Bull's "Grinding it up"

It's been a long time coming...

Reading FTR's blogs and operations made me realize that every poker player, especially beginner needs something like this to keep track of his own play and keep himself accountable to his actions. So here it comes.

Background:
I sarted learning about poker this summer, having 17 dollars in my PokerStars account after previously have deposited 50. Most of the money was spent on rebuys into 10k rebuy tournaments with 3$ buy in- "It's a sweet deal", I thought to myself- buy in for 3$ and cash out few hundred if you place well in the money. I was fascinated with tournaments and played a lot of freerolls when didn't want to risk any more real money.

After failing to win any money, I made an effort to stop,regoup and read a book. I read SuperSystem(NL holdem)and now had a realistic idea about the game of poker. I wanted to become better so I read that book again. And again.And once more, just to be sure that the information sunk in. After that my play has become hardly comparible to the losing style I was playing before, but at the same time I still knew that I'm a bad player.
That's when I decided to make a little experiment: How high can I take my bankroll from just the 17bucks I had.

In my spare time I've played mostly 10cent tournaments and freerols on PokerStars.I've also played freerols on Bodog. It took me a month to place in the money in 2 freerols on bodog,making me a very small sum, however enough to buy in for the minimum at the 10nl table. From the few bucks, which I played very carefully I made little over 30$ in full ring games shortly after(couple of weeks) At the same time I managed to final table 1$ tournament on PokerStars and won little over 60$. From that point on I started learning and play 2nl cash games.
After getting light headed from never having a losing session in two weks, I, naturally went and donked off all my money on bodog, leaving me with a few points. I quit playing on bodog, leaving about 150points in my account. I kept grinding 2nl on Stars.

Operation began one month ago
I had 170$ on Stars. I had also bought in a tournament on bodog for 100points(I think), in which I won 29T$. 6 of the T$ I used to win real 30$ in another tournament. At that point I had 200$ bankroll total and started placing goals.
1st goal: move successfully from 2nl to 5nl to 10nl.
2nd goal: Play the game regularly and learn how to play the game constantly.

Today
I've doubled my bankroll in a little less then a month, which is now at around 400$ and play 10nl at both Pokerstars and Bodog regularly. Mostly 3table Bodog and 4table Stars on another montor.

New goal
To have 1k bankroll before New Years.
For my next goal I do not want to get my head up in the sky and say that I will play 100nl next month, I will take it one step at a time as I know that Im barely good enough to play 10nl yet.
So for now my general goal is to learn how to grind(have steady sessions with little emotion) , and comfortably switch to 25NL and be thinking about 50NL by Christmas.

As I've been beating 10nl so far, my goal is to also make 10 buy ins a week at 10nl untll I switch to 25NL.
Leaks
Crucial to devloping a steady grind is to have emotionless sessions.
Going on tilt have lost me alf of my roll few months ago which I had to grind back up slowly and painfully. That taught me a valuable lesson and I will never forget about my bankroll management while on tilt.

-So main leak: emotions - lose them and dont tilt after few bad beats in a row. Review the hands and either assure ourself of a bad beat or find a spot where you have misplayed the hand.

-Tighten your strting hand range -this month on Stars i saw flop around 26% of the time on 10nl, which is a work in progress when compared to 32% at 2nl and 5nl.
I do need to learn tagg play in order to move up in limits though and adding more tables helped me in tihtening my range so far.

I will be updating this thread few times a week, hopefully after each session.

I'd like to recap last week:
This week is the ultimate test of emotionless play.
It has been a really roller coaster week for me in terms of bankroll.
Monday through Thursday have all been the same- I lost about 4-5 buy ins on Stars and had to make it all back on Bodog with little or no profit.I've been running really bad, combined with playing bad as well on Monday and Tuesday( I think I played well other then that,giving all the bad beats). Lost a lot with AA and KK(off the top of my head: AAvsAJ and AAvsA6).
A single hand to recap the week: JJvs 66 vs J6-- guess who wins?:
10nl Bodog(sorry dont have any software that supports bodog so no converting) I hold JJ in LP. I raise to 4xBB prflp,Villan1 raises to 8xBB, Villan2 calls, I call.

Flop: 9c Jx Tc Villan1 bets half pot, Villan2 minraises, I shove and put them both all in. Both called.
Turn: Qh River: xc
Villan1 wins pot with flush J high with Jc6c
Villan2 has 6x6x (a pair of sixes)
Hero loses with JxJx (three of a kind, Jacks)- --->(over 400BB pot)

Anyway, all week Im just trying to stay off tilt and keep playing well through the bad beats. 10 Buy ins by the end of the week is most likely not going to happen, but still I consider myself lucky to be up almost every day. Only day I was down was Thursday when I was 7 buy ins down on Stars, 5 of which I have made back at the same time on bodog.

Keep learning, keep fighting, keep grinding...

I have just finished tonight's session. Need to go outside for a few minutes to clear my head, after which I will search through some HH's and recap the day.

I know 3 posts in the same day look odd, but if I edit it into 1 it will just look even worse.

