Setzy's 2008 (COMPLETE!): Setzy's 2009... Goals up!

I'm pleased to report that after 13k hands I'm in the green (barely, but I am!) at 200NL/PL. After completely reviewing my 200NL/PL database I've found some interesting set over set data:

Had set over set 5 times, only 1 my way (due to a poorly played flop by a villain, where I turned the overset), and one of the other 4 (all flop oversets) I runnered cards for a flush versus his overset. So I'm quite negative in the set department, which should slightly be diminishing my winrate!

There aren't too many hands I have found myself completely lost on, there are a couple that I maybe should get some feedback on..but I have been discussing some hands at length with other people which I think really helps my game. Tomorrow I continue!

Quick 30k hand update. I'm still positive at 200NL but my winrate has dropped below 1ptbb. I've been reviewing HH's, looked at lots of hands, trying to make sure I'm not incorrectly folding some hands. There are definitely a few I would play different with new information (villain tendencies, stats, etc).

Never in my history of playing have I had KK be a loser, but in this database my KK is getting straight OWNED. I haven't won a full stack with it yet, and I've run KK into AA 5 times and won none of them. On the flip side my AA has run into KK 3 times and I've lost none of those.

One big thing about 200NL FR is that the play is very tight preflop, but at the same time very aggressive. The chances to "set mine" are slimmer when you get 3-bet after raising a pp unless you're fairly deep. It's harder, but I do enjoy the challenge...and I feel myself improving as a player.

Still floating along. Had a good day yesterday, today was pretty breakeven. Starting to really feel comfortable with everything, which is the typical sign of me getting used to the stakes. Some things I've noticed about 200NL FR:

Players are much more aggressive preflop than 100NL FR. You see a lot more reraising and raising over a raiser and a coldcaller than at 100.

It seems players at 200NL float on low paired boards quite often if they have a low pocket pair. For example, if somebody limps and I raise whatever, they call and the flop comes 44J, quite often they check-call whatever low pair they have. I'm somewhat struggling with whether to try and push these people off their moderately weak hands, IF I even can (thinking most are putting me on AK or unpaired high cards after calling with the paired board). I'm becoming quite proficient at bluffing scare cards on the turn, but I think my river play still lacks somewhat.

I do notice that players seem to read me better than at 100NL. Not sure how true this is, but on the whole the regulars are just a little more competent, and the fish just a little less plentiful.

To me it's still frustrating to see so many pots get shipped away from me when I lose with the best hand and the money going in, but I don't think it happens to the extent that my winrate is terribly untrue. I'm not a huge winner, I never have been! But I am growing as a player...because if I still played at the level I did a while back, I would be getting slaughtered.

I'm on a nice upswing at the moment, so I can't complain about much. Just trying to keep an even keel and make sure I'm playing excellent poker all-around.

Yesterday I played my first ever $11R and cashed, but didn't go deep. The later half of this month I've been playing a lot of different games...cheapo turbo SNGs, 6-max LHE, 100 and 200NL FR, a few 3k starting chip and a few rebuy tournaments....just keeping myself fresh. I've grinded quite a bit and I want to make sure I can keep doing it, plus play well in other games too.

I keep thinking I should be posting HHs where I have questions, but really I don't have questions about much. There are a few times when I've put in more money than PNL says I should in a hand and then fold, but I think they are completely obvious spots (like easy double barrels or bluffs and I get called or raised)....so I'm not really sure what to post about. I'll think more on this.

I'm no omaha expert, but I think this is a pretty bad loss, right?

PokerStars Game #12670719976: Tournament #63858977, $20+$2 Omaha Pot Limit - Level VII (150/300) - 2007/10/16 - 21:34:01 (ET)
Table '63858977 9' 9-max Seat #1 is the button
Seat 1: SHUASHUA (27221 in chips)
Seat 2: xxxDACxxx (13510 in chips)
Seat 3: SetzerMason (3130 in chips)
Seat 4: elvis76 (8242 in chips)
Seat 5: nsinger (9440 in chips)
Seat 6: NedaikDue (42368 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 7: ropeymove5 (16396 in chips)
Seat 8: antone45 (85492 in chips)
Seat 9: DirtyEars (6593 in chips)
xxxDACxxx: posts small blind 150
SetzerMason: posts big blind 300
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SetzerMason [Th Jh 7d 7c]
elvis76: folds
nsinger: folds
NedaikDue: folds
ropeymove5: folds
antone45: folds
DirtyEars: folds
SHUASHUA: folds
xxxDACxxx: calls 150
SetzerMason: checks
*** FLOP *** [Ts 3h 7h]
xxxDACxxx: bets 600
SetzerMason: raises 1800 to 2400
xxxDACxxx: raises 1800 to 4200
SetzerMason: calls 430 and is all-in
*** TURN *** [Ts 3h 7h] [3s]
SetzerMason said, "i got a million cards that hit"
*** RIVER *** [Ts 3h 7h 3s] [5c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
xxxDACxxx: shows [Td Jd 3c 3d] (four of a kind, Threes)
SetzerMason: shows [Th Jh 7d 7c] (a full house, Sevens full of Threes)


pokenum -o td jd 3c 3d - th jh 7d 7c -- ts 3h 7h
Omaha Hi: 820 enumerated boards containing Ts 7h 3h
cards win %win lose %lose tie %tie EV
3c Jd Td 3d 39 4.76 769 93.78 12 1.46 0.055
7c 7d Jh Th 769 93.78 39 4.76 12 1.46 0.945

hey havent you played on titan??

can i datamine there?? doesnt look like it.

Never played on Titan, I got no idea!

