!Results Oriented Operation

Every single operation I have started was a failure and it actually contributed to me losing/quitting. I reread them all. And ever single one was super crazy focused on results.

So in this operation I will not talk about results most of the time. I ever since October per M2M's advice (which I finally took) I stopped looking at cashier on a daily basis. It has really helped my game. I will post the occasional hand and some life blurbs.

I will have goals, but they will not be money oriented!

1) Play 30k hands a month
2) Write two articles a month for my pokersback.com website
3) Start p90x in the next 15 days
4) Only look at cashier once a week.

Starting Bankroll Prior today's Hands: 661

Glad to see you're doing an OP !luck. You know I'll be a regular my friend. I hope you'll make p90x updates a regular part of the blog!

Yeah it's pretty dangerous to be money oriented. GL

Thanks for the support.

Life blurb:
Brag: started a new job yesterday
Beat: I am totally sick (fever 100+)
Variance: I ride the train to work and I have expired passes from 2 years ago, I'm 50-50 on them getting accepted.

Congrats on the new job, what are you doing? Sucks being sick but maybe that's karma for not buying a legit train pass...lol

Congrats on the job man. Thread looks great. I'm starting p90x for the second time pretty soon too I think. Good luck!

Is P90X something you do at home or in the gym? I keep telling myself I want to do crossfit but I just don't know if I can get to the gym everyday or not.

What stakes are you playing? Have you been starting from the bottom $2NL and moving up after you beat the stake for 30 buy-ins? Good luck, !luck ... my brother did P90X and had good results, but he worked very hard - if you're curious, he kept a blog with pictures from start to finish.

Luck - just a suggestion, especially if you want this blog to not be results-oriented:

don't update us on your bankroll. this will inevitably lead to you posting more when you're up, and not as much / never when you're down. at most, you can let us know when you're moving up/down in stakes.

Focus on concepts and improving your game. The rest will follow.


Good luck.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jason

What stakes are you playing? Have you been starting from the bottom $2NL and moving up after you beat the stake for 30 buy-ins? Good luck, !luck ... my brother did P90X and had good results, but he worked very hard - if you're curious, he kept a blog with pictures from start to finish.

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Wow! He did really well! Good for him.

Not to derail the thread ... but one more interesting brag regarding my brother: he was on Season 7 of Survivor ... beat: he was voted off 2nd. Variance: got $10k for saying one line on the reunion show :D

!Luck, I don't think it's bad to have some results orientedness if the sample is large enough. Maybe consider not looking or analyzing until you have x amount of hands.

Wow. Thanks for the support.

I am currently shot taking at 25 nl. There will be results posted every Monday.

@Jason in terms of winning 30 BIs at every stack, I have not. My system is a bit unique and has so far served me well. In general, I take shot once I have the bankroll for a giving stack. So if I clear a bonus I move up, BUT if I fail the bankroll requirement goes up.

This time around it took 4 or 5 shots to establish myself at 10nl. So I took shots at 200, 250, 300 and 340 or so.

This is my first shot at 25nl and it started around 660 BR. I have a hard limit of 8 BI that I am willing to risk for this shot, but if I feel like I'm getting owned/playing bad, I'll just moved down earlier. In terms of thinking about my next shot it will be when I feel very comfortable at 25nl and have a decent BR.

So yesterday I was even sicker than Monday, came home slept from 9:30 to 7, feel about 10x better, might even play some poker tonight.

!luck

Interesting, your last post seems to have a more upbeat and positive outlook than your first post :) ... what type of operations have you been failing? Where have you been succeeding?

I think 25NL can be one of the biggest jumps mentally just because it's the biggest money hurdle in terms of big blinds. Most levels simply double the blinds, but 25NL is is a double and a half which is 20% more.

I once almost bustoed when I didn´t look at the cashier for weeks and was playing the insanely swingy deep tables at AP. It´s not really about checking the cashier, it´s something else. Even tho most poker players on this forum beat the vast majority of people when it comes to understanding uncertainty and random events we are still a country mile away from fully realizing how much of our results is owed to stochastic processes underlying the game of poker. Check your cashier as often as you like and start instead reading some. Nassim Nicolas Taleb´s "Fooled by Randomness" and "The Black Swan" are a great start and very enjoyable books either way.

And whatever you do, good luck on this operation and achieving your goals

good !luck

if you have any hh's you have q's/hh's feel free to pm me in irc, im not always paying attention to main chat.

Those are good books and I have read them. If it wasn't for the train ride home 3G wireless and my iPhone I would never post. Still feeling sick so may again go to sleep early poker will be there for me when I feel better.

So played 500 hands felt pretty good made a few mistakes. I need to start leaving tight tables with agro 3 bettors to my left. Basically I should never be on a table without at least one 25/7 type player, 25nl this shouldn't be hard.

Once again I got owned by a min 3 bet. I'll post this LOL bad play of mine on Monday 88 hand.

