Operation Mr Consistency and Other Random Thoughts

10nl....2.3k br.....move up ffs

Originally Posted by The Bean Counter

fluked my way to a couple of $1k scores in micro mtts.

nice work, and even smarter that you don't think that a couple of mtt scores mean that you beat small stakes cash games. A lot of these tourney scores get redistributed through the poker economy by players taking their winnings to cash game tables where they get crushed

Originally Posted by The Bean Counter

I’m currently playing 10nl with a bankroll of $2.3k

is it worth leaving all this money online? like, depends on how you perceive the money, what it's worth to you, and stuff. All kinds of other stuff

Originally Posted by The Bean Counter

and beating it for just 2bb/100 over 100k hands.

you're right that this is a pretty rubbish winrate at 10nl
you seem to think that your only leaks are concentration and inconsistency, they'll be some of the leaks for sure - but work on your overall game as well.

Originally Posted by The Bean Counter

- Getting up a couple of buy-ins quickly playing thinking poker on a work night, then donking them off over the rest of the evening despite knowing my brain is mush after an hour.
- Playing because it’s late and there’s nothing else on, even though I know it’s a bad idea after a long day at work.
- Making bad calls on the river despite knowing I’m well behind. These river calls for 30-40bb can make or break a session and I’ll muck the hand when feeling fresh but call if tired due to some weird need to prove myself right.
- Trying to get involved with fish too much and dropping down to their level when I’m not concentrating.
Wish me luck!

interesting list
best of luck!

your goal is interesting, i mean, $15/hr nice and all that but if you earn more than that in your job then surely your life can be better enjoyed by spending your non-work hours doing something other than playing a computer game for a little bit of extra cash? then again, depends entirely on your circumstances and how you like to live life.

Thanks for the support Daven.

The reality is that I'm not consistently good at cash games and figure I can make a ton of mistakes at 10nl whilst it's still cheap. If I can't even beat 10nl then what chance do I stand at a higher level? I might as well just write you, Bikes, etc, a cheque now.

I've withdrawn most of my roll to instant access savings for security and to earn a bit of interest. I enjoy playing first and foremost and would probably only be playing other computer games if it wasn't poker in the evenings whilst Mrs Bean is working. Ultimately, the money isn't that important as I make enough to live a good lifestyle, but it would be nice to have some more to give me some more options later in life (supporting my parents in retirement, any kids I may have through Uni, etc) or to give me some security if I was made redundant.

Anyway, I've got lot of work to do technically and mentally and I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Mrs Bean is away this weekend with work (moderating GSCE exam papers) and nobody else was available for a beer last night, so I took a trip out to the nearest casino to play the £34 deepstack mtt. I finished about midway after a good start and played well enough without ever really recovering from busted aces and running big pairs into aces twice later on.

How bad are the players in these things though?! They play at about the same standard as a $1 mtt online, with no concept of pot odds (they only see the actual amount), no understanding of their stack sizes, terrible bet sizing and no respect for raises. I think ultimately, these live tournaments are just a bit too boring and time consuming for me, but I think they would be a good money maker if you could be bothered with them.

I think having this blog in the back of my mind is helping already. Played one thousand hands yesterday for 1.8BI and came away from the tables in the second one hour session once I'd made one bad 35bb snap-call on the river without unpicking the logic of the hand first - normally I'd stay on for another couple of hundred hands and donk the profit off.

I'm also being strict with myself and not playing this evening after a 2am finish GMT on the Micro Millions ME. The slow, deepstack structure of this mtt is fantastic for the money but it could do with starting a little earlier on a work night. I was around 800th when the 8500 player bubble hit at 12:30am (after 5 hours) before going card dead during the period when the multiple short stacks were constantly shoving and the blinds were killing. Jacks into kings was the end of that but $70 profit was still pleasing.

On a separate note, yesterday was a fantastic day for British cycling and the sight of Bradley Wiggins leading out Mark Cavendish was sensational.

how many tables do you play at once?

also, 6m or FR?

