OngBlogga

Hi FTR, I think I need a poker blog.

Recently had to cash out most of my BR due to IRL sucking massive balls. I've left myself $50 + 4k fpp, and so begins the regrind back to $25nl. Feel free to troll my blog all you like, this is for my benefit. I feel a record of my poker will help me see where I'm doing good, or bad, and give me more focus.

Plan -

Make tea.

Get desktop fixed so I can have a HUD again, my laptop is fucking awful.

Play at least four hours daily five days a week, up to 8 hours or more on days where I feel motivated. Gonna try and go for a minimum 2-mile walk daily to get some fresh air and help with motivation.

I also intened to read as many articles as I can find time for, and to post more hands in the BC, rather than just lazily chip in with my opinion in other people's threads. Also, read other people's blogs, I hardly ever frequent these parts, must try harder.

I'll be posting hands itt that I feel I played badly in, or maybe just ones that amuse me, and I'll be posting regular BR updates.


BR strategy -

Cash tables...
3x 2nl zoom tables
1x 5nl zoom table

If BR < $30, drop the 5nl table, play 2x 2nl zoom.
If BR > $100, drop 2nl, play 4x 5nl zoom.

Try to maintain silver star status.

MTTs...

Play 0.55c and lower MTTs where I can be bothered, I have a huge edge vs the majority of the field so I expect it to be massively +ev, even if not huge in actual $$$. Variance a bitch in these games so will stop wasting my time with them if BR < $30.

When BR > $100, play $1 MTTs.

Sunday Storm...
Cost - 700 fpp, so I'm playing the next four (maybe not next week) with fpp and reasses from there. I can probably afford to buy into these weekly from my IRL income, but I'd rather use my fpp while I have them. Prizes are just too good at the top end for me to ignore this game, and I regularly cash. I feel it's best value for my fpp.

Freerolls...
Play as many stars daily astronomer freerolls as I can be bothered with, I already have one WR2 ticket from a HORSE game last night.
Any other freerolls I'm eligible for, I'll play.

Gauntlet... I'm already in a $20 side pot, and have two BR boosting prizes to play for, so I'll be taking this very seriously and aiming for 2nd place minimum. You have been warned.

Other FTR games...
Stars FTR 250, this is next sunday and I might be away, so we'll see. If I'm at home I'll be playing.
FTR stars freeroll... definitely playing.
bwin stars $$ added... if it runs I'm in, still have $7 on bwin which doesn't matter.

I'm currently 2550 vpp from a $50 bonus, not gonna make those points very fast at 2nl and 5nl.

Ultimate goal - BR back to $500 by Christmas, at which point I'll dip my toes back into 25nl

So...

BR = $57.70
fpp = 4165
next stellar reward ($50) in 2550 vpp
WR2 tickets - 1

If anyone has any advice to help me get back to 25nl, I'd be delighted to hear it. Insults also welcome.

Troll away FTR, let the regrind begin.

hh converter

1st but unfortunatly no time for trolling now. GL.

Dude, if you're a winner at 25nl then fuck 2nl, 5nl is fine imo. Unless you sucked balls at 25nl.

That said I've hardly played zoom so it may be different.

Oh... you're ugly and your momma dresses you funny.

Cheers guys.

Originally Posted by rong

Dude, if you're a winner at 25nl then fuck 2nl, 5nl is fine imo. Unless you sucked balls at 25nl.

That said I've hardly played zoom so it may be different.

I was winning at 25nl, but I don't wanna risk total bankroll oblivion, I really can't afford to put another $50 on stars right now, this is me playing it safe for now. Zoom is a strange place, while I'm better than average at these stakes, it's not hard to lose a few BI quickly.

Originally Posted by supa

Oh... you're ugly and your momma dresses you funny.

50% correct.


Playing limit razz freeroll, jesus these people suck, they cap it when I'm clearly beating them. I don't think they realise it's lowball, I'd love to see their face when they see their KK beat by my 8 low. Piss funny.

You spelt your name wrong in the title, want me to fix it?

Haha my housemate thought the thread title was funny, you have no soul.

