Operation Get Better

You really suck at poker, so getting better shouldn't be that hard. You should set the bar higher though than just getting better.

Like right now you're at "sucks bad" and you're shooting for being "meh" but I think it'd be better if you were attempting to get to "mediocre TAGG" because then you could at least break-even.

zook - you are the man for sure...thanks!

bigfish - . Also wtf at having a blog/posting now. You were so much cooler a week ago.

bump

Got a msg from Kmind that his apartment is without internet for a few days, hopefully back online by the weekend.

are you better yet?

It's crazy the things you can do without a computer.

daven - no. From day 1, yes, but everytime I open this thread I want to be better than the time before.

I just played my first 1 minute session in awhile and took a half buyin. I also just withdrew some of my BR so it may take a little bit to get to basically taking shots at 200nl again. I am supposed to get internet Saturday but I have huge doubts that this will happen. At my parents' house now so hopefully I can grind a lot today though having access to their computer is kind of limited.

Oh yeah school started but I don't really attend the first week of school so it'll be gay next week and for awhile. But it also allows me to be awake more and actually play poker soooo yeah. Plus I often jot down poker ideas on paper instead of taking notes in class which is really nerdy. So I guess school helps with poker more than I think.

I you FTR.

I figure I should posts more in here. Girls suck. Here are some hands:

What the fuck. CO is a huge donk giving away his money as I built my stack pwning him all in preflop for like 50bb with K high. How the hell do I get out without risking a lot when a tighty starts playing

$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($26.45)
CO ($27.75)
BTN ($65.00)
Hero ($77.80)
BB ($54.25)

Pre-flop: ($0.75, 5 players) Hero is SB
UTG calls $0.50, CO raises to $5, 1 fold, Hero raises to $16, BB calls $15.50, UTG folds, CO raises to $27, Hero calls $11, BB goes all-in $54.25, CO calls $0.75, Hero folds

Flop: ($109.50, 2 players)

Turn: ($109.50, 2 players)

River: ($109.50, 2 players)

[Results Hidden]


He was a 26/6/1.2 over like 100 hands. I'm so baffled by what the hell bets allin on the river that I call with no pairz. But he's tight...

$0.25/$0.5 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($50.75)
UTG 1 ($64.45)
Hero ($50.80)
BTN ($50.00)
SB ($106.25)
BB ($27.35)

Pre-flop: ($0.75, 6 players) Hero is CO
2 folds, Hero raises to $1.75, 2 folds, BB calls $1.25

Flop: ($3.75, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $2.25, BB calls $2.25

Turn: ($8.25, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $5, BB calls $5

River: ($18.25, 2 players)
BB goes all-in $18.35, Hero calls $18.35

[Results Hidden]

Last hand is so bad amirite?

Last one is terribad I think.

I dunno, maybe I'm pessimistic but I'm thinking stuff like 7c8c or a less likely but possible 34. Could be the worlds worst played set. Your best hope is 78 not clubs desperately bluffing river (also possible). On one hand I'd like something better than Q high, but then you probably beat all his bluffs anyway, and TP is no good against his nut hands, so I guess this is no worse than KQ would be.

can u explain pf in hand 1, ty
" " river " 2, """

Alexos - my range pwns his stacking off range pre in hand 1 but then the tight guy wakes up and gets involved wtf.

Hand 2 was because I don't think he can EVER be betting a one pair hand, can very very rarely have two pair and a set would be very rare on such a draw board. He also shouldn't show up with like 34 often at all so I guess a few combos of clubs?

Hand 1 - you are trying to play against CO which is fine, but you should be very afraid of the BB's cold call and get the hell outta there. The second you get coldcalled your hand should be doneeeeee

Hand 2 - ummm...nooooo. I see people try bluff catching with high card too much. The problem is that people turn low pairs into bluffs fairly often I'd imagine, when they don't think their lowpairs have value. So that's a problem with calling high card on its own. As for this hand, do you really think Q high is good 33% of the time?

but I just don't get why some passive dude would bluff a low pair. Yeah it's doubtful he bluffs anything but it seems like his line is just really really really weird if he bluffs a low pair as opposed to just really really weird if he bluffs air.