!luck I would be interested to hear what you are seeing as differences at this point. I think as we settle into a higher stake we tend to forget them and after awhile we just assume there really weren't any between stakes. So if you could jot them down as you go. Also what are you doing for table selection? Do you still start tables?
Hope you're feeling better as well!

Man, when you don't have unlimited free time getting poker in becomes hard.

First I am feeling better. The real difference between 10nl and 25nl, just like many other stakes is that people 3 bet more pre. There are slightly fewer fish. The fish tend to be slightly more aggressive vs. the 80/4. You may have an 60/40. Or something like that. Though, I am not beating 25nl right now, the changes in the grand scheme of things are probably tiny.

I think a lot of us micro grinders rely sooo heavily on our preflop game that once people become even remotely competent post we start sucking. In some ways having a "good" pre flop game early makes us all think we are better than we actually are.

So that doesn't really answer your question, because the difference between 2nl and 5nl was tighter play a slighly more 3 betting, but that could be said about ever limit so far, it is a ll a matter of degrees and unless you are in those games the subtleties are small. I bet someone like m2m would have difficulties pointing out the real difference between 10nl and 25nl. He would just say LOL 10nl and LOLCOPTOR 25nl (but use actually internet memes, rather than tired old cleches.

!luck

just keep it in mind as your playng and if something comes up jot it down.

m2m has talked about what he thought about 10nl or 25nl before in a vid and i think he said something along the lines of people having somewhat better hand selection preflop, but just sucking postflop(maybe he was talking about the regs? i can't really remember). I feel like the difference between 10nl and 25nl is smaller than you think, but you're paying more attention to table dynamics and such because you're caring about the money more. Anyways gj and gl with 25nl again.

BR: 589
Most of the loss happened today. I knew I wasn't playing too well after snowboarding. Lost 90% of my weekly loss in the last 450 hands. So i really need to focus on not playing tired. Since I am going to be tired far more often now. I did some retarded thing plus ran into stuff. Still feel fine at 25nl. I will once again go an entire week without looking at BR and hopefully not fail volume since I feel healthier. So just checked I played like 1.7k hands this week so its kinda dumb to even talk about it. I should be getting into the rhythm of things.


Main villian is a nitty at 16/11, small 52% cbet percentage. Had a note he waits til turn to check raise trips. I think I played this hand well.

BTW I thought for like 30 seconds on my sizing on the turn. I knew in my mind it was a bet fold. Maybe 7 would have been better but he really doesn't have many draws in his range it is mostly 66,33,77+ and the 77-99 & KK+ prob needs to be discounted.

Maybe this is a check back. meh. Still think its fine.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (8 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

MP2 ($25)
CO ($20)
Button ($37.94)
SB ($27.99)
BB ($27.08)
UTG ($5.15)
UTG+1 ($23.60)
Hero (MP1) ($32.09)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with J:spade:, J:heart:
UTG calls $0.25, 1 fold, Hero bets $1, 1 fold, CO calls $1, 2 folds, BB calls $0.75, UTG calls $0.75

Flop: ($4.10) 6:heart:, 3:spade:, 5:spade: (4 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $4.15 (All-In), Hero calls $4.15, 1 fold, BB calls $4.15

Turn: ($16.55) 5:heart: (3 players, 1 all-in)
BB checks, Hero bets $6, BB raises to $12, Hero folds


So I think I will start posting hands where I think I played well. Because picking all the hands I played poorly would make this blog too long. Also, it isn't what you don't know what kills you it what you think is right that's wrong that really hurts.

So thus I post this!

Also, I feel like I am going to write my real name after one of these posts cause im so fucking used to doing it at work.

So things to work on for the week.

Just because I know someone's range is second pair that doesn't mean I should try to "get them off" cause people don't fold enough at these stakes. Being right < making money. Focus more on value betting and stop being dumb.

One last thing. If i so happen to some how lose 10 BI in a week I will still have a decent BR for 10nl, which is why I don't worry about not looking. It is all about my comfort level and I feel comfortable.

-!luck

Woot. Got to play 500 hands today. Life kills poker.

Had some interesting hands I was playing 6 tables with the same reg at times we were heads up (never more than 2 tables of heads up). He started going crazy cause I kept calling his 3 bets. Long story short He stacked off ATo on 769r board. Or something like that I had top pair with a draw to straight.

Also had a crazy agro fish limp reraise me I snap call with JJ>KK. Play okay, run good. Need more time to play pokers.

GJGJ

Got to play a few more hands today. had one where I was able to limit my opponent to 2 hands. I have 55 Board K57tt. I bet he calls turn brings flush. This guy is 16/5. I bet, thinking he may peel me with QQ-JJ with a heart, but realistically his turn calling range is something like sets and that's about it. Anyways he min raises me. I think can't quite make the fold. Still suck at folding bottom set. river brings 4 to a flush I think long about shoving, then realize he is never folding a set. Check. He checks. He flips KK.

