The Present

Originally Posted by speedcake

lol was only kiddin about fail blog, was a drunk post I think.


I was gonna say something about volume, not important, A game etc etc... blah blah blah...

then realized how little Ive played this year and decided against it

word!

I decided to take a shot at 100nl hu today (only played up to 50nl).

Iplayed a pretty bad aggressive player who CONSTANTLY 2/3/4 outered me and hit the nuts over, and over. It was sickening and demoralizing and I hate heads up once again. as soon as he hit a gut shot to own me for another 100bbs when I had top two...I closed the software. so frustrating beyond comprehension, I dunno why, but going on a sick downswing at full ring is 10x better than losing a few buyins to someone who is a worse player than you at heads up, or at least it feels that way. fml...lets hope the weekend goes better. Going to just stick to full ring for it. Also wtf I made a cashout today and this happens...seems like every time I do...I hate being superstitous but....asdfghjkl

never playing HU after a cashout again.

Play 50NL if the 100NL swings tilt you. - You should be comfortable with 30BI swings playing HU imo.
I would say quit after you're down a couple of buy-ins, no matter how bad you think your opponent is - because donks are playing better when they're winning, and you are probably playing worse to some extent when you're loosing. - but I don't do that either. I should though.

Originally Posted by oskar

Play 50NL if the 100NL swings tilt you. - You should be comfortable with 30BI swings playing HU imo.
I would say quit after you're down a couple of buy-ins, no matter how bad you think your opponent is - because donks are playing better when they're winning, and you are probably playing worse to some extent when you're loosing. - but I don't do that either. I should though.

Agree. I should set some sort of limit of loss to a single player. Perhaps max 3 buyins, with 2 being the caution zone/get out if not feeling good, depending on how stacks were lost etc. Anymore than losing 3 to one single opponent (have experienced this a few times now) and no matter how bad they are, it seems as though you cannot win. Dogishead gave a really good explanation about this in his video series about how when you run bad vs someone you always showdown the bottom of your range and are giving away info whereas if your opponent is always at the top of their range you aren't really learning anything about how they are playing their marginal hands. I kinda explained it like shit but hopefully readers see and understand that even if your opponent is much worse than you he can take over the game easily if match flow is working in his favor.

Reminds me of this one time I 2 tabled heads up with another reg for a bit. I ran well and took 3 buy ins off him relatively quickly. He sat out and said 'too good sorry'. I replied 'not too good, just running well', to which he responds: 'yeah same thing basically, gg' and left. What's interesting is he made a pretty damn good point. Now if only the fucker stayed so I could have taken 7 more. I def admire his ability to just quit when things aren't going well, wp sir wp.

Anyway today I played just a tad short of 3,000 hands. About 2/3 was 200nl FR then later on the games got pretty awful and I was really tired so I just played 100nl. I took my gf out to the movies tonight to see Brooklyn's Finest. Really great movie if you're into the whole violent/cop/gangster type films. I'm not a professional movie critic or anything, so I'm sure there are lots of people out there who wouldn't care for it. If you liked Training Day though this one should be on your to do list. I don't wanna say anything about the movie to spoil it for those interested but it's worth watching if you wouldn't be offended by it imo.

Ok this turned into one long post, so I'll leave it at that. Time to get some rest so I can grind hard tomorrow.

3,600 hands today, wooot.

3k at 200nl, rest 100nl.

Too tired to update much. didn't really play alot today..irl stuff. tomorrow I'll pump out some volume though. adios!

no poker today, will have to catch up later.

went to leafs/bruins game which was actually pretty good/better than I expected. also bough a $200 sweater wtF?

oh well concierge ftw

backk to work tomrrow

Does anyone's calendar on the wrong date? I keep looking for tournaments and I'm 1 day behind. I miss them by 1 day because tuesday's listing is on wednesday and so on. Is it me? or is that GAY?

Has anyone noticed that ever since we switched the forum over we've been getting spammed more?

