The grind commences from the micros

Hello everyone, my real name is Pierre Renard, but you may call me Xptboy if you wish, I'm Belgian and have got 2-3 years of college left here. I should have finished it this year, but I transfered to another school this year and only got 25% of my credits accepted so I basically gotta restart and retake a bunch of classes. This gives me a bunch of free time since many of my classes are easy etc, and I decided to get back into poker. Other than that I am an avid fan of working out/strength training/bodybuilding and a regular student in school.

I've got some slightly OCD/addictive behavioral traits though so I'm going to make sure to set rules and limits for myself in order to not do anything stupid. The rules I will list will be at the end of this OP and will probably be the most important part. I will use this journal to keep everything in check and to be honest with myself. I have every intention of becoming a better poker player and perhaps making a good amount of money with it in the longterm future (whether this be as a recreational partime player or as a pro who lives off poker).

I do have a small history with poker. When I turned 18 I delved into online poker a bit (specifically NLHE 6max) and got quite addicted, I didn't really win nor lose, but it took up too much of my time that I could've been doing other things in life. Not only that but I would often go on tilt and play out of my bankroll etc. For these reasons I have not touched poker for the past 3 years and therefore got a lot of catching up to do. My goal with this blog/operation is to make sure that that does not happen again whilst also getting constructive feedback from others as well as having some minor conversation etc. Also if things ever get out of hand, I can always come back here, read this OP, and get advice from more experienced posters/players here.

For your information, I will solely be playing on Pokerstars on my Xptboy account.

HERE ARE THE RULES!
- 2 Hours of play MAX per day (this is 14 hours max per week). If I don't play one day then this doesn't give me an excuse to play 4 hours the next day etc. I will start a 2hr alarm as soon as the first hand of my session is dealt.
- Only watch 1 training video of poker per day max. I'm a member of DeucesCracked and am allowing myself only 1 video per day max.
- I won't set a limit on posts/browsing and hand reviewing but I'll try not to waste too much time with this. (there's only so much of this I can do anyways I think).
- DO NOT CHANGE ANY OF THESE RULES UNTIL I HAVE REACHED 200NL, my main focus right now and until I am a winning player at higher limits should always be school/work/health/family/friends/life

I've also written out a set of self-discipline rules that I must adhere to:
- According to this plan, it'll take me at least 10 years before I master poker. (10,000 hour rule)
- It will take me at least until I finish college or close to that before I can be playing at midstakes (100NL+ in 2-3 years?)
- Do not even think of adjusting hours of playtime/going pro until 200NL (I don't think I'll be making enough money to live comfortably solely off of poker unless I'm a winning player at 200NL+) and realize that I may simply be a recreational player for the rest of my life and this may simply be a nice fun hobby
- Since this is (initially at least) for fun and to simply pick up a new hobby, I will only make one single deposit, I won't cash out until I'm playing 200NL and hopefully by then I will have decided with more knowledge on whether I would prefer to play recreationally or go pro.
- Bankroll management rules:
Move up to 16 NL at 20 BuyIns ($360)
Move up to 25 NL at 25 buyins ($625)
Move up to 50 NL at 30 Buyins ($1500)
Move up to 100 NL at 40 buyins ($4000)
Move up to 200 NL at 50 buyins ($10000)
Move down in limit if I ever lose 5 buy-ins at the new limit!
- Realize that any excitement I may have at the start of this grind will probably dwindle as time goes on and the game will become less fun as time goes on.
- Learn the game of NLHE 6 max, enjoy it, balance it with the rest of life
- School/work/life/health will always be first priority!
- My first priority is learning the game and getting better at it, never play above 4 tables at a time. learn how to make reads, etc
- Stick to NLHE 6max until 200NL, no point trying to diversify until then
- Finally, at any time I may allow myself to quit playing or take a short break, but if I resume, then stick to these same rules! This strategy and guidelines simply allow me to stay focused on balance in life all while incorporating poker into my life in a safe way.


Anyways, I just deposited $250 into my PS account and that will be my final deposit. Played some .05/.1 for 2 hours.

I just played my first session at pokerstars in a VERY LONG time. played 3 tables quite comfortably, got a bit lucky, made $48. Already up to $300 somehow, not expecting to keep running this good but oh well, if I make it $360 soon that'll be kinda surprising but a nice surprise .

Will update with hands/more sessions later/tmr, etc

Great first post, good luck man!

Why are you playing Stars instead of FTP is my only question?

Originally Posted by Pascal

Great first post, good luck man!

Why are you playing Stars instead of FTP is my only question?

Hey! Thanks

Well im playing stars because i live in belgium where it's one of the only big poker sites that im allowed to play at legally and i already got my old account on it. Pretty sure FTP doesnt allow belgians, i could be wrong though

EDIT: i also wanted to mention that i prefer FTR to other poker communities such as 2+2 because it's smaller and there are less trolls here and better discussions because of that i think.

Hand 1: SB seems to be playing quite regular taggy.
I don't have much/any info on MP yet, he just joined the table but has been quite agressive preflop from the first few hands.
Question 1: Is there even any point in calling with AQs here? I'm putting AK in his range a lot and many other pairs. I don't think he 3bets with many worse Aces
Question 2: Given that I call to the 3bet, am I right to fold to the 4bet to a kinda shortstacky unknown?