So last night I won a 600BB pot, easily the biggest of my poker career. I'm still doing fairly well at 200NL overall, put in a very long session yesterday and finished up several buyins. There is something to be said about implied odds...at 200NL there are actually opportunities to play somewhat deepstacked, and actually call a reraise or two. Starting off with only 100BB there isn't much you can do when somebody pops you to 14bb preflop and you're holding a low pp.

I'm very happy at the moment, but not content by any means. I definitely don't want to fall into the trap of "hey I'm doing well, I must be the best player ever!" I'm still not a great player. I may be playing well and running decently, but there are always things to learn.

Still doing well, and I am very pleased with my results since September. I have 100k hands spread around various limits, and in all of them combined I'm winning just over 2ptbb/100. Man, if I'm really good enough to sustain this (or even IMPROVE), I'm very excited!

I've been mixing in some PLO games when I feel like getting away from Hold'Em for a while. PLO is a very fun game, and I see how it could get very swingy. When I play I've been playing 6-max and yesterday I tried out HU for the first time. I tend to play extremely loose and aggressive since I play far less tables than I do at Hold'Em.

Well.

I took my first shot at 400NL today and decided to give myself a 2 buyin stop loss. Won some and lost some 4-tabling until I got about an hour in and lost a 60/40 flip in my favor and decided to quit down a buyin. I guess I have a "typical" bankroll to play 400NL but I have never been one for playing without a stockpile of buyins...so I think I will stick with 200NL until New Year's or so and then perhaps take another shot.

Right now I'm very close to getting to the 300k VPP Milestone and I would like to really grind it out and get that 400k by the end of the year. That's my end of the year goal, but I will post a November goal or two in the next few days.

Well, after donking around at Limit Hold'Em tonight I've realized my game sucks there, especially shorthanded, and I'm great at blowing through tons of BB in a short amount of time...so I'm barring myself from Limit. I want to play loose, and everybody shows up with top pair every hand

Enough whining, this post isn't about that, it's about November goals! But let's go back and examine how we did in September.

I played about 60k hands, so that is good...I played winning poker, and that is also good.

For November I want to get to 350k VPP so I can make a run for 400k by the end of the year. Right now I'm sitting about 5k shy of 300k. I really need to stay away from everything else except Omaha and play FR Holdem.

Have another winning month, and continue to beat up 200NL.

Keep reading and reviewing...I've slacked off some on reviewing but I should get back into it this week. I read the forums constantly and absorb ideas, which is good.

Monetarily I'm set as far as where I wanted to be for this year, and the Bonuses I accrue by the end of the year should leave me with enough money to be able to play 200NL and not have to drop down. YES!

Halfway through November and I'm almost exactly halfway to my monthly goal of 350k VPP. This month has been very breakeven and uneventful, for the most part. I took a relative hiatus for a few days because I went to visit my parents. They have dialup internet, which takes a lot of patience if you want to play any poker...I'm glad to be back home to play, to say the least.

My FPP are racking up because I haven't cashed any in for a while. I played the Sunday Million via FPP satellite a few weeks ago, busted in hour 2, and that's all I've done with them lately. I sort of have a bad MTT taste in my mouth because of a lot of my recent failures. It's no problem, because I still have cash that I've yet to tire of.

I will be moving at the end of the year, and I need to make a list of things that I will be needing for my new place. I plan on having that done in the next day or two.

As Doc Holiday says to Wyatt in Tombstone, "Wyatt, I am rolling."

I'm playing well and running well for the past bit. I dare say that I'm playing the best I've ever played. I don't have much to update, other than I'm still on track for 350k VPP this month, and 400k for the year. Really need to update PT, as I've slacked off on that.

In somewhat related news, I'm looking for a place to live, and I'm not sure how to go about telling these potential renters of my "occupation". Any ideas?

Tell them you are a pornstar

Do a Freddie Deeb...tell them you are a freelance investment manager and risk analyser

November was good. The start of December has been pretty garbage.

I got to 350k VPP, and now I want to finish the 400k by the end of the year. Yesterday I played a huge session of 400NL and ended up -$80, after losing 4 buyins at 200NL earlier in the day. Not the best of starts to this month. Today I donked off a buyin at 400NL calling an aggressive player's allin on the flop with an OESD and two overs, figuring maybe I had 14 outs....turns out he had top set and I didn't improve. Just another hand really, not very exciting.

I want to have a third straight winning month, so I need to climb out of this mini-hole I've started in. I have lost some 90-10 favorites over the past few days, so I think I'm getting my money in good most of the time. I'm second guessing myself about taking out for the school loans thing...maybe I could use my money better in my roll. Hard to say.

Gotta think more about that. The grind continues!

I don't know how tournament players don't go absolutely batshit insane. I decide to play the $11R for some "fun", first non VIP tourney I've played in over a month. Hour 2 I'm doing ok and playing totally snug, get this gem:

SOUND THE BAD BEAT ALARM, but he's got an OESD!

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t400 (9 handed) Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

Button (t26825)
SB (t14190)
Hero (t10540)
UTG (t14215)
UTG+1 (t17905)
MP1 (t5035)
MP2 (t47180)
MP3 (t13200)
CO (t9490)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K, Q.
UTG calls t400, UTG+1 calls t400, 6 folds, Hero raises to t2000, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls t1600.

Flop: (t4600) 2, 5, T (2 players)
Hero bets t2550, UTG+1 calls t2550.

Turn: (t9700) Q (2 players)
Hero bets t5965 (All-In), UTG+1 calls t5965.

River: (t21630) 9 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t21630

KJo ftw, I forget to post results like a dumbass.

I should put a bounty out for anyone seeing me playing tournaments.

