I've decided after the break away from the tables that I'm more determined than ever to develop as a poker player and actually start a meaningful climb up the ladder. The 7$ lasted a day or so which considering it was 3 buy ins wasn't too bad, but back in the real world of trying to develop as a poker player... I've decided to deposit and start working hard at my poker again.

I've deposited 40$ on stars and am grinding away at the .01 / .02 cash games, I've got off to a bit of a flyer which I'm pleased about, as long as the bankroll keeps climbing up instead of down I'll be happy. I've learnt alot here at FTR over the months and during my short visit to GS and I can really start to feel the difference in my game, the break did me good.

Two thoughts have been very useful to me recently, the first was something Rob said in one of his posts, about a key part of being a winning mircostakes player. He said you need to be winning big pots and losing small ones, simple enough... Yet when I was thinking about this as I played it made many of my descisions that much easier, when in a marginal situation for instance, it was so much easier to fold when I considered the implications of continuing in the hand by the time we got to the river, and saw the possibility of losing a big pot with a marginal hand, this one simple mantra - win big pots, lose small ones, is serving a nice reminder to keep things sensible.

My positional awareness is slowly improving now too and I'm looking at the game in a more dynamic way than I used to - the videos over at GS are mostly responsible for this, watching them made so much of the positional knowledge I had gleamed from FTR click into place. I said there were two thoughts that have been handy recently, the first I've just mentioned - Robs, win big pots, lose small ones... the second was something Spenda said in a recent thread: -

I told this to a student yesterday who is kinda stuck as well, I remember when I was doing this BR building challenge for GS and I won like 12 buyins in the first 3k hands at 10nl FR and then went on like a 6-8 buy-in downswing over the next 3k. Poker is brutal like that, it's amazing how much worse you play when you're running even slightly poorly.
This helped me big time, it helped me to stay focussed and detached during my pretty sick first session of 2 hours where I ran at 67.2BB/100 - this is just natural variance remember this when you're running bad I told myself... and low and behold within the first couple of hands of my second session my aces got busted by someone chasing a flush draw. By remembering that little bit of information though about the way variance effects sinner and saint alike I was able to just brush it off and carry on with the second session which over the course of about 5 hours really turned out to be another good one (29.7BB/100).



So it's been a good start I've got a good work ethic towards my poker at the moment and I intend to keep it that way. I'm looking forward to making the climb up through the microstakes and really have faith that I might actually pull it off this time around.

I don't know I think I was stuck in a rut before, everything seems so much more straightforward since I started playing again.

Two hands from my first two sessions...

1. Aces getting busted early in the second session. Villain decided to chase the flush despite my overbet he was holding 52(s) the all in shove was based on the fact that guy was a bit of a maniac and I was trying to get as much FE as possible, was that OK or was I wrong to over bet like that?

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($1.92)
Hero (SB) ($2)
BB ($5.76)
UTG ($3.99)
UTG+1 ($7.54)
MP1 ($5.33)
MP2 ($0.88)
MP3 ($2.31)
CO ($2.73)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A
UTG calls $0.02, UTG+1 calls $0.02, 1 fold, MP2 calls $0.02, 2 folds, Button bets $0.14, Hero raises to $0.36, 2 folds, UTG+1 calls $0.34, 1 fold, Button calls $0.22

Flop: ($1.14) 3, 10, Q (3 players)
Hero bets $1.64 (All-In), UTG+1 calls $1.64, 1 fold

Turn: ($4.42) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($4.42) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $4.42 | Rake: $0.20

Results:
Hero had A, A (one pair, Aces).
UTG+1 had 5, 2 (flush, Queen high).
Outcome: UTG+1 won $4.22

2. My luck was in here... a nice spot to hit a set.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

CO ($3.46)
Button ($1.16)
SB ($5.31)
BB ($8.76)
Hero (UTG) ($2.66)
UTG+1 ($9.69)
MP1 ($5.66)
MP2 ($3.37)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 4, 4
Hero calls $0.02, UTG+1 calls $0.02, MP1 bets $0.14, 4 folds, BB calls $0.12, Hero calls $0.12, UTG+1 calls $0.12

Flop: ($0.57) 8, K, 4 (4 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.49, 1 fold, MP1 raises to $3.12, BB raises to $8.62 (All-In), Hero calls $2.03 (All-In), MP1 calls $2.40 (All-In)

Turn: ($14.13) A (3 players, 3 all-in)

River: ($14.13) 3 (3 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: $14.13 | Rake: $0.70

Results:
BB had A, K (two pair, Aces and Kings).
Hero had 4, 4 (three of a kind, fours).
MP1 had A, K (two pair, Aces and Kings).
Outcome: BB won $2.85, Hero won $7.73, MP1 won $2.85


Anyway... enough talking - just wanted to update on my progress, my goal is to take some coaching on within the next 4-6 weeks by which time I hope to be ready to start 10nl.

Day 1 complete now, I'm going to get some sleep and aim to get another 1k hands in later in the afternoon!