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $10.50
SB: $10.00
Hero (BB): $18.02
UTG: $19.63
MP: $10.15
CO: $5.00

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has A Q

fold, MP raises to $0.30, fold, fold, SB raises to $1.00, Hero calls $0.90, MP raises to $4.70, fold, fold

MP wins $3.00


Hand 2: BB literally just sat in, I have no read on him, I initially just want to steal blinds

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP: $10.19
CO: $16.50
BTN: $9.00
Hero (SB): $20.21
BB: $10.00
UTG: $3.60

Hero posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

just trying to steal blinds here, but he calls

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has K T


fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.30, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.60, 2 players) T 9 2
Hero bets $0.30, BB raises to $0.80, Hero raises to $2.90, BB calls $2.10
He raises my initial bet, I have no reads since it's my first hand with him and he has no read on me either. I reraise, he calls, I see this as weakness right?

Turn: ($6.40, 2 players) 5
Hero bets $17.01 and is all-in, BB calls $6.80 and is all-in
I decide at this point that a lot of times I have the best hand with a better T or he may be on a draw, if he's got a set of 9's or T's then gg, so it should be correct to shove here right?

Hand 3:
Villain seems to be pretty solid, no big leaks yet, plays decent abc poker

Question 1: Am I right to call his 3bet? In the game I decided to call because I'm in position and for some reason I feel like players at microstakes tend to blulff3bet a lot from the blinds if I try to steal them often (which I do).
Question 2: It's standard to play agressive/go all-in when I hit a straight flush draw right?

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: $10.15
UTG: $3.96
MP: $4.00
CO: $13.63
Hero (BTN): $10.06
SB: $7.10

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has Q J

UTG calls $0.10, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.40, fold, BB raises to $1.30, fold, Hero calls $0.90

Flop: ($2.75, 2 players) 9 A 8
BB bets $1.80, Hero raises to $4.00, BB raises to $8.85 and is all-in, Hero calls $4.76 and is all-in

Hand 4: Preflop action... I know that this is microstakes but honestly I really considered folding here. Here's why, UTG is nitty with stats 14/13 and has 3B% of 5, so is it OK to fold in this position? I called because ''it's microstakes so I'm not folding AK preflop'' although I doubt he 4bets with worse, he has never seemed to bluff

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: $10.00
MP: $12.54
CO: $10.00
BTN: $12.00
Hero (SB): $23.08
BB: $11.85

Hero posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has K A

UTG raises to $0.40, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.30, fold, UTG raises to $2.90, Hero raises to $23.08 and is all-in, UTG calls $7.10 and is all-in

Good luck with your goals dude, and remember, getting lucky can be the same thing as making a bad play.

Originally Posted by Weissr

Good luck with your goals dude, and remember, getting lucky can be the same thing as making a bad play.

Yup, thanks for that reminder, def need it as I'm on a bit of a heater at the moment. Just had my second session today and I won another $50 which puts my PS account just under $360 lol. Who would've thought that I could potentially be rolled for 18NL before the week is almost over after depositing $250 yesterday and 4 hours of play...

Was 2-3 tabling today, one of the tables was deep (250bb), not sure if I should've played on that table according to my bankroll rules even though that was the table with the most fish... but, I hit a 4 pair on that table and stacked 2 players who each had a full house so yeah lol (probably the only reason why my session was not break even).

GL xptboy. I don't know about you, but the 2 hour limit would be the toughest for me to abide by. Once I find a table with a couple of real fish, I find it really hard to get up. Oh, and make sure you have fun too.

Originally Posted by jaxpaboo

GL xptboy. I don't know about you, but the 2 hour limit would be the toughest for me to abide by. Once I find a table with a couple of real fish, I find it really hard to get up. Oh, and make sure you have fun too.

Thx Jax, yeah, all the rules are somewhat hard to abide to at times tbh, I mean I feel like playing poker right now .

But the reason I made these rules is so that I follow them and so that I don't turn into a degenerate/addict who just spews and stuff. It will also teach me discipline as well as trying to make the most of each session, 2 things I think are really important at being a good poker player (and being successful in life i guess). And tbh I think I'll become a better player initially at least taking it slower and not trying to do too much too fast. I've found this to be true with any other thing in life such as schoolwork and bodybuilding/strength training, I'd rather study a couple hours a day than cram and have an allnighter the day before an exam and it's better to work out 2-3x a week consistently for months/years etc rather than burn yourself out working out everyday of the week for a couple months (as people say, it's a lifestyle change, not a ''crash diet'' or anything like that), etc, sure you may get C results doing stuff that way, but I'd rather get A results know what I'm saying?

Also at these micro stakes I'm currently playing at I really don't see how there would be a lack of fish at the tables, and I mean I'm only playing 2-4 tables at a time so if ever I see a table has no fish then it should be easy for me to sit out and join another one. I think right now my main goal is just getting in consistency on the tables, developing different plans of action, getting better at poker in general and learning how to play vs different villains, etc. And yeah of course to have fun!

Haven't played No Limit Hold'em in ages, and I didn't go over your reads and whatnot but here it is:

HAND 2: Why did you re-raise the flop here? You're overrepping your hand, highly unlikely to get value from worse (basically only flush draws), villain's calling range includes a majority of either better hands or flush draws. In a vacuum I see this being pretty bad.

Edit: As played I don't think I like the turn either; pick a line that maximizes value from worse hands while minimizing potential losses from better. Raising flop and shoving turn doesn't fit this criterion. In the event he has 2p / set etc you basically did all the betting for him, and you never had a chance to fold his hand out either.

Originally Posted by Penneywize

Haven't played No Limit Hold'em in ages, and I didn't go over your reads and whatnot but here it is:

HAND 2: Why did you re-raise the flop here? You're overrepping your hand, highly unlikely to get value from worse (basically only flush draws), villain's calling range includes a majority of either better hands or flush draws. In a vacuum I see this being pretty bad.