Cashed some money out a while back and I've swapped some. Hit a bad run yesterday and broke even today. Pretty boring really. Still playing fine. Lost what "seems" like a lot of flips, but I haven't reviewed enough to see the good from the bad. I have serious doubts about going for Supernova Elite next year.

Are you gonna make 400k VPP?

Yeah man, we made it!

I reached 400k VPP early Christmas morning, and none too soon. I'm in the midst of moving and have played very little since then. I think having an extra-large bonus to clear will be a great propulsion to start fast out of the gate in 2008. I'm buying a desk and a new computer system (dual monitors!) to have a better poker-playing atmosphere than the one I currently reside in.

In non-poker news I had an excellent Christmas, spent a lot of quality time with my mom and dad, and enjoyed a great dinner. I received a lot of thoughtful presents (and none very big, which I planned so I didn't have to move a bunch of stuff).

A week or so before Christmas I also had "the talk" with my dad about playing poker as a source of income, and my goals and plans for life. It was a huge load off because I wasn't exactly sure how he was going to respond. Turns out he was way more understanding and supportive than I expected, which now makes me feel bad that I didn't go on earlier and explain my ideas to him. I had made the communication roadblock, not him.

Here's the beginning post I made for my 2007 goals:

Overall goals for 2007:

#1. ) Pay off my school loans entirely. I have the required monies, which I was right is almost exactly 10k. I haven't withdrawn the money from my BR yet, but it is available and not really being used in my current games, so that's complete!

#2. ) Continue to fund bills with poker. I already have a decent amount set aside, enough to last me for a good while. Complete, and it looks like that isn't going to change anytime soon!

#3. ) Work on my tournament game. Even though it seems to be the concensus that the "real" money is in cash games, I have always felt like my tournament game was nothing special and I want to feel the magic of making final tables and hopefully winning a MTT. How exactly I will go about this I haven't decided yet..I may spend a full month on exclusively tourneys. I'm still winless in MTTs, and I've turned my gaze pretty strictly toward cash. I think this the best way for me to win consistently, sticking to one discipline.

#4. ) Begin saving (post school loan payment), for a vehicle. What kind or price range is undetermined at this point. When I complete #1, I will decide more on this. My BR is large enough to support buying a car and paying off those school loans, so complete!

#5. ) Continue to track my progress as I have done, and increase my winrate by learning how to play against my opponents better. I think I've done this better than anything else. I believe I know how to play against most all of the regulars at my limits in a +EV fashion. My winrate has increased throughout the year.

No 2008 goals in this post. But it's coming.

How much is the 400k VPP bonus?

400k VPP bonus is $4,000.

It's that time, time for 2008 goals!

Okay. I'm purposely not playing tonight or tomorrow. Actually, internet isn't being installed in my house until Jan. 2 so I'm going to start a day behind..but I'm going to GO FOR SUPERNOVA ELITE!

For those readers who may be unfamiliar with how the PokerStars VIP system works, players who accumulate 1 million VPPs over the course of 1 year get the title of "Supernova Elite". I think there were about 40 Elites this year total. Next year there will undoubtedly be more.

Milestone Bonuses will be some of the carrots dangling in front of me to keep me going for the duration of the year. With the changes to Stars' VIP system for 2008, here will be the milestones for me to accumulate:

200k VPP - $2,000
300k VPP - $3,000
400k VPP - $4,000
500k VPP - $5,000
600k VPP - $6,000
800k VPP - $8,000

Total Milestones - $28,000

I'm building a new computer system, which actually I need to start doing very soon. It's going to have dual monitors so I can effectively multitable BETTER than I have in the past, and also hopefully include more tables without any loss in productivity. Honestly I think I could handle 24 tables on 2 larger screens much easier than 16 on 1 smaller one.

This is a pretty huge commitment, and it really should be the cornerstone for my future endeavours. With my potential profits from playing and the bonuses I hope to earn enough money to not only continue playing poker professionally, but have enough to support living (which I have been doing, that's nothing new), and save for buying and outfitting an entire home.

The only goal that I have that trumps going for Elite is to remain a winning player. I cannot turn into a losing player. There really is no room for regression. I study, play and know enough to be a winning player at the limits I currently play.

Going for Elite will require an average of 2732.24 VPP per day (it's a leap year!). I've set myself in a good work environment where I can rest well, work well, study well, and party a bit less.

Getting Elite will give me entries to a couple major tournaments, which means I will get to travel and enjoy a few vacations in 2009. Most likely if I get Elite it will probably only be for one year. The only major vacation I have planned for 2008 is to go to the WSOP and play in at least one event, probably over a 5 day period.

Okay, so a short summary:

Goal 1: Remain a winning player.

Goal 2: Acquire 1 MILLION vpp in 2008 (Supernova Elite!)

Goal 3: Travel to Vegas and play a WSOP event and have fun.

So that's it for me. Expect frequent updates.

Awesome work Setzy! Good luck in 2008.

Definetely go to Monte Carlo if you get Elite, it sounds super sick.

4 days have passed in 2008 and I have 8k VPP. I didn't get internet installed until the 2nd, so in 3 days of playing I have earned pretty much the required VPP. That's good because I haven't put in any marathon sessions or really long sessions yet.

Been playing 400NL more. I've been beating it, so when the games are available I tend to go toward that. I also have a tendency to want to quit sooner when I play 400NL, though. Tomorrow will probably entail a very long 200NL session.

Lately I've been trying to wrap my head around a better course of action to take in 3-bet pots. I think there is a ton of money to be won in these midstakes games by winning pots not going to showdown. "Typical" players have a pretty easy to read 3-bet range, and I really need to take advantage of board textures better in a few spots. Not a major flaw in my game, but definitely something I can improve upon.