Originally Posted by kmind

but I just don't get why some passive dude would bluff a low pair. Yeah it's doubtful he bluffs anything but it seems like his line is just really really really weird if he bluffs a low pair as opposed to just really really weird if he bluffs air.

I have a feeling you won that Q high hand.. didn't you?

1- once BB cold calls (danger?) and CO RR, why r u even calling the 11$ more?

2- head asplode... this cannot be good. what is he calling with on flop and turn and bluffing river? u beat 78 thats it, and it might even be 78cc sometimes.

1. can i fold with those odds?
2. what is he betting river with then

1-yea, imo
2-who knows, but i dont think calling when u beat like 2 hands is good...

Sometimes donkeys do strange things. Doesnt mean they dont have it.

not feeling any love

I PWNED IN THAT HAND BTW

just kidding i got fucked but he showed up with a flush...that's like the only thing i think makes sense

What cards? Was I right??!

close, i think he has the only other hand that makes sense. can you guess it?

Hmm, only other hand I can think of is KcXc?

amirite?

Originally Posted by Jack Sawyer

amirite?

i wish!

ben - nope, think of other hands VERY close to your answer...VERY CLOSE.

You're kidding right? 8c9c? God...

8c6c

I'm going to add more real life stuff I guess. I never play much poker anymore because I rarely get the chance. My roommate, who is my best friend, is a huge extrovert. I like to hang out a lot but also have a nice amount of time to myself, especially to play or talk about poker. Anyways, we live next to, above, etc. a lot of girls, ranging from a 3-10 on the 10 point scale. Actually, I'd say one girl is a 3 while the others are at least a 7, including a 9.9. So yeah, we have been hanging out with them a lot ever since they all moved in, which was about a month ago. Not sure what I am getting at but college is sweet indeed. This is probably why I don't post/play as much.

Story of my weekend:
So my roommate just turned 21 and I am 22 (I don't drink...hi Spoon), but we obv. go out for his 21st to a bunch of bars with his brother, sister, her boyfriend and a couple of our friends. His family and sister's boyfriend are really cool so I was really glad to do this. Anyways, nothing really happens as my roommate gets really drunk really quickly and starts puking earlier than imagined. Some semi-funny stories but I won't mention them because it's 4 am but some of us + some of our girl neighbors end up drawing on him before the nights out, he yells at random people, nothing special at all I know. This was Friday and we knew on Saturday one of our friends was having her 21st birthday party as well. It's actually kind of awkward because we know her through our friend who went out with her for 5 years and they just broke up a few months ago and is already dating a douchebag. She says (on Facebook ld0) that she and her crew will be at the bar at around 8. We get there at 8:15 and no sign of her/them. We go downstairs where there is like a dance floor a bunch of drunk guys looking ridiculous as well as some hot girls, including an asian and her mom, which was weird because she was obviously at least 50. I puss out of course and don't dance with the younger asian nor anyone else. 2 hours go by and we get a text that the birthday girl is just now leaving. F that. She gets there with her douchebag boyfriend, a really hot girl, her boyfriend and another girl I am semi-friends with. It gets awkward quickly because my friend and the birthday girl have yet to hang out since she got her new boyfriend. My crew and hers kind of decided to split up and go to different bars as this one got kind of lame. Also my roommate who never gets rejected by any girl got rejected by the young asian so I was happy haha.
So we leave and find a bar that we've been to a couple of times but it's way too crowded. My roommate and I decide that we want girls asap but there were too many guys and we didn't really want to be with some of the people with us anymore so we leave to a different bar by ourselves. This bar has known to kind of suck but fuck it, we'll just leave if nothing happens. We go downstairs where there is a huge lounge area and a football game on (UTEP vs. Texas). There were a ton of asians but they all had boyfriends wtf. So me and my roommate watch the game on a couch and start talking about how we have been lucky in the past or whatever and girls would seem to want to come over and talk to us (I don't know how to say this without sounding conceited, but I am not saying I think I am hot or anything, trust me) but we have been on a cold streak. So right after that, this older, but very hot looking lady with nice breasts sits down in a chair next to me. She keeps making eye contact with me and I kind of pussy out and just watch the game. She decides to make up some bullshit story to start a convo and we get to talking about the most random shit ever which is nothing new, she was wasted. We talk about Florida State vs. Florida and how Florida is full of assholes (JERRY) and she starts "shaking" my hand a lot which would last awhile to the point of where I'd say we were holding hands. It was weird and difficult to describe. Anyways, she asks how old I am and I tell the truth and say 22. I think this is where I fucked up. She gives me a smile/"uh oh" face and says "oh wow that's way young". Her friend who was probably around 30 then comes over with her boyfriend or whatever and kind of cock blocks me and was giving me mean looks. They decide to leave quickly after this but "KC" (the woman's name) gives me a long goodbye and whispers "I'm 43 by the way" and walks away. This makes me very angry because she was a really hot older woman and how many chances will I get? So I decided to try and walk out and find her. I finally do so on the sidewalk but she's on her cell phone and I again pussy out and don't really know whether or not to just approach her, wait for her to get off the phone or what. I take the "oh well, I'm gay anyways" approach and completely walk away from her. That's the last of her and I am regretting it terribly. How sick is that?