Today I played 2 sessions, the results were good and my +80% hands actually held up so maybe the curse of the cold deck week is about to lift..


I didn't feel like 8tabling this morning since that takes a lot more focus and is making my head spin when its either too early or too late in the day. So I decided to stick with 3tables on bodog on my laptop.
I haven't wrote down any specific hands. Mostly played quiet for a few hours untill a maniac bluffer with 200BB stack started making plays at me shoving river with 2nd pair/air to which I always folded the best hand. I ended up stacking that single guy for 5 buy ins and ended up with a +4BI session. weeeee

Tonight started pretty pathetic:
Just a big question mark there...i don't even have any words.......
Bodog 10nl
Cards dealt to Hero: :Ks: :Ah:
Ante/Small blind $ 0.05
Big blind/Bring in $ 0.10
Villan Raise $ 0.50
MP2 Call $ 0.50
Hero Raise $ 2.00
MP4 Fold $ 0.05
MP5 Fold $ 0.10
Villan Call $ 1.50
MP2 Fold $ 0.50
Flop :Kh:
Villan Check
Hero Bet $ 2.00
Villan Call $ 2.00
Turn :Jd:
Villan Check
Hero Bet $ 3.00
Villan Call $ 3.00
River
Hero Bet $ 4.00
Villan All-in $ 3.59
BigBadBull Return uncalled portion of bet $ 0.41
Rake amount $ 0.05
ThatWasEz wins $ 21.78 with three of a kind, twos
Cards dealt to Villan

...But eventually I do flop great:
10nlBodog
Cards dealt to Hero :Ad:
Preflop: checks around,BB(Hero) checks. (6 players)
Flop: :Ac:
Villan bets 0.5$; MP2calls $0.5; Hero raises to $2.00; Villan reraises to to $3.00; Hero calls $1.50
Turn:
Hero goes all in $5.85; Villan calls $5.85
River: :Qh:
Hero wins the pot with a two pair: Aces and Sevens
Villan has :Ah:

Too agro here(?)
10NL Bodog
Cards dealt to Hero
Preflop: Villan raises to $0.4; Seat8 calls;Seat9 calls;Seat1 calls;Seat 3 calls; Hero calls.
Flop:
Villan bets $0.75; Seat3 calls; Hero raises $2; Villan calls; Seat3 calls
Turn:
Villan checks; Seat3 bets $1; Hero raises $4; Villan folds;Seat3 folds.

Last hand:
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (8 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Hero ($15.30)
MP2 ($6.35)
CO ($9.75)
Button ($1.80)
SB ($1.90)
BB ($2.50)
UTG ($16.25)
UTG+1 ($12)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with T, T.
UTG raises to $0.4, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.40, 4 folds, BB calls $0.30.

Flop: ($1.25) T, 9, 6 (3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $1.2, Hero calls $1.20, BB folds.

Turn: ($3.65) 8 (2 players)
UTG bets $2, Hero raises to $6, UTG calls $4.

River: ($15.65) 6 (2 players)
UTG bets $2, Hero raises to $6, UTG calls $4.

Final Pot: $27.65

Ended up with +3BI that session as well which puts me at +7BI for the day.
Things I liked: good job laying down second best hands.Good job paying attention to position and table image of other players and exploiting their tightness/respecting their bets.
Things I didn't like: Still have to tighten up. Pay more attention to other players and close down some tables if you cant handle sitting in front of 2 monitors and 8 tables.
Overall it's been a good day.

hands played fine dude.
Nice one. Keep on the grind, eat it up!

GL buddy

fwiw, I started out w/17 bucks a year ago and made my way from there

hand 1: your raise preflop is too big. $1.50 is fine here in position. Flop bet is too small. You bet $2 into $4.65 i think. Bet atleast $3 here, maybe more depending on teh board texture. Turn bet size is too small also. You should almost always bet >1/2 of the pot size. $5 seems like a good bet size on this turn.

hand 2: fine. I might just shove over his flop 3bet.

hand 3: shove the river. He obv likes his hand so hes calling his stack off almost always.

Also, when youre starting out like this, try to keep your entire BR on one site that has a decent bonus to clear and just grind it out. Jumping around site to site while playing 10nl doesnt make much sense because game selection is really a non factor.

XtT100, Daven- thanks, guys.

Bode
-Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. The only reason for playing 2 sites at same time is because my roll at bodog is a complete freeroll and I just havent cashed out yet. I think I'll keep playing there while the games are good(they are almost twice as loose as Stars')

Ok Sunday session went as a really bad nightmare.
Started off with +5 buy ins profit and took a break. Went back and made another 6 buy ins. After a few bad beats got on tilt and ended up losing 7 buy ins. Partially bad beats but atleats half of the loses were pure tilt.
I lost 3 buy ins with QQ when I overplayed them once and had to call a 3way all in prflp twice against really lose opponents.
Also lost 3 buy ins with AA when I played them horribly wrong once and just got cracked twice.Aces have been a very unlucky hand for me this week and I actually thought about folding them from now on(it's stupid, I know. Overall losses with AA from this week made AA about a breakeven hand through last 30k hands.
Those loses set me on tilt for the rest of the night and it's been a losing game untill I just couldn't handle it anymore and quit.