In other news, I've also ordered my new computer system!!! I will have 2 22" Samsung widescreen monitors to go one of the new generation of motherboard/processors. Kick in a couple gigs of RAM and I may actually try to play some newer computer games.

And tomorrow, I'm going to win the Supernova VIP tourney(well, try anyway ).

My new computer is nice. Too bad I haven't been winning much on it! Two days ago I got beat down for just over 2k, which was a new record setting day for a loss for me. I've finally caught myself with part of my "problems" I've been having. Needless to say it's something I'm going to stay away from in the future.

Three-part good news: First part is that today I rebounded well from the prior day's loss. Didn't quite recoup the full amount of losses, but it's a start. The second good news is that I hit the 50K VPP mark, which is ahead of where I need to be to get to Elite! I'm playing more with the dual monitors and logging decently long sessions with a bunch of hands. The third good news is, I'm not getting burned out. I'm putting in more hands than I need to, which means I can get on track for Elite and have plenty of time to spare!

All in all things are good. Playing poker professionally has its merits, even with some disadvantages. But what DOESN'T have disadvantages in some way?

Setzy, I'm thoroughly impressed man.

I sure wish I could figure out what I'm missing in my game... can you give some brief description of the kind of things you were doing when you got over the 100NL hump? Did you start thinking about certain things in your game in a different way? If you can't think of anything it's no big deal I'd just thought I'd tap your brain a touch.

In my opinion, 100NL is the first place you need to put on the "one level more" cap. Some players, and I can't stress SOME as the operative word here, start to think about 'Hey, he's probably got this, so maybe he's thinking I have this'.

At Stars in particular, there are regulars abound. It's paramount you realize who these people are. That doesn't mean avoid them, it means know what certain people are capable of, and know what certain people aren't. There are regulars at 100NL that will 3-bet you with more than just AA/KK, and there are regulars that just flat out WILL NOT do it.

Getting over the hump takes quite a bit of work. At FR, understanding the "monster lines", such as villain limp-calls preflop, check-calls a rainbow flop, and check-minraises the turn....usually a set. Using PAHud (or whatever the graphical interface thing is you use) is a big help in determining aggressive players from passive ones, and helps you adjust accordingly.

Honestly, I think knowing the players and really, Sauce's 6-MAX guide (which I used at 6-max then turned out and implemented parts of it into my FR game) were two of the big things that got me just slightly ahead of the curve.

Excellent, I recall you implementing the 6max into your FR game. I'll have to read up on that again.

Thanks.. and best of luck at SNE.

I'm ridiculously far ahead of the SNE pace right now. Over at 2+2 one guy that works for Stars posts the VPP leaders every day. I'm not in the top ten, but it's not too far behind. The other day he posted that there are currently 93 players on pace for SNE.

At my current pace I'll be done before the end of September, lol

But that's what I wanted. I want to get ahead, so I can slack off a little bit in the middle. Honestly if I nail it down and get really far ahead, and get done a few months early, I may contemplate actually getting the next bonus AFTER 1 million VPP, which is 1.25m. THAT bonus is $10,000. That's a lot of money, well it is to me At my current rates, I'm on pace. To be brutally honest, I'm not 100% I can keep up this pace. What would probably be best for me is if I set aside blocks of real time to play, instead of just getting on here and there and whenever. For now it's okay, but we'll see. I may plan something out here in the foreseeable future.

I''ve been winning in the games I'm playing, which means I'm not just a rakeback baby either! My winrates are lower than the last few months of the year, and I'm not 100% I can attribute that to any one thing in particular. I got a new computer, (dual monitors!) , I tried playing more tables and had to see how many I can really play without screwing everything up, I'm still fine tuning my game (as one always should be), and I'm learning. I'm learning a lot, which is good.

But anyhow, I'm super tired, so that's all for now. The quest continues...

Best month ever. Most hands played, most money made. The trick is to not get stagnant and happy just because I'm winning. I'm concentrating on different aspects of my game and making adjustments that I think are useful for the games I am playing in.

I am over 100K VPP, and tomorrow I have a day off. Going to spend some quality time with my mom. It'll be good for me. Hopefully February is just as successful for me in the poker world....updates to come.

Re-read my entire thread just now. Wow at how much I've changed in just under 2 years.

I resolve not to complain so much in the future. Holy shit, that is barely worth reading, and if even *I* don't want to read it, I'm sure nobody else gives a damn!

Instead, a good update for you. I'm still well ahead of SNE pace, and even though I started off February really in the hole in allin equity (thanks PokerEV), one session tonight I absolutely rocked out and put myself back into a great position for the month. Rock on, peeps.

Had a decent upswing and downswing in the past week. My all-in equity has evened out and I've been sitting on a more "usual" winrate, closer to what I've had in the past. For the past few days though it's just been down and then trying to break out of the funk and move up instead of sideways.

After promptly losing some buyins in my evening session at 400NL, I closed down my games and went and played less tables at 600NL. I think if I weren't going for SNE I might stick with the higher limit games. The thing is, in order to balance my VPP requirements while still maintaining a winning pace is actually quite a challenge. I have found I really can't go above 18-tabling. I guess it's because of the dual-monitors, there's too much mouse movement in any given time. So, like I was doing tonight playing 9 tables of 600NL, I think I could better maximize my $/hr than playing 18 400NL. It's definitely possible if I 9-tabled 400NL I could have a better hourly than I do 18-tabling, but anything less and I'm not going to be able to make SNE.

HUDs are nice and playing against other players on a regular basis I think is helping me make better and better decisions on a case-by-case basis rather than generalizations. I think I play excellently against shortstacks, to my own credit.

