Early Update From Jiggus

It's a bit premature I realise and I don't want to jinx myself, but over the last three days (circa 600 hands), since switching back to a super tight approach, and forcing myself to bet more, I've made back 5 buy-ins and am one buy in away from the $600 line.

A little luck didn't hurt either.

In particular, thanks to Renton, Lukie, Corbere and Miffed for advice and Givememyleg for moral support.

I think that my 10,000 hand update will be a positive one, and not another morose cry for help.

keep it up, just focus on playing each hand the best you can and you'll be cruising.

flop sets and get paid

can't stop, won't stop

don't sweat short term results

FWIW you looked more aggressive from across the table the other day. I certainly wasn't gonna mess with your pots

Now I've moved my roll of dise I wish you the best of luck!

You were definitly tighter last night. 80+ hands and a 12/5 on the one table we shared.

saw you on the tables a couple days back jiggus, good luck out there

hope things are going good for you trainer, saw you also last night

Just PM'ed ya about that. You left the table and the guy that took your spot stacked me a couple hands later. I had KK, got the set on the flop and he went all in with an OESD, and caught it on the river

Originally Posted by Renton

flop sets and get paid

can't stop, won't stop

I knew it was premature to get excited.

I am still struggling through the worst bit of negative variance since I've started playing poker seriously.

I am now nearing 9,000 hands at $25 NL and am at -2 BB/100. It is an improvement, but this is proving to be a painfully slow grind to positive numbers. It is not that the opponents are 10 times better than at the lower limits, either, of that I am sure!

I am seeing an average ot 16% of hands and I am winning more little pots, but few and far between are the big ones. Another problem with this run is that when I make a single mistake in a session I end up losing a lot. One mistake, one let down, and I've lost my stack.

I try to play perfect poker, but I reckon that one big mistake in 500 hands isn't too bad. That's what happened in yesterday's session. One oversight and I lost my stack. Frustrating, but I keep on. This morning was positive, for a change, and I did not make any big mistakes.

Everyone has been through this, or will go through it, so better now than at the $200 tables.

What doesn't kill your bankroll makes you stronger. This is normal, you will struggle through because you are a good, patient, disciplined player.

I sympathise, I really do.

I've just had a really big downswing at $25NL which has really taken me down.
I'd been up and down a fair bit over the last few weeks, up a bit then down a bit but mostly around even. +/- a buy-in or so.

Then I hit a nightmare yesterday, lost $130 on Empire at the $25NL tables.
There were five big hands I lost ($20-25), all with fairly good hands: (AA, QQ, AK, KK, AJ (vA8)) some of them were just unlucky, but most contained at least one point where I should have done something better (usually betting more when I was ahead).

I too am winning the little pots and losing the big ones. Usually my own fault too! If I'd bet harder when I know I'm ahead rather than trying to extract more money and letting them draw I'm sure I'd do better (or at least feel better if they suck out).

What encourages me is that it took me time but I slowly came around from - to + on Prima, I (so far) have adapted my play to suit those tables; but at Empire I was just losing a lot to inferior starting hands, usually because I played weakly post-flop.

The thing that encourages me is that I'm starting to identify my one-big-mistake, sometimes even before I make it. So I managed to lay down QQ v AA, I manage to lay down AA v the flush.

That plus I now have 6k hands data this month to look for other leaks.. and if that works then maybe $100 is not too high a price to pay for the lesson.

Sucks though

Rock n Roll!

Good luck Jiggus, and continue to be patient.

Thanks for the support. It is appreciated, people.

I am workmanlike about it all.

I still have an inkling that part of my problem is adapting to the weird-ass US players that I play (no offence intended) . When I play in the evenings or afternoons my time (UK time) then I find my earnings increase (playing mostly Europeans). Alas, I mostly can only play in the early mornings my time and that's when I suffer the greatest variance problems. The European players are more conservative and consitent, in general. The US ones, at least when I play, are not. There may be some drinking going on, that's for sure.

I really think that going back to a counterplay style for this group may be the best solution. There are some really good players, and a swack of comlete asshats, and between them they destroy most strategies. I'm either forced to let go of marginal hands after having made two big raises, or I get sucked out on by some idjit holding 5T off who flops trips on the river. Either way, it's costly.

Oh, I am now officially categorized in PT as a TAG. That's a big turn-around from my mouse icon of yore. However, being aggressive is expensive when you can't tell if the idjit is calling out of strength or out of drunkeness, or out of sheer lunacy.

Another thing, and I'm sorry to drone on, but it is absolutely amazing to me how many people play any goddamn ace at this level. It seems almost childish, but a seeming majority of players will call a PF raise when holding A[whatever]. Incredible.