I was very lucky.

I have been playing in a weekly home game. It is a 1/2 with a 10 dollar PER night rake (includes food). It is expected that you buy in for 100. Though the host lets people rebuy higher later in the night.

I use a separate bankroll for this. Well, I haven't figured out really. When I went to vegas I brought 2k with me, ready to lose it. Since I didn't it became my defacto live roll. I enjoy live games and this one is fairly cheap. Most of the time the game is good. But last night there were very few crazy players. I hope to get better in a live setting.

Keep in mind that poker is my hobby and though I realize that I prob can make more money online, I prefer to have a little variety.

!luck (After getting a real job) At the end of anything I am so ready to right my real name. Not sure if anyone else has that problem.

I suck playing against nits heads up.

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Originally Posted by !Luck

I suck playing against nits heads up.

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don't click the call button

I play HUSNG when I have something to drink and i accidentally looked at results so im pissed.

Playing one 2 dollar buy in.


Edit: Won 1 Lost 1. This is so much better than actually playing stakes that matter.

home game sounds like a fun one and a good way to improve your live game. I've always wanted to start one of my own. I have a large finished shop with lots of room so it would work out nicely.

BR:752

Such volume fail. 3.5k hands. So made some money. Have nothing else to update.

Oh i will stop being an idiot who thinks he can hand read. So when people raise 933r boards on the flop they aren't making a move they are actually retarded enough to have 3x in their range.

-!luck

Quote:

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Originally Posted by !Luck

So when people raise 933r boards on the flop they aren't making a move they are actually retarded enough to have 3x in their range.

-!luck

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+1 (in)

No real stats except its a fairly new table and his is obv fishy.


Pre:Standard.
Flop: Fish and many other players at this level can't hand read so small bet like this can take it down. I only need to be right like 30% (less actually) of the time for it to be profitable.

Turn: is the only non standard thing here. I thought after his call on the flop he had tons of D draws plus 7x maybe a few 2x. So draws got there. The 7x aren't really calling (they might). He can also have like 88-TT with a D, where by not betting im losing tons of value. Overall this should be a bet.

Once he shoves and I know my op says don't do dumb things on paired boards. But, this looks just so fishy. That I time bank called. Obv vs this opponent this is fine. But I didn't have solid reads. So I think the turn is a marginal call at best. Thoughts appreciated.

$0.10/$0.25 No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
4 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
CO It's legit. ($19.02)
BTN quikash ($11.95)
SB Hero ($26.18)
BB zTROYz ($30.64)

Pre-Flop: ($0.60, 4 players) Hero is SB :ad: :js:
[It's legit. posts $0.25]
It's legit. checks, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.25, 1 fold, It's legit. calls $1

Flop: :7d: :2d: :2s: ($2.75, 2 players)
Hero bets $1.25, It's legit. calls $1.25

Turn: :jd: ($5.25, 2 players)
Hero checks, It's legit. goes all-in $16.52, Hero calls $16.52

River: :jc: ($38.29, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $38.29
It's legit. shows two pair, Jacks and Deuces
:6h: :th:
Hero shows a full house, Jacks full of Deuces
:ad: :js:

Hero wins $37.29 (net +$18.27)

It's legit. lost $19.02

Quote:

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Originally Posted by !Luck

So draws got there.

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I don't like the turn call without a stronger read. Of course, we can see it worked out (don't post results!!), but I think that in general from guys like this (little or no read), the flushes and sets far outweigh the trash. Still, if you have some idea he's fishy from another hand you saw, even without showdown, it's marginal, for the reasons you gave.

Yeah hand is marginal and I'm a nit but would probably call too. I've seen too many fish "float" and go apeshit on turn cards that don't really change much. As in I don't think he can have a flush if he's pushing turn. I'm not really sure if anyone can really give a correct answer on what to do because it really is readless. You can say to fold until further reads but his line makes no sense.

I called in part cause I still have live out vs most of his range.

Played meh today. Didn't make any huge mistake but got a little desperate to play pots with fish. Got owned by two regs. Basically, it was the exact same type of hand. Where they bet flop. I call. They c/c turn and c/c river. They had TPTK in one case and AA in the other. I get owned whenever they take lines that I would never take.

On different front I am going to vegas again in march. Though it will be for work so prob wont get any poker any. But still cool.

I suck when I am tired. Tilted off a buyin yesterday so decided not to play today. Well, that's a lie, I decided not to play online. Played in my weekly live game. It is fun and I enjoy it and I keep learning more ever week. But man do I suck!

man. i am regressing. Looking at bankroll. tilting more often. I need to either not play when I am tired or learn how to deal with constant fatigue from work.

BR 715. No more looking until. Monday.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by !Luck

man. i am regressing. Looking at bankroll. tilting more often. I need to either not play when I am tired or learn how to deal with constant fatigue from work.