I'm just thinking aloud, really. Sometimes I feel like I would play better without fullstacking in the games I play in. Oftentimes with certain players 100BB just never goes in without a nuts/2nd nuts or set over set cooler situation. That's not too often, though. I'm getting better at recognizing tendencies, and especially getting late position raisers off my blinds. There's just so much room for improvement, little things...

Almost elementary sometimes, I wonder about my c-bet frequencies. Do I bet in the right spots? Should I check more, should I raise here, etc. I go through this thought in my head, am I zigging when I should be zagging? Sometimes that's what it feels like. Sometimes you feel like you're working against the grain of everything that's going on, and sometimes it's like a perfect puzzle piece, and everything fits. I think that's the essence of variance.

Very nice thread Setz. I hope you make it and move up so I can stop folding my small blind to you when you are BB. Seriously though, you've been playing well lately from what I've seen so keep it up.

Bump

Just read the thread, Setzy. Inspiring stuff. And not too much complaining, really, it just lets the rest of us know downswings are part of the game.

Good luck on SNE!!

Let's update.

Still on pace. I actually have taken a very active interest in decreasing my losses from the blinds. I feel this is keeping me from having a higher winrate and with some adaptation and adjustments I can change that to increase my winrate pretty significantly.

I watched Sauce's 6-MAX 2-table video located here: http://www.flopturnriver.com/poker-v...deo-NHC023.php
and it is a GREAT listen. The actual action on the tables is somewhat limiting, but the depth and the discussion outside of the hands, the talk about ranges and isolation, is pure gold. Watch it and learn...I think I will be able to slightly improve from it as well!

I was explaining to my roommate (non-poker player) today about poker's stresses and how going for SNE makes things somewhat harder than for the typical player. SNE grinders can't just go off and quit for a while just because they had a few bad hands, a bad run, a downswing or anything else. You have to grind it out, with minimal breaks. This I think is part of why SNE can be a huge pitfall for some players. You get obsessed with the status, with the points, and may lose focus on the most important thing: WINNING.

I wrote:
Sometimes I feel like I would play better without fullstacking in the games I play in.

Well, after some debate I made a decision: To start shortstacking.

I don't think you'll get too many people that readily admit to it...because of the stigma attached, but whatever, I don't care. I'm a ratholer, 20bb'er, get in and get out'er, take your money and run guy now. I've really decided to break down the mathematical part of the game and try to create a great situation for myself. And you know what, I like it. I actually like it a lot. And I think I'm terrible at it right now, with a lot of room for improvement.

Still on pace. I'm a grinder for sure!

WOW!... This is surprising. I'd love to hear more about this.. the stakes you are currently playing.. the success you've had the stats, etc. If you don't feel comfortable putting it all up here maybe we could chat on AIM or something...

GLGLGL

PM me 'Nat, I'll tell you some more details.

I don't understand how you go from one of the bigger winners at your limit to deciding to short stack?

Originally Posted by meeloche

I don't understand how you go from one of the bigger winners at your limit to deciding to short stack?

You make it sound like I caught some sort of disease. Shortstackers are people too!

I tell you one of the things that's great about being a short stack player. You're rarely ever left wondering "what if?" To me, I hate making the wrong decision in a hand.

I played some fullstack tonight. In one hand, I 3-bet QQ on the button a little over 100bb deep versus an early position raiser and a coldcaller. I believe the play is fairly +EV with oftentimes me taking down the whole pot uncontested. I know the coldcaller, but the initial raiser I'm not familiar with. He 4-bets when the action gets back to him and I go from happy to sad, and fold.

With a short stack, I don't have to worry about it. At that point, I'm already committed (or all in, depending on stack size). It's very easing on the mind. Like I say, I don't like making bad decisions, and a lot of times I hate having that "well, what if" lingering in the back of my mind. What if sucks.

Is there bigger money to be made on the turn and river versus less competent players? Sure. Is there money to be made playing deep versus idiots? Yes. Just because you play shortstack doesn't mean you can't play deep, buy in for more money, and adjust accordingly.

It's a different skill set, in my opinion. In FR, let's face it, the majority of players are just waiting on a set to crack somebody's overpair, or some other cooler situation. Shortstacking can't do that. You have to find hands that you perceive to be ahead of other's ranges, situations where you think players are calling lightly or lighter preflop and you can squeeze money out of them. It's somewhat like playing MTT's, I guess...rebuy MTTs

Glad to hear you are still on pace. What are the actual numbers at this point?

I played at a couple of your tables tonght and noticed your short stacking methods.... You really think you can attain SE by shorting the 200nl FR tables? how many tables/hands/day are you playing?

im guessing you are around 250k vpp?

When I first started shortstacking I was running above equity, and my winrate was a bit bloated. The good thing is I never got in some sort of delusion (like I used to do at other limits) and think, "Wow, this is SO beatable! I can do this forever!" It just doesn't work like that. Poker is swingy, and your (my?) edge at shortstacking is easily negated by running bad in all-in pots. The past four days have been just like that, after almost two solid weeks of straight winning.

But sometimes when I used to lose I wasn't sure, or I would change things up, look for the out, for the answer. Sometimes there is no answer, except hang on tight...it's going to be a bumpy ride! I'm extremely proud of myself for a few reasons during my first downswing at shortstacking, which I want to express.

Numero Uno, I've handled myself well. It's harder to make completely terrible decisions shortstacking because the money isn't so deep, but there are still mistakes that you can easily make. I'm very proud of keeping my head up, grinding, and believing in what I've done.