I stepped up to 25nl this week with a $200 br, dropping back down at $150 (currently $260), I'm sick of being a nit with my br, I've been stuck at 10nl for what seems like an eternity, and I tend to blow my cash game profits from 10nl quickly on mtts. Standard isn't much better at 25nl, there's still plenty of idiots about, one guy I bumhunt runs at 85/8 and calls down any piece of the flop.

Don't be afraid to step up, and don't be too proud to step back down.

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

how many tables do you play at once?

also, 6m or FR?

Tend to play 9 tables of FR when playing cash - I find I get bored with less and too rushed with more. I've been thinking about playing 6-max a lately however, but only based on the notion that there seems to be more action at 6-max at 50nl plus and I might as well get used to it now - I have no idea if that's a fair assumption however.

Originally Posted by OngBonga

I stepped up to 25nl this week with a $200 br, dropping back down at $150 (currently $260), I'm sick of being a nit with my br, I've been stuck at 10nl for what seems like an eternity, and I tend to blow my cash game profits from 10nl quickly on mtts. Standard isn't much better at 25nl, there's still plenty of idiots about, one guy I bumhunt runs at 85/8 and calls down any piece of the flop.

Don't be afraid to step up, and don't be too proud to step back down.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. I gave 25nl a go at the end of 2011 and got owned, but it was my first go at cash and it took me 50k hands to adjust to micro cash from mtts (main problem was the huge difference in fold equity and needing to play all 3 streets appropriately - standard is also better too). If I can get a good run at 10nl where I don't make so many mistakes, then I'll move up for sure and hopefully not notice too much of a difference.

How aggressively do you take notes while playing? If you make that a priority, then 9 tables will seem like too much action.

Back to the usual this evening. Played two one-hour sessions (1.1k hands total) and 2BI up after the first session, but then donked that down to even within 200 hands of the second session before recovering to 1BI up overall.

I made 2 retarded plays in particular in the second session despite knowing I was a mile behind. I'd ditch both of them with my first session mindset, so hopefully by publicly humiliating myself below, I'll eventually learn my lesson, go with my read and stop this stupidity.

In other news, well done to the Olympic football organisers today for putting the South Korean flag next to photos of the North Korean players...

Anyway:

Hand 1

The turn check stank the place out and I levelled myself into calling that ridiculous overbet on the river - villain had quads obv.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP3 ($14.61)
CO ($7.60)
Button ($4.35)
SB ($10)
BB ($10)
UTG ($20)
UTG+1 ($3.82)
MP1 ($10.60)
Hero (MP2) ($11.06)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A, J
UTG bets $0.30, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.30, 4 folds, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.95) 2, 4, A (3 players)
BB bets $0.68, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.68

Turn: ($2.31) 5 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($2.31) 4 (2 players)
BB bets $4, Hero calls $4

Total pot: $10.31 | Rake: $0.46


Hand 2

Clearly miles behind on the turn to a fairly nitty player, yet still felt the need to call it down - villain had flopped a boat.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($14.46)
SB ($5.65)
BB ($4.35)
UTG ($10.30)
UTG+1 ($14.97)
MP1 ($21.66)
MP2 ($3.67)
MP3 ($10.45)
Hero (CO) ($10)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 7, 8
4 folds, MP3 bets $0.30, Hero calls $0.30, 3 folds

Flop: ($0.75) 9, 10, 10 (2 players)
MP3 bets $0.54, Hero calls $0.54

Turn: ($1.83) 6 (2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets $1.30, MP3 raises to $2.60, Hero calls $1.30

River: ($7.03) K (2 players)
MP3 bets $3.60, Hero calls $3.60

Total pot: $14.23 | Rake: $0.64

Originally Posted by !Luck

How aggressively do you take notes while playing? If you make that a priority, then 9 tables will seem like too much action.

I probably don't take enough notes and rely on the colour coding and HUD too much - I certainly don't take enough notes in hands I'm not involved in unless I spot something odd. Something to work on, that's for sure.

I'd say I've probably got too many notes on a lot of the regs now that aren't organised that well, so I'm now trying to focus on quality notes (mostly around bet sizing and barrelling tendencies on certain boards with certain hands - the 10nl nit-bot regs have some really exploitable tendencies in these respects once you pick them up).

