($1.75, 6 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG+1 bets $1, MP1 folds, MP2 calls, Hero raises to $5.5, 3 folds, MP2 calls.

Turn: :as ($13.75, 2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero checks.

River: :8s ($13.75, 2 players)
MP2 bets $13.5, Hero folds.
Uncalled bets: $13.5 returned to MP2.

Results:
Final pot: $13.75

Can anyone think of any hands that I beat?? Any possible way to justify a call?

My current dedicated bankroll is 791$.

Welp, my new home (25PL) isnt so nice after all the euros go to bed... My BB/100 went crashing on down back to reality. No real interesting hands. Got my str8 AI on turn vs set, too bad turned into quads on riv. Also got all in with middle 2 pr vs top 2 pr. Aces got cracked by 77 as well. AKs all in with TPTK on riv vs another AK.. too bad he hit a flush on the riv.

My internet connection was really bad today for some reason, I timed out a number of times on my tables. I also had to chase my dog around a bit, as he was being a monster. All that put me in a less than perfect mood. I was not very zen-like tonight.

Im not frustrated though. I still am very confident and will continue on my quest.

.toma

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