poker blag

lol i just backspaced away a lot of blah blah blah tl;dr type stuff that nobody wants to read. synopsis: i've taken a year-long break from poker, started playing again about a month ago. re-starting so to speak.

so, here are my objectives:

1. learn 6-max. in terms of cash games, up till this point i've only ever really had success at FR, just nitting it up and playing kind of robotically. i've never won at 6-max, so i figure, let's use this chance to change all that.

2. work on the basics. "put your opponents on a goddamn range!"... calculating equity, maximising vs those ranges... and so on.

3. target stakes: 100NL. start at 2nl, and beat every stakes at a decent winrate over a decent sample size before moving up. that means i'll finally have to beat 50nl, breaking new ground...

starting bankroll: $25

current status: i've managed to easily beat 2nl at a good winrate, currently grinding away at 4nl aiming to get to 10NL sometime in May. current bankroll: $236

yes, that means i could be considered rolled for 10nl, but i've been running too hot these last ~10k hands, so why not play another 10k at these stakes and move up comfortably? Besides, that's actually only 175 euros, and i'm sitting mostly at euro or gbp tables at a eurofish site. oh yeah, that's another thing i'm planning - before moving to 10nl, cash out and go to stars.

graphs:

[about 6000 or so hands of 2NL were not logged, because I only started using PT3 after that point. oh yeah, another thing, at about 3k hands I started sitting with 4 euro/dollar/pound at 0.01/0.02 tables, and then simultaneously got unlucky and played bad. i did that as sort of a transition to 4nl...]

2NL:
http://eugenenakamura.com/misc/10.4.2010.2nl.png


4NL:
http://eugenenakamura.com/misc/10.4.2010.4nl.png

First! :)

Nice looking graphs! Good luck reaching your goals and with balancing this and music.

hey eug, cool to see someone else doing a similar kind of operation, i have a pretty neglected operation thread somewhere basically stating the same goals, except at FR. good luck with your gambles.

every once in a while there's going to be a post in here about live ring games.

went to spielbank berlin @ potsdamer platz. i'd visited the spielbank berlin @ hasenheide a few times before, first time at the main swanky casino.

[edit: worth noting, this is the place where very recently EPT berlin took place, and the final event was at the hyatt hotel next door which was notoriously robbed by armed gunmen]

not much to say, played 2-2, sat down with 80bb, down a buyin after seeing no hands, not one showdown... i folded AK in SB after it was clear he could only have JJ+ and wasn't folding to me shoving over. an UTG 15bb raise from a rock. AA-KK are discounted 'cause I think he wants people in with those hands. idk. i folded, he says he had QQ and wanted 1 caller, lol.

that was the only decent hand of the night. played 99 in MP, raised, got 3 callers behind me lol. flop is KQx, i check, a bet, a raise, i fold. and then fold fold fold fold. a few spewy PF calls that cost me a bit.

yeah nothing to report really. except that the rake was murder, €2 for a >€20 pot, €5 for >£50, £10 for >£100 and £20 for >£400 pots... what really kills are the medium sized pots that are a bit bigger than £100. and they charged an entry fee of €2.50, and charged me €4.50 for a red bull. robbery.

so never going back there lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by badgers

First! :)

Nice looking graphs! Good luck reaching your goals and with balancing this and music.

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balancing this and music indeed.

i'd say about 4-5 hours need to be spent on practising violin, and maybe another 2 hours just analyzing/recalling/reviewing/planning past and future practise sessions. i had an inspirational chat with a friend of mine who's a helluva lot better at practising than i am, and it got me thinking, just merely grinding out the hours just isn't enough.

sounds familiar doesn't it? i think a lot of parallels can be found about both music and poker and similar critiria for success such as ability to concentrate, analytical thinking, good problem solving, ability to react quickly to situations under pressure...

do i possibly have enough time to do both, is the main dillemma i've been gnawing at since last night.

synopsis: eugmac moves up to 10nl, fails. the last 1k hands were particularly lol.

http://eugenenakamura.com/misc/20.4.2010.10nl.png

The first couple sessions were lol, wheeee up 6 bi. wheeee down 6 bi. and then going nowhere, getting frustrated, arrrrrgh! then losing my head and 9 buyins.

my favourite was my snap river call with AK high on a QQTxx for his whole stack... he had Q5s LDFO.

anyway two things that i think i should incorporate:

1. when moving up, set a stoploss. (my plan today, when i started losing, was "play till i ain't rolled for 10nl no more". i think this is really bad thinking). losing 3 bi at 10nl tilts me harder than at 4nl, ldfo.

2. stop trying to win every pot!

3. take breaks. set a timer. do whatever it takes to not play longer than i can concentrate for. i think some studies showed that the average human brain can't concentrate 100% for longer than 45-50 minutes. i think i should bear that in mind....

One thing that might help ease your tilt today is when you log in to look at your graph, click the winnings in BB - shows your graph in BB's instead of $. This helped me recently when my graph took a nosedive when I moved up, I realized "hey, that slump is about the same size as my last one at the lower level" = no big deal, just looks worse because you're at higher level, so more $.
About #3 - I've gotten into the habit, the first time I randomly think anything like "hmm not concentrating very well" or "wonder if I should take a break" or "I'm hungry", I click all the auto-post blinds buttons off. Then I take a moment to evaluate, should I really take a break? You know what? Most of the time, it's a good move.

Good luck with your op!