My roommate and 2 of ours friends go home, one being completely wasted (the exboyfriend of the birthday girl). I drop them off at our apartment as I go to park my car. Boom, there's 3 really hot girls, one asian in a narrow alley walking and yelling "ooooh a jeep!" at my Honda Passport. I quickly park near there and say fuck it and walk home, but in their direction. I play it off when as I approach them and they start chatting up about some frat that "rapes girls". I joke around with them and they start liking it and the ugliest one starts paying extra attention to me and calling me really cute and whatnot. None of these girls were American by the way, something that I really like. Anyways I kind of blow off the ugliest one who in all honesty wasn't bad but probably around a 6 while the others were 9ish. We exchange numbers before 2 of the "rapist" from that frat start talking to them and it's apparant they are all going to go to some party or whatever so I just tell them to call me if something good is going on. I was really tired and planned on going to bed anyways but I just wanted to see if they would. Oh yeah, I start talking to my neighbors and the 3 of them come back and I start talking to them again but of course 3 ghetto (I can say ghetto, I live in the city) people come up and start "stealing" them away from me while giving me the "yeah fuck you, they're mine now" kind of look so I'm just like whatever fuck it and go inside my apartment to find my friend puking all over the bathroom floor. My roommate and I move him to the couch, he continues to puke everywhere though we have a nice trash can right where he is. This is sort of where I am now. It's really late but I wanted to write this because it's making realize how easily I am starting to regret certain chances. The girls haven't called me and I doubt they ever will, I should have taken more control. The 43 year old was seriously hot and some may think I am weird for even thinking about doing anything with her but come on I'm young, I want to experience a lot. But she's a lost cause now. I sincerely apologize for writing this because I NEVER write these but I had to write what was on my mind somewhere. I completely expect "you are weird" or "std" comments. But my operation has sucked recently.

I won $150 in like 200 hands at 100nl by sucking out nonstop.

43?

dude, you almost broke my record by 3 years. i did grease that though, great shit

try somewhat harder next time

I respect that you don't drink but this is one of those situations that two or three drinks would have helped. I wussed out with women a lot in high school and college until I finally developed the necessary "Fuck it, I can't be afraid of rejection" attitude. Not really sure what brought about the change besides age/experience but you should know that it's all in your head. And absolutely nothing wrong with 43, you would have had a blast. 38 when I was 24 is a very fond memory.

Very good/true points guys. I'll probably be going next weekend to a couple of bars so I will try harder haha.

Sorry for writing all that, it was meant to be written somewhere else but whatever. I don't think it's even interesting haha.

good story dude! mannn.... I need to get out more!

