My project: Baby steps at the Micro stakes

[Gobbatino]

Hello all,

I'm a relatively new poster to FTR, though I've been reading your forums and articles and watching your videos for a good while now. First a bit of background for those interested. My name is Pietro, I started playing poker less than a year ago. In a couple months I read about 10 poker books, read hundreds of articles online and watched tons of videos - I can be very obsessive when I get into something. I started out playing 5$ SNGs for a while, built up my bankroll a bit. Then I tried some MTTs, cashed well while I ran well and turned 200$ into 2,500$. Still with good bankroll management, I kept playing MTTs but failed to cash again for the next few months. So I decided to give cash games a shot. I played 5$NL for a few thousand hands on Full Tilt and quite liked it. At that point I decided to really focus on cash games and grind the grind. So I transferred 200$ into a new site at Ultimate Bet, signed up for rakeback and thus this project began.

Very soon I'll be out of a job and taking a 6 month break before I move on to something else. I started two weeks ago and I plan on spending as much time as possible getting in good volume to get a good bit experience, especially once I'm out of a job. Just to be clear, those six months without a job would be happening anyways, to clear my head of this damned office job. I'm not relying on poker sustaining my living expenses or anything like that.

Now, I know I'm not very good. But I know I can get better. I have very little experience with cash games, around 20k hands total. I think I have potential.

For now, my goal is simple. I need to get better. Right now I'm not even thinking of 25$NL. I know the fundamentals, but applying them seems to be the issue. I need to consistently win at 10$NL. This swingy shit needs to stop.

What I'm working on now/short term goals:
*More aggressions pre-flop, bring PFR% a LOT closer to VP$IP.
*Be more positionally aware. Use the button and cuttoff - really need to open up here. Bring ATT% up quite a bit. Stop playing shit out of position. No more completing small blinds with marginal hands.
*Calling big river bets with good hands when I know I'm beat. This is the single most stupid shit I do, and it is beyond me how I am still doing it.
*Tilt. I need to control this far more. It's happened several times already. AA gets cracked, I tilt and lose two more big pots within 20 minutes. I need to either take a break when it happens if necessary, or get that shit under control.
*Ranges, ranges, ranges. I need work better at putting players on a range and adjusting on each street.
*Post hands where I doubt my play. Keep updating this thread, as it will help my discipline.

Long term goals:
*Bankroll up to 600$
*Moving up to 25$NL

Starting BR: 200$
Current BR: 210$

Last but not least, I want to thank everyone here for their input. I've already posted my first 10k (I'll link the thread in a bit) and got my first "lol wtf" - which I well anticipated and yes, even cherish - along with some feedback. Already since then I feel a good change in my play. The good thing is from here I can only get better. Yes, I am optimistic, but what the hell.

Thank you for reading, thank you for your help and criticism. I need it.

-Pietro

[Gobbatino]

10k Hand Review:

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...ew-t85543.html

[Keith]

good luck with your OP and don't loosen your button up as much as me.

[TonyB73]

Good luck!

Oh, and raise more pre-flop ...

[Gobbatino]

Well I've had a couple of tough days, poker wise. It's kind of discouraging to run into such a bad streak after changing my play up after my 10k hand post. I do think I was playing well (better), but it just seemed like every villain made his draw no matter how hard I bet, my made hands got no value and my draws never hit (or did after I folded due to bad odds). So all in all, a bit frustrating. I have some hands to post up later. In the last 2k hands I've been running around 18/15 which is a lot better than the 21/8 I was running during my first 10k hands. I shut down a lot from the blinds and opened up from the button (27 VP$IP) and cutoff (21VP$IP), being a lot more aggressive pre-flop and it definitely makes post flop play a lot more... natural. My ATS% shot up to 28% which is better as well.

Anyways, I hope I can dig myself out of this downswing before having to go down to 5NL.

Things I will be doing/focusing on the next couple of sessions:
*Picking the right time/villain to c-bet - not blindly c-betting any flop I miss
*Cutting down to 2 tables at a time

Also, is there any way to include fold to c-bet and c-bet % stats with PT3 (edit: never mind, found it!)? It seems a lot of you use HEM as opposed to PT, is it better?

[Gobbatino]

Ok, adding one I thought I already was good at, but I now realize was/is one of my biggest problems. PATIENCE. It's called a grind for a reason.

I put in a short session yesterday, and I feel I played awesome. I ended at 7BB/100 and would have been 15BB/100 except for one terribad call. But anyways, it got me feeling confident in my game again and started climbing my way out of the massive hole I dug myself into the last few days. Slowly but surely.

MUST POST HANDS.

[Luco]

Good luck gobbatino, I'll be watching your OP.

[Gobbatino]

I've been meaning to post some hands for review and UltimateBet is down for maintenance, so it's the perfect time to do this. Here we go.