Good luck - always find your posts interesting and thought provoking. Micro Zoom seems particularly fishy when I've dabbled with it, so you'll be up to 10nl at least in no time.

Oh, and you're a big-nosed wanker with shit for breath.

So yeah, more on why I'm not playing exclusively 5nl...

KJs flops flush, villain flops straight flush
33 flops set, villain flops top set
And another villain chases down 2nd pair then shoves for pot after binking trips on river vs my tptk

BR = $44.45

Break then regroup.

Oh, and thanks bean.

God is taking a giant shit on me right now...


PokerStars Zoom No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (9 handed) - PokerStars Zoom Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

Button ($2.90)
Hero (SB) ($6.52)
BB ($5)
UTG ($4.37)
UTG+1 ($3.63)
MP1 ($5.54)
MP2 ($1.30)
MP3 ($3.72)
CO ($5.40)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, Q
3 folds, MP2 calls $0.05, 3 folds, Hero bets $0.20, 1 fold, MP2 calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.45) 4, 9, 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.30, MP2 calls $0.30

Turn: ($1.05) J (2 players)
Hero bets $0.80, MP2 calls $0.80 (All-In)

River: ($2.65) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $2.65 | Rake: $0.11

Results:

Spoiler: Show

Hero had Q, Q (full house, fours over Queens).
MP2 had 4, 3 (four of a kind, fours).
Outcome: MP2 won $2.54

Another hand I can't be bothered to pull up the HH for, I misclick call J4o and flop 2pr, stack KK, turn K... cheers for that one.

Lots of short stacks taking $1 off me here and there.

I don't want this to be an OngBitching thread, but man I can't take much more of this.

Running ok in the 55c turbo at least, currently 8k stack, av 5.5k.

Need some rungood pretty fucking soon.

Not often you make me laugh bikes, but I take my hat off to you there, you raised a chuckle, even through my somewhat fucking foul mood right now.

Anyway, this is fast turning into the bankroll oblivion thread, which no doubt will bring some of you some amusement...

PokerStars Zoom No-Limit Hold'em, $0.05 BB (6 handed) - PokerStars Zoom Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

Button ($12.98)
SB ($5.02)
BB ($5.60)
Hero (UTG) ($6)
MP ($2.77)
CO ($15.37)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with 3, 3
Hero bets $0.15, 3 folds, SB calls $0.13, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.35) 5, 10, 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($0.35) 3 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.20, SB raises to $1.30, Hero raises to $2.65, SB calls $1.35

River: ($5.65) 8 (2 players)
SB bets $2.22 (All-In), Hero calls $2.22

Total pot: $10.09 | Rake: $0.42

Results:

Spoiler: Show

SB had 10, 10 (full house, tens over fives).
Hero had 3, 3 (full house, threes over fives).
Outcome: SB won $9.67

Anyway, stepping down to 2nl, today is fucking brutal. Trying to not get tilted but it's not easy.

Someone post pics of beautiful Japanese women please.

I like yer blog title bonga.

The HH sucked tho, gotta step up yer game if you wanna impress pascal.

Edit: second HH was better than the first, but c'mon man, just post nothing when you're coolering and only ever update yer blog when yer heatering like everyone else does.

Originally Posted by d0zer

The HH sucked tho, gotta step up yer game if you wanna impress pascal.

My advice would be stop putting your stack in behind

Originally Posted by OngBonga

Plan -

Make tea.

i like your plan to make tea
re the rest of your plan
you don't mention study beyond posting and commenting on hands
but you do mention going outside, that's a good thing.
definitely post hands. Aim for two a day for a while.

re br strategy. Hmmm. What stakes were you beating? Can you leave $100 on and start at 5nl instead? and try to move quickly to 10nl? at that point in your regrind it's possibly worth using fpps buying the $200 bonus if it gets you back through the stakes more quickly, or even the $75 bonus that you are almost at.

re mtts. Remember you're aiming to win, not to min-cash.
re storm. I think this is a pretty bad idea, unless you do them as separate from your regrind. I mean, this is you dreaming of a big tourney score, and that's fine, but it isn't your poker journey.
re freerolls - sure, why not if you're playing anyway. But depends on opportunity cost. Is this costing you an extra table? taking focus from cash tables?