43 eh? Thats pretty solid. I'm glad you don't discriminate based on age

you Canadians need to stay here for a long weekend or something!

I just lost all my profits from yesterday and that includes getting it in KK vs. his AA 50bb deep. I flipped a shit when he showed the aces because I had been 3betting him all day and this was the perfect opportunity. I quickly said std in my head on the K high flop. Anyways, sets KILLED me today whether it meant I got one or villains did. Two hands back to back on a table where I had such a bad image I got AA and then KK and both villains and I were kind of spewing against each other and of course they both flop sets and bye bye stacks. Then some dude "floated" me with T8o and hit an 8 on turn and river came a J and I 3 barreled with K high and he snaps it. I'm beginning to realize how hard it is to give people ranges at 100nl when I am playing my game of like 30/25/12% 3bet. I like always seem to fuck up what level they are on. This is costing me a shitload and is making me consider running tighter though for some reason I think I am playing optimally but that's obv. not the case. I need to learn how to fold but never know WHEN.

Its obviously the opposite style from mine, but from reading my impression is that the good lags usually turn up with the goods once the pot gets big. Takes some great hand reading skills. Thats one reason I dont try that style, I just dont think I'm good enough at hand reading to do it. If you can learn when to fold you'll make a lot of money with it, but if not it seems spewy to me.

Originally Posted by kmind

I need to learn how to fold but never know WHEN.

It seems to me that whenever I 2 barrel air they call with a big hand, and whenever I choose not to they turn up with a weak draw that they would have folded (and usually win with A high or hit some small pair on river). If you can find the secret to knowing when to do which let me know .

Btw, you need to be on aim/msn more .

Thanks Ben. For sure I need to get online in general more, I'll do my best! I'm determined to run "laggish" and make a good amount of money by doing so. But for now I'll try to decide if playing tight is more +EV.

Very excited to say I won 2.25 buyins today. I'm excited because there weren't any sucking out. I got sucked out in a medium pot but meh. I really really feel like I played better. I started playing very little pots OOP and attacking limped pots as for some reason it seems as if I forgot about these rules the past couple of sessions. I thought I played a much nittier game than normal, which ended out to be 21/17/2.7. I'm thinking my aggression should increase. Anyways, here are a couple of hands:


no reads. These are the spots that fuck me over. At 5onl all villains will check turn if their cbet was caught but at 100nl some are capable of bluffing but vs. an unknown I get confused. I also hate it when a K or Q scares my hand but maybe I shouldn't be so scared. That'll only happen like 17% of the time on the turn.
***** Hand History for Game 7991663564 *****
$100.00 USD NL Texas Hold'em - Monday, September 08, 05:53:16 ET 2008
Table Bunn (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: keurkoop ( $106.30 USD )
Seat 2: SuitsUs ( $104.15 USD )
Seat 3: IAmLegend8 ( $100.00 USD )
Seat 4: Ole_Drippy98 ( $100.00 USD )
Seat 5: 1Timothy ( $141.40 USD )
Seat 6: palnik ( $217.45 USD )
SuitsUs posts small blind [$0.50 USD].
Ole_Drippy98 posts big blind [$1.00 USD].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to SuitsUs [ Jd Ac ]
1Timothy folds
palnik folds
SuitsUs raises [$3.50 USD]
Ole_Drippy98 raises [$11.00 USD]
SuitsUs calls [$8.00 USD]
** Dealing Flop ** [ 4c, Js, 6h ]
SuitsUs checks
Ole_Drippy98 bets [$15.00 USD]
SuitsUs calls [$15.00 USD]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qd ]
SuitsUs checks
Ole_Drippy98 bets [$35.00 USD]
SuitsUs folds
Ole_Drippy98 wins $35.00 USD
Ole_Drippy98 wins $52.00 USD from main pot