Edit: As played I don't think I like the turn either; pick a line that maximizes value from worse hands while minimizing potential losses from better. Raising flop and shoving turn doesn't fit this criterion. In the event he has 2p / set etc you basically did all the betting for him, and you never had a chance to fold his hand out either.

I reraised the flop because I think the only hands he could possibly raise with are a set/2P, bluffs, draws, or a weaker pair of some kind. My intention was to reraise fold the flop if he shoved. 2P is very unlikely as I got top pair and I doubt he had T9.

The fact he called my reraise makes me think he doesn't have a set/2p and he got a weaker pair or draw. He may or may not have a draw, perhaps he is passive and calls when he has a draw or perhaps he is a good player and shoves/folds on the flop with a draw. I decide at this point that if he got a set/2P he will deserve to stack me anyway and I got outplayed/unlucky as I don't see him slowplaying a set on this board. The last thing I want to do though is check to him and allow him to put in a very tight spot. I decide to shove the turn when it comes blank and hope he calls with worse.

Let's say I don't shove the turn then:
- with a worse T or worse pair, he will not bet anymore (but I could still get value from these if I shove because I think he will call with them since my line looks I'm either bluffing or got a set)
- with a draw he will either bluff or give up (if he shoves on the turn then what do I do?!?! honestly IDK...)
- with a set he shoves either on turn or river, but I can't put him on a set as I think he shoves on flop with a set or 2P
- Basically I shove the turn for value from worse T's and lower pairs (and maybe even draws if he's that bad) and to fold out any draws that may have called the flop reraise and if he turns up with a set then WP hand to him.

Yeah I know... I'm crazy! I really like these marginal decisions though mucho fun

I decided to post that hand because I realize it went against a lot of abc poker guidelines but nevertheless I still had a clear thought process during it and am still happy with how I played it. Just shows that I can make really inexplicable plays whilst still putting reason behind them (even if the reasoning is wrong)

Originally Posted by xptboy

Thx Jax, yeah, all the rules are somewhat hard to abide to at times tbh, I mean I feel like playing poker right now .

But the reason I made these rules is so that I follow them and so that I don't turn into a degenerate/addict who just spews and stuff. It will also teach me discipline as well as trying to make the most of each session, 2 things I think are really important at being a good poker player (and being successful in life i guess). And tbh I think I'll become a better player initially at least taking it slower and not trying to do too much too fast. I've found this to be true with any other thing in life such as schoolwork and bodybuilding/strength training, I'd rather study a couple hours a day than cram and have an allnighter the day before an exam and it's better to work out 2-3x a week consistently for months/years etc rather than burn yourself out working out everyday of the week for a couple months (as people say, it's a lifestyle change, not a ''crash diet'' or anything like that), etc, sure you may get C results doing stuff that way, but I'd rather get A results know what I'm saying?

I like where your head's at here, I'm a definite procrastinator and these are things I need to work on myself. But yea, being a winning player and good table selection go hand and hand but as you said, the micro stakes are pretty much riddled with fish, so lucky trolling!

Originally Posted by Weissr

I like where your head's at here, I'm a definite procrastinator and these are things I need to work on myself. But yea, being a winning player and good table selection go hand and hand but as you said, the micro stakes are pretty much riddled with fish, so lucky trolling!

Right exactly and I'm glad you touched on that.

I kinda just want to go a bit further into detail on why I think this way and stuff. And I'm gonna bring up another example from strength training/bodybuilding (which I think I can pretty much associate everything to now in some way...), and I realize that you guys may be fed up of my comparisons between poker and life and bodybuilding and all that already. But tbh I can already see so many things in common (philosophically and mentally at least) between bodybuilding and poker.

I said i'd rather take things slow at first, well this is exactly the same in bodybuilding. When I first started working out, I heard different ways to do literally anything and I wanted to do it all so fast. It set my expectations too high.For example, in only the first few weeks of me working out, I'd hear
- work out 5x a week each muscle once a week
- fullbody 3x a week
- high reps, low weight
- low weight, high reps
- time under tension matters
- time under tension dont matter
- form for bench is like this... no its like this... no its like this...
- no cardio
- cardio
- 6+ meals a day
- only eat 6 hours a day, fast the rest
etc, etc, etc
it just isn't possible to properly process all that information and the reasoning behind all of that in a short time period. The 10,000 hour rule states that it takes 10,000 hours to master something, that translates into YEARS.

I mean, I got so much fucking information in and it was all controversial. Eventually i found myself with information and not knowing what to do when i went to the gym and this was because I was so obsessed with gathering as much knowledge on it too fast that I had no idea what to believe and what not to believe.

Eventually, I learnt that it's best to just get on a proven plan and stick to it, whether the plan bores you or not doesn't matter. All that matters is that you stick to it and that it works. If those 2 things happen, then eventually you will sort of ''naturally evolve'' and adjust your plan here and there. But it will take time as you go from novice, to beginner, to intermediate, to advanced, to elite, etc. At the start, you should really just stick to the basics and follow a general set of rules but after a while you'll notice some weakpoints and some errors in your plan that you need to fix. This is when you should make adjustments. This is what I did, I got on a proven workout routine that was meant to slowly improve your strength numbers over time and lo and behold, over time my numbers went up. At first they seemed like nothing. ''Oh I can bench 10 more lbs than 4 week ago...'' well a year later and I can bench 100 more lbs than before. You won't see the difference until the long run, and it's only now that I've started running into trouble adding weight to the bar, it's only now that I'm looking into adjusting a proven program slightly to my needs etc to focus on my sticking points and stuff.