1st hand is meh, prolly fold to utg open with AJ. Flop standard, river bet is pretty easy fold without some read that he overbet bluffs.

2nd hand is horrible, bad call pre, fucking awful call on flop and dreadful call to raise on turn. Seriously, don't call draws on paired board. Just don't. Especially arse end straight draws on paired 2tone flops.

You might be playing too many tables to concentrate fully on the action.

Originally Posted by OngBonga

2nd hand is horrible, bad call pre, fucking awful call on flop and dreadful call to raise on turn. Seriously, don't call draws on paired board. Just don't. Especially arse end straight draws on paired 2tone flops.

I don't hate my play on the flop or turn against this particular player, as they are typically one and done and there are nines and tens in my range - I'd expect to take this away on the turn more often than not and figured this was a routine c/f for villain when I bet the turn. The turn and river calls are really the plays I hate, but you've certainly got me thinking.

Originally Posted by OngBonga

2nd hand is horrible, bad call pre, fucking awful call on flop

I am certainly no cash game player, but I can't see folding this pf and I don't think he should fold on the flop.

Started off today's play far too aggressively including experimenting with 3 betting a wider range, particularly from the blinds against steals. The main problem was that I'd 3b a hand like KTs, get called and then find myself cbetting whiffed flops oop and invariably getting raised or called and having to shutdown, which proved to be expensive - definitely something I need to read up on.

First session ended even after grinding back from 2BI down over 1k hands. After some exercise however, my mind felt really clear and I managed to pick up 7BI from the next 1.8k hands - it's the longest session I've ever played, but I felt so fresh after the run that I could carry on without problems. It seems the impact of exercise on poker is massively under-rated if this session is anything to go by!

My running ability has dropped down to fat bast levels over the past few years of inactivity. I ran 3k today in the time it used to take me to do 5k (20 mins - don't laugh), so a lot of work to do (but I'm up for it).

Maybe slow down on 3 betting experimentation. Just do it on BU vs. a wide opening CO.

Originally Posted by OngBonga

2nd hand is horrible, bad call pre, fucking awful call on flop and dreadful call to raise on turn. Seriously, don't call draws on paired board. Just don't. Especially arse end straight draws on paired 2tone flops.

hand is pretty standard until the call of the turn raise imo

hand 1 is a fold pre if my old FR game is still close to FR "standard" these days. river is a very very easy fold

Volume fail this month due to work commitments and the Olympics being on tv.

Played a few tournaments whilst watching the closing ceremony tonight however and managed to win one of them for a $92 profit overall (was only a $2 money-added on iPoker unfortunately for $119). Despite the win, I still find mtts too lengthy and tilting and should be able to get back on cash games this week.

Back on the cash games this evening and decided to give 6-max a go for the first time on cash.

Turns out I really enjoyed myself. The more aggressive game style is fun and the game seems to be based more on "feel" post flop and a question of who has the biggest pair of balls. First impressions also suggests there are a lot more fish at 6-max 10nl on Stars compared to FR too that make some pretty big mistakes pre- and post-flop.

Now just have to decide whether to pursue 6-max or FR longer term..

Originally Posted by The Bean Counter

Back on the cash games this evening and decided to give 6-max a go for the first time on cash.

Turns out I really enjoyed myself. The more aggressive game style is fun and the game seems to be based more on "feel" post flop and a question of who has the biggest pair of balls. First impressions also suggests there are a lot more fish at 6-max 10nl on Stars compared to FR too that make some pretty big mistakes pre- and post-flop.

Now just have to decide whether to pursue 6-max or FR longer term..

no

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

no

sez the man with the largest balls.

it's accrual world

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

no

Was wondering who would pick up on this first and clearly didn't explain myself well. The point I was really trying to make is that 6-max players seem to be FoS far more often than in FR (particularly with 3betting), which means giving villain a wider range and having the conviction to use that analysis and respond appropriately requires a bigger pair of balls than FR - at 10nl FR, if the nit bots bet, they almost invariably have it.

Originally Posted by lolzzz_321

it's accrual world

Good one!