Numero Dos, I did an EXTENSIVE review of the game I had been playing the past four days compared to the game I had been playing for two weeks prior to that. I did find a spot or two where I had been just ever so slightly deviating from my normal "winning" style from before. It's since been corrected.

But it's great, because I can seriously show that the basis of my downswing in its current form is due to running bad in equity and not in playing poorly. I think fullstacking is much much harder to show that, because you play with deeper money, and digging out specific hands where you lose your shirt can very well be a pain...such as: are my implied odds good enough with this much money behind, does my shove have enough fold equity, do I use position well enough in these spots versus certain players? They are things you have to consider shortstacking as well, but implied odds are pretty much out the window.

At all da questions:

Saucy/will: This month I haven't logged as many hands (studying poker more and playing a little less), but I've really cranked up the volume here lately. Just unfortunate I haven't been running better...but it will change. I'll hit 300k VPP in the first week of April.

BankIt: In a word, yeah. In all honesty I'm still experimenting. Coincidentally my downswing "started" when I added more tables, but I've checked everything to make sure my game isn't suffering because of them.

So yeah, that's what's up.

Well I haven't updated in a while. I'm still shorting the games, and I'm doing okay. My winrate is pretty similar, a little less than what I expected overall, but I'm still winning, and I'm still learning. I'm trying to find the balance of when to resteal rather than fold versus people raising or limping in early position, I think that's one of my bigger problems at the moment. I've actually been losing over the course of the month out of UTG+1, which is kind of weird. It's not a great amount, but my w@sd is atrocious from that position, so I figure it's probably due to mainly that. I was comparing my winnings shortstacking vs. fullstacking the larger games earlier in the year, and it's pretty comparable.

I do sometimes feel that urge to fullstack. I think it's me wanting to break the mold, to play a bunch of hands and go all LAG. Maybe it's an offsuit, strange version of tilt. My bread and butter is TAG and always has been...maybe it's just me wanting to learn more of different angles of the game. I've studied shortstacking inside and out and the how's and why's behind it.

Outside poker everything else is fine. I booked my WSOP trip to Vegas for June 11-18. I think I'm going to look at buying a car sometime in the fairly near future. I'd also like to buy a camera for my trip. In addition, I'm still on pace for SNE! Things are pretty good in the Setzy camp.

Starting May 1 I went back to fullstacking to see if I could kill the games. I figure with enough effort and study that I will be one of the better regulars in the game. I think I'm doing pretty well, but I'm losing! Yesterday I got murdered for 11 buyins, wiping out pretty much everything I'd done this month and then some. Earlier in the month I had found some leaks in my game and have been working on plugging those, but today I gave away some money I shouldn't have, and that won't happen again.

I've come to find that the 400NL FR games are not easy. Getting paid is quite difficult, actually. The games are pretty infested with regular multitablers and the majority of them are that TAGtastic 12-18vpip/10-15 pfr type that is so popular at FR...perfect for playing boatloads of tables. I have found a few things I think to put me ahead of the curve, and been working on identifying a lot of player-specific tendencies. Speaking of which, I'm off to review.

Thanks for the update Setzy! That sounds a bit rough, but I know you can pull it through.

How's the pace going for SNE? Any comments or reflections would be great to hear about!

Getting paid is quite difficult, actually

The profitability of shortstacking is directly related to how often villains fold. Places where people complain about not getting paid are where I do the best. Try buying in for about 40-50bb. You will begin to profit from people folding too much.

Been reviewing a lot, got a little coaching earlier in the month. Working on my ever-present leaks, and also working on playing better against opponents of specific types. In general I'm quite pleased with my results so far. Was behind pace for SNE (for the current month, not overall) up until today when I put in a large session. I might actually still be just barely behind. No biggie.

I'm finding it quasi-difficult to put in a lot of hands when I'm playing well. I've been discussing with some friends that perhaps the next part of my game I need to work on is playing absolute 100% for longer sessions. One of these days I'll be a monster...

I'm also going to Vegas for the WSOP June 11-18th, which I mentioned in a previous post. If anybody wants to meet up that will be around, hit me up. I'll buy you a beer, I don't know how baller or unballer you are...gonna be there for fun, not to grind!

To 'Nat: The only comment I can really make is I'll be glad when the super-uber-grind is over and done with. I still am going to go through with it, and I'm going to put in a whole lot of hours the first 6 months after I get SNE, but after that I'm going to live some life the way it's meant to be lived: spending time with family, seeing this beautiful world we live in, and doing the things that I'm priveleged enough to be able to do. The money is nice and I still love to play, but there are definitely days when I would rather do something else instead of put in some hours. Still beats a 9-5, though!

Also TY to euph for the med-stack idea. I was going to actually do this a little while back, but I'm happy sticking with the full-stack camp. Right now I think I do better with the deeper stack.

Nothing major to update other than I'm psyched up for my Vegas trip!! This time next week I'll be there.

May was great, and I'll leave it at that. June has started on a more sour note (kind of like May did), but I have confidence that it will turn around. Lot of coolers, very very little questionable or bad play. I review my sessions a lot and make sure I'm doing it right. Quite happy with myself, other than not winning here recently. Everybody goes through bad stretches though, it's basically unavoidable if you play with any sort of regularity.

The WSOP will be fun, I believe. I'm going for fun, not for any sort of srs bizness...although I guess if I play an event or two I am going to take it seriously. But whatever happens happens, and that's pretty much that. I've been playing a few more MTT's lately, trying to get my head around those better. I'm not a good player by any means, but I did finish like 170th in the Sunday Million last week for my second best MTT cash ever. (like $1200) It's so different than cash. Anyway that's all I've got for now, I guess my next update will PROBABLY be after Vegas!