So this is what I did when deciding to pick up poker as a serious hobby. I decided to create a plan that I could integrate easily and without stress into my current life. I view this plan as only the beginning and in a long time as I don't see myself improving or making progress or come to a sticking point in my game then I will adjust it slightly according to my needs as I inevitably start to see where I could use improvements with real personal experience proven by results, etc. But until then, I'll stick to it because I don't see how adding some hours here and there at playing or studying could help me improve any faster than what I already have set in stone. I just started playing poker again a couple days ago and I already want to play more than 2 hours a day, sometimes I'm just chilling in class and I day dream about poker lol, but I got a plan so I'm not going to just break it you know.

If I didn't have this plan, then IDK what I'd do, but I'd prolly be playing poker at random hours into the night and skipping social events, delaying work and other things in an attempt to ''become better faster'' and ''learn the game faster''. I may dabble in other games such as PLO or tournament play to become a ''more complete player''. I may watch hours of training videos a day to learn ''advanced plays and techniques''. But I mean when i think about this it won't get me anywhere. I'll just get a bunch of information shoved into my face and not know what to do with it, I'll hear about high stakes strategy and try to use that at microstakes and then see it doesn't work and then just get tilted, etc.

As you can see, I can get kind of OCD about things I enjoy sometimes (and this may be because I got an inherent competitive drive in me), I don't like to take things too casually, I tend to be an ''all or nothing'' guy but I need to realize that I can't expect immediate results in short time frames otherwise I'll always end up dissapointed (I've learnt this the hard way several times). That's why I need some rules to balance my life, I have some rules I follow for bodybuilding too so that I can easily incorporate into my life. Well, I can also tell you that I've learnt that for me at least, the thing that will yield the biggest results in anything is simply being disciplined and making sure I can maintain a habit over a prolonged period of time, otherwise I'll simply burn myself out, do things suboptimally and waste too much time on the things that barely matter. There's an 80/20 rule in life as well as in bodybuilding, I'm sure it will be true for poker too. It means, spend 80% of your energy on the 20% of things that actually matter.

EDIT: If I didn't feel like I had the discipline to stick to these rules I wouldn't have started playing poker again as I know it can be an extremely stressful and time consuming activity. Although if done right like I want to do, then I'm sure it can also be extremely fun and rewarding

And when I say rewarding I don't mean only monetarily, although I'm sure making some money from poker would be great. I think there's many other rewards to be had: A great hobby that makes you think, a hobby that will require you to train your mind to go through swings of good and bad luck (just like in life), a hobby that will get you to be more honest with yourself and be truthful to yourself, teach me even more discipline, etc.

I say this because I find strength training/bodybuilding to be more rewarding than simply getting bigger and stronger. It has allowed me to train my mind to not give up, it's taught me discipline, it's taught me to not be scared of heavy weights, it's taught me to be humble, it's taught me to leave ego at the door, it's added a lot of confidence to me through all this experience, not to mention the health benefits amongst many other things that have nothing to do directly with how strong/big I am getting over time.

Thanks for posting. I really enjoyed reading your post and then the follow up comments. Good luck.

Originally Posted by Tom1559

Thanks for posting. I really enjoyed reading your post and then the follow up comments. Good luck.

Appreciate it man, today's session I took a shot at 16NL since I got my roll up to 360. I won $7 and didn't run too good. Made 2 huge horrible plays too where I lost my stack

OK so 16 NL is a bit tougher for sure. But I'm still winning at this level. I think I'm gonna have to start learning some basic poker theory now though. So far I've only really been playing online and watching the videos of coaching sessions so I haven't delved too much into theory which I think is important.

I mean my poker math is horrible, I have extremely basic knowledge of pot odds, implied odd, EV plays and all that so I'm really going to have to figure this stuff out. Anybody can recommend good threads about poker math? Also if anyone is a member on DeucesCracked, any videos on poker theory will be much appreciated. I ended up buying 3 notebooks for poker. Maybe my basic sense of putting people on ranges, and just betting against a calling station fish is fine but I could definitely use BIG improvements in the mathematical department of poker. My basic math is nothing special but even that horrible, I mean I took Stats 1&2 and basic college algebra, I think that's good enough to learn poker maths right? I hate doing math in my head though, will probably have to work a bit on this too...

- 1 small notebook for when I play poker and can just jot whatever I think is important down, find my leaks while I play etc.
- 1 regular/big notebook for Poker math and theory. I'll use this when I review hands as well as when I'm watching mathematical theory videos from DeucesCracked or reading mathematical theory threads on forums
- 1 big/regular notebook to take notes DeucesCracked videos about general tips/playstyle and other poker theory not involving too much math

Anyways, I noticed today I got slightly tilted. Not necessarily because I lost a hand, but more because I played a hand wrong and I knew it. Actually even when I won a hand I would get tilted sometimes at how bad some players are... I'll post some examples of hands that tilted me to explain. (so far money won/lost seems not to tilt me, but just people playing bad)

This hand tilted me because I should have folded preflop or to his reraise, it tilted me because I played it wrong (This is a good example of where I think I could use poker math along with my reads etc to see whether a preflop call is profitable and everything):
PokerStars - $0.16 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: $17.20
MP: $29.78
CO: $19.15
BTN: $8.17
Hero (SB): $50.13
BB: $21.78