So much for "Mr Consistency" this month:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

On reflection, it's easy to pick out the periods when I don't play my best and why:

Hands 2k-8k and 10k-12k: Long, long week at work - really need to be disciplined to not play during these periods. Play is characterised by being far too loose passive pre and post flop, with a base assumption that villain is always bluffing. Some terrible bluffs are also thrown in there for good measure against players incapable of hero folding tptk when my line is strong.

Conversely, a couple of things seem to work well at 10nl 6-max:

Hands 1k-2k: Lagtard with 12% 3bet and high barrelling. Only possible with some run good, the right opponents and an alert mind.

Hands 8k-10k and 12k-17k: Plays that are no doubt considered sub-optimal e.g. calling often in position against terrible players with hands with high implied odds and consequently operating at a non-TAG gap between VPIP and PFR. Also, flat calling 3 bets with big pairs in position against aggro opponents capable of folding pre to a 4bet - these villains will hang themselves for 100bb+ almost every time.

Playing a ton of hands compared to normal this month to grind out a $100 reload bonus on Stars. The plan is to use this money to join Grinderschool, starting Monday when I've got a week off work without anything planned.

6-max is much more fun than FR and I think I'd find FR too boring now. I feel like I've been playing well this month but still spewing on the river far, far, too often to ruin my win rate when my original plan is to shut down or b/f. I've also been trying to be more aggressive post flop this past week with some success but picking the right spots will take time.

Also been going well in the UKIPT qualifying league on Stars this month but think winning the all expenses paid trip is unlikely unless the run good gods shine down on me.

Currently on a brutal 15BI downswing, so time for a break and Grinderschool before I tilt another 15BI off.

I know when it's time for a few days off now as I find myself shouting at the screen at retarded villains, rather than laughing and looking forward to stacking them if I concentrate and play well. I've also just got to the point where I'm almost expecting a cooler and therefore being far too passive and missing tons of value post flop.

On the plus side, I've finished grinding the $100 reload bonus and the UKIPT qualifying league is going well - I was top after 15 nights but not had a cash the past 2 nights whilst a rival has final tabled twice. Even if I don't win the all expenses paid trip, I will at least get a decent amount of bonus money and a satellite ticket.

September:

What did I learn?

It takes 60k hands to hit Gold Star @6-max 10nl

That 20+ tabling to grind out a reload bonus and hit Gold Star for the first time is pointless when you’re still learning the game - I didn’t learn much, struggled to spot the fish easily and constantly played the B or C breakeven game. Not doing that again.

I’m far too passive post flop. I barrel against stations far too often. I assume nearly all 10nl players are thinkers instead of droolers. Huge, huge, mistakes.

Half an hour or so of study/forums/Grinderschool before a session helps a lot.

The Supernovas at 10nl that proudly display their 5 stars are some of the worst, most exploitable players around


What did I earn?

MTTs:
- 45 micro mtts, 42% ITM, ROI = 118%, Profit = $117
- Finished 2nd in the UKIPT Division 1 qualifying league, Bonus = $160, plus $175 satellite ticket

Cash (10nl): 6 pitiful BI @1bb/100 = $60

Reload/VPP/FPP Bonus: $225

Less: Grinder School: ($65)

Total profit: $497 exc satellite ticket, approx $8/hr (wow!).

Total bankroll = $3.1k (yeah, I'm a BR nit, but still don't play good)

Targets for October

Maximum of 6-tables at one time

Pay enough attention to identify good spots to be more aggressive – always consider raising or folding instead of calling.

Last month of 10nl – only playing it again if this month is bad when after I drop the ridiculous number of tables

Grinderschool video pre-session every time, but with note taking this month

Post more (some) hands

tl;dr

- Don't worry about rakeback when you're playing 10 NL (i.e. the drive for gold star).

- Play fewer tables, learn more.

- Abso no reason for you to pay for grinderschool unless you're getting personal coaching. 65$ down the drain - consider the alternative; 0$ to get a free 1-week subscription to deuces cracked and can download all the videos you want ahead of time. Tell me your money is being well-spent.

Otherwise, good month.