1. No reads on CO, UTG had been limp raising a lot, hence my cold call pre flop. Flop, reckless shove or cooler? When I was reviewing my HH I realized that most hands that are calling me here have me crushed. Hands I'd be pushing out would be AK, AJ (AJ not likely due to pre flop action) and I'm a favorite over them. Hands that could call but I have beat maybe JJ, KK, AT, JKs (AT, JK also not likely). Any Q, TT are definitely calling and they have me crushed. And they did! :P But then again, I can't fold that on the flop, and CO would probably push, so I doubt it would have changed the outcome much anyways. Thoughts?

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($4.05)
Hero (SB) ($27.09)
BB ($8.62)
UTG ($5.56)
MP ($27.96)
CO ($18.85)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A, A
UTG calls $0.10, 1 fold, CO bets $0.45, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.40, 1 fold, UTG raises to $1.90, CO calls $1.45, Hero raises to $5.50, UTG calls $3.66 (All-In), CO calls $3.66, Hero calls $0.06

Flop: ($16.78) 10, Q, Q (3 players, 1 all-in)
Hero raises to $21.53 (All-In), CO calls $13.29 (All-In)

Turn: ($43.36) K (3 players, 3 all-in)

River: ($43.36) 8 (3 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: $43.36 | Rake: $2.16

Results in white below:
Hero had A, A (two pair, Aces and Queens).
UTG had 8, J (two pair, Queens and eights).
CO had 10, 10 (full house, tens over Queens).
Outcome: CO won $41.20

2. Bad play much? Villain is 40/9 with AF of 4.8 over 170 hands. He could have just been double barreling here with an Ax but am I correct in assuming a reraise on the flop would have been better? I think his minraise preflop threw me off a bit and I was afraid he had AK, AA or some really strong holding. Not sure about this one at all.

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($8.37)
SB ($10.20)
BB ($15.50)
UTG ($28.57)
MP ($19.91)
Hero (CO) ($8.85)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A, 10
2 folds, Hero bets $0.40, 2 folds, BB raises to $0.80, Hero calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.65) Q, 9, A (2 players)
BB bets $1.65, Hero calls $1.65

Turn: ($4.95) 4 (2 players)
BB bets $4.95, Hero folds

Total pot: $4.95 | Rake: $0.24

Results in white below:
BB didn't show
Outcome:

3. My train of thought as I look back at this hand is, if I thought my pocket 8s were good on the flop after all the checks, why not raise the turn. Then again, I suppose someone with a AT, KT sort of hand might have wanted to c/r the flop, maybe that's what I was scared of. Good/bad play?

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($22.38)
SB ($24.27)
Hero (BB) ($8.01)
UTG ($2.38)
MP ($12.35)
CO ($4.66)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8, 8
3 folds, Button bets $0.30, SB raises to $1.40, Hero calls $1.30, Button calls $1.10

Flop: ($4.20) 10, J, 10 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, Button checks

Turn: ($4.20) 6 (3 players)
SB bets $2, Hero calls $2, 1 fold

River: ($8.20) 9 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $8.20 | Rake: $0.41

Results in white below:
SB had 9, 7 (two pair, tens and nines).
Hero mucked 8, 8 (two pair, tens and eights).
Outcome: SB won $7.79

Anyways, thanks guise. Gotta start marking hands for review because I can't find a bunch I meant to post for your thoughts.

[xpaand]

Hand 1) That was a pretty heavy shove without a read on how they reacted to the flop. OOP I would've checked to see what CO would do. Then on the turn, the K lands and now you're looking to get out pretty easily as many hands beat you.

Hand 2) You didn't play this horribly. He showed a lot of strength as he doesn't seem to raise PF a lot according to his stats, although his AF says he does bluff. I guess it would depend on whether you had any read on him or not. To be safe, that is a clear fold.

Hand 3) This one I'm not too sure. I would've done the same except I would've folded on the turn. That flop is not definitely 88 friendly.

(I would go more in-depth, but I'm at work and I don't have time)

Welcome and good luck dude. I'll be following your OP.

[Gobbatino]

Another 500ish hand session today, I finished at 8BB/100 and that's including 3 sets vs my overpair/TPTK. I need to learn how to stop paying these off. HALP.

1. How to get away from this, plx.

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($4.91)
SB ($4.59)
BB ($17.34)
Hero (UTG) ($13.60)
MP ($6.70)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, K
Hero bets $0.40, 1 fold, Button calls $0.40, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.95) 4, 7, K (2 players)
Hero bets $0.80, Button raises to $4.51 (All-In), Hero calls $3.71

Turn: ($9.97) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($9.97) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $9.97 | Rake: $0.49

Results in white below:
Button had 4, 4 (three of a kind, fours).
Hero had A, K (one pair, Kings).
Outcome: Button won $9.48

2. Similar to hand #1. In retrospect I should've called the flop raise and then reevaluated on the turn, but I guess the drawy board scared me (and him, I assume). These two hands happened within 3 minutes of each other, too!