Overall Sunday session still is at about +4 buy ins for the day and about 8-9buy-ins for the week. I should be very thankfull for being up while running very bad but I really am not(atleast at the moment). I am very dissapointed and very angry with myself for letting my play get so bad and turning a 11+ buy in session into a 4buy in one. Hopefully this will add to my experience and make me a more stable player in the future. Hopefully I will be able to fix the emotion leak as quickly as possible. And hopefully next week will be better then the last.

My goal for next week is to start thinking about 25nl. I also want to round off my bankroll to 600, 20 bucks give or take. Now I am at 470 so I need to make about 11-15 buy ins at 10nl level.
I've been beating 10nl consistently on bodog and had up and downs only on Stars. I want to be able to beat the level on both sites constantly before making full switch to 25nl.Once rolled for 25nl comfortably(over20 buy ins) I might try to add one 25nl table on bodog, but will not make the full switch untill I steadily beat 10nl on stars.

I do not have the time to post HH's from last night at the moment and will do it later today.

Hand History from last nigt's session:
Hand #1
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (9 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

SB ($14.85)
BB ($15.05)
UTG ($8.35)
UTG+1 ($8.55)
MP1 ($10.55)
Hero ($14.50)
MP3 ($5.80)
CO ($1.95)
Button ($9.70)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with K, K.
UTG calls $0.10, UTG+1 calls $0.10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.4, 3 folds, SB calls $0.35, 1 fold, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $0.30.

Flop: ($1.40) 5, 8, 7 (3 players)
SB checks, UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $0.8, SB calls $0.80, UTG+1 folds.

Turn: ($3) T (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2, SB calls $2.

River: ($7) 7 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $4, SB raises to $8, Hero calls $4.

Final Pot: $23

Hand #2

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

CO ($6.40)
Hero ($39.75)
SB ($46.40)
BB ($10.10)
UTG ($8.25)
UTG+1 ($12.85)
MP1 ($10.70)
MP2 ($4.60)
MP3 ($3)

Preflop: Hero is Button with , . MP3 posts a blind of $0.10.
UTG calls $0.10, 1 fold, MP1 calls $0.10, MP2 calls $0.10, MP3 (poster) checks, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.5, 2 folds, UTG folds, MP1 raises to $0.9, MP2 folds, MP3 folds, Hero calls $0.40.

Flop: ($2.25) , , (2 players)
MP1 bets $2, Hero raises to $6, MP1 calls $4.

Turn: ($14.25) (2 players)
MP1 checks, Hero bets $4, MP1 calls $3.80 (All-In).

River: ($21.85) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $21.86

Hand#3
And the dumbest hand of the night goes to.....
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (8 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

SB ($11.35)
Hero ($15.60)
UTG ($58.80)
UTG+1 ($10.20)
MP1 ($9.70)
MP2 ($9.05)
CO ($3.85)
Button ($8.30)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
2 folds, MP1 calls $0.10, 2 folds, Button calls $0.10, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($0.40) , , (4 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP1 checks, Button checks.

Turn: ($0.40) (4 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP1 checks, Button bets $0.2, SB folds, Hero calls $0.20, MP1 folds.

River: ($0.80) (2 players)
Hero bets $0.8, Button raises to $2, Hero raises to $8, Button calls $6 (All-In).

Final Pot: $16.80

Hand#4
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (8 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

CO ($7.30)
Button ($5.75)
SB ($6.30)
BB ($5.90)
UTG ($7.65)
UTG+1 ($6.15)
Hero ($8.75)
MP2 ($5.20)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with , .
UTG calls $0.10, 1 fold, Hero raises to $0.4, 4 folds, BB calls $0.30, UTG calls $0.30.

Flop: ($1.25) , , (3 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $0.4, BB folds, UTG calls $0.40.

Turn: ($2.05) (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks.

River: ($2.05) (2 players)
UTG bets $2.1, Hero raises to $6, UTG raises to $6.85, Hero calls $0.85.

Final Pot: $15.75

For tonight the goal is just to take it slow and steady, have patience and just grind it out.

Tonight's session was played through very smooth, nice and steady just like planned. No specific hands to post, just steady grinding.
Up 5.5 buy ins.

Notes:
-Very interesting thing I've learned: when unsure in the situation, look at it from an outsider point of view and imagine that you have to give some one advice on how to play the hand. Then just follow your own advice. So far worked out really well.
-I've realised when I played really lose and made an effort to tighten up.
-I really need to improve on not spewing my money around and stop calling 35s prflp just for the pot odds. Remember to ONLY call small marginal hands when you KNOW that you will be able to double up if monster flopped.

So far this week's target profit of 11-15 buy ins is on schedule.
If all goes well, I should be adding a 25nl table or two at the end of the week to get a feel for those stakes, and start working on making the transition to 25nl next week.

if you're serious about dropping AA pre, simply push every time instead...