Originally Posted by Penneywize

- Don't worry about rakeback when you're playing 10 NL (i.e. the drive for gold star).

- Play fewer tables, learn more.

this this this this this

Any advice much appreciated - thanks.

Have started the month well and playing with good discipline and being more aggressive, but still not aggressive enough. The less tables I play, the more I realise how bad the standard 10nl player is and I think 10nl is easily beatable for 20bb/100 minimum for a competent player. Discipline and consistency is the key though.

Having said that, I played too much today and donked off a few BI in the final hour to leave myself even for the day. Some of my old problems came back (particularly trying to bluff the most drooling fish) and I found myself getting annoyed far too much with the idiots. I've packed up for the day now but I really need the discipline to switch off as soon as I start feeling pissed off.

I also got told off this week by Stars after playing too many tables last month. I only timed out rarely, but fair play to Stars for looking after their other players that had to endure me taking 20 seconds just to fold trash utg:

"Dear PokerStars Player,

We're writing to inform you that a review of your playing data has indicated that you have been taking significantly longer to act on your hands than is acceptable when you are playing many tables simultaneously. As a result, if you fail to speed up your play appropriately during the next month, your Table Cap will be reduced to 20 tables at that time".

Etc, etc.

Something seems to have changed in my cash game play in the past couple of months. A few months ago, I had no problem stacking the droolers and paying off the shitty regs, now it's almost the complete opposite. I think this is due to a couple of key reasons:

1) Weekends are the time when Stars is infested with droolers and I've consequently spent the past 2 weeks breaking even at the weekend (where most of my volume falls) and comfortably winning mid-week. Clearly I have issues adjusting between times that need to be addressed - weekends are for value betting and no bluffing.

2) During midweek, I normally get time for a couple of hours play and maybe an hour of videos/forums before shutting down and going to bed. At the weekends however, I'm still lacking the discipline to stop mashing buttons for 4+ hours at a time, with various forms of tilt kicking in around the 2 hour mark. This is no longer going to happen.

Appalling start to the weekend, with the plan of value towning fish actually being value owning myself and being the type of fish that can't lay down overpairs. I'm normally careful with overpairs against the regs but seem to just jam as much money in against the fish - something to work on and hopefully publicly humiliating myself will help prevent reoccurrence.

*WARNING: EXCESSIVE HAND BUTCHERING BELOW*

Hand 1: Villain is 48/1, classic loose passive - river should probably be a b/f or c/f in hindsight as the hand screamed 7x

Hero (BB) ($12.30)
UTG ($10.46)
MP ($9.29)
CO ($4.62)
Button ($9.70)
SB ($10.61)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K, K
1 fold, MP calls $0.10, 3 folds, Hero bets $0.40, MP calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.05) 7, 7, 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.60, MP calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.25) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $1.40, MP calls $1.40

River: ($5.05) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $3.60, Hero calls $3.60

Total pot: $12.25

Results:
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and sevens).
MP had 7, 4 (three of a kind, sevens).
Outcome: MP won $11.70

Hand 2: Villain is 24/20 with FPS and tendency to barrell into weakness - has flat called the flop cb in position against me a few times and I've c/f turn often. I think I should still give up river however

Hero (MP) ($14.43)
Button ($16.19)
SB ($5.17)
BB ($10.67)
UTG ($10.30)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A, A
1 fold, Hero bets $0.30, Button calls $0.30, SB calls $0.25, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($1.20) 3, 5, K (4 players)
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $0.90, Button calls $0.90, 2 folds

Turn: ($3) J (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $1.60, Hero calls $1.60

River: ($6.20) 7 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $3.40, Hero calls $3.40

Total pot: $13

Results:
Button had 5, 5 (three of a kind, fives).
Hero had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Button won $12.42

Hand 3: Villain is 38/25 over just 8 hands, snap called 3 bet and strongly suspect fishy. Turn is a fold but suspicions of fishiness made me stupidly get it in

UTG ($10.45)
Button ($9.05)
Hero (SB) ($10.05)
BB ($10.56)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, Q
1 fold, Button bets $0.30, Hero raises $0.85, 1 fold, Button calls $0.60