Vegas was a great time. Poker-wise was definitely nothing good to speak of for me, but it didn't matter because I was there to have fun, relax and enjoy myself for a whole week and get away from the grind.

What I didn't account for was the period of "getting back into the groove", something I haven't had to do in a very long time. Grinding (and online play in general) sometimes just doesn't seem very fun, especially after all you've done for a week is be a tourist, watch and play silly soft live tournaments and cash games, sports bet, prop bet and play credit card roulette. I've started winning again after a few breakeven days initially upon my return, but I'm having trouble putting in much volume. A new bonus will probably help get my head back on straight.

I can't complain though. To be honest after some honest self-evaluation and some more breakdown of these 200NL players, I know for a fact that I can and should crush these games on a regular basis. It's kind of funny because 200NL seems to be quite a cesspool of regulars, and I've noticed plenty of 2/4+ players dropping down and just mega-tabling 200NL for whatever reasons. It pays to know who's who, that's for sure. That's one regard where I think I have a much larger edge than most people, having the correct labels on the correct regulars and knowing who I'm playing against.

Stars' new promotion is quite the double-edged sword.

On one hand, getting 2 VPP for every 1 is amazing.

On the other, the tables are INFESTED with regulars.

Stars is so sneaky. For one, they pull out the double VPP week during the Main Event. In addition, it's the 4th of July! It's one of those times when people will just either not be able to play or have to give it up because they're playing major tournaments or spending time with their family. Sooooo sneaky.

I'm doing okay. Still working on my game, and trying to build some history between a few more regulars for future hands. PT3 has been my friend, and I'm really starting to get into the HUD. Sometimes I still think I made a bad call or two here or there. Thing is, especially if it's an unknown...they could be terrible, and you have to get their money at the earliest possible opportunity, because it's going to go to SOMEBODY.

Long time, no post. *Blows the dust off*

Still grinding. Still doing well. I've made an executive decision to stay at 200NL until further notice. For one, my hourly is the best at 200NL over any game, because I can table select, play more/fewer when I want, and overall it's just a better situation. I'm +EV in higher games, albeit slightly, but my hourly is not as +EV as playing good 1/2 games...which a lot of the time, there are lots of good 1/2 games.

I have goals. I have motivation still to play. Last month (when I didn't update for a full month), I actually went into a dry spell, one of the first of my poker career, where I just didn't want to play like I used to, and do now. I hit the grinding wall. Every time I sat down I would start and look for a reason to quit. I would play well when I was playing, but a SNE grinder has to play at times for the sake of playing, to maintain pace, and that can be difficult.

But, I broke through the wall. I find myself wanting to play. I've had good success this year, and I want to continue to grow and get better. I do have a goal, and it's pretty high in my own eyes, although to some it's like being the smartest kid in the "special" class. Beware, the next paragraph has a lot of "I's"...

I want to be the best regular. I want to make the most money. I want people to hate playing me. I want people to move down because they're getting crushed so badly. I want everyone's winrate to tighten and mine to blossom. I have a killer instinct in these games, and I want to use it to my advantage. I want to use all my superior skills and flat out own.

I have been, and I will continue to. Watch out world.

Originally Posted by Setzy

I want to be the best regular. I want to make the most money. I want people to hate playing me. I want people to move down because they're getting crushed so badly. I want everyone's winrate to tighten and mine to blossom.

sounds like we want the same thing!
lucky i'm at FT not stars, and that I'm waiting until at least September to move up...

play good and arrive well!

Originally Posted by Setzy

I want to be the best regular. I want to make the most money. I want people to hate playing me. I want people to move down because they're getting crushed so badly. I want everyone's winrate to tighten and mine to blossom. I have a killer instinct in these games, and I want to use it to my advantage. I want to use all my superior skills and flat out own.

I have been, and I will continue to. Watch out world.

Nice goals! Hope you kill it! (until I move up of course )

plz do not crush my winrate or sit on my left khtnxbai

also good luck when I'm not there

Of course I've broken even for 4 days since posting my "kick ass, take names" rant. Posting curses, cashout curses, deposit boomswitch. It's all real, I swear

Two and a half years and still going, I've kept updating this blog with any sort of regularity longer than anything else I ever have on the internet. Today's my 26th birthday. Picked up some steaks and The Office season four, which just came out on DVD today. Going to have some friends over tonight and relax.

Life is good. Some people in this world get the short end of the stick. I'm in good health, in moderate wealth, and doing what I want to do, what I like to do. You can't really beat that.

Have a good one dude!

how does it feel to be a quarter of a century +1 old?


FWIW, I'm +2 myself

Originally Posted by Setzy

Life is good. Some people in this world get the short end of the stick. I'm in good health, in moderate wealth, and doing what I want to do, what I like to do. You can't really beat that.

I enjoy your attitude. Happy birthday!

Originally Posted by Setzy

Life is good. Some people in this world get the short end of the stick. I'm in good health, in moderate wealth, and doing what I want to do, what I like to do. You can't really beat that.

vnh.
keep on keeping on, sounds like you have stuff under control!@

Setzy. You are ma'fuggin' pimp!

Update dis yo!!!

Enjoying the read Setzy, keep up the good work.

Right now I'm reaching a point where I need to make a decision, and I don't know what to do. I'm going to make SNE. The problem is, I don't know what I'm going to do once I actually get it. Am I going to grind my ass off for the first 6 months, then kick back and enjoy the good life like I've so planned? That's sort of been my life plan since the beginning. 2009 is going to be the year of travel, the year of fun. 2008 is the year of work, and the year of the grind. (Sounds like a Chinese calendar)

But in 2009 if I just grind till my SNE status is gone, then I'm left sitting somewhere in the middle. I would have all these points, and be just close enough to SNE to perhaps give it another go. That's the trap that Stars lays out, the rake vortex they're trying to suck me (all of us, really) into.