Your preflop raises are too small. At 10NL make it 5BB+1BB for each limper. Dont get greedy and try "try to keep your customers". Players who plan to call 4BB will call 5 and more, especially when they have already limped they wont muck their suited junk for 3BB more.

Flopbet in that KK hand is way too small on such a draw-heavy board - pot it, betting slightly more than 1/2 invites any kind holding to draw out on you.

Queens should be an easy 4bet, villians minraise doesnt define his hand at all and we want to know where we at.

I think bet-shoving the rivered flush is questionable, what do you think villian raises with after you lead the obvious flush into him?

And I hate your Aces. Why betting flop so small and wtf where u thinking that made u check turn?

daven Posted: Tue, 27 Nov 2007, 1:00am
if you're serious about dropping AA pre, simply push every time instead...

I only think about folding them when Im on major tilt. Even then the rational part of me knows that preflop I do have the best hand and I should be willing to shove over the top of anyone prflp. It has just been such an unlucky hand lately that every time I get it now, I prepare to watch out for the boogey man to come and get me. And by playing scared like this, I make awfull plays like the one posted above.

XTR1000 Posted: Tue, 27 Nov 2007, 6:20am
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your preflop raises are too small. At 10NL make it 5BB+1BB for each limper. Dont get greedy and try "try to keep your customers". Players who plan to call 4BB will call 5 and more, especially when they have already limped they wont muck their suited junk for 3BB more.

That's actually a really good and helpful point. I do find myself of always "trying to keep my custumers" because of the nutcamping nits that won't call anything. But you are right, if he is holding cards that are calling prflp bet- he'll call more then 4xBB. I will work on fixing that.

Flopbet in that KK hand is way too small on such a draw-heavy board - pot it, betting slightly more than 1/2 invites any kind holding to draw out on you.

I should have mentioned that I was sitting at a table with a bunch of caling stations and really saw someone with 46 /69 or a nutflush draw calling me prflp. So there I wanted to bet $1.2 into 1.4 but decided to bet smaller, but enough to keep the guy from raising me. Pretty much wanted to save my money and show it down as cheaply as possible without being raised. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it was the right way of playing it. All hands above are horribly misplayed, thus me posting them up. Should have bet a lot more and if I get raised- I know where I stand.

I think bet-shoving the rivered flush is questionable, what do you think villian raises with after you lead the obvious flush into him?

There really is no excuse for making such a dumb play but my reasoning was the opponent himself. I saw him having trip 6s or a King and he has been getting in all kinds of pissing matches with everyone who raises his top pair. Definatlly worst play of that night.

And I hate your Aces. Why betting flop so small and wtf where u thinking that made u check turn?

What are you talking about, I love the way I played them! lol not really,I got so pissed at myself for playing this hand the way I did, it wasn't even funny.
I have no clue what was going on in my mind at the time. I guess tried to give opponents outs to call me little futher and milk it for all its worth...well... I gave them outs alright
Usually against the nits I was playing, I'd probably give a free card on flop an pot the turn.

P.S. You know, I reread the topic and I've been talking about horrible beats and running bad, but postig these awfully played hands. Dont get the wrong idea- when I say bad beats I mean bad beats. Hands I post are usually hands in question.
Just fyi

Anyway, I do not know weather I'll have the time to play poker tonight. But if I do, I'll try to have a smooth and steady session like last night, without tilting at all, which should be easier since I'm ahead of schedule and can afford to have a few buy in downswing this early in a week.

I did not have the time for,or felt like playing yesterday. That probably was a good thing since I could use a break after playing poker every day for about 10 days in a row now, which for me is unusual.

Tonight I did not feel too eager to play poker either and decided to 3table bodog for a little bit, maybe find a tourney to play(have to spend those T$ at some point...). Ended up just playing 10nl for about 2 hours.

Played well, I think in part because I was for some reason afraid to lose money, which made me think more in big pots and not play as lose.
Ended my 2 hour session with 3.5 buy ins profit.

Few hand histories I posted up here http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...oker-63558.htm
Sorry for not posting more, but there is no way of converting from bodog and I have to write the whole hand manually. It is easier with Stars, where I can just search through Poker Office and copy the hand. On bodog I actually write down the hand time and table on paper and then look it up inHH.

Quick update.
Played a session yesterday. Played ok,but ran super good and hit two 9 outers after calling a shortstack's all in with nutflush draws given good pot odds(once with just ace high flsh draw, once with Top pair and nutflush draw).

Up around ~5.5 buy ins(i think. might be half a buy in give or take) from last night's session.
Sorry, no HH. I only 3tabled bodog and keepng track of HH's there is tough, so I only write down hands where Im really lost and last night such hands did not come my way, for which I'm thankfull.

Bankroll right now is at around 620. That is 15 buy ins up for the week at 10nl so the week's goal has been met so far but I still have today and tomorrow to screw it up.

Since the goal has been met, the plan for the rest of the week is to play 10nl and put all the extra profit made from 10nl into a buy in for 25nl table. In other words,if I make 3 buy ins tonight, I will open one 25nl table. That way if I get stacked at 25nl table- I'll be break-even for the night and still up nicely for the week.