Villain was really bad an aggressive. I wasn't quite sure how to play this hand. We played a lot of pots vs. each other and the first one he won and I won the rest (around 5 or so) and I just won vs. him the hand before. Wasn't sure if I should raise or not. Flop is probably a raise but I feel uncomfortable getting it in with over 100bb stacks as I feel his calling range would be wider so I have less FE.
Full Tilt Poker Game #7996145140: Table Winwood (6 max) - $0.50/$1 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:38:01 ET - 2008/09/08
Seat 1: Koether ($47.35)
Seat 2: sirvanmasten ($100)
Seat 3: SprayBullets ($103.10)
Seat 4: SuitsUs ($142.40)
Seat 5: hoshow ($191.25)
Seat 6: svchost ($109.50)
hoshow posts the small blind of $0.50
svchost posts the big blind of $1
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SuitsUs [Ah 8h]
Koether folds
sirvanmasten folds
SuitsUs raises to $3.50
hoshow calls $3
svchost folds
*** FLOP *** [6h 9d Kh]
hoshow bets $4
SuitsUs calls $4
*** TURN *** [6h 9d Kh] [7c]
hoshow bets $17
SuitsUs has 15 seconds left to act
SuitsUs has requested TIME
SuitsUs calls $17
*** RIVER *** [6h 9d Kh 7c] [2h]
hoshow bets $44
SuitsUs has 15 seconds left to act
SuitsUs has requested TIME
SuitsUs raises to $117.90, and is all in
hoshow has 15 seconds left to act
hoshow calls $73.90
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SuitsUs shows [Ah 8h] a flush, Ace high
hoshow mucks
SuitsUs wins the pot ($282.80) with a flush, Ace high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $285.80 | Rake $3
Board: [6h 9d Kh 7c 2h]
Seat 1: Koether didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: sirvanmasten didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: SprayBullets is sitting out
Seat 4: SuitsUs (button) showed [Ah 8h] and won ($282.80) with a flush, Ace high
Seat 5: hoshow (small blind) mucked [7h 6d] - two pair, Sevens and Sixes
Seat 6: svchost (big blind) folded before the Flop

I also played a little vs. FTP pro Maciek Gracz who is an NC State fan so he's my new favorite. I only played one hand vs. him in which I took down the pot with air vs. his cbet.

Welcome to Club Laggtard.


This way please

*unlocks the cordon to allow Kmind to pass the line waiting outside the club*

*starts looking for the exit, finds it, and slowly starts walking towards it*

Lost it all back and more today

I can't beat 100nl. What do I do? It's like I am always 2 levels ahead of my players. A lot of the times they are playing badly in that my "easy" value bets are getting called by monsters on the river, if that makes sense. It's like they miss out a ton on value on early streets so I get the feeling I am way ahead and then boom. I can't seem to win a stack, only lose them. I also seem to be getting it all-in with like 0% equity which needs to stop.

Post some of those hands.

Hey was in a rush before.

You can totally beat 100nl, hell you have beaten it you've just gone backwards for a while. You really need to think about this and work on it.

Are you REALLY sure that this LAG/SLAG approach is both right for you, and right for the games you play? The whole point of it is you should be winning lots of small pots and turning up with the nuts in the big pots. That doesnt seem to be whats happenning, so it looks like you're doing something wrong there.

Think about your game when you were beating 100nl. Maybe you can go back to that style with minor adjustments rather than a complete overhaul? Maybe you need to shell out for a bit more training from someone who specialises in a similar approach and see if they can help you spot whats going wrong?

Have you read the PNL book I've talked about a few times? I'm not suggesting go all passive like I do at times, but really think about when and how to build your pots and when pot control makes more sense.

Originally Posted by kmind

Very excited to say I won 2.25 buyins today. I'm excited because there weren't any sucking out. I got sucked out in a medium pot but meh. I really really feel like I played better. I started playing very little pots OOP and attacking limped pots as for some reason it seems as if I forgot about these rules the past couple of sessions. I thought I played a much nittier game than normal, which ended out to be 21/17/2.7. I'm thinking my aggression should increase.

Again I dont want to berate you into changing if you dont think thats right, but right there you're all excited about how you played and the money you won playing a basic TAG approach but then finish by saying you need to change things from it. Maybe you dont?

