From Fish to Shark; Speedy's grind.

Hey guys. I'm going to give this operation business another try. I fell off the wagon way back when, just after I started my first one. I was grinding 10NL with a decent little roll and life threw a curve at me, had to withdraw it all and forget poker for a while.

In retrospect I think it was a good thing. I wasn't learning poker the way I've been learning it lately and honestly I'm very certain I'd have gone busto despite playing within my means. I have been a student of the game for a couple of years, but I can't call my earlier efforts wholehearted. I learned alot, for sure, but I never really put it all together.

Well now I'm back and I'm getting serious this time. I've been doing my studying; reading some books, browsing the forums, etc. But I haven't been posting hands or getting any kind of feedback/help at all from the community. That's pretty dumb, IMO, considering the resources and helpful folks here.

So here we go, it will be quite boring for a while I'm sure for most of you. I'm currently playing .02/.05 blinds on Stars buying in for $5. I'll be posting trouble hands as often as I can. No bad beats or sick suck outs if I can help it, just spots I don't feel I played well.

Right now I'm sitting on an online BR of $140. I have a few hundred stashed away ready to be uploaded in case I go busto or in the case I'm comfortably crushing 10NL and feel like boosting my roll to get to 25NL.

My short term goal is to be playing 50NL by the end of this year. I'm not thinking long term goals yet, despite the hours and effort I've put into learning the game so far. I'll take whatever happens after I reach 50NL as it comes.

As soon as I've moved up to a respectable micro stake and have a roll to use, I want to clear some of the available U.S. player bonuses around. I'll worry about that later, but that's the plan.

For now I'm not going to establish any hard and fast rules. I'll play as often as I can, as many hands as I can and I won't be moving up to 10NL without 30 buy-ins. I've tried it with far less than that twice now and it has been a disaster. I also will not be playing more than 4 tables at a time and will be playing 6-Max.

For now let's get speedy going. He is still a fishy and wants to be a shark. So any and all feedback, encouragement, scolding for bad play or whatever else you want to contribute is welcome.


Enough of the long winded introz. Onward!


BR: $140

So I'm convinced my poker tracker and HUD are not working correctly. Anyone know if re-installing PT2 will fix it and will I lose old data?

Anyway, I played approximately 1200 hands last night and ran pretty well. I did make some boneheaded moves that cost me a couple of stacks, but for the most part I'm ok with my play. Tracker says I'm up $70, but my BR does not reflect this. WTF poker tracker? If I subtract the rake then it makes sense, but I didn't think I had to do that. Anyone know?

Stats for the session were 22.5/10/1.23

I'm still running too nitty and will post a screeny of my position stats later on. Maybe someone has some tips. Also, I need 20 more FPPs to get my first "rakeback" bonus a I'm silverstar. Should I spend the FPPs on the fifty bucks? Its 10 buy-ins at my current level, or 5 buy ins at 10NL when I move up. I don't want any of the other crap in the store and could use the BR boost. Any opinions?

BR: $182


In this first hand I'm pretty sure I need to pop the flop harder with all the draws and with two callers. Not many reads on villain, my stats on him after 45 hands are 37.78/20/3.2

$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG Hero ($5.98)
UTG+1 adicted2pkr ($9.06)
CO TheQisSilent ($8.05)
BTN E}{cal!bur ($6.02)
SB hobokenPauli ($9.73)
BB mtbbrown ($0.58)

Pre-flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is UTG
Hero raises to $0.20, 1 fold, TheQisSilent calls $0.20, 2 folds, mtbbrown calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.62, 3 players)
mtbbrown checks, Hero bets $0.65, TheQisSilent calls $0.65, mtbbrown folds

Turn: ($1.92, 2 players)
Hero.....?




No reads on next villain.


$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG MottaNaluns ($11.13)
CO idareu2saynh ($4.44)
BTN elkik12 ($4.76)
SB macpeter ($6.88)
BB Hero ($5.86)

Pre-flop: ($0.07, 5 players) Hero is BB
2 folds, elkik12 calls $0.05, macpeter calls $0.03, Hero raises to $0.30, elkik12 calls $0.25, macpeter folds

Flop: ($0.65, 2 players)
Hero bets $0.50, elkik12 calls $0.50

Turn: ($1.65, 2 players)
Hero bets $1.20, elkik12 goes all-in $3.96, Hero ...?