End of the week update.

I'm well above my goal of reaching 600$ by today with the roll at ~$655
And since I was above since yesterday, I opened a 25nl table and played two 10nl and one 25nl table for about an hour tonight. That got boring pretty quickly and I ended up 3tabling 25nl for the rest of the night.
To my surprise, I did not notice a big skill difference between the levels, even though 25nl was a little tighter then 10nl on bodog.
I was also dissapointed that while I was involved in a few larger pots, I did not end up with as much profit as expected, partially because of a few coolers. I also called too much preflop if I get more then 4 to 1 on my money and before it starts haunting me in the future, I have to start tightening up my range.
Overall Im satisfied with ths week and will try to play 25nl from now on. Eventually I'll try 8tabling, but don't want to put 200bucks of my roll in play just yet.
So for now I hope to be able to play steady and not have any downswings for a while.

So I haven't updated in a while. Just didn't have the time to play that much, let alone sit and write and evaluate my play. It's been a crazy week, I was so busy with college and other things that now I feel like I was running a 10km marathon and now need a long vacation and a lot of rest

Actually not having that "evaluation" time really really shows. Like last week, I sat down to play poker as soon as I was done with all the real things in life every time. No reviews, no plans, just wanted to play. And every time I was struggling to be up. And when I was struggling, I still didnt bother to evaluate what I was doing wrong. I was afraid to spend too much time doing that and not having the time to play.
As a result- last weekend was a disaster. Friday night I managed to
play about 4 hours only to walk away with about 1 buy in in the pocket.
Saturday lost 4 buy ins by midnight, then couldnt go to sleep knowing I'm in te hole that much and made it back by 4am. Once again, did not even bother to take the time and look at my play or write down any hands.
Sunday was the same thing- donked of 200 some bucks/ or 8 buy ins. Once again, stayed up all night to make it back by 3am.

I play on Bodog mostly and can't track it with my PokerOffice. What I was doing is writing my hands on a sheet of paper and then searching for them in history to keep track of my plays, but got too lazy last week and paid the price.
Sunday I played some Stars just to feed some data in the Poker office. So I 8tabled for a while, then switched to 4tables and turned on 3 Bodog tables(Stars just seems so be too dry and tight compaed to Bodog). I fed over 1k hands in the Poker Office and found that Im doing crazy stuff that I wasn't even dreaming of doing a week ago: chasing all kinds of backdoors, inside str8s and open enders....it was awfull. All because I was so concentraded on "not having enough time to play". So I played every hand I could and was chasing everything I could.

Seems funny now, but it was a pretty stressfull week and it definately showed up in my poker game.

Let me remind you that even though I didn't make as much money as I should have, I did not really have a monetary goal for last week. The goal was to get comfortable with 25nl and not be down too much. So far, my roll is still healthy despite not rapidly growing due to the 25nl switch.
The bankroll is just below 780 which is still ok for having a very crappy week since I still made 125 bucks.

Now, starting a new week, I'm still not placing a monetary goal by the end of the week for a few reasons: I just switched to 25nl a week ago and didn't realy get to play it that much in a rational state(every time it was more of a quicke), therefore I do not know what to expect as far as profit goes. I suspect 10 buy ins a week shouldn't be too hard but then again we will see in the very near future. Right now I should be a lot more concentrated on having a stable play at the new limits. And last, if 10 buy ins is an OK thing to expect per week, I should't be too worried about meeting my opeation's goal since it is only around 10 buy ins away and I still have 3 weeks till deadline.

SO, THIS WEEK:
-I will be working on my game and no matter how often I'll get to play, I will pay attention and write down hands. Then review and post them here.
-I will also try not to play every time I get the chance because I want to be able to concentrate on poker when I'm playing. That means no playing tired, no playing "for 1.5 hours before I have to go and do this or that" and no playing when you are expecting to win, that will only set me on tilt once I lose the 1st pot. Now if I cant play with a clear head this week at all- so be it, I won't play at all.

That's it! Just basically need to clear my head of all the built up crap from last week and start this one fresh. Might not play as much if at all, but it's ok- I can use a break and I can afford it and still meet the operation's goal.

Back to the grind after a break. Today was the first day of the week I had the chance to play poker, and...
I hit a Straight Flush today!!!
Don't remember last time that happened, not in the last ~40k hands for sure. Unfortunately I hit it when I was playing this morning. And this morning I, for some reason decided, while 2tabling 25nl as Stars, to open up one 5nl table just to see the difference in play. And that's where I hit my monster, which only made me about 2-3 bucks. But it was ok, since I managed to squeeze out almost a buy in worth on a 25nl table mostly by agro plays on the button. I think it's still good since I only played 3-4 orbits before I got interupted and had to quit.
Tonight's session lasted a bit longer, but still finished earlier then usual. I just thought that I better quit before I go on tilt. I played a $5+1 rebuy tourney on Bodog, in which I got stacked with a straight by a rivered flush I rebought after that for another 1k chips, and since it was about 45min. into the tourney, had to add on another 1k while on break. For some reason I thought I had a good shot at the tourney, but throughout the whole tourney I had such a cold deck that the only hands I won, were the ones without a showdown, and that only happened 2-3 times. In the end, I got busted with AK on a A9T flop, when a villan flopped a set of nines. Needless to say I wasn't too happy with myself for rebuying and adding on.
Cash games at the same time, went better, however the crap people play and the way they played it, started to bring in tilting emotions right after I busted out of a tourney, thus me quitting before I donk of all my money.