April 22 - May 10th : EURO TRIP

Plan: Arriving in Amsterdam (home base), traveling with friend through Germany/Italy/France/UK

Better get my grind in while I can. Will post pics etc when there, and provide updates leading up to my travel date.

Have fun in Euroland man. Where in particular will you be visiting in those countries, or are you going to make it up as you go along?

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

April 22 - May 10th : EURO TRIP

Plan: Arriving in Amsterdam (home base), traveling with friend through Germany/Italy/France/UK

Better get my grind in while I can. Will post pics etc when there, and provide updates leading up to my travel date.

That sounds awesome man. You should hit up Spain while you're there. Holland -> France -> Spain -> Italy -> Holland (to get baked a few last times before you come back?).

Seriously though, I highly recommend Barcelona. The beaches in and around the city are awesome. And by beaches I mean the women on the beaches.

Originally Posted by Dex

Have fun in Euroland man. Where in particular will you be visiting in those countries, or are you going to make it up as you go along?

Most likely the main cities like London, Paris, Rome, Venice, Berlin etc.

Though still haven't decided really. My friend knows his way around there well so I'm sure he'll pick out the coolest places to visit.

Originally Posted by Gobbatino

That sounds awesome man. You should hit up Spain while you're there. Holland -> France -> Spain -> Italy -> Holland (to get baked a few last times before you come back?).

Seriously though, I highly recommend Barcelona. The beaches in and around the city are awesome. And by beaches I mean the women on the beaches.

I did a project on Barcelona in high school. Do want! I hope I get a chance to go there (I should since I'll be there for > 2 weeks)

Originally Posted by Gobbatino

Seriously though, I highly recommend Barcelona. The beaches in and around the city are awesome. And by beaches I mean the hot topless women on the beaches.

fyp

Sup folks. Not much to update here other than I'm going to have to put in 3-4 days of >5k hands to get up to pace but I am certain I'll do it up.

Not much to say...so I'll leave you with a graph:



you guys and your red line fetishes...ppl call to much at small stakes... value bet!

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

Sup folks. Shameless brag! Braggety brag brag braggy!

When I grow up I wanna be like M2M. I can has your garph?

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

Most likely the main cities like London, Paris, Rome, Venice, Berlin etc.

Though still haven't decided really. My friend knows his way around there well so I'm sure he'll pick out the coolest places to visit.

That's cool. If you want an experience you should consider hitting up places in Eastern Europe, although Amsterdam would perhaps satisfy a lot of the things the likes of Prague would provide.

One of the nice things about Europe is that if you choose to fly and shop around, you can find some incredibly cheap deals.

Have a great time man.

Originally Posted by speedcake

Originally Posted by Gobbatino

Seriously though, I highly recommend Barcelona. The beaches in and around the city are awesome. And by beaches I mean the hot topless women on the beaches.
fyp

i liked barcelona quite a lot, as per speedcake and gobbatino...

Looks like I'm def going to have to make Spain a priority

Damn got pretty loaded last night aha.. some day this volume will start moving

congrats on the grinderschool intructorship.

As an aside , while you're in the UK , what happens if you open a uk bank account and deposit to some euro sites from that account and find some mail drop place to give you an address. not sure if the money laundering regulation will scupper you doing it though as you'll have to provide ID and utilites bill as proof of ID. However passport may be sufficient.

Havent been following your blog recently, but i read that you got a coaching gig. Congrats man!

Originally Posted by Keith_MM

congrats on the grinderschool intructorship.

As an aside , while you're in the UK , what happens if you open a uk bank account and deposit to some euro sites from that account and find some mail drop place to give you an address. not sure if the money laundering regulation will scupper you doing it though as you'll have to provide ID and utilites bill as proof of ID. However passport may be sufficient.