Hero posts SB $0.08, BB posts BB $0.16

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.24) Hero has Q J

fold, fold, CO raises to $0.48, fold, Hero calls $0.40, fold

Flop: ($1.12, 2 players) 9 J Q
Hero checks, CO bets $0.80, Hero raises to $2.88, CO raises to $6.08, Hero raises to $49.65 and is all-in, CO calls $12.59 and is all-in

Turn: ($38.46, 2 players) 7

River: ($38.46, 2 players) 4

Hero shows Q J (Two Pair, Queens and Jacks) (Pre 38%, Flop 18%, Turn 9%)
CO shows K T (Straight, King High) (Pre 62%, Flop 82%, Turn 91%)
CO wins $36.96

This hand tilted me (in a different way than the loss) even though I won because I'm like wtf is he doing?!?! It tilted me because villain literally handed me their stack and although I like making money, I prefer playing a game who's at least not completely retarded
PokerStars - $0.16 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $12.79
Hero (SB): $15.68
BB: $19.77
UTG: $16.05
MP: $21.18
CO: $17.59

Hero posts SB $0.08, BB posts BB $0.16

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.24) Hero has 9 8

fold, fold, fold, BTN calls $0.16, Hero calls $0.08, BB checks

Flop: ($0.48, 3 players) J 5 4
Hero checks, BB checks, BTN checks

Turn: ($0.48, 3 players) 7
Hero bets $0.48, fold, BTN calls $0.48

River: ($1.44, 2 players) 8
Hero bets $1.28, BTN raises to $12.15 and is all-in, Hero calls $10.87

BTN shows 2 J (One Pair, Jacks) (Pre 53%, Flop 61%, Turn 0%)
Hero shows 9 8 (Flush, Jack High) (Pre 47%, Flop 39%, Turn 100%)
Hero wins $24.58


However a hand like this doesn't tilt me because I think I played it fine and I was going to get stacked regardless of how it played out.
PokerStars - $0.16 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: $16.00
Hero (BTN): $33.10
SB: $14.11
BB: $31.11
UTG: $20.14

SB posts SB $0.08, BB posts BB $0.16

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.24) Hero has T T

UTG raises to $0.48, fold, Hero calls $0.48, SB calls $0.40, BB calls $0.32

Flop: ($1.92, 4 players) 4 T 4
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($1.92, 4 players) J
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, Hero bets $0.80, SB calls $0.80, fold, fold

River: ($3.52, 2 players) 6
SB bets $2.56, Hero raises to $12.00, SB raises to $12.83 and is all-in, Hero calls $0.83

SB shows J J (Full House, Jacks full of Fours) (Pre 82%, Flop 9%, Turn 98%)
Hero shows T T (Full House, Tens full of Fours) (Pre 18%, Flop 91%, Turn 2%)
SB wins $27.87


Anyways, ended the session up $65 so things are still going good. Think I may play tonight again since it's the weekend if I manage to finish studying my math in time... Yeah I know I said I'd stick to the rules, but it's the weekend and I got nothing to do and so far I don't feel like I'm going down a path to addiction in this game or anything. If I don't play then I will certainly start taking notes of poker math and stuff like that because I think I really need to do that. The only reason why I'm winning these stakes is because some players are retardedly bad and literally hand me their stacks and I'm pretty much just playing like a robot vs fish (I think I'm about even vs the regulars who I actually need to think a bit against when I play with them). I doubt this will happen at higher stakes that I need to prepare for.

EDIT:
One thing I really need to do is start thinking in terms of pot odds. All my life I've been thinking in terms of percentages and converting to odds seems a bit weird to me. This is also something I will have to work on.

I heard "Poker Math That Matters - By Owen Gaines" is a pretty solid book for learning the math. I have it but haven't got around to reading it yet. I hear ya on percentages seeming to be easier, but I think you need to learn to use odds which will end up being easier to use on-the-fly in the end. Congrats on the wins so far.

Don't see how hand #2 would tilt you. You should never get mad if another player plays his hand bad. That is the whole point in poker, you want to have the player play bad. Make the right decisions and win or lose in a hand, you are a winner long term.

Hand #3 is standard. Villian played the flop really weird. I like your check three handed on flop last to act to induce bluffs on turn.

Originally Posted by Weissr

I heard "Poker Math That Matters - By Owen Gaines" is a pretty solid book for learning the math. I have it but haven't got around to reading it yet. I hear ya on percentages seeming to be easier, but I think you need to learn to use odds which will end up being easier to use on-the-fly in the end. Congrats on the wins so far.

I'd rather watch a bunch of videos and take notes while watching and pausing them and stuff rather than read a book and take notes tbh. I feel like it's more like I'm attending a class that way and I think I'll learn better that way. There's a video series called ''mathematics of NL Hold'em'' that I intend to watch intensely and take notes throughout once I'm done watching ''the blueprint'', ''what would tommy do'', and ''the eightfold path to enlightment'' video series. I wanna watch the general poker philosophy and dedication and stories of how people got to the top because I think that's the easiest and fastest thing to learn and get under control as well as to set general realistic expectations and realize it's not all glamour for those guys who got to the top and realize just how hard they worked to get there etc. If I get more serious about poker and start playing more hours and stuff in the future I don't see any reason why I should ever get tilted and that I should be able to completely control it eventually. Whilst math and other things are more technical and I think before I get technical I just need to make sure to have a good plan of attack as I already mentioned earlier and although I obviously want to improve my theorycraft and technical side of poker and maths and all I obviously need to make sure I got the basics down first.