Originally Posted by OngBonga

BR = $57.70
fpp = 4165
next stellar reward ($50) in 2550 vpp
WR2 tickets - 1

fpps are cash, don't forget that in your haste to chase tourney glory

Originally Posted by OngBonga

If anyone has any advice to help me get back to 25nl, I'd be delighted to hear it.

play heaps, play well.

Originally Posted by d0zer

just post nothing when you're coolering and only ever update yer blog when yer heatering like everyone else does.

gold, or just post about things other than poker when you're not on a heater, making only indirect mention of the grind

but c'mon man, just post nothing when you're coolering and only ever update yer blog when yer heatering like everyone else does.

Only reason I posted these hands was to take a break from the table to avoid tilting more BI. I can't believe my mouse is still working.

Tomorrow I'll be fistpumping $4 pots. Jesus my life is depressing right now.

WHERE ARE THE JAPANESE GIRLS I ASKED FOR?

If you're going to take a punt with your FPPs don't do it on the Storm. If you really want to play a massive field $11, play the Bigger $11 - it's smaller but still massive and it's got much longer levels so it's less of a joke at the end.

You'd be way better off playing something much smaller. I played a lot of the 235 FPP Sunday Storm Sat Hypers - 6max SNGs with 2 seats to the Storm which you can cash and take the money and got a decent rate on my FPPs, definitely better than the best bonus. They occasionally have regs (I was playing late Sat night/early Sun morning) but they tend to be full of punters.

Spoiler: Show

Thanks daven. Will be studying by day, grinding by evening. Gonna read spoon's articles and go from there.

definitely post hands. Aim for two a day for a while.

Noted.

re br strategy. Hmmm. What stakes were you beating? Can you leave $100 on and start at 5nl instead?

Was beating 25nl but cashing out profits so my BR was stagnant. Can't afford to dump another 50 bucks on right now, maybe in a week or two things will be better.

re mtts. Remember you're aiming to win, not to min-cash.

This is actually much easier to get into my head when playing 55c games, since I don't give a crap about winning $1, I'm aiming for final table. It's different when playing the storm because $30 is a decent boost to the BR, esp when I buy in with fpp.

re storm. I think this is a pretty bad idea, unless you do them as separate from your regrind. I mean, this is you dreaming of a big tourney score, and that's fine, but it isn't your poker journey.

Well I love playing the storm, I don't want to give it up. I can pay for this from my income, it's like £7 or something, hardly gonna break me. Might just fire the money in weekly and use my fpp for something else, I'll try and figure out what gives best value for fpp points.

fpps are cash, don't forget that in your haste to chase tourney glory

Well, fpps aren't cash like the cash in my bank, that's why I'm thinking of using them for storm.

play heaps, play well.

I'll try.

I think my primary goal right now is to stay positive, depsite runbad, despite IRL sucking, depsite whatever else happens.

Thanks for the encouragement.

You'd be way better off playing something much smaller.

Yeah fair enough, I'll look into those sats. And you're prob right about the bigger $11, I tend to give that a miss these days simply because the storm starts first, and I rarely play both. I'm away this weekend so prob won't be in either, we'll see where my IRL finances are by the next one before I make my mind up about the sunday games.

Thanks for the pic, is now my desktop background!

Right, hour of grinding 2nl 6max then bed.

MOAR OF THIS

PokerStars Zoom No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - PokerStars Zoom Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

Button ($4.16)
SB ($1)
BB ($7.80)
UTG ($3.86)
MP ($8.87)
Hero (CO) ($4.20)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q, Q
2 folds, Hero bets $0.08, Button raises to $0.22, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.48, Button raises to $4.16 (All-In), Hero calls $3.68

Flop: ($8.35) 3, 9, A (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($8.35) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($8.35) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $8.35 | Rake: $0.29

Results:

Spoiler: Show

Button had 9, A (two pair, Aces and nines).
Hero had Q, Q (full house, Queens over threes).
Outcome: Hero won $8.06

Fucking fistpump at the fucking fish. Had a note on him, never ever folding QQ pre vs this guy.

Mood improving.