He's a dirty Canadian, so the whole euro sites thing isn't cut off from him is it? I think he just plays on stars cuz he's a feesh.

thanks guys

I am Canadian, and can therefore deposit anywhere I wish

played 3,600 hands today...not bad, did like 2/3 FR and 1/3 HU. Tomorrow the goal is to play at least 4,153 hands of 100nl FR and whatever else since that will put me at 30,000 hands of 100nl FR played this month and over 50k total I think. Hitting 100k hands will take a bit of a marathon grind but I haven't been involved in one for a long time and I think I should be able to just pwn the volume department Sunday and put in something like 9 hours

anyway I'm out now, final stretch of month is here so it's time to giver.

Well I surpassed my volume goal today (got in 4,300 hands), but didn't play very well. Made a few bad calls, seems like every single hand I was involved in everyone had it/got there etc, so folding so much got to me I guess which lead to making bad calls because 'zomg I've already folded 246347637 times this sesh not again!'. If you think about it it's stupid because my emotions shouldn't affect how I play at all anyway....so I guess I need to work on that.

Was also auto-piloting like 3/4 of the day so with that, I'm going to get some sleep.

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

Made a few bad calls, seems like every single hand I was involved in everyone had it/got there etc, so folding so much got to me I guess which lead to making bad calls because 'zomg I've already folded 246347637 times this sesh not again!'. If you think about it it's stupid because my emotions shouldn't affect how I play at all anyway....so I guess I need to work on that.

Wow this was exactly my last session... after making a bunch of medium folds on the river then like 5-6 big folds on the river after getting checkraised I couldn't take it anymore and made a few tilty FU calls. Seemed like they always had vs me, and my emotions def came into play which is -EV.

Seriously, take a break when you're feeling like you're not playing your best ffs. You (and others) are always getting on my case about volume, which is obviously important but you have to have quality with the quantity buddy. If you've made a couple of big folds late in a hand, I suggest sitting out on all the tables for an orbit to take a walk, get a drink of water, take a piss, do something to take your mind off it and come back a little fresher and more clearheaded than you were.

So I accidentally folded the nuts on the river in a small pot, and was able to just laugh it off. This is great news.

Well I guess in a way its not since that just shows my focus went out for a bit but well, you know.

Originally Posted by dranger7070

Seriously, take a break when you're feeling like you're not playing your best ffs. You (and others) are always getting on my case about volume, which is obviously important but you have to have quality with the quantity buddy. If you've made a couple of big folds late in a hand, I suggest sitting out on all the tables for an orbit to take a walk, get a drink of water, take a piss, do something to take your mind off it and come back a little fresher and more clearheaded than you were.

Not everybody has steady Taco Bell income

Dr. Anger knows what he's talking about. You cannot control it. Once you feel it creeping in, just quit the session.
What helps me a lot is that I religiously take breaks every 50 min. for 10 to 15 minutes. When I fail to do that stuff goes wrong. I used to tilt big time before I started doing that. Right now when I have a session where I seem to just keep folding and folding, I take a long break - close all the tables and come back later. I know I'm going to get paranoid - I've tried enough to avoid that to know that I can't. Quitting really is the answer.

Originally Posted by oskar

Dr. Anger knows what he's talking about. You cannot control it. Once you feel it creeping in, just quit the session..

^ this is good advice. Now if only i could stick to it..

Originally Posted by oskar

Dr. Anger knows what he's talking about.

Dr. Anger? I always read it as D-Ranger lol

I vaguely remember there being a thread about this hmmm...

Originally Posted by caddie444

Dr. Anger? I always read it as D-Ranger lol

I vaguely remember there being a thread about this hmmm...

It is how you pronounce it. Some of us have just decided to pronounce it as we see fit.

lol you guys are great.

As far as making good quits, it's likely one of my biggest leaks (especially heads up )

Might have to meet up with Tommy Angelo next year for some coaching when I visit the west coast. If poker ends up a long term thing for me I imagine it would be worth the investment.

Well I doubt I'll break 100k hands this month but at least the quality of my play hasn't been too bad.