Before I start watching the mathematics of poker videos (that I'm hoping will not only be general math of poker but also some slightly intermediate or more advanced maths) I'm making sure to memorize odds and get used to using them as opposed to percentages etc.

Here's an example of my pot odds chart lol, I know it's super basic, but I think it's important if I know most of the important odds by heart, still learning a lot of the very elementary math of this game through other poker sites and forums that show odd and basic math and taking notes of those too.

Originally Posted by jaxpaboo

Don't see how hand #2 would tilt you. You should never get mad if another player plays his hand bad. That is the whole point in poker, you want to have the player play bad. Make the right decisions and win or lose in a hand, you are a winner long term.

Hand #3 is standard. Villian played the flop really weird. I like your check three handed on flop last to act to induce bluffs on turn.

I think hand 2 just tilted me in a different way. I mean it didn't make me mad or anything but it sure surprised me at how someone can be so bad. I haven't really been super tilted as of yet even when i've gotten bad beat and stuff like that so I think I'm managing my tilt issues pretty well in general.

Anyways, as I said, I had an extra session last night, it lasted 4 hours until 1 AM lol and today I played 3 hours. Quite mentally exhausted right now lol. All I've been doing this saturday/sunday is pretty much playing and studying poker (and I managed to read 2 chapters for school in between somehow lol). I'm up another $60, bankroll is now almost $500 which is double what I started with last week... Wow that's kind of fast lol. I definitely ran well at 10NL but at 16NL I think I've just been playing solid poker and not gone on a heater or anything (my winrate at 10NL is like double that of 16NL lol). Averaging 40 PTBB/100! But the way things are going I may be able to make it to 25NL in the next 2 weeks! Hopefully by then I'll be done watching the inspirational stories/tilt issue and general poker and life balance vids and can get started watching some theory videos and poker math that I think can bring me to the next level and hopefully let me keep crushing the stakes!

I'll stick to 2 hours max during the weekdays but I think Fri-Sun I may add some time into poker and poker study since I got a lot of extra time during the weekends.

Ended up playing again last night for 3 hours.
First I was like I'll just play some 10NL zoom poker for fun, ended going up $50 and then got coolered/bad beat a couple times for $30 this caused me to tilt off $20 really stupidly. Also I was really tired at the time and just not thinking, playing on autopilot even when I was winning.

I immediately logged off when I was back at breakeven and self-excluded myself for 24 hours... I guess this was my first real experience of tilt lol. Good thing I self-excluded myself for today it'll keep myself in check.

Hey you should probably stick to full ring until 200NL since the rake is basically murder at micros in 6m.

Originally Posted by xptboy

Ended up playing again last night for 3 hours.
First I was like I'll just play some 10NL zoom poker for fun, ended going up $50 and then got coolered/bad beat a couple times for $30 this caused me to tilt off $20 really stupidly. Also I was really tired at the time and just not thinking, playing on autopilot even when I was winning.

I immediately logged off when I was back at breakeven and self-excluded myself for 24 hours... I guess this was my first real experience of tilt lol. Good thing I self-excluded myself for today it'll keep myself in check.

Just wait until you go on multi-day stretches of nothing but coolers and horrible suckouts, that will be the real test. Because believe me, it will happen.

Already off your 2 hour limit!! You are a Degenerate!

... just like the rest of us.

Originally Posted by Weissr

Just wait until you go on multi-day stretches of nothing but coolers and horrible suckouts, that will be the real test. Because believe me, it will happen.

Can't wait for this to happen!

Originally Posted by jaxpaboo

Already off your 2 hour limit!! You are a Degenerate!

... just like the rest of us.

lmao, yeah true that! Didn't play any poker at all today though and I sure a lot better now.

OK, so I got my bankroll up to $550 the other day so I was like, hey 22 buy-ins, might as well take a shot at 25NL!

BOOM I get owned and have a bunch of bad beats causing me to play worse and in 2 days I lose $150. At $400 I ended moved back down to 16NL where I got $50 back so yeah... seems like this will be my first moving up challenge

This time though I won't be taking a shot until $625 as planned because I think a lot of the reason why I was getting owned was simply because I wasn't used to playing with ''this much money'', and I know this is still micro stakes. But for me the fact that the blinds are already 25c and just taking a pot down on the flop with a cbet could be like $3 was kind of intimidating for me because up until now unless people put over half their stack in a pot the pot size would generally not go above $5 but now it could be that big or more by the flop so I actually found this a kinda big jump up.

Some things I really struggled with at 25NL other than the ''not comfortable thing" was that people would 3bet a lot more and I didn't really know how to react to this very well. Sometimes I'd just fold all the time and then at other times I'd just 4bet get it in with AQs lol.

Other than that people were a lot smarter in general, at 16NL I could cbet pretty much any board and take the pot down on the flop if they had air, but at 25NL people started to float and then bet the turn and stuff, so it just became a lot harder to put people on hand ranges in general.

It's funny because immediately after dropping back down to 16NL I'd just feel a lot more comfortable at the tables and feel like I had an advantage over most of these players, but at 25NL I feel like I'd need to get significantly better to crush my opponents there.

Anyways, other than that, I been watching many DC videos and just learning and studying away from the tables as usual. Starting to finally get a solid sense of good poker and getting better at controlling any type of tilt and stuff, I think the next time I take a shot at 25NL at $625 I should be able to stay there and beat it provided I don't have a horrendous downswing and get more comfortable with that sort of money being thrown around etc.