Let's see what 10,000 hands brings.

good luck jiggus

Keep at it man! We're all behind you and here if you want support!

Jiggus,

I read most of your posts with great interest. First I want to tell you to keep up the good work.

Secondly, I want to let you know that I am living proof that you can overcome yourself. I got so close to busting out this spring it was pathetic. Mostly it was because of crappy play--getting cocky, pushing people around with nothing, trying $200 tactics at $25 tables. I was down to my last few buyins. I scraped the bottom. Then I opened my eyes to see how badly I was really playing and worked on improving. Tightening up, paying more attention to position, and mostly--PATIENCE!!! I am a patient person by nature, but in this game, I felt like I had to make something happen. I have learned that if you sit back and wait, your opportunities to stack someone will come. If they push, they usually have a hand, unless you have seem them push with nothing many times. Wait for a better spot! One of the most important things I learned is to NOT play a big pot without a big hand. TPTK is usually not good in a 4 way pot with draws on the board.

This being said, I still have a long way to go. I still build a pot unnecessarily at times. I still have trouble folding overpairs. I still stack off to sets far too often. I still play AJ/AQ/KQ/KJ too strongly out of position sometimes. I still make calls that work out but were mathematically incorrect. But I soak up things on FTR and in books, I am not afraid to post my worst plays here and take the chance of getting flamed, and I am not afraid to admit that I can learn from the guys on here. Now look at my roll (in my sig). I am playing $50 now, and getting used to it. I never dreamed in May that I would move up before the end of July. YOU CAN DO IT TOO!!!!

Good luck, my man....

Cards

I really appreciate the support from you all. I really am touched.

I''m not making that up.

However, I just cannot win anymore. At least not at $25 NL ring. It's finished.

I wrote about this in my first ever post on this site, and I still think that it can be reality: I am unlucky.

I just won some decent pots and a 2nd place in a 20 player mini, and then lost it all adn more in another 200 hands.

I am super-tight. I just cannot win big pots.

Whatever

I have still made 350 bucks on my original investment. Better than a kick in the head.

I don't know what I'm going to do at the moment. I'm not in a good state. I think that I should hunker down and play mini tournies and sit n' go's.

I am very depressed by all that has transpired. But I am super impressed by all the support.

Thanks all.

Originally Posted by Jiggus

I am super-tight. I just cannot win big pots.

Take this for what it's worth. From Feb thru May, I was running around 10PTBB/100 at 25NL, from June 1 to June 9 ... it was 20PTBB/100, and from June 10 to June 30 ... -11PTBB/100. It was during the downswing that I found myself playing really really tight. And like you, I was not winning any big pots.

In July, I decided to try something different .. at least for me (again ... this is just my experience). I opened up my hand selection but more importantly, I would make PFRs with hands I never would have used before. In position, a PFR followed by a c-bet would net me the pot right there. If there was resistance (and I thought I was beat), I would fold. On the button, I would raise anything that looked "goot" if folded (or 1-2 limpers) to me. Just random stuff.

But more importantly, what came out of the exercise was that people would now call my monster hand PFRs figuring .... oh here he goes again ... raise, c-bet, and fold. Back came some nice pots.

What I am trying to say is ... by raising a "few" more hands preflop, my opponents had a harder time of putting me on a hand. Whereas when I was playing tight, they knew any PFR was a premium hand.

Obviously you don't want to get carried away with this. But loosening up might help.

I agree about selectively loosening up. I read a post of yours where you were running 14/3. That is downright nitty. I have said a few times in this forum you should be raising right around 50% of your hands PF (and sometimes more. This gives you fold equity (even at $25 NL), plus it disguises your hand as they can't know if it's AA or KQ you are raising. Did the A74 flop hit you or not?? You get AT on the button with a limper in front of you, pop it to $1. You probably fold the blinds out, and maybe the limper too. Okay, got a tiny pot. So he calls. Even better! Flop comes 274. He checks, you bet $2 into a $2.40 pot and take it down. This is a standard play that happens so many times in a typical session it's pathetic. He likely didn't hit that flop, and will usually give you credit for a PP (or at least credit for AK to his KQ) and drop it. But you wouldn't have gotten the fold had you limped the button.

Agression is goot.....

Well, in position I will raise an unraised pot with a number of hands that aren't considered "premium".

I've posted up some more stats since I've turned more aggressive.

I have to say, though, that whilst I am now a loser at $25 NL ring, I'm pretty good at sit n' go's. I am not keeping track, 'cause I only play them when I can't find enough tables at ring, but just off the cuff, I think I'm in the money about 50% of the time.

Hmm,...

I don't think anyone can say it enough... until attitude changes you will not be a winning player.