So should I go for it again? There's been times this year when I just feel like my time could be better spent elsewhere, but I needed to play to keep up. The money is nice. At the same time, time itself is invaluable. I don't know.

that was quite the existential post. i think you need to ask yourself a few questions. when you say you often feel your time would be spent better elsewhere, what would those other things you would be doing consist of? do you fear maybe being stuck in a situation where you regret how you spent large portions of your life? i cant possibly think its the grind getting to you, considering you might be the most consistant player ive ever seen. i think you need to spend some time figuring out what you want out of your life u

This post isn't for me, it's for this forum.

I see a lot of Operations out there. For a guy who's had their blog since dinosaurs ruled the world (Who remembers blogs in Poker Etc? I DO!) I think it might be important for some of the newer folks to understand what they can do to make themselves successful using their blog.

For starters, make goals within your means. If you're a recreational player don't expect to shoot up from 2NL to 5kNL in a month, or even a year. Make reasonable goals, like "I will play an average of 300 hands a day, 4-tabling on X site". "I will move up to the next level when I have x buyins", and the like.

Personally, I've found that quality over quantity makes for a better blog. More recently, I post when I have something constructive to say, or there's been a major occurrence in my personal or poker life.
When I first started out, I posted hand histories upon hand histories within my blog. You can probably see some of them still on page 1 of this thread. While I was indeed still learning nuances of the game, I think in retrospect the effort can be better put in the actual forum of the hands. If you're a HU player, go to the HU forum! In addition, review things yourself, try to figure out the how's and why's of a particular hand or a particular villain. If you're still stuck, then ask for help.

I try not to post too many things that are negative. Anyone that has played a large amount of poker will tell you, bad spells happen to every single player out there. You will get in with the best hand and lose. You will get in with the worst hand and lose. You will get in 50/50 and lose, 60/40 favorite and lose, 98/2 favorite and lose. You have to be ready to weather the storm. Mental toughness is one of the most important parts of being a successful poker player. While blogs seem to be great places to vent, (and I'm not denying that sometimes you have to let off a little steam) at the end of the day I think you need to look forward, not back.

This is a great site and community. I hope everyone that wants to be successful and have a good blog is. In a game that has very little camaraderie, it's great to see FTR keeping it real after all these years.

Good post Setzy, I love reading your blog! I think I have definitely vented too much in my blog and made too many lc posts. I will try and do better, sir.

Word of advice, if you could also post what you feel like your biggest leaks are and how you can be exploited that would be a great help.

Thanks,

Your Friend,

badgers

Close? I'm cheering hard for ya man!!

Life throws you curveballs. The past three weeks of my life I've had to work hard to balance everything in my life properly.

As is old news by now, I'm working on SNE and properly on pace to achieve it. But just three weeks ago, I met an awesome girl and we've since been dating. For those of you who play regularly and have girlfriends/wives, you know there is a fine line of balancing you have to do between when you can play, making time to take your girl out, spending quality time with her, and taking care of yourself too. Coming from somebody who just kind of did whatever he wanted whenever, it's a gigantic change. But it's a good change, and I am happier for it. It has just taken some balancing to get it all right.

I've put in a lot of volume this past week. Stars 200NL games have been quite infested with regulars, and I've been working hard to try and stay ahead of the curve, as usual. I was discussing today with a friend about what I consider to be one of my bigger leaks at the moment, which is knowing when to pull the trigger without a hand.

Typically, you have to know your opponents and their tendencies. Most any regular will c-bet a large amount of their range, especially heads-up. However, things drastically change from player to player when dealing with flop raises, dealing with 3-bets preflop, and dealing with isolation position raises and c-bets. Some players make moves. Some players play all but face up. In the scheme of things (from a grinder perspective), being a winner means making more good decisions in the long term than other people. Multi-tabling means you have to make many decisions per minute, and keeping sharp can be very difficult. Poker HUDs and trackers are helpful, but in the heat of playing I still rely on my instincts quite often to take the most +EV lines, in my opinion. I feel like my instincts are razor sharp anymore. When they're on and I'm playing well, I feel like very little can stop me. I'm ready for the world, and ready to continue conquering!

Go SETZY!.. Thanks for the update. And I'm glad your still on pace, and your nearing the goal you have worked incredibly hard for. Keep up the good work and keep sitting at my tables and you'll eventually get a few stacks for me .

good luck on the profit building. If you are going to play lower limits to build your roll while bouncing, i reccomend a start at a bigger room because the more table selection you have the better your odds when playing winning poker. Gl on the felt

The milestone is coming, and I'm going to make a major push for it in the next few days. December has been absolutely crappy, as I've totally spiraled down in winnings for the majority of the month. It's kind of a damper on an otherwise amazing situation for me. This year has been incredible. Setting and meeting this goal is something I'm very proud of myself for.

I did check through PT during my bad stretch and I noticed that pretty much all my numbers were keeping pace with what they had in the past, when I was winning. The only major difference was the won/lost column. Been tweaking a few things since then, trying to keep a level head and not to see things that aren't there...the hallucinations that bad poker runs can make you do.

As far as next year goes, I still don't know. I have a few things changing in my life as far as my living arrangements, my travel, and my girlfriend. Honestly I don't see myself going for SNE again. It's great to get all these perks, but I do think it may be quite a bit more life +EV to play less, at a higher quality, and hunt down some of the easy money.

I'll make some 2009 goals before the end of the year, and of course I'll post on here when I achieve SNE!

I just found this very insightful and interesting blog. Good luck with your final push!