BR 715. No more looking until. Monday.

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:(

I have decided to never play tired as well. I'm scared shitless when I get a job because of fatigue like you said. Definitely try to play a lot this weekend I guess. Tilting is the worse though. I'd much rather lose going with a read than tilting.

BR:836 4.3k volume for the week. Only 11 hours.

So sleep is +ev. Also part of this is that the weekend tends to be fishy as well. But people are just so bad. I will have to say that I am horrible at poker, which is actually a good thing. I know tons of leaks I can plug myself. With that being said. What do you guys think of my play here:

67/30 with 10% 3 bet and a 91% cbet over 41 hands. Now preflop is a bit questionable.

I thought that I didn't have a lot of fold equity even vs Qx and possible 6x. So might as well take a cheap card. Turn he is a fish raising is bad for same reason as on flop. I am getting 3:1 I need 4:1 to make this call and against this fish I should be able to make 1 dollar on river if I hit. I think long and decide that this is a good time to value raise. Since he has two pairs in his range and possible Ax that might call a shove.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (7 handed) - PokerStars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($43.22)
UTG ($25)
MP1 ($23.20)
MP2 ($37.32)
Hero (CO) ($35.14)
Button ($15.05)
SB ($21.60)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 5:spade:, 7:spade:
1 fold, MP1 bets $0.50, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.50, 3 folds

Flop: ($1.35) A:spade:, Q:heart:, 6:spade: (2 players)
MP1 bets $0.25, Hero calls $0.25

Turn: ($1.85) 5:club: (2 players)
MP1 bets $1, Hero calls $1

River: ($3.85) 5:heart: (2 players)
MP1 bets $4.50, Hero raises to $33.39 (All-In)

Total pot: $46.55 | Rake: $2

Goal for the week:
Play an entire week without making an incredible dumb play. Plan dumb okay. But my goal is to avoid the OMG you must have half a brain type of play. Also, I'm a fat cow. So start working on that.

We played at the same table last night on PS. Amirite? I color coded you as "friend" but wanted to make sure.

Yeah we did you light 3 betting mothe$$$$$$

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Originally Posted by !Luck

Yeah we did you light 3 betting mothe$$$$$$

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:D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by !Luck

BR: 589

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by !Luck

BR:752

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by !Luck

BR 715.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by !Luck

BR:836

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ummmmmmmm

Quote:

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Originally Posted by !Luck

!Results Oriented Operation

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Seriously?

Penny,

Focus is all relative. I can see how based on title it doesn't make sense to post ever week. But this is a huge step up for me to only look once a week. Truthful, poker IS about results. Just one has to work hard to not focus on ever bb you win or lose. Maybe one day I'll get this to ever two weeks. But quite frankly my game is 10x better when I look 1x a week and I don't know if I would get additional benefit waiting longer.

!luck (thinking changing name to iluck and making an applish looking avatar. Cause seems like no one actually thinks NOT luck. when they read the ! symbol. )

3 betting Kxs and Ax good
3 betting Axo and Kxo bad
calling 3 bets with 87s+ good
calling 3 bet out of positions bad

So this month was a real volume fail. Yeah I made money, but I ran hot and 13k hands is an Lol sample.

Without volume it will be very difficult to get success. I think I may have barely played 40 hours in january. I also am getting too fancy with some of my plays. Which I think it is fine but some ahit just has to stop. 3 betting k4o vs. 88% fold is tempting but for now I'll stick to Kxs and Axs. Plus, I'm pretty sure that if I want to expand my 3 vetting light range I should add 89s 67s ect long before I add kxo.

I enjoy heads up and many/most of the 25 regs don't want to play me. This does not mean I'm good, maybe I'm just not bad enough to waste their time.

So for feb I'm going reduce my heads up play. But increase my tables to 9 from 6. Playing 4 reg tables plus two heads up is challenging for me but I think I can handle 9 FR.

I hate hate setting the following goal. I want to hit gold star. At my current tables it would take like 75 hours which is just not going happen. At 9 I think I can do it in 55ish. Which I should be able to do.

Now I'll revulate if I feel like I'm auto piloting, but I'm goig to try. Plus I'm prob plsyig 19/15 style and reducing it to 17/14 prob will make multi table easier. Which I will do by removing some of my kxo type hands.
Note how I'm not posting my BR, it fine fore now.

Thanks for the support.

!luck

Quote:

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Originally Posted by !Luck

!luck (thinking changing name to iluck and making an applish looking avatar. Cause seems like no one actually thinks NOT luck. when they read the ! symbol. )

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lol I did && if you change it to iLuck i will think imaginary luck lol.

I feel tilted but im not. I made so many folds against passive players today that I want to puke in my mouth. Made a call vs a 30/2 player but was 30 hands sample where I had AQ on QQTK7 board he calls flop and turn leads river for 1/2 psb.... time down. I call. cause like If he does it with KJ i have to. LDO he shows up with TT.