Flop: ($1.90) 9, 9, J (2 players)
Hero bets $0.90, Button calls $0.90

Turn: ($3.70) 3 (2 players)
Hero bets $2.80, Button raises $5.60, Hero raises $5.45 (All-In), Button calls $1.65 (All-In)

River: ($18.20) 9 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $18.20

Results:
Button had A, 9 (four of a kind, nines).
Hero had Q, Q (full house, nines over Queens).
Outcome: Button won $17.38

Hand 4: Villain is 41/18, colour coded a retard, turn is a fold again

UTG ($11.63)
Button ($10.51)
SB ($10.57)
Hero (BB) ($10.32)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, A
2 folds, SB calls $0.05, Hero bets $0.40, SB calls $0.40

Flop: ($1) 6, K, 8 (2 players)
SB bets $0.50, Hero raises $1.80, SB calls $1.30

Turn: ($4.60) 3 (2 players)
SB bets $4.20, Hero raises $8.02 (All-In), SB calls $3.82

River: ($20.64) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $20.64

Results:
SB had K, 3 (two pair, Kings and threes).
Hero had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: SB won $19.71

You need to be bet/folding in 1 and 2. 3 and 4 are fine.

bet/fold river in hand 1. i'd go something around 1/2 pot. if you do check then yeah probably fold because villain wont bluff and wont value bet worse

bet/fold around 1/2 pot on the river in hand 2 as well.

hand 3 i raise more pre, flop is good, turn i bet less and fold once he jams. i don't know where you get your fishy read from? he seems reasonably solid in his stats, and snap-calling your undersized 3bet doesn't necessarily mean fish?

edit: actually i dont mind your turn sizing in this one

hand 4 is standard. i'm not stoked to see a fish use this size on the turn but i imagine he'll have Kx often enough to get the money in profitably

maybe calling 3 is ok, i cant argue with someone like deanglow's opinions. i just feel like most 10nl villains wont bluff here and will just call down w/Jx as opposed to raising it because we almost never call with TT or 88

Thanks for stopping by guys - any feedback from better, more experienced players always much appreciated.

B/f definitely best for 1 and 2 then. I tried to be far too tricky in hand 2 versus a villain I felt was floating too much and trying to use position against me in the space of a few hands across a few tables, whereas the reality is he probably just flopped well when I whiffed. I was pissed off with myself with 4 but you're right, it is okay after all - I think I was generally just pissed off after hands 1-3 getting me off to a bad start within 20 minutes of starting the session.

Hand 3 is close on reflection. I think you're right RPM in that most 10nl villains don't seem to raise Jx here, apart from possibly JXcc, especially with a min raise on the turn. Probably just being too results orientated though.

This week, I've been researching and thinking through a new colour coding structure for villains and also a new structure for note taking as I prepare for moving up to a new set of villains at 25nl. I found a good structure for note taking on "the poker forum that shall remain nameless" but there isn't a lot of usefulness in the colour coding structure out there. I've also been reading a lot of strategy articles and blogs online. One of the writers I've ben particularly enjoying is Carl "The Dean" Sampson, along with M2Ms early blog. Both are definitely worth looking up and trawling through if you haven't already.

Play at the tables has been going reasonably well. It's staggering how different pre-flop play is at 6-max 10nl on Stars midweek compared to weekends and adjustment is essential. The majority of players play VERY badly post-flop however, but in different ways - the key is working out how to exploit that, with one tactic working well at the moment at both levels being flat calling on the button and using the position post-flop to make profitable decisions. My pre-flop stats go to rat-shit with this tactic and I expect this to be grossly exploited by better players as I move up, but it's certainly profitable at 10nl.

One thing I've noticed in particular recently is just how postionally unaware most of the "TAG regs" are. A standard 22/20 for instance often opens 20% in EP, MP, CO and BTN, which is just asking for trouble and leaving dead money at the tables when in late position. It's certainly not something the 3-bet monkeys in midweek are even thinking about either as they 3-bet every single btn on the assumption that villain is opening super wide.