Silly villain. Only 12 hands on him, no reads

$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG Luvdvldogs ($7.71)
UTG+1 Hero ($10.35)
CO Webb2K7 ($7.40)
BTN 1701thomas ($6.35)
SB colonon ($2.74)
BB frasaloe ($8.74)

Pre-flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1
Luvdvldogs raises to $0.25, Hero raises to $1.25, 3 folds, frasaloe calls $1.20, Luvdvldogs calls $1

Flop: ($3.77, 3 players)
frasaloe checks, Luvdvldogs checks, Hero bets $3.40, frasaloe goes all-in $7.49, Luvdvldogs folds, Hero calls $4.09

Turn: ($18.75, 2 players)

River: ($18.75, 2 players)

Final Pot: $18.75
frasaloe shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins $17.85 ( won +$9.11 )
frasaloe lost -$8.74
Luvdvldogs lost -$1.25




I don't feel like I got my money's worth here. WTF at checking the turn, speedy?! Villain was something nutty like 100/21/.065 over 35 hands

$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG Troopy84 ($11.16)
UTG+1 Das Fossil ($5.95)
CO mr. Blauw ($8.28)
BTN jo3l18 ($10.78)
SB Hero ($8.47)
BB marien1976 ($2.00)
[Das Fossil posted $0.07]

Pre-flop: ($0.14, 6 players) Hero is SB
Troopy84 calls $0.05, Das Fossil checks, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, marien1976 calls $0.25, Troopy84 calls $0.25, Das Fossil folds

Flop: ($0.97, 3 players)
Hero bets $1, 1 fold, Troopy84 calls $1

Turn: ($2.97, 2 players)
mr. Blauw says "now i know how you got ur name fosil..", Hero checks, Troopy84 checks

River: ($2.97, 2 players)
Hero bets $1.55, Troopy84 calls $1.55

Final Pot: $6.07
Troopy84 shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins $5.82 ( won +$2.97 )
marien1976 lost -$0.30
Troopy84 lost -$2.85
Das Fossil lost -$0.07



Villain is 75/0/1 over 15 hands. Not much of a read other than he is a potential calling station.

$0.02/$0.05 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG wolkenbruchx ($8.33)
UTG+1 Hero ($8.83)
CO fusion77 ($9.93)
BTN Freddie01 ($5.64)
SB blumac ($3.63)
BB Dixon1973 ($4.75)

Pre-flop: ($0.07, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.20, fusion77 calls $0.20, 1 fold, blumac calls $0.18, Dixon1973 calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.80, 4 players)
blumac checks, Dixon1973 bets $0.10, Hero raises to $0.80, fusion77 calls $0.80, blumac calls $0.80, Dixon1973 folds

Turn: ($3.30, 3 players)
blumac checks, Hero bets $2.15, fusion77 calls $2.15, blumac calls $2.15

River: ($9.75, 3 players)
blumac checks, Hero checks, fusion77 checks

Final Pot: $9.75
Hero shows:
fusion77 shows:
blumac shows:

blumac wins $9.30 ( won +$6.15 )
Hero lost -$3.15
fusion77 lost -$3.15
Dixon1973 lost -$0.30


that's all I got for now. I cant find a couple of hands I wanted to post and am pretty sure PT is messing things up for me. Also when I try to check HUD stats on the tables, the player I click is not the player whose stats pop up. I have no idea how to fix this.

Just a quick update, after picking up a few more buy-ins and receiving my $50 bonus I'm moving to $10NL. I played a short session this afternoon and will be putting in some hours later tonight, so I'll try to post some hands soon.

Hopefully this time I stay at 10NL and don't have to drop down. This is my third attempt since coming back to poker this spring and while I feel like I'm playing better than I ever have, my confidence is still shaky after having to move back down twice. We shall see.


BR (with $50 bonus): $260

my advice is no good but hand 1 I would over bet the pot, you were right...too many draws, that board is nasty.

and hand 2 is good, I would definitely call and look him up.