Poker been frustrating cause I have been playing fairly well at least for me. In another words I have been playing my A game but been running to top of ranges of other people. So to punish my self for this whinny ass post. Im not going to look at BR for two weeks!

Cause honestly I can afford to lose 20 BI and still be rolled for 10NL. So fuck looking at that money shit.

BR: 773.94

wooooooo good! Don't cheat too!

Best of "!Luck".

Or is that sort of an insult? "Best of not luck". Anywho, best of luck but you won't need it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by !Luck

I feel tilted but im not. I made so many folds against passive players today that I want to puke in my mouth. Made a call vs a 30/2 player but was 30 hands sample where I had AQ on QQTK7 board he calls flop and turn leads river for 1/2 psb.... time down. I call. cause like If he does it with KJ i have to. LDO he shows up with TT.

Poker been frustrating cause I have been playing fairly well at least for me. In another words I have been playing my A game but been running to top of ranges of other people. So to punish my self for this whinny ass post. Im not going to look at BR for two weeks!

Cause honestly I can afford to lose 20 BI and still be rolled for 10NL. So fuck looking at that money shit.

BR: 773.94

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I feel your pain. Been doing the same. Last night I was running good and was up a couple of BIs over about 900 hands. Hands 901 was QQ on Q66 board and villian had 66. Hand 902 was same villian and I had KK vs AA so I lost all of my winnings over 900 hands in 2 consecutive hands so I quit for the night.:(

BTW I did really have KK.

So I challenged a reg to 50NL heads up. I thought I could do well. Set a limit of 200. Lost ~2BIs. Kinda hurt the confidence. But I think it was a good experience.

FWIW, for a while I delved into HU thinking it would help my overall game, it would be a fun divergence from full ring, AND it would help me start tables to make money and have great table selection. It looked good on paper, but I found that being a good HU player and being a good FR player are two COMPLETELY different mindsets and it's very difficult to do both successfully. In fact, I looked up several good HU players and their FR results are pretty spotty just like many good FR players have spotty HU records. I know someone will be quick to point out a handful of players who can do EVERYTHING well, BUT I don't think the number of players who have a solid HU game AND FR game is particularly high.

HU is very difficult because you are ALWAYS in the hand and can never take a hand off. You are also constantly pushing very small edges like value betting 3rd pair and the like. The variance is probably higher unless you have a nice edge over your opponent AND you log enough hands. For me, I also am MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more prone to tilt HU - I suspect this is true of most players because of the personal nature of HU.

Anyway, just responding to let you know I've been down the same road and my opinions on it and not to let losing a couple of BI frustrate you.

I agree 100% with you jason. Plus, it really limits my ability to play multiple tables. With 2 Heads up tables going, while starting tables, I can barely play 4 FR tables. Without them I can breath threw 9.

My focus has been 30% HU and 70% FR. This month after that, I will be 10/90.

GL to you. Xmas in Feb 10th. Amirite? :)

Not sure what to do right now. I feel weird. Don't feel like playing, don't feel like working out. I don't feel like doing much of anything. Yet right now im doing very well at work...

But i feel something is wrong. I hope this feeling goes away. Not sure if this is due to my heads up loss (doubtful) or me trying to readjust my mind to the working world (likely).

!luck

You alright man? I go through these days sometimes and just kind of take the day off. Maybe listen to music or watch movies. Working out actually distracts a lot of crap going through my mind so I'd suggest to still try that. I wouldn't play poker though.

Keep your head up. Better days will come trust me.

Well, i feel better. But I have been Getting home around 920 pm. Cause of work, I really don't mind and I know this is not typical. But still I'm surprised how I'm not angry at this. But due to glum feelings longer hours I haven't had the motivation to play. Now I see motivation because I still have 2-3 hours free a night where I could play. I plan on getting out at decent hour today and playing in a weekly live game.

I struggle with purpose as in not sure I know what I want. I realize that an MBA is likely vital for me and yet feel like it is waste. I have no career goals or thoughts I follow the money and try to find jobs I don't hate. After not working for so long I enjoy bing productive, I fear that it just like many if not all things is just hollow.

Despite the tone of this post I'm quite happy and comfortable. I just have this slight dread that I have lucked boxed my way through everything in life.

I guess I'll continue to enjoy the ride. If I play live will post update.


!luck

Ran Hot, ran cold. Tables are softer. I still suck.

Up in my live game. Work has been a negative on my health, but i enjoy my job. Will stop whining and get back to having discipline soon. Played like 13k hands this month so far. 3k of them in the last 2 days or so.

So sad.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by !Luck

Tables are softer. I still suck.