Few hands, to illustrate what made me think that either I'm really lost in poker or villan is a total fruitloop:

Hand #1
Villan has really fishy stats, chases a lot. But with me raising pre, I could not put him on a str8 or a set. Flush draw was my guess.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (7 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

SB ($24.65)
BB ($7)
UTG ($40.85)
MP1 ($30.95)
Hero ($25.70)
CO ($20.05)
Button ($20)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with J, J.
2 folds, Hero raises to $1, 3 folds, BB calls $0.75.

Flop: ($2.10) 5, 2, 4 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.5, BB calls $1.50.

Turn: ($5.10) 5 (2 players)
BB bets $4.5 (All-In), Hero calls $4.50.

River: ($0) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $14.10

Results in white below:
BB has Kd 3d (two pair, kings and fives).
Hero has Jh Jc (two pair, jacks and fives).
Outcome: BB wins $14.10.

Hand #2
Same Villan. It's hard to give this particular villan credit for Ak clubs. But I figured, if he's lucky enough to have it- I'll pay.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (8 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

SB ($24.25)
BB ($17.95)
UTG ($40.50)
UTG+1 ($30.25)
MP1 ($15.85)
MP2 ($15.60)
Hero ($47.50)
Button ($19.65)

Preflop: Hero is CO with , .
4 folds, Hero raises to $1, 2 folds, BB calls $0.75.

Flop: ($2.10) , , (2 players)
BB bets $0.25, Hero raises to $2, BB raises to $3.75, Hero calls $1.75.

Turn: ($9.60) (2 players)
BB bets $5.75, Hero raises to $42.75, BB calls $7.45 (All-In).

River: ($36) (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $36

Results in white below:
BB has Ac 6s (one pair, sixes).
Hero has 9c 8c (flush, jack high).
Outcome: Hero wins $65.55.

Hand #3
I don't know about this one. Raise more flop?3 people with me on flop, so I'd think a raise would get called, however most fold, even though the raise is so awful.Maybe that flop bet gave my set away?
Or check flop and bet turn? But the spades scare me and I don't want to give a free card...
I'm lost on turn. I'd hope AK or better, maybe A5 called flop and would pay more. 8$ pot, how much do you bet? 6.25 was obv too much, but will flush draws call half pot($4)? If so, we don't want to give free cards.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (9 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

MP1 ($24.25)
MP2 ($14)
MP3 ($10)
CO ($5.20)
Button ($41.20)
SB ($10.25)
Hero ($28.55)
UTG ($15.85)
UTG+1 ($13.40)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
UTG calls $0.25, 4 folds, CO raises to $1, Button calls $1, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.75, UTG calls $0.75.

Flop: ($4.10) , , (4 players)
Hero checks, UTG checks, CO checks, Button bets $0.25, Hero raises to $1.5, UTG calls $1.50, CO folds, Button calls $1.25.

Turn: ($8.60) (3 players)
Hero bets $6.25, UTG folds, Button folds.

Final Pot: $8.60

Results in white below:
No showdown. Hero wins $8.60.

I'll repost last hand in another forum to get more ppl to respond, but you can leave a response here, it doesn't matter.


Overall, finished up about 3-4 buy ins(too late to count exact number) even after tourney and few bodog spewage situations at 25nl table. So I'm happy.
Paid good attention to position and my plays and realized I was spewing first few orbits and tightened up. Quit playing when started to feel tilt coming up. But I still wish I didn't spew that much cash and will try to learn to tighten up more and vary with cbets, not cbet 90% of the time.

One thing I noticed: I'm way too agro when I just sit down, then when I get stacked with an overplayed hand I come to my sences and play normal.
It has come a surprise to me but I've tightened up a lot lately.Part of it is- I'm looking a lot more at position and don'n play KJ and AJ/AT out of position. Even QJ is under question when I dont have position.
Speaking on position. Last 2-3 sessions I found myself just abusing the button and cutoff. Result is really more positive then even I expected, so I'll keep it up.

The only thing I have to orry about is not to get too happy with abusing position and just raise good hands. Also beware of cbetting. I've increased the size of my cbets and prflp raises and so far its working out great. However, when I lead out prflp and flop with something like AKs and it doesn't hit, I still find myself 3barreling, which gets called most of the time and then I face a difficult river fold, because I'm just way too priced in to call the bet from villan after I check rvr(like 1/5 pot) .
So I always have to remember to watch when I cbet and dont 3barrel with air.