Some of the losses above held useful info for further hands against villain, but those zoom tables devalue notes.

I found on ft that I was better off doubling the number if tables and not playing zoom, but everyone's different I guess.

Funny you should say that rong, after yesterday's god shitting, I've abandoned zoom and I'm just gonna play reg tables instead so I can make more detailed notes and exploit each villain individually rather than try to exploit a pool of random window lickers. Can't have another day like that or I'm busto.

I can exchange my fpp for $35 in cash, but as storm (or big $11) tickets, my fpp are valued at around $55. So if I'm gonna play these games, fpp is better and use the cash I might've spent to reload some funds to get me back to 10nl quicker. We'll see, still assessing the options.

never seen such results oriented behavior.

!Luck, I get your point. Will try to not be result orientated, but at the same time posting hands and ranting about them, it means I'm tilting in here rather than at the table, so it serves a purpose. I've never written a blog before, and not bothered reading anyone else's yet, so I'm still learning how to get the best out of it. I posted the QQ river bink hand because I didn't want this thread to be filled with bad beats and me crying, I wanted something positive to look at to remind myself that it's not all bad.

Appreciate your comment.

Sometimes letting it out only trains you to have more to let out. Just like turning negative emotions into physical violence. The goal isn't to deal with shitty bad beats but realize there aren't any beats at all. I know this is nirvana bullshit coming from a non poker player at the moment, but when i played once i learned to laugh at both good and bad hands my game and enjoyment improved.
good luck sir.

In the long run, there are no bad beats, and we're all dead.

Sometimes letting it out only trains you to have more to let out.

Think there might be some truth to this. Thanks, will try to remind myself of this next time I get coolered.

Funny thing is I deal with tilt much, much better when I'm sufficiently rolled, but I'm on my knees right now so it just feels like it's one giant shit after another. These bad beats I posted, it was purely to force myself to sit out for 5 minutes while I cool down. I don't want to start calling shit vs their raises to cooler them back lol.

But if I get angry, rather than come here and complain like a bitch, maybe I should make some tea, do something else for a short while unitl my anger is gone.

Or better still, don't get angry.

Am I alone in thinking the following:

1) Fuck zoom, play tables and get moar reads. This might be better for your development in the long run.

2) Stick to one stake, not sure why you want to play 3 tables of 2 NL and one of 5 NL.

3) If your BR's at $45ish then maybe just 4-table 2NL until you get up to 100 or so, then start 2-tabling 5 NL and add more tables as you go along. Alternatively, deposit another 100 and skip 2NL altogether.

4) I'd leave MTTs by the wayside, the game is so different and running these tables simultaneously is bound to fuck with your play on the regular cash tables -- until you get more experienced dealing with both at the same time, of course.

I used to play NLHE MTTs exclusively, and had a semi-okay positive ROI over a decent sample. So, when I started playing omahahaha again, I figured it'd be fun to have a table or two of NLHE MTTs running just for kicks. Having focused on omaha study purely, and having engrossed myself in it for some time, I was mainly looking at my NLHE tables and being like "LOL ONLY TWO CARDS" and doing dumb bullshit like folding without the nuts errtime.

Anyway, that's just me I guess.

1) Fuck zoom, play tables and get moar reads. This might be better for your development in the long run.

Already done, for this very reason. Reg tables mean I can take better notes and focus on villain weaknesses more effectively.

2) Stick to one stake, not sure why you want to play 3 tables of 2 NL and one of 5 NL.

Guess because I can't justify playing 4x 5nl but can have one table running.

3) If your BR's at $45ish then maybe just 4-table 2NL until you get up to 100 or so, then start 2-tabling 5 NL and add more tables as you go along. Alternatively, deposit another 100 and skip 2NL altogether.

Well I'm down below $40 now but yeah I'm gonna play a session now and will have 4x 2nl running. Definitely can't afford to load up any funds at the moment, need some work first.

4) I'd leave MTTs by the wayside, the game is so different and running these tables simultaneously is bound to fuck with your play on the regular cash tables -- until you get more experienced dealing with both at the same time, of course.