Last night was saturday night. I got my bankroll back up to $500 through the course of last week and I felt like I was ready to take another shot at 25NL and just be more focused and I thought that there's no better time to take a shot than on a saturday evening. Ended up playing 4 hours, the first 2 hours was a pretty big break even stretch of just trading stacks but then I managed to get some cards and BOOM in like 20 minutes I'm up $70 (most the money came from the same guy too lol), kept playing a bit and ended with around $580 in the bankroll .

Will drop back down to 16NL next week though as I'm still not completely used to 25NL yet and I attribute a lot of yesterday's good session to people playing retarded whilst drunk lol.

Def think I'm starting to get a bit better at this game and am getting more used to the swings and just keeping my cool during sessions even when they're not going good. Getting a lot more comfortable with 3betting now. Hero calling a lot less too now lol which I guess is good even though sometimes I do a good hero call and am like ''HA I knew it!'' lol. Anyways, got a lot of school work I need to catch up on now that I spent so much of the weekend on poker -.-

I've pretty much come to the realization that even if I'm better than the other players I can't expect to win every single session. I think winning my first 5 sessions in a row since starting poker again kind of made me feel like I was better than the stakes I'm playing and I felt like I would undoubtedly cruise to small stakes or mid stakes lol. But I guess that's not to be...

Variance has definitely hit me and the variance isn't getting much better as I move up the stakes and everyone is playing more aggressively, I pretty much just realized how often I'm gonna be shoving all in and the other guy calls and it's a coinflip or if not that then someone usually still has a 30% chance of winning, which is still 1/3 times if you think about it.

What I can't let myself do though is tilt just because of negative variance, sometimes when I play bad or get coolered or get bad beat or whatever, I'll just make it worse by making ridiculous decisions. In yesterday's session I got in a 3-way pot where everyone was pretty deep, I had 88 and hit my set on an A8x board, we all went all in on the flop, 1 guy had AJ and another AK and the guy with AJ ended up getting runner runner cards to make him a straight, he won the $80 pot, this was the biggest pot I'd ever lost and it just felt horrible at the time lol. After this I ended up just spewing because I was still focused on that one hand and I was thinking, I deserve my money back, why is everyone playing back at me. It didn't really help when I was getting great hands and somehow people just seemed to keep hitting sets or if we got it in preflop they'd crack my overpairs. Eventually I just 5bet bluff shoved over someone with KTs because I felt like he was 3betting and 4betting me light all the time and ended up against AA. After that hand I sat out down $75 and pretty mad at life! But the point is that I could have easily avoided that $40 loss if I'd just never gone on tilt.

Anyway, played again at the end of last night and ran good, got all my money back in 2 hours and that got me thinking. If I hadn't spewed like 2 buy-ins when I was playing earlier, then I would've been overall up for the day, but because I spewed, the positive variance couldn't make up for the negative variance+my horrible tilt plays.

Today I played another session and again I didn't really get any cards, but I managed to stay off tilt and ended up break even which considering how dry my cards were, I think is a pretty good result. So I've basically come to the conclusion that I can't expect to win every session, and that if I lose as little as possible when I hit negative variance, and I win as much as possible when I hit positive variance, then overall that should help me be a winning player over the longrun.

Just wanted to chime in on how I need to make sure never to tilt or at least better deal with it and avoid losing more than I need to.

Sounds like we're at a similar place in our development (and both with spew tendencies). I've found discipline is absolutely everything once you are technically okay, but ill-discipline can be an absolute killer - I find when I'm playing well, I realise just how easily beatable the micros are as long as I concentrate, yet it only takes a minute or two to destroy a good, winning session.

Good luck at the tables - no doubt we'll tussle at some point!

Another thing I've figured out today is that I play MUCH better with 2-3 tables rather than with 4, it's as if with 2-3 tables I have enough time to think about every decision and even do some quick math in my head before making a play whilst on 4 table I can sort of play standard but whenever I get to a tough spot I make the wrong decision.

I'd like to show some examples.
This hand was played with 4 tables, there were a couple other hands going on and I played pretty much straight forward. Some people may think, ''oh this is just a cooler'', but if I was only playing 2 tables I would've been able to put villain on a range better and see how likely it is for my two pair to beat his calling range, whilst on 4 tables I wasn't able to think about this. If I was playing on 2 or 3 tables I would've had more time to think about my decision and instead of just auto check-raising the turn because I hit 2p pretty much comitting myself, I would've thought, is this J really a good card for me? Can it help him? etc. Perhaps I'm being results oriented, but I really think I should've played the hand completely different from the flop. I'm sure I would've lost some money here but I don't think I had any reason to lose my entire stack.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BB): $24.12
UTG: $25.00
MP: $25.00
CO: $25.00
BTN: $29.20
SB: $33.95

SB posts SB $0.10, Hero posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has A J

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to $0.75, fold, Hero calls $0.50

Flop: ($1.60, 2 players) K 2 A
Hero bets $1.20, BTN calls $1.20

Turn: ($4.00, 2 players) J
Hero checks, BTN bets $3.00, Hero raises to $9.10, BTN calls $6.10

River: ($22.20, 2 players) 4
Hero bets $13.07 and is all-in, BTN calls $13.07

Hero shows A J (Two Pair, Aces and Jacks) (Pre 63%, Flop 87%, Turn 9%)
BTN shows Q T (Straight, Ace High) (Pre 37%, Flop 13%, Turn 91%)
BTN wins $46.34

Here's an example of a hand where I'm only playing 2 tables and because of that on every single hand I'm able to put villain on a range, not only that but I can also see what's going on in hands I'm not involved in. For some reason, once I jump to 4 tables from 3 I just can't do any of these things anymore... Now in this hand villain was a nit so his UTG open range is pretty narrow, the flop doesn't hit him but it surely hits my range so I decide to float. OTT the board pairs, but he keeps betting out, I'm guessing he does this because he knows that I know that he got some strong hands in his UTG range, and maybe he thinks he can fold out or get value from flush draws. But I know he can't have a 9 or a T so I decide to raise his turn bet and he folds. I also know he can't play back at me even with overcards because the possibility I got trips is very high so if for some weird reason he calls me with A high I can pretty easily get a showdown on the river. On 2-3 tables I can make these correct thought processes but on 4 tables I just kind of go into autopilot. So I should def not go over 3 tables imo.