Tomorrow I'm not going to set a hand goal or anything, though I'll be at my desk by 1pm and will have all afternoon and a bit of the evening to grind so I should be able to get in some reasonable volume. If I get off to a rough start or feel shitty/tiltly or whatever I'll just go to the gym for a bit and aim to return refreshed.

Also, just checked the calendar, and I leave for Europe in 1 month

It is D-Ranger since its my first initial and last name lol, but some guys on IRC started calling me Dr. Anger cuz of how its spelled and I'd rant/tilt in the chat like every 3 minutes for a while lol.

And I didn't get the Taco Bell job lol. They wanted a weekend closer and I already work the weekends, so ldo that didn't work out. And honestly if I could work it, I wouldn't since those hours suck ass.

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

Might have to meet up with Tommy Angelo next year for some coaching when I visit the west coast.

You might want to start saving up. Coaching from Tommy is 3k per day. o_O

pro tip: his book is cheaper!

Originally Posted by oskar

You might want to start saving up. Coaching from Tommy is 3k per day. o_O

pro tip: his book is cheaper!

Got his book, now let's hope I'm baller enough next year then LOL

fml sick today, not sure how much volume I'll get it, but likely won't be very much.

are you doing/going to do private coaching through grinderschool, M2M?

Originally Posted by rpm

are you doing/going to do private coaching through grinderschool, M2M?

Not sure about private coaching, but I will be making videos afaik. First one is complete and will be released March 31.

I won't have time for coaching in April or May due to my travel plans taking up alot of my grind time but it's a possibility for later on in the year.

bleh, still feel sick but managed to play more than 3k hands today woot.

also been talking alot with my friend about my euro trip and planning it out, will post details as the date nears!

holla

I really need to start making good folds and stop making bad calls

:/

Month recap:

Bleh...75k hands (25k short of target) so somewhat half assed. I did play a little heads up though (lol fml every time I play heads up its never planned and just an impulsive action that does me no good). I made about $4800 overall, probably burned $1200+ on tilt but not bad for barely any volume.

April has 21 days for me since I'll be leaving for Europe before the end of the month. Here's to making the most out of those 21 days and getting out of my lazy habits. When I get back from my vacation in May I'm going to seriously get my grind on and put the last couple months behind me. There really isn't any excuse for me to not have >100k hands played each month. No more tilting, spewing, hero calling, or not playing etc etc and I'll be well on my way. I hope my travels will teach me something and perhaps get me back into serious grind mode when I return.

I'll be looking to increase my playing time though this month to A) pay for my trip and B) pad my roll for mid-stakes. I should be able to play >3,500 hands per day without too much sweat and will just focus on full ring.

Best of luck to everyone in April.

Do it m2m! Definitely let me know what you think of Amsterdam. I only spent a few days there but let me know if you have any questions about it

first day of the month and I play 4,200 hands.

that's cool and all, though obv wasn't on my A game all day, but I'll take the vpps.

I only played 1,000 hands today, but played 400nl so that makes up for it.

went to my gfs parents house for easter dinner so didn't put as much time in today. I'm off to my uncles place tomorrow night and might go out after that so perhaps a day off poker awaits.

hope everyone is having a good weekend on and off the tables.

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

I only played 1,000 hands today, but played 400nl so that makes up for it.

went to my gfs parents house for easter dinner so didn't put as much time in today. I'm off to my uncles place tomorrow night and might go out after that so perhaps a day off poker awaits.

hope everyone is having a good weekend on and off the tables.

+ 6 hundo is a good day!

Originally Posted by CBAT

+ 6 hundo is a good day!

up $800 actually lol. ptr is gay.

hah

family thinks im a drug dealer or something

LOL

what to doooo

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

hah

family thinks im a drug dealer or something

LOL

what to doooo

Your secret is safe with us M

Walk around reeking like weed and wearing dark ass sunglasses, ldo.

mmmm cashaments.