To be fair I've been playing both cash tables and MTTs simultaneously for well over a year, but I never really considered if that comes with a price, if I'm playing a weaker MTT game at the expense of my cash games, or vica versa. Hard to say really.

All I can say really is the few decent MTT cashes I've hit, I've had only that table running. Never really realised this until now, just didn't occur to me.

Not sure what I'm doing with my sunday schedule yet, but maybe if I play storm or big $11 I'll play just that table, no cash game on the side. Rest of the week, just cash games, no MTT. That sets a clearly defined line between the two formats.

Some good pointers here, thanks penny.

NP man, if you need a restake to 50$ at some point let me know, or maybe ask someone with deeper pockets for a stake to 100 or 150 and skip 2 NL.

I think you'll be fine though, just don't flame out. It seems exceedingly unlikely you'll lose 20ish buyins at 2NL, so if you do go bust it'd probably be from paying for MTTs or playing above your roll. Anyway, I'm not worried.

The thing I don't like, personally, about the prospect of regrinding from 2NL is that even with a decent winrate you're looking at 15-20k hands of retardo stakes that will likely bore the hell out of you. Banking 50$ means winning 25 BIs, which takes quite a while to accomplish even with a soft field.

I've heard from some people that going through the entire regrind from 2-50NL is a worthwhile experience however. Ensures your fundamentals are solid, even if you perhaps aren't doing much for your game at low stakes i.e. playing against decent regs and so on.

GL, keep us updated man.

i'd definitely be willing to discuss a stake if that's of interest to you, ong. pm if so

Originally Posted by Penneywize

The thing I don't like, personally, about the prospect of regrinding from 2NL is that even with a decent winrate you're looking at 15-20k hands of retardo stakes that will likely bore the hell out of you. Banking 50$ means winning 25 BIs, which takes quite a while to accomplish even with a soft field.

I've heard from some people that going through the entire regrind from 2-50NL is a worthwhile experience however. Ensures your fundamentals are solid, even if you perhaps aren't doing much for your game at low stakes i.e. playing against decent regs and so on.

i did this last year, or maybe the year before, and was pretty reluctant to do so because of things mentioned in the first paragraph (and obv my ego telling me i should have been stacking suckers for 10x the $ amount i was playing for). however i think sticking to that mission was one of the best things for my poker development. as long as you are actually studying and playing, which imo you should do at a ratio of least 1:1 until you are a comfortable winner at low stakes, then i think it's a good idea if you are stuck in a poker/financial rut

Penny & rpm, thanks, really appreciate the offer for a stake, it's good to know that there's a way to drag myself back up to 5nl quickly... but the points about regrinding being good for my long term game, I think these points are very solid. If I'm brutally honest with myself, I think I suffered from over confidence at 10nl at to a degree 25nl. When I was first grinding 2nl I murdered the stake, same with 5nl... took a while to grind from 10nl to 25nl but I got there thanks largely to decent MTT cash outs rather than actually beating 10nl. So maybe I missed something important in my development. I think starting from the bottom again, it ensures that my arrogance towards the lower stakes has foundation, that I'm not making incorrect assumptions about my skill level.

I'm gonna stick with it, at least for now. I realise it's gonna be 10k hands or something before I'm at 5nl, then another 10k hands before I'm at 10nl, then prob 15k+ hands to 25nl... but this will help me improve my poker and give me basis to know what I'm talking about in the BC when I give my two cents in people's threads.

And today is a very good day... out of the blue, I had a letter through the post... a £300 tax rebate (that's around $500). Really could not be better timed. So now I can reload some funds into my account if necessary. Priority will be going to things like Brother's stag do, new clothes etc, but it shouldn't be difficult to find $50 for my poker.

But I am going to leave it for now, see if I can regrind from my measly BR, because I have only ever once loaded funds into pokerstars, something I am very proud of. Cashed out around $5k in 2 years from an initial investment of just over $20... I like it being one way traffic.