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Do you table select? How many tables do you play? If you aren't already, really focus on table selection and exploiting fish at the table. You can and should still play against regs and learn while you play them, but your main focus should be finding as many bad players because that's where the bulk of your money is going to come from.

For the month of january I averaged 6 tables or less. In feb I am increasing my tables and it's working well.

When I say I suck, it doesn't mean I'm losing money or even that I'm playing poorly.

I made one mistake yesterday that hunts me. I was bu with A4o co limps who is 4% vp over 24 hands, I iso flop comes q23tt I Cbet he calls ( I Cbet because he is likely to have 22-JJ ) so I fold out better some time, and sometimes I draw out to the A or the 5) turn completes the flush and gives me straight he checks I bet . River blank he checks I bet get raised now most of the time I'm beat here but I don't have a y flushes in his range and he a fish who can overvalue sets. So I call

To grind or not to grind. I need 1k vpps to get gold. That's like 16 hours 16 tabling. I rarely 16 table. But gold is 33% rake back increase, plus my volume is so fail. I think I did 90k hands in feb of last year 9 tabling. Arg. Prob won't go for it, I'm making too much progress playing well.

http://pokersback.com/flopturnriver/Capture.png

So I guess I can play 16 tables pretty well. Though once I moved up to 20 (last 1.5k hands of graph) tables it was too hard to play, it was mash mash mash. I only need 450 more vpps then gold star. Then Ill reduce my tables again. Prob to 12. Cause at 16 there are still times where I wish had a few extra seconds.

Keep in mind I played 6 tables exclusively since like oct-nov.
!luck

So my search for gold star was a success. Over 10k hands that I played this weekend. I broke even.

I look at the fact that im horrible at poker as a positive, because despite how bad I play sometimes. I am still making money. There are very few spots where I can't come up with a good plan in either post game or after 2-5 seconds of thought.

3 betting is tough for me. I was having a convo with surviva. Yeah it simple to 3 bet for value when people start calling your 3 bets with 55. My biggest problem is that there are some nitty tags who don't adjust to my 3 bet. It seems dumb to 3 bet AK and QQ because they fold everything I beat they either flat KK or AA (rarely) or more commonly they will flat AK and QQ and 4 bet KK and AA. Against these guys I feel like flatting my entire value line and only 3 betting Axs Kxs 78s until they widen up. Prob my biggest issue is lack of perspective and not waiting long enough for certain stats to converge.

Like I shouldn't assume someone is adjusting just cause they 4 bet me 2x in a row.

Anyways, results for feb. Played 26.7k hands of 25nl (10k was since the 25th of feb) made 69. Played 716 hands of HUcash @ 50nl down -108.65 also won 8 bucks in 2 SNHU. Total monthly profit 73. Not sure how rake back plays into, but I paid 430 dollars.

I will continue to hone my 3 betting and stop being too retarded against regs with small sample size. Look for more spots to value 3 bet AQ and JJ type hands, along with TT with certain players.

So I made gold start this month, chances are I am going to buy the 25k vpp bonus by the end of month, because im unlikely to make gold consistently without being at 50nl+

!luck

Vegas:2 !Luck:0

I have been very good at not playing drunk online( no incidents since oct maybe?). Live not so much. I'll leave the details out but lost 235, which granted is a buy in, but I was "lucky" that I simply didn't have more money on me. So win leaving ATM card at home.

Why do share this? Because it is failure of the worst kind. Self chastise myself, if you will. Due to Vegas and work I have been very busy and have not played a single online game this month.

My last time around 25nl I was a fairly good winner 2ptbb+ playing a 13/11 1% 3 bet style. Ever since then I moved away from that and though it took me over a year I feel like I have a better understanding of the game, because I experiment all the time. This month I'm going to experiment less and just utilize everything I learned to make progress. If I play well for even 15k hands I will be moving up to 50nl.

I also have no problem moving down to 10nl if I play poorly.

haha come on man, getting drunk for live poker is mandatory. don't beat yourself up over it. success that you were responsible and left your card at home.

I was about to write "still" playing 25nl. But the I realized that I played less than 10k hands this month. So meh. I need to improve volume and get results in my life.

My working out has stopped and I failed at taking the gmat (650). Will continue to play poker and continue to get better. The only good quality I have is that I never commit, so i never commit to quitting either. I will achieve what I want, just slowly.

!luck

Still playing, at 50nl. Pretty scary to be up there only have 5k hands in so far, but im still alive.

The one fact I came to realize about poker, is that a fish is a fish, regardless of stakes. They exist. The regs prob get better, but this game so much about the fish. In some ways, I try to just break even or maybe slightly beat the regs but i make my money from the fish.

!luck

It is okay to let the regs beat you up. if you let them beat you up you realize that aren't really beating you up that bad.

I love finding fish taking monies........

And they ARE NOT playing back at you nearly as much as you think.

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Originally Posted by CBAT

And they ARE NOT playing back at you nearly as much as you think.