Originally Posted by The Bean Counter

I found a good structure for note taking on "the poker forum that shall remain nameless"

care to share? looks like we're in da same boat.

FWIW, this is a structure from Dan Harrington that i posted in the BC:

http://www.flopturnriver.com/pokerfo...ml#post2089879

My thoughts on notes: Do as much with color as you can. The more info you glean at a quick glance, the better you can spend your precious seconds of time thinking about this hand.
I make graduated generalizations for each color and slap one on every villain as soon as I have one of the color criteria met.
I keep constant updates on odd lines and showdowns and thus change the color accordingly.

isn't this all site-dependent, though?

'stars lets you create loads of colour-tags; some sites (e.g. iPoker) don't support colour tagging very well at all

Originally Posted by DoubleJ

care to share? looks like we're in da same boat.

FWIW, this is a structure from Dan Harrington that i posted in the BC:

Thanks for the link - looks useful and probably better than what I was considering. Key thing for me is getting some structure, rather than a wall of text that normally starts with "idiot". The links I've found useful on 2p2 are:

The Top Ten Notes (tl;dr) - Micro Stakes Full Ring Games - Micro Stakes Poker Strategy Forum

1k Post: Notes, Reads and TL;DRs - Beginning Poker Questions - Beginner Poker Forum (I was thinking about using the structure Zumby notes).

(sorry if this violates FTR policy).

I'm going to rip off Carroters colour coding too that I saw on one of his videos on GS as follows:
Reg
Nit
Sser
Bad Reg
Passive fish
Spazzy fish
Maniac/tard
Good Reg

along with an FTR people colour. What I'm really after is an idea of tendencies post flop as HUD can do pre-flop easily at a glance - this seems the best I've seen so far and if it's good enough for Carroters, it's good enough for me.

October:

Volume fail this month but watched plenty of GS videos and read some good strategy threads/blogs.

What did I learn?

6-tabling is good, stepping up to just 9-tables isn't beneficial.

GS is beneficial.

That I'm still learning the game and experimenting. After 200k hands at 10nl, I feel like I should be settled on a style but I guess that's just not realistic.

What did I earn?

MTTs:17 micro mtts, 42% ITM, ROI = 90%, Profit = $38

Cash (10nl): 14BI @7bb/100 = $140 (21k hands, breakeven 11k-21k hands)

FPP Bonus: $75

Total profit: $253, approx $6.30/hr.

Total bankroll = $3.3k.

Targets for November

Play 25nl, only moving back to 10nl if 15BI down.

Continue with 6-tables maximum.

More GS videos.

Re-read Slansky.

Post more (some) hands

tl;dr

nice man. 3.3k is more than enough to be grinding 25nl. especially if you have been winning at 10 for a decent sample (ie not just heatered +2000bb in your first 12k hands or whatever). good luck

and yeah carroters has an awesome knack for explaining poker concepts clearly and without having to use algebra or equations. i like that.

Originally Posted by The Bean Counter

Thanks for the link

o, likewise, i'm sure

25nl has been going reasonably well so far during the few short sessions I've managed to play. I've been playing on Full Tilt to grind out the $200 Deal Me In bonus and the standard doesn't seem anywhere near as strong as I was expecting and the players play straightforwardly. They also seem incredibly passive pre-flop compared to 10nl on Stars.

One tricky post-flop difference with the regs between 25nl and 10nl however is that they will c/c flop and turn and crai with the nuts on the river. This doesn't happen at all at 10nl and lower, where the shitty regs will c/c flop, c/c turn and donk river in case it gets checked through. There have been a couple of river decisions I've faced in particular where villains have repped a narrow, nutted range versus my big hand and I should have folded to the river crai (including one rivered full house). Something to work on for sure as not folding is hurting my win rate significantly. That and the bizarre and expensive periods of FPS..

One thing that's struck me is how quickly you can make decent money at this level with good, disciplined play. It was quite exciting to be $100 up within one hour recently and there are plenty of fish and shitty regs still around. However, there is typically one player per table now that I think is a good player, whereas that rarely happened at 10nl.

Will hopefully get some more time to play once work commitments reduce from this week - this fish has already left the heater it seems after my last session.