I watched a vid posted on 2+2, I think I gave you the link. It was from a guy who played like 40/35 or something silly like that. He was a big winner at the 100-200nl level. One thing that stood out was his game revolved around raising preflop and cbetting. He rarely continued in a hand beyond that without a lot of strength. That was all it took to play that approach and win at a very good rate.

Whatever you decide, you need to analyse your game and work out where it is you're going wrong. At the very least plug into your friends (with broadband connections) and get them to sweat some sessions. Maybe do another video or two and give to a few people to watch and look at.

Dont be passive about it, take action and turn this shit around. You've got a lot of support from friends in the poker game, so take advantage of that and get them to help however you (or they) think they can.

Really good post, Ben. Very much appreciated! I am going to take all of your advice. Speaking of that, I am at a delimna. I def. want to talk to friends about poker but not sure if I should get coaching right now or not. I am like at the verge of having a BR at 100nl (which you are right, I am an overall winner there just haven't won lately) so I am wondering if I should cough up some dough for more coaching and go back to 50nl, get coaching and stay at 100nl unless I lose like 3 buyins or just stay at 100nl by talking with friends and then get coaching (I AM getting coaching eventually again). The thing is that 50nl and 100nl are really really different from my experience and I know poker is all about adjusting but what seems to be crushing 50nl is now losing at 100nl. I did befriend one of the biggest winners at 100nl at FTP so I am hoping to hear some of his advice as he plays for a living and was on storman's update of top winners for the past 6 months. He's also pwned me a lot.

My opinion? I'd wait on coaching. Get the free advice from friends, ask a couple of them to sweat you a time or two, stuff like that. Once you've gotten a bit back on track and put in a couple of winning sessions and have enough available for coaching without dropping down.

I'd guess you've got some things that you should be able to fix on your own or with help that can get you winning again without coaching, so see if you can do that and then use coaching to take you even further.

meh to calling AJo OOP to a 3bet. What's your plan on missed flops? What flop will you ever really be happy with?

J high flop? Not really if you bomb it and get called.
A high flop? Not really again.

Dump that crap OOP!

Yeah not sure why I called there, griff. I think I was tilting. Good points though. AQo is probably a fold for now too there.

Been studying a lot. Pwned for about 30 minutes. Going to bed now though.

Speaking of real life stuff...my roommate and I have decided to not masterbate for 21 days. We're not really sure why but mehhhhhhhh

WTF, weird. Would be too distracting for me.

yeah pretty gross sorry. But I figured I needed like a support group or something :/

Played 700 hands. Ran very very poorly and am down a hundro. All at 50nl, some deep tables too. I just couldn't hit any draw (esp. combo in a 3bet pot in which he stacked of super light) and couldn't get any sets when I needed them. I can't get AA either and every one out of 49034 times I get it, it just folds to me in the BB. I'm not mad though, I felt like I played pretty well. I do feel like I played somewhat more lost in game as I have been when watching videos and like being spot on with the instructor's move.

Ok now I am still not mad but am very frustrated. I don't know what to do anymore. I can look over hands, predict plays instructors would do in videos, etc. but when it comes to in game I continue to lose. I've lost in the past 3 months and it's beyond annoying. I don't know how to beat these fucking loose maniacs. I'm not going to blame it on running bad but I have yet to hit a set when it mattered or hit any draws forcing me to try and make other moves because my equity in the hand won't win. I don't want to make this into a rant but I am seriously contemplating quiting and taking out all of my roll for bills/whatever even though it's not even big. I am too sick and tired of spending my life thinking about this game and not seeing results after months. I'm done with these stakes.

To top it off I'm sure some will say just get coaching but right now and probably for a little it's just not a good time to do so. This game is so draining and I love it but it's not worth it to struggle for this long.

you are trying too hard.

chill bro

How do I try not so hard?