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I assume you are talking about the regs?

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Originally Posted by Sasquach991

I assume you are talking about the regs?

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Chya

I need a place to ramble. No sooner do i find the inner nit and make tons of money, do i descover the agro monkey. Now this agro monkey is like, oh he has over pair 100%, he should fold to my raise. Now as you can tell I can only do this against regs. yet I said i dont want to fuck with regs cause regs are bit retarded. so ill just nit it up again and make moneis.

on another note. I have no clue what i want from poker or my life. money is such shit. but even if i make 2k a month from poker what of it? im not a baller, nor do i want to be. i guess there is a lot of personal shit going on in my life that im not going to share that makes me question everything. especially money. obv its important to make enough to get by. but what should i strive for? 100k in the bank? 1mil? why?

impress the ladies? nope, don't want those type of shallow bitches. must be my stupid ass middle class up brining that i don't know shit and don't respect how good i have it. the strugle of those at the top tends to only lead to misery.

maybe i need new friends. all my friends want to do is get drunk. the ones that don't tend to be boring. going to be at 1030 is too fucking nitty. dont care if you have to get up at 630 am. its 1030pm. u don't go to bed. then i get those philosphy type friends always want to talk about shit, but don't do shit. they tend to be the upper middle class type.

wow, this rant is getting out of hand. so what's the point? don't know. set a goal and keep it? only goal i ever wanted but never achieed is six pack. though being a 2ptbb winner at 100nl is sexy too. never though i could achive it and maybe i can't but seems like its possible. but ill take six pack. what's retarded about both those gaols, besides the vanity shit, is that they are easily attainable. its not like i don't know how to get there.

eat less, work out more.
think more, play smart.

im so full of bs it is suffacating. im like a 15 year old drama queen/ attention whore. pretty sad.

i do fucking enjoy palying the pokers though. i enjoyed it at 2nl and i enjoy at 25nl and 50nl. its fun challanging and tells you alot about yourself. though it isn't all there is. but its all shit.

im also doing something i never thought i would do ill be volunteering, which is a type of failure for me, but feels more like growth, but still pretty pathetic that i want that just to feel good.

goodnight.

/rant

!luck

Playing poker. Last night over a tiny sample I "felt" like i was constantly getting played back at. But I continued to fold fold fold. Last night could have been -5 BI, but to expert folding became a lot less than that. I prob could fold more.

But sometimes reg tags do things that make no sense. Like I raise UTG TT flop comes 953r I cbet and get raised. I'm like wtf is he rasing here. He doesn't have 87s like ever so that leave sets which is retarded or maybe KQs JQs type hands. i don't know. Whenever something doesnt make sense I tend to fold. But this hand I really wanted to stack of on the flop.

Interesting rant. Sounds like you've got a lot of stuff to figure out. I know for me, poker is simply a means to an end. That end being able to do whatever I feel like including paying off college loans faster than I could if I didn't play. Working out is great in and of itself because it helps you have a stable part of the day where you know you need to do something and lets you forget a lot of other worries in life. Pairs up pretty perfectly with the variance heavy poker playing life style.

If your friends only want to get drunk then who fucking cares. If you don't feel like going out then don't. It's that easy. I'm in my senior year of college when society says "I should be getting wasted every day and banging like 30 chicks a week" but instead I've been to one party this term which although it was fun probably got me sick. Seriously, fuck peer pressure and do you.

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Originally Posted by !Luck

But sometimes reg tags do things that make no sense. Like I raise UTG TT flop comes 953r I cbet and get raised. I'm like wtf is he rasing here. He doesn't have 87s like ever so that leave sets which is retarded or maybe KQs JQs type hands. i don't know. Whenever something doesnt make sense I tend to fold. But this hand I really wanted to stack of on the flop.

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Make sure you table select well enough. There should be enough fish at $50NL to make regs generally just an inconvenience.

Thanks Jason. I start tables and make sure there is at least one fish even at 50 I haven't felt like I'm getting owned by the regs so if there at least one good fish I'm staying. I feel someone is 3 betting me a lot and it's only one fish I just leave.

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Originally Posted by !Luck

I need a place to ramble. No sooner do i find the inner nit and make tons of money, do i descover the agro monkey.

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I enjoyed this whole post - more on why later.

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Originally Posted by !Luck

i do fucking enjoy palying the pokers though. i enjoyed it at 2nl and i enjoy at 25nl and 50nl. its fun challanging and tells you alot about yourself. though it isn't all there is.

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I find that poker has taught me more than most anything else I do as a college professor, more than earning promotions, tenure, big grant contracts, teaching awards. Hell, learning not to tilt helps me be a better dad, since having 3 kids is a naturally life-tilting existence.

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Originally Posted by !Luck

but its all shit.

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The thing I like best about the rant is that you love playing poker and that you learn more than just game theory from it, you learn things about yourself and about life.