So I finally had my first winning session at 50nl 6max in a long time. At first I was playing really bad and made a few bad calls, but I ended up talking myself into just playing through solid and started running better.

I'm going to post a hand I was quite proud of since not folding has been a huge leak for me lately, especially when it comes to letting go of a made hand:

Villain in this hand is a mass tabling reg who is 16/12 and has a fold to flop cbet of 82%. He hasn't raised a a flop once in 20 chances, and suddenly he wakes up with a hand. I'm clearly crushed vs his range so I fold. Probably could have lead the flop bigger but other than that I think I played it fine.

$0.25/$0.50 No Limit Holdem
6 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($52.80)
UTG+1 ($50.50)
CO ($73.20)
BTN ($50)
SB ($48.25)
Hero ($69.25)

Pre-Flop: ($0.75, 6 players) Hero is BB
2 folds, CO raises to $2, BTN calls $2, SB calls $1.75, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($8, 4 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $5.50, CO calls $5.50, BTN raises to $20, SB folds, Hero folds, CO goes all-in $71.20, BTN goes all-in $28

Turn: ($132.70, 2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($132.70, 2 players, 2 all-in)

In other news my trip to Europe is almost less than 2 weeks away

How can you not post the results?!

I'm guessing he had Ah7h and you got pwnt.

I'm guessing he had 78 suited and you would have gotten pwnt if you called.

Originally Posted by oskar

How can you not post the results?!

I'm guessing he had Ah7h and you got pwnt.

lol, he had 99.

who was the mass tabling reg? CO or BU? nice fold regardless.

asddgfghgjl everyone is runningl ike fing godddddddddddd vs me

i also play like shit

sorry need to vent to prevent me ending my lfie

Oh my good, poor m2m. Career peak according to PTR is THREE DAYS BACK ZOMG and your worst day ever is still at -1k after 50k hands of 200NL and some shots at 400NL. You poor bastard.
Would you think I'm an asshole if I secretly wished you ran at least break even before you go on your euro trip so I can make my PTR graff > ur ptr graff just because?

Originally Posted by oskar

Oh my good, poor m2m. Career peak according to PTR is THREE DAYS BACK ZOMG and your worst day ever is still at -1k after 50k hands of 200NL and some shots at 400NL. You poor bastard.
Would you think I'm an asshole if I secretly wished you ran at least break even before you go on your euro trip so I can make my PTR graff > ur ptr graff just because?

you're right im a pussy

Just been reading this entire thread from the start - think your doing a great job and hope it keeps going well at higher stakes.

One little point you seem to quite hard on yourself for any little mistake, maybe try to relax a little?

Originally Posted by HoopyDude

Just been reading this entire thread from the start - think your doing a great job and hope it keeps going well at higher stakes.

One little point you seem to quite hard on yourself for any little mistake, maybe try to relax a little?

yeah good point. I need to handle making mistakes better for sure and just accept that it's part of the learning process rather than thinking I am incompetent etc.

in fact, it's a good thing I'm making mistakes otherwise I wouldn't have the opportunity to learn.

Well, I don't know, there's also an argument to be made as to why you being so hard on yourself is a good thing. I can't see it as a bad thing, unless you're punching yourself in the face or something. If it's something you just realized for the first time is a mistake then of course you shouldn't be hard on yourself; this is also a good time to learn how it was a mistake and how to not make it again. If it's the umpteenth time you make the same mistake then maybe punching yourself in the face is a good idea (i.e. being hard on yourself).

This is how it works for me anyways. :P

I guess I played well today. Made some sicko bluffs, inspired by the twins' latest blog post. Dunno if they were good or not but I went in with the idea that if I just try things out failure can only do wonderful things for my image

First time being over 100bi in profit at 100nl today

garf:



the middle area is me mass tabling mostly. still lots of room for improvement! also need to play more..

Nice graph!! Very sexy!

Curious what your showdown/AIEV graph looks like.

Originally Posted by CBAT

Nice graph!! Very sexy!