PokerStars - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: $18.50
MP: $25.00
Hero (CO): $49.01
BTN: $32.54
SB: $26.83
BB: $12.05

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has 3 3

UTG raises to $0.75, fold, Hero calls $0.75, fold, fold, fold

Flop: ($1.85, 2 players) 9 2 T
UTG bets $1.00, Hero calls $1.00

Turn: ($3.85, 2 players) 9
UTG bets $2.00, Hero raises to $5.20, fold

Hero wins $7.50

nice blog

hands 7/11
AdQd - you can fold here not closing the action
KdTh - 3x steal is fine, so is 2.2-2.7x. I don't like 3betting the flop. As played shove turn is fine, so is checking back trying to race to a free showdown.
QhJh - you aren't really deep enough to nut-mine here pre, fold. You are behind with 12 outs and zero fold equity most of the time when he cbets this flop = call. Shove if his range wasn't so nutted.
AcKs - good spot to fold AK pre

re poker maths - don't stress it too much, doesn't need to be exact. Rule of 2 and 4, spoonitnow's threads that are linked from rpm's uber-link thread in the bc, you'll be fine.

hands 10/11
QhJd - fold pre. His flop 3b should terrify you, cos you rep 8T/KT/JJ/etc and he's keen to play for stacks.
8h9h - nh sir
TT - bet the flop, rest is standard

Originally Posted by xptboy

It tilted me because villain literally handed me their stack and although I like making money, I prefer playing a game who's at least not completely retarded

nah, learn to love this shit bro

Originally Posted by xptboy

One thing I really need to do is start thinking in terms of pot odds. All my life I've been thinking in terms of percentages and converting to odds seems a bit weird to me. This is also something I will have to work on.

percentages and odds are just different ways to express the same thing. You like percentages? use percentages then, ez game. e.g. i've got 9 outs, so about 20% to turn the nuts, so I can call a bet if my call will be less than 20% of the final pot. Hmm, he bet 30c into $1, 30/160 = sweet, calling is fine. etc.

your chart is a good idea, and pretty soon you should have that shit internalised cos you're counting cards = outs and multiplying by two for % chance of hitting, backdoors add about one out over two streets to come.

Originally Posted by xptboy

OK, so I got my bankroll up to $550 the other day so I was like, hey 22 buy-ins, might as well take a shot at 25NL!

nice work on moving up to 25nl for the first time. Even nicer work for having the discipline to move back down.

re too many tables. Load up 20 play money tables or 10x2nl tables and play them as seriously as you can. After that, 4-tabling will be a breeze.

AcJc - pre is fine. Not sure why you are donking flop here, button will cb his entire range but fold some of the weakest end to a donk. Bet-fold turn as played. Meh, river is fine as played.
33 - don't use 'every single hand i can put villain on a range' as an excuse to spew too much. Note that villains in this spot are often not good enough to fold JJ+, and that you are unlikely to raise a boat in this spot - cos why would you?

Thx Daven, helpful post. At first when I saw fish do crazy things it tilted me but now I realize that I should love that stuff afterall

Today I'm not playing any poker. Gonna review my past few sessions and study more poker and post in the forums etc. I think a little break from actually playing everyday and just thinking about better decision making could help me a bit.

EDIT: About the pot odds math thing, when I started I really didn't even know what pot odds meant. I pretty much only just realized, it's basically
A:B
I need to win (B) times out of (A+B) to make the decision profitable.
I kinda just looked at the numbers and was wondering, how the hell does 2:1 turn to 33%? Because I was looking at pot odds more like fractions, I thought 2:1 should be 50% lol. So that kind of shows how bad with poker maths I am lol.

As for playing, kinda just jumping between 16NL and 25NL... It seems like recently any money I make I lose, and any money I lose I win, just constantly jumping between $500-$600. This is why I'm gonna take a break from playing today and really try to learn some new concepts & fundamentals that I think could give me a bit more of an edge to maybe gain an edge.

Hmm so finally had a decent bunch of good sessions between 16NL and 25NL. And I'm now up to $680 bankroll which means I can go fulltime 25NL! I feel much more comfortable at 25NL.

As a reward for myself, I've been playing a lot of 2NL PLO lol. I don't think I even completely know the rules but it's an awful fun game and I'm crushing 2NL without having a clue how to play the game! I literally play above 50% of my hands preflop and then postflop I play pretty face-up but tend to take down small pots here n there too... Man I love 2NL PLO

Too tired to play real NLHE right now... So far I've been going crazy during the weekends playing a lot during peak hours but I didn't get much sleep last night.

EDIT: actually managed to get my BR up to 700 playing 2NL PLO rofl

Forget what i said yeaterday. Down 6 buyins, lost $150, not sure how but super tilted right now. Lots of spew and am going back to 16NL. Gonna keep my mind off poker for a bit as i hate it atm. (never knew it could make me feel this bad)