I'll give an example. I've some $$ in a retirement account, and I decided that I wanted to tackle trading individual stocks instead of just mutual funds. Poker has taught me so much about what's important about the stock market, including not tilting when a stock I bought dives 8%. Because of poker, I decided to just educate myself, read blogs and books, and then dive in with a small amount of my total retirement "bankroll" to learn the stock-picking game. Poker taught me to track every penny of my results, and to be brutally honest with every self-assessment. (Brag: I'm beating the DOW/S&P by $400 past six months. Beat: the 4 stocks I currently own appear to all be sorrier than a broke dick dog.)

You get out of poker what you put into it. If you try to learn big life lessons from playing poker to win, you can. The coolest of all the cool things in the world, though, is loving to play the game enough to learn a bit.

Sorry for the long-winded reply. Your rant actually inspired me. The single best reason these days I should play poker is simply "for the love of the game." The rest of the good things about poker all flow from that.

GLGLGLGL!!!

Rant more. It's a beautiful thing. Good posts/replies. I can easily relate to a lot of the original rant. Fuck a lot of those things man. I want money too but I never want to be a "balla". Like DC, it's a means to an end.

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on another note. I have no clue what i want from poker or my life.

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If you can find a hobby that's physical, like mountain biking or dirt bikes (motorcycles) that you enjoy obv it's a great way to spend your time. There are tons of sports that are worthy. Tennis and Ultimate Frisbee are other sports that I love. Sport is also a good way to meet cool people.

Other than sports, the thing I enjoy most is getting out in nature. Hiking and camping (tents/sleeping bags/food/water, no alcohol) is sooo much fun. Nature is awesome. You may not live in an area where it's easy to get away from the fake world. If so, consider it a vacation and plan for it.

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maybe i need new friends.

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Maybe so. If you're hung-over, it's tough to get out and be productive or have fun. Obv, you need to drink in moderation. I was lucky to have a best friend that was a philosopher as well as a doer.

/advice

gg

gg :(

Considering playing some 2/5 at a local Casino, if I do, wish me luck.

Thanks,

!luck

Decided against playing 2/5 I don't have a big enough bankroll or the will to do it. Last week I played live 2x once won 400 other time lost 470. In any case, I wont consider 2/5 nl until I win 20 BI live.

-375 Boo live.

Roll is back grinding will ensue shortly.

Go away from poker for a few weeks and now back again. have been a bit tilty, don't know if it is the software. So far player base at 25nl carbon is pretty easy, i just need to get into the grove. Playing at 80% or less of my decent game. One player has given me problems but instead of moving away, which is why i used to do I tried to mess with him and he owned me. granted it was lol sample size and im pretty retarded when i play. I def. will get better.

Good thing for rakeback. I have to remember once again that this is a long run. And take it slow. If it takes me until august to get to 50nl that's fine too. I just have to be mentally okay with that fact. If I am then I will have success and be fine. Plus carbon poker software tilts me I called 3 bet 2x now when I didn't realize it was a 3 bet. But those issues will go away eventually.

Lastly, LOVE THE RAKEback it helps me be in + over the 2.7k I have played so far.

I am back!

-!luck

WTF is wrong with me. Tilted for the first time in like forever.

BR:400ish. Playing 25nl. Only goal right is to play 40k Before July 10th. I will try hard to not look at cashier. I went away from this after a few months, but given my recent issues I need to redouble that effort which worked very well in the past.

Wish me luck.

GL! If you're having any issues with the new software, maybe you should drop to 10NL until you're comfortable with it.

I think the software tilts me. Or it could be that my life tilts me. In any case, I need to start to consider dropping down. I wish I can blame DOJ. But as a true poker player I should be able o adjust to anything. I am not adjusting.

Though I have some issues my strength has always been bankroll management. I am forced to move down BR: 253.

Im just not used to certain things.... I shall prevail.......

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Originally Posted by !Luck

Well, i feel better. But I have been Getting home around 920 pm. Cause of work, I really don't mind and I know this is not typical. But still I'm surprised how I'm not angry at this. But due to glum feelings longer hours I haven't had the motivation to play. Now I see motivation because I still have 2-3 hours free a night where I could play. I plan on getting out at decent hour today and playing in a weekly live game.

I struggle with purpose as in not sure I know what I want. I realize that an MBA is likely vital for me and yet feel like it is waste. I have no career goals or thoughts I follow the money and try to find jobs I don't hate. After not working for so long I enjoy bing productive, I fear that it just like many if not all things is just hollow.

Despite the tone of this post I'm quite happy and comfortable. I just have this slight dread that I have lucked boxed my way through everything in life.

I guess I'll continue to enjoy the ride. If I play live will post update.


!luck

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wow this shit is cray

to expand i can't believe i thought an MBA was vital. I guess i should give younger people a pass who desire an MBA. But those things are basically worthless in 98% of cases.