Curious what your showdown/AIEV graph looks like.

-2k or so in EV, red line isn't consistent but is negative (steep drop in middle when mass tabling). been b/e lately though as I seem to be getting better at taking down pots w/o sd, though sometimes making a bad bluff that is clearly -ev when villain has the nuts hurts it because when they come over the top I have to fold

Euro trip update:

So I spoke with the friend I'm traveling with today and we figured out what would be going down for the first few days of the trip. I'll be arriving in Amsterdam on the 23rd and staying at his place for the night. Saturday morning (the 24th) we're taking a train to Bruges (which apparently is a real awesome place in Belgium) and will be staying a night there at a 'decent' hostel (if there is such a thing I'm not sure haha). As far as what we're going to do/see in the city I'm clueless besides predicting massive beer intake however he's been there before so I imagine he has some idea. If anyone who has been to Bruges before has any particular recommendation, be it a restaurant/bar/museum etc holla @ me.

Then it's back to Amsterdam on the 26th for a couple days before taking off to Germany, with our first stop being in Berlin...

stay tuned for more updates, and pics of my travels as they occur. I'll try and get some chick to show me her tits and get it on camera so that none of you can say tits or gtfo when I end up posting lame pics of landmark.

laters

Watch the film "In Bruges" before you go. No idea if it's helpful but it's a great film and it's set in Bruges so I think it's worth a watch.

GL, have fun!

edit: PS is Germany the last stop on your Eurotrip? Will you be coming to UK at all?

Originally Posted by badgers

Watch the film "In Bruges" before you go. No idea if it's helpful but it's a great film and it's set in Bruges so I think it's worth a watch.

GL, have fun!

edit: PS is Germany the last stop on your Eurotrip? Will you be coming to UK at all?

Cool thanks.

Germany is going to be kinda in the middle (will get to Berlin on the 28th or so). Unfortunately I don't think I'll make it to the UK this time since we're planning more around Belgium-Netherlands-Germany-Switzerland-(Italy maybe)-France and will probably spend a couple days in each city we stop in. Too much to see and not enough time. Def gotta hit up the UK though someday, perhaps next year

<Illfavor> ive actually already read small stakes holdem
<m2mvid> orly
<Illfavor> yea bc i loved poker in high school and i bought it thinking it was about texas holdem
<Illfavor> lol
<m2mvid> standard fish behaviour
<m2mvid> buy the wrong book
<m2mvid> then play nlhe like min bet
<Illfavor> pretty much
<Illfavor> loooool
<m2mvid> SO THATS WHY THEY ALWAYS LEAD FOR MIN BET

Originally Posted by Micro2Macro

<Illfavor> ive actually already read small stakes holdem
<m2mvid> orly
<Illfavor> yea bc i loved poker in high school and i bought it thinking it was about texas holdem
<Illfavor> lol
<m2mvid> standard fish behaviour
<m2mvid> buy the wrong book
<m2mvid> then play nlhe like min bet
<Illfavor> pretty much
<Illfavor> loooool
<m2mvid> SO THATS WHY THEY ALWAYS LEAD FOR MIN BET

lmfao

A+

Update:

Not much to say. Volume slacking, dunno what to do at this point just looking forward to my vacation. I imagine I'll pick it up when I'm back.

In other news my second video has been released for GrinderSchool so check it out!

Going to Toronto tomorrow for my birthday, will be back Sunday night and will continue the pokers then.

Later brahs

When I get back from vacation I will be implementing some new rules regarding my poker sessions:

1. When playing 6max only normal speed tables will be played (maximum of 4-6 tables)
2. When playing, caffeine will not be consumed at any time during the day prior to each session.
3. Fast tables can be played for full ring only during 6-8 tiling sessions, 8+ tabling cascading sessions will remain regular speed tables (with the exception of some unusually good fast table i.e. 100bb fish open shoving 100% of hands)

Will add to this list later when I think of something useful.