Seriously appreciate those offers for staking though, and if shit hits the fan again in the future, I might look into such options.

no worries. good luck on the regrind. i'll be following the blog

Originally Posted by Penneywize

..you're looking at 15-20k hands of retardo stakes that will likely bore the hell out of you. Banking 50$ means winning 25 BIs, which takes quite a while to accomplish even with a soft field...

meh...dunno 'bout that.

i cleared $50 in ~7k hands of 2NL Zoom, 1 table (or about 26 hours of play total)

and i (clearly) don't have clue 1.

so it's doable if'n u just wanna up ur BR.

But i think rpm makes some good points (as usual) about making it a +EV re-learning experience too

[/$0.02]

Well I'm taking two days off from poker to party. DJing tomorrow night, probably in ridiculous fancy dress, so I'll post pics for your amusement when they emerge on fb.

The walking part of my plan... haven't been doing two miles a day like I hoped, but I've been out of the house daily and feeling better for it. Will be out in the fresh air this evening and all day tomorrow, looking forward to that.

Also trying to eat better... being single it's just too easy to eat crap, but I've stopped getting takeaways because a) it's expensive, and b) it's not healthy, I think both of these aspects are effecting my mood and focus.

Another plan... get fucking laid. I'm much less lazy when there's a lady in my life, I wash more, get out more, I'll play and study less poker of course but maybe I suffer from overload as I have nothing better to do with my time, so perhaps that's a good thing too.

And one more thing I really want in my life... a dog.

I think my whole life needs an overhaul, not just my poker. If IRL doesn't suck, then my mental well being will dramatically improve. It got to the point where poker was my escape, it was my ticket to bigger and better things. Putting that much pressure on myself to perform is obviously gonna have a negative effect on my ability to deal with tilt.

Well I already feel better for being honest with myself about what it's gonna take to succeed.

Weekend was awesome. Didn't do fancy dress because it was dark and thus pointless, I was DJing by torchlight and could barely see how many people were dancing. Generator ran out of petrol 10 minutes after I finished playing, which should indicate the standard of organisation this thing had. But it was a lot of fun, some real good bands and some brutal techno. Neighbours from 2 villages complaining to the council, we did good.

Had a good day of poker today. Won $10 ticket with 50fpp (cheers pascal), fired £10 in ladbrokes to try and qualify for $1k freeroll this month, ran my BR up to £19 in an hour, standard there is fucking lol, then went back to stars and won two more BI.

This sums up the standard I've been up against this evening...

utg is raising lots to iso the absolute fucking drooler on bb, other three guys nits.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (6 handed) - PokerStars Hand Converter from HandHistoryConverter.com

SB ($2.41)
BB ($2.36)
UTG ($5.34)
Hero (MP) ($5.13)
CO ($6.50)
Button ($3)

Preflop: Hero is MP with J, A
UTG bets $0.08, Hero raises to $0.20, 3 folds, BB calls $0.18, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.49) 8, J, 10 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.28, BB raises to $0.56, Hero raises to $4, BB calls $1.60 (All-In)

Turn: ($4.81) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($4.81) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $4.81 | Rake: $0.17

Results:

Spoiler: Show

BB had 10, 3 (one pair, tens).
Hero had J, A (straight, Ace high).
Outcome: Hero won $4.64

Bahahahaha.

25nl yet sir?

im from solihull too mate, was pretty spooked when i read that..in istanbul now though, bit tricky to meet at the mason s..

gl

Busto already EHHHH?

lol forgot about this. Not busto, ran it fucking close though. Was getting murdered at 5nl NLHE, combination of running bad and playing bad.

Bankroll is around $40. I've been playing a lot of PLO 2nl zoom, and man is it easy to make money there. I actually think I'm better at PLO than I am NLHE, but it might just be that the average 2nl bonk is worse at PLO than NLHE.

It's a LOT easier to make big folds in PLO than it is NLHE. For example, flop top set kings (nuts), two tone flop, bet pot, called, blank turn (still nuts), bet pot, called, flush river, facing pot size bet, easy fold. NLHE, that's a sad face tilt call.

Making on average something like $5 a day, the slow grind is back on. Will post some hands because PLO is always fun to discuss.

ed - small world! Though in fairness Solihull isn't all that small, it's bigger than some cities, like Worcester. Instanbul huh? I still call that place Constantinople, just because it confuses stupid people.

You don't like poker.

I don't?