As far as profit for tonight- I only played a few hundred hands, but made good 3 buy ins thanks to a decent heater. my AK 3barrel actually held(villan called with a draw, then checked down with air); I won JJ vs TT( I caled short stacks all in on a AQx board, was getting more then 6:1).
This hand pretty much summes up tonight;s heater:
Even though I won, I feel like usually I still fold this 75% of the time to a fishy villan. This particular hand, however, I played more by reads then by ration. Somehow only a bluff made sence to me from the opponent.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (7 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

UTG ($25.60)
Hero ($47.15)
MP2 ($8)
CO ($49.65)
Button ($23.95)
SB ($14.15)
BB ($19.85)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with , .
UTG calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.25, 3 folds, SB calls $1.15, 1 fold, UTG calls $1.

Flop: ($4) , , (3 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $3.8, SB folds, UTG calls $3.80.

Turn: ($11.60) (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $8, UTG calls $8.

River: ($27.60) (2 players)
UTG bets $12.55 (All-In), Hero calls $12.55.

Final Pot: $52.70

Results in white below:
UTG has 8s 9s (one pair, tens).
Hero has Js Jc (two pair, jacks and tens).
Outcome: Hero wins $52.70.

Ok winter brek is finally here and I'm planning on putting loads of hours into poker. However the start is pretty rocky so far. I caught an amazing cooler monday night but managed to only lose 2 buy ins.

Yesterday was totaly different and I actually went on tilt pretty hard after losing with virtually every good hand I'm being dealt. I havent seen such a cold deck in a while now and know its going to blow ver soon, but in order to stay in a rational state of mind, I will post my plan to get over tilt. Off course I can not do anything about the bad beats and will just have to wait out and keep puttting my money in with the best hand. But what I can do is avoid major tilt, which cost me atleast 100$ yesterday. Overall Im down huge and the plan for this week is to really just get my bankroll back on track.

The roll is around 700- 650 ish now i think. To be honest, Im too scared to count it at the moment. I had 8+ buy in downswings before, but this one is different since the money is bigger and the deck's been pretty nasty with up to 4in a row bad beat streaks on flopped sets(when I get the guy all in on flop with a backdoor draw and he catches runners to make it).

So far the tilting strategy has been "ok, I have a god hand, so if he's lucky enough to catch his flush/fh- I'll pay, after all they can't catch it every time" -well, they actually can catch it every time. And they have all day yesterday. So I need to get off that strategy as quickly as possible because i's been losing me way too much money.

So what I'm going to do is tighten up, stop chasing altogether and bet my god hands like there is no tomorrow in hopes of getting someone's stack. I think thats the only way to make my money back as quickly as possible. BUT. I've tightened up already last night and stoped chasing, but still got stacked a bunch of times with AA/KK/QQ/JJ, as well as with flopped trips. I don't think I can do anything about that, so the only thing I'll do different is try not to tilt after the beat.

I will also try to maybe get into a nice MTT on stars that's within my bankroll. Maybe I can catch a heater and cash out pretty deep.

Like yesterday, I've pretty much got most of the day free for poker, so I'll be playing a few sessions a day.

Back later today with an update

Forgot to post some hands. I mostly played bodog and dont feel like going on a search and destroy mission for HH. So I'll post biggest losers from Stars.

Hand#1
This is the example of major tilt
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (8 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

SB ($37.60)
BB ($6.65)
UTG ($17.90)
Hero ($26.20)
MP1 ($6.75)
MP2 ($14.40)
CO ($25.90)
Button ($6.60)

Preflop: Hero is UTG+1 with Q, J.
UTG raises to $1, Hero calls $1, 2 folds, CO calls $1, 1 fold, SB calls $0.90, 1 fold.

Flop: ($4.25) Q, J, 3 (4 players)
SB bets $1, UTG folds, Hero raises to $3.25, CO folds, SB calls $2.25.

Turn: ($10.75) 7 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $6.5, SB calls $6.50.

River: ($23.75) 8 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $15, SB raises to $26.85, Hero calls $0.44 (All-In).

Final Pot: $54.65

Results in white below:
SB has Th Jh (flush, queen high).
Hero has Qc Jc (two pair, queens and jacks).
Outcome: SB wins $66.05.

Hand#2 Same thing
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (8 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

Hero ($25.25)
UTG ($3.95)
UTG+1 ($33.40)
MP1 ($4.65)
MP2 ($7.40)
CO ($15.50)
Button ($47.70)
SB ($49.05)

Preflop: Hero is BB with , .
6 folds, SB completes, Hero checks.

Flop: ($0.50) , , (2 players)
SB bets $0.25, Hero raises to $1.25, SB raises to $2.25, Hero raises to $6, SB calls $3.75.

Turn: ($12.50) (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $7.5, SB calls $7.50.

River: ($27.50) (2 players)
SB bets $35.3 (All-In), Hero calls $11.50 (All-In).

Final Pot: $50.50

Results in white below:
Hero has 9s As (two pair, aces and nines).
SB has 7d 9d (flush, ace high).
Outcome: SB wins $74.30.