I'm thinking about moving to FR to get more volume, be less swingy, and to get me playing tighter. But I'm still meh on that.

start by not giving a fuck about results

then forget the fuck about fullring

at the table, don't think about "what the instructor did", fuck him

this is poker after all, not drivers-ed

start by understanding poker concepts, and apply them to your individual spot

notice I wrote "understand" there, not "know'

then apply game theory to influence your individual decisions, and in close ones (most, actually) focus on the long term

ta-da

Originally Posted by Jack Sawyer

you are trying too hard.

chill bro

take it calm. Pull out dollars. Drop to 25nl. Enjoy winning again. Move up. Run good. Repeat. Play a simple game again...

Originally Posted by kmind

I don't know how to beat these fucking loose maniacs.

I'm pretty sure the way to beat loose maniacs isnt to be loose and aggressive yourself.

Definately dont go to full ring. Stay at 6-max. Stay at 50nl for now. Play a basic TAG game and get back on top of things. Bare in mind that what the instructors are doing in the vids, is what works against their opps. Our opps dont always play the same way and we need to take that into account.

To echo daven and bjsaust, play a low variance game for awhile. Table select, tighten up a little pre-flop esp. oop, bluff less, bluffcatch less and valuebet, valuebet, valuebet. Also, post your stats for the last 3 months, I'm curious...

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...ad-t75980.html

Fnords response there might have some relevance.

go fuck a few Asians, it works for Barry Greenstein.

Haven't done so in years Spenda but trying daily. My whole bet with my roommate should help hopefully.

Originally Posted by kmind

Ok now I am still not mad but am very frustrated. I don't know what to do anymore. I can look over hands, predict plays instructors would do in videos, etc. but when it comes to in game I continue to lose. I've lost in the past 3 months and it's beyond annoying. I don't know how to beat these fucking loose maniacs. I'm not going to blame it on running bad but I have yet to hit a set when it mattered or hit any draws forcing me to try and make other moves because my equity in the hand won't win. I don't want to make this into a rant but I am seriously contemplating quiting and taking out all of my roll for bills/whatever even though it's not even big. I am too sick and tired of spending my life thinking about this game and not seeing results after months. I'm done with these stakes.

To top it off I'm sure some will say just get coaching but right now and probably for a little it's just not a good time to do so. This game is so draining and I love it but it's not worth it to struggle for this long.

Don't beat yourself up man. All good players go through this. The good ones quit. The great ones fight through it.

Drop down for a bit until your confidence is back.

Work on the preflop play.. you talk about not hitting sets etc when it matters. Hitting flops should only be a backup plan.

Hitting sets and such to stack people should be viewed as bonus money in my opinion.

Poker is about outplaying people and winning pots with any hand (best or worst) and knowing when to safely fold.

I find the best way to deal with maniacs (or any very loose player) is to outplay them preflop... 3bet "like a monkey" as one of the guides on here says. 3-bet the maniacs relentlessly, they eventually get pissed and play back at you when you have the nuts and you stack them.

I really like this blog.. it represents a dialectic that we can all relate to... sso don't quit

By the way. Reread your first post in this blog for some perspective.

Good luck and thanks for the great blog!

Tj

Seriously great post man. Really appreciate it very much.

I played 150 hands today and minus $42 but I felt I played solid for the most part so I'm not complaining. I'm thinking about writing like a long post(s) on my mindset on during spots and seeing if any of it is right at all via comments from you all.

Do a vid!

post less play more

wtf 142 hands, I play that many before my HUD pops up

Originally Posted by bigspenda73

wtf 142 hands, I play that many before my HUD pops up

lol awesome.

how many tables you playing kmind?

I feel your pain with running bad and stuff. It's good that you're accepting that you might not be playin the best though and that its not all just "running bad".

Go with your gut! Sometimes your gut just tells you to fold and you might have a big hand, but sometimes you gotta drop it. I feel like our first instincts (assuming good instincts?...) are generally right. I can't tell you how many times I tell myself "omg he has it doesn't he?".. and then still call and those calls are usually on the river. And river calls add up nice and quick.