The rest you played pretty well, last hand....not much you can do about that, looks like you lost the min.

good luck my friend

Just a quick update. So far so good with moving up to 10NL. I cleared my $50 bonus and had a good session running 6 tables of 6 max on Stars. I think I'm playing fairly well and it feels like some of the fundamentals have finally sunk in.

I actually watched one of the sample vidz on Stoxpoker regarding c-betting, when and when not to. Might seem like "duh" to some, but it immediately upped my game. The knowledge was always there I think, but seeing it from another angle helped solidify the idea in my own head.

So what I'm really trying to work on now is reads on villains. I honestly haven't paid much attention to my HUD stats so far and often don't even play with it running. However it is very nice to have the basic stats up and formulating reads based in part on that info is the part of my game I want to work on the most as I move towards 25NL


No real tough spots to post so I'll just put up some hands that went down:


No reads on this villain at the time this happened, after 12 hands I have on him in tracker it looks like this should have been an easy laydown as he showed up with AK in the only other hand in which I saw his cards. But hindsight is always 20/20, as they say:

$0.05/$0.1 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG Dendaman16 ($11.20)
CO moogalcat ($22.15)
BTN PokerPatton ($7.90)
SB Hero ($12.80)
BB lilswan ($17.85)

Pre-flop: ($0.15, 5 players) Hero is SB
Dendaman16 raises to $0.40, 2 folds, Hero raises to $2, 1 fold, Dendaman16 goes all-in $11.20, Hero calls $9.20

Flop: ($22.50, 2 players)

Turn: ($22.50, 2 players)

River: ($22.50, 2 players)

Final Pot: $22.50
Dendaman16 shows:
Hero shows:

Dendaman16 wins $21.40 ( won +$10.20 )
Hero lost -$11.20



These next two were either back to back or there might have been one hand in-between at the same table. The first really set up the second nicely even though I would have preferred a better result for both, lol.

hand 1:

$0.05/$0.1 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG Ronhel1 ($10.00)
UTG+1 krille61 ($52.85)
CO Senelis ($5.20)
BTN patriciorey ($12.40)
SB Hero ($9.75)
BB dienastee ($25.50)

Pre-flop: ($0.15, 6 players) Hero is SB
1 fold, krille61 calls $0.10, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.50, dienastee calls $0.40, krille61 calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.50, 3 players)
Hero checks, dienastee checks, krille61 checks

Turn: ($1.50, 3 players)
Hero bets $1.30, 1 fold, krille61 calls $1.30

River: ($4.10, 2 players)
Hero bets $3, 1 fold

Final Pot: $4.10

Hero wins $6.90 ( won +$2.10 )
krille61 lost -$1.80
dienastee lost -$0.50


hand 2:

$0.05/$0.1 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG krille61 ($51.05)
UTG+1 Senelis ($5.20)
CO patriciorey ($12.40)
BTN Hero ($11.85)
SB dienastee ($25.00)
BB Ronhel1 ($10.00)

Pre-flop: ($0.15, 6 players) Hero is BTN
krille61 calls $0.10, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.50, dienastee calls $0.45, 1 fold, krille61 calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.60, 3 players)
dienastee checks, krille61 bets $0.50, Hero calls $0.50, dienastee folds

Turn: ($2.60, 2 players)
krille61 bets $1.80, Hero raises to $5.10, krille61 calls $3.30

River: ($12.80, 2 players)
krille61 bets $0.80, Hero goes all-in $5.75, krille61 calls $4.95

Final Pot: $24.30
krille61 shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins $23.15 ( won +$11.30 )
krille61 lost -$11.85
dienastee lost -$0.50



I posted this screeny in another thread. It's my stats during my stay at 5NL. I feel like I could/should have extracted more value out of my winning hands, but I'm still learning so...




So after clearing the bonus and ruining the lives of 10NL villains last night my BR is up to $360. I'm just trying to keep my nose clean, stay out of tough spots and work on making better reads/putting villains on ranges. I'm going to stay at 10NL until at least $500 in my online roll, even though I have a few hundred socked away to load if I need/want. I want to play about 15k hands at this level regardless of results just to practice. Hopefully things keep going relatively well.

thanks for listening!