Hand#3
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (8 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver Cards)

MP1 ($22.70)
Hero ($27.50)
CO ($24.90)
Button ($23.95)
SB ($24.40)
BB ($11.90)
UTG ($17.30)
UTG+1 ($24.65)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with , .
UTG calls $0.25, UTG+1 calls $0.25, MP1 calls $0.25, Hero raises to $2.25, 1 fold, Button raises to $23.95, 1 fold, BB calls $11.65 (All-In), UTG folds, UTG+1 folds, MP1 folds, Hero calls $21.70.

Flop: ($36.55) , , (3 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($36.55) (3 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($36.55) (3 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $60.65

Results in white below:
BB has Qh Qs (full house, queens full of fives).
Hero has Kc Ks (two pair, kings and fives).
Button has Ad Ah (two pair, aces and fives).
Outcome: BB wins $36.55. Button wins $24.10.

Quick update.

I just got busted out of a 22$ tourney in late 200s(180 paid).

Raised on the button with 22, EP calls,Flop 9c 2h Qc
He shoves for 3k I call( had 4.5)
Turn 5d, River Ks.
Guy shows a rivered straight with JsTs

So now I'm left with 1.5k chips in 200/400 blinds.
I shove in early position with 77, guy with 9d7d calls and flops a 9.

Don't know how long this cooler is going to last. Hopefully it will go away before my sanity does.

Ok I was updating yesterday, but we had a power outage and all my stuff got erased. I did not bother rewriting everything.

Im still experiencing the cooler, on and off last few days and trying to stay off tilt and play the nuts only.

I was up 150$ day before yesterday( few AAvs KK runins, but still ended up in profit)
BUT! Caught some oversets and flush vs boat coolers real late last night and lost 60$. Still up 90$ over two days, but sucks since I played well and got coolered.

It's interesting how luck works. Somethimes you get a few bad beats a night and not even notice them. But sometimes you get absolutely gigantic colers, such as what Im experiencing right now....it's weird to see so many unlikely situations and "statistical anomalies" in a row in such short amount of time...I would say that even including tilt, 75% losses are pure coolers.

Im taking a break right now. Played for an hour 8tabling stars.
I was involved in 3 hands at same time- QQ, QQ and AKs. Got reraised by some lose donkeys with queens and pushed both of them all in preflop. And flopped the nut flush with AK. In the end- lost both queens to KK and a rivered 2pair(KTo i think) and with my nut flush, villan flopped a set and turned a boat. So a 75$ downswing in about a minute is a pretty crappy start of the day also.

Earlier in the same session, I lost twice with AA. Once to KJ and once to KK.
Lost another stack with JJ, but that one I just played bad, so it does not count.

Overall, Im at around 750 as far as roll goes. I thought that if al goes well, I could still make the 1k goal this week, but today is a clear sign that it's going to be very much luck(or faith, lol, whatever you believe in) oriented.

Im not tilting much today or last few days for that matter, since I know I've been playing very well, and pots I lost due to bad play are very few.

Just watched one of Jym's vids on grinderschool. There he says that his roll was down for the month due to coolers. That makes me feel a lot better, knowing that shit like that happens to good and bad players alike.

What else... been running good as far as stats. 17/9/1.2 would be the avarage for past and this week. A few pips here and there daily, but stayed very close and consistent lately. So as far as me tightening up and playing a consistent stable game- I can cross that of my list I think.

Nothing much to add for now, its just a bummer that the deck is so damn cold this holiday season, I thought I'd really get to fishing around this time. About to take a break, look in PT(poker office in my case) and make sure that I was playing as well as I thought, and back to playing as soon as I feel like I forgot about the cold deck curse
Gotta keep grinding....

I'll add a little as far as meeting monetary goal of 1k by the end of this month.

I have 7-8 days left to do so.
If I run good throughout those 7 days- I will meet the goal no problem since I only have 250$ to go, which is 10 buy ins. On an OK day I will make ~50$ at 25nl,on a good day- 100-150$ so what I really need is just a few good days or a little heater this week.

HOWEVER. While what I wrote above holds true, there has been a huge amount of bad luck present and now I have to be worried not about catching a "heater" or beatng the varience, but about just not geting coolered as many times in a row. Therefore, Im concidering taking a longer break. Maybe a week or so and just leaving this operation for dead, for the sake of longer term success.

It really does not matter if I reach 1k mark this week or not, since I'm pretty confident that if I don't- I will reach in the following week either way.

But weather me trying to put so many hours and supressed stress in order to achieve monthly goal going to affect my performance overall nextmonth/or any longterm for that matter/ - that's what I really have to be worried about.

Im not sure what I'm going to do, If I feel like playing tonight- I will.If not- I will not even worry about trying to make the money back or reaching monthly goal. I already feel pretty confident at the stakes I play and know that I can beat them. I also know that the 1k mark is very easy to achieve and will be achieved real soon real quck, so I really have nothing to prove to myself, and feel like I reached all the goals in my operation except for tilt(but last few days really gave me such an "inside look" that I know about it a whole a lot more then I did before).

So these are my thoughts. I find it easier making decisions when your thoughts are well organized in a written matter. Hopefully that will make me make a better desicion longer term... for now I'll wait and see what happens.