If maniacs are owning you, while one post said you can 3-bet them like a mad man and yah that works. You can also use their aggroness against them. Call them down. If you haven't 3-bet them in a while, don't make your first 3bet with KK/AA. Flat it pre and raise them on the flop and let them make some dumb stack off.

You'll turn it around!

Its a amazing how often we think we're running bad, then on review find the one or two hands that played better would have been the difference between break even and losing.

I had two sessions last night where I lost a buyin each. Sucked. Each session included at least one bad stackoff though.

Originally Posted by bjsaust

Its a amazing how often we think we're running bad, then on review find the one or two hands that played better would have been the difference between break even and losing.

I had two sessions last night where I lost a buyin each. Sucked. Each session included at least one bad stackoff though.

Good point. I seem to make at least one bad stackoff a session, sometimes two... so maybe that's our problem? Imagine adding one buy-in to your results each day for a month via good laydowns.. that'd be a gain of +30 buy-ins.. insane. So no more stacking off without strong reads and/or huge hands!

This should be my quote some days:
"I've got TPTK, this guy is running 5/3.. he could be bluffing me here... I CALL! Oh shit.. what a cooler! .. let me tilt off another couple buy-ins!"

Tj

Yeah, Fnord has a saying that bad hands happen and not to get down on yourself, and thats true. We cant be perfect. However we should be aware of these bad plays and try to minimise them. Sometimes that one bad hand a session becomes 2 or 3 or 4 and then we're really in trouble.

Originally Posted by Outlaw

Good point. I seem to make at least one bad stackoff a session, sometimes two... so maybe that's our problem? Imagine adding one buy-in to your results each day for a month via good laydowns.. that'd be a gain of +30 buy-ins.. insane. So no more stacking off without strong reads and/or huge hands!

Sounds so easy doesnt it? Man, I've imagined that. A lot. Once I even pasted my HEM graph into paint and used cut and paste to "remove" particularly bad hands/sessions to see what my graph would look like if I had stuck to that plan. It bordered on depressing and inspiring because it looked SOOO different to what it started like. Despite all that I still seem to make the dumb mistakes regularly enough to impede my progress.

I do suspect that the people who shoot up fairly quickly (check out ATOTHEC's new blog) are the people who can actually have the discipline to play like this though. They must be able to avoid many of these spewy setbacks.

know how I know you're gay?

you're name is casey

Immmmmmmmmmmmm drunk

I played 7k hands today, and u consider 142hands a session, WTF!

stfu and play, then make money, then go to fkin asia and fk asians or wtv the fk u like doing.

seriously, just play and stop fearing losses so much imo!

fk

I'll post more later but I am studying for an exam and don't really have time to search hard but I keep getting popups from AVG that I am infected with password stealing shit and other stuff, I'm not sure if it's just to get me to buy the program but it's like $80 I think which is too much right now. What all free stuff would get rid of my "trojans" and spyware? Thanks guys, sorry for being semilazy.

Get AVG, Spybot S&D and CC cleaner - all free.

Originally Posted by Muzzard

Get AVG, Spybot S&D and CC cleaner - all free.

I've used the first two and agree, whats CC Cleaner?

I have both AVG and spybot, thanks muzz. I don't think spybot has been used in awhile though. The problem is getting worse. There is definitely a trojan virus and now there I am getting spam popups for the first time ever. And now after like 5 minutes the screen will go blue and say that there is a spyware threat and the computer needs to be restarted. And I keep getting a message about not having my "Antivirus 2009" registered but I didn't even know I had this program. It says it was just recently installed, which I never did, unless I am an idiot and it's automatically installed? I'm dumb with computers. Anyways, it says it's like $80 to get it registered but again I don't have that money but I can maybe scrape up the cash. Is that worth it? Should I restart? Wtf? I did a shit ton of virus scans today and they all said I had one and some programs said they got rid of them while others were like "please register" blah blah.

You need to get it looked at by someone who knows what they are doing. Don't do anything financial until you do that.

wtf are people still downloading these days?

porn

Originally Posted by kmind

porn

porn yes

sounds like time to get your comp checked out