BR: $360

Originally Posted by keepitstrict

my advice is no good but hand 1 I would over bet the pot, you were right...too many draws, that board is nasty.

and hand 2 is good, I would definitely call and look him up.

The rest you played pretty well, last hand....not much you can do about that, looks like you lost the min.

good luck my friend

thanks for the kind words!

update time, didnt realize how long it had been.

So I built my roll up to 450 playing 10NL and decided to take a shot at 25NL prematurely and it was a disaster. I played terribly, scared and stay too long. I actually ended up dropping all the way back down to 5NL and worked my way back up over the last couple of weeks. Don't do it kids, I told myself I wouldn't do shit like that this time and I went and did it anyway. Lesson learned.

So I finally turned things back around and am playing 10NL again with good results. I am not taking a full shot at 25Nl again until the roll is at least $750. I might mix in one or two tables once I hit $500 to ease my way into it, but we'll see how that goes.

Here are a couple of hands from today:


Hand 1: Villain is running unknown, but this is the only hand he raised in about 15 hands at the table with me. My thoughts on the river were simply that I wanted it to look like a blown flush draw with maybe middle pair. Any thoughts?

$0.05/$0.1 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ed091maf ($10.15)
CO saero ($19.40)
BTN Hero ($11.25)
SB cash_cow10 ($9.75)
BB Mutsison ($12.90)

Pre-flop: ($0.15, 5 players) Hero is BTN
1 fold, saero raises to $0.40, Hero calls $0.40, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.95, 2 players)
saero bets $0.70, Hero calls $0.70

Turn: ($2.35, 2 players)
saero checks, Hero bets $1.50, saero calls $1.50

River: ($5.35, 2 players)
saero checks, Hero goes all-in $8.65, saero calls $8.65

Final Pot: $22.65
saero shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins $21.55 ( won +$10.30 )
saero lost -$11.25



ackk, I cant find the second hand. I'll post it as soon as I do.


Anyway. Im in the middle of a session and BR is up to $430. I almost have another $50 bonus cleared, so that will be a nice boost.

anyway, things are going smooth for now. I'll dig up some hands where I had trouble and get 'em posted. I've messed around with some $5 Sit n gos, only played maybe 6 or so and cashed once. Got unlucky in a couple and just played crap/no cards in a couple others. I plan to play a couple of them a day for something different and because I enjoy them.

Oh, and after 16,000 hands at 10NL Im finally turning a profit again. It had been up and down for me at this lvl the first three tries. but I think I have a handle on it now.

BR: $430

Post that QQ hand against Choo Choo!

Quick update. Running ok the last couple of days, still at 10NL.



Should be up a bit more, but I do some dumb things sometimes.


Villain is 56/.92/1.83 over 125 hands


$0.05/$0.1 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG loloser ($13.85)
UTG+1 Hero ($10.00)
CO nasdaqmc ($11.15)
BTN Just_Million ($9.95)
SB ZeBastian81 ($11.85)
BB jimcstud ($6.00)

Pre-flop: ($0.15, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1
loloser calls $0.10, Hero calls $0.10, nasdaqmc calls $0.10, 1 fold, ZeBastian81 calls $0.05, jimcstud raises to $0.50, loloser calls $0.40, Hero calls $0.40, nasdaqmc calls $0.40, ZeBastian81 calls $0.40

Flop: ($2.50, 5 players)
ZeBastian81 checks, jimcstud checks, loloser bets $1, Hero raises to $4, 1 fold, ZeBastian81 folds, jimcstud folds, loloser calls $3

Turn: ($10.50, 2 players)
loloser checks, Hero goes all-in $5.50, loloser calls $5.50

River: ($21.50, 2 players)

Final Pot: $21.50
loloser shows:
Hero shows:

loloser wins $20.45 ( won +$10.45 )
nasdaqmc lost -$0.50
ZeBastian81 lost -$0.50
jimcstud lost -$0.50
Hero lost -$10.00



BR: $515

actually, here is the full month so far at 10NL