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($9.66)
SB ($16.17)
BB ($19.26)
UTG ($17.74)
Hero (MP) ($9.15)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q, A
1 fold, Hero bets $0.40, Button calls $0.40, SB calls $0.35, BB raises to $1.20, Hero calls $0.80, 1 fold, SB calls $0.80

Flop: ($4) 8, 7, Q (3 players)
SB bets $3.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $7.95 (All-In), SB calls $4.45

Turn: ($19.90) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($19.90) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $19.90 | Rake: $0.99

Results in white below:
SB had 8, 8 (three of a kind, eights).
Hero had Q, A (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: SB won $18.91

3. Turn call was stupid. I felt I was beat. At least I didn't pay him off on the river, which I probably would have done a couple days ago.

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($3.94)
SB ($5.71)
BB ($15.87)
Hero (UTG) ($16.19)
MP ($11.04)
CO ($7.13)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q, Q
Hero bets $0.40, 3 folds, SB calls $0.35, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.90) 6, 4, 7 (2 players)
SB bets $0.10, Hero raises to $0.70, SB calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.30) 8 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2.10, SB raises to $4.20, Hero calls $2.10

River: ($10.70) A (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $10.70 | Rake: $0.53

Results in white below:
SB had 8, 8 (three of a kind, eights).
Hero mucked Q, Q (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: SB won $10.17

Still, despite these pretty heavy losses I ended almost one buy-in up, so can't complain. Was running pretty hot, cards wise.

Bankroll: 204$ - back over where I started at least. woot.

Welcome and good luck dude. I'll be following your OP.

Good luck gobbatino, I'll be watching your OP.

Good luck!

good luck with your OP and don't loosen your button up as much as me.

Thanks for the encouragement and feedback. You guys are clearly teh win.

[Keith]

1. AA - hmmm instead of the 5.90 raise , I'd probably have shoved . we have the nuts at this stage there's a 1/2 buyin pot .
3. i'd fold pre. Without button coming along you don't have set odds.If he does come along , you are out of position in a 3bet pot which isn't nice place to be.


second set of hands. Some of these situations are goiing to be read dependant but stacking off with TPTK has cost me plenty at 10NL.
1.AK : when I saw it I thought looks like a set. Ax or Kx he'd possibly have raised Pre , he likes his hand unless he's been bluffing in the past. I'd probably fold this time.
2. SB limp calling twice seems to me to be small pocket pair.Then he likes the flop so he either hit his set or hes on the flush draw or straight draw i'd probably be swearing at him and folding

3. QQ I dont like the turn bet when the straight could have completed and when he check raised you with that straight possible theres no way I'd call. On the flop , i'd like to hear what better regs would say but I'm thinking maybe $1 would be better to make the draws pay to catch their card

[Gobbatino]

Meh. Being the obsessive fuck that I am, I spend a lot of my day at "work" reading poker articles, thinking about hands I played, reading over other's OPs and what not and it gets me all riled up to get home and play. I start playing, all's good, small pots with small hands, I'm up about half a buy in. Then boom boom. KK vs AA all-in PF, couple hands later, AA vs a rivered set and down two and a half buy ins. I don't mean to whine, because I know shit like this happens in poker but damn, it feels like every time I'm in for a big win I'm on the wrong end of the deal. So, new all-time low on the bankroll now. SIGH. Anyways, this post has no point except getting me off the tables until I cool off.

[Gobbatino]

Wow I fucking suck at poker. Going down to 5NL. Bankroll down to 150$.

edit: Actually, there's no 5NL on UltimateBet, only 2NL. What should I do? Bankroll doesn't support 10NL anymore.

[Keith]

can you buy in for 5$ on the 2nl tables?

[Gobbatino]

Up to 4$.

On another note:

We are pleased to announce that we are raising your status. Congratulations on becoming a CONTENDER! You are a step closer to poker superstardom.

Ah, fantastic. Poker superstardom is just up ahead!

[Gobbatino]

These are the stats for my last 5k hands. Is something glaringly terrible here?




I thought it looked better, but I've been at such massive fail this week, and I know it's not only bad luck (though there has been some beats). Not posting my graph because the line going downwards would fall off the screen.

Any tips are appreciated, getting really discouraged. Maybe time to take a few days off. But I WANT to play. I WANT to get better and WIN. Ugh.

[Gobbatino]

I wake up, giving it another shot. Going on. Bad week, lets have a good weekend. FIRST TWO HANDS:

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($3.53)
SB ($12.50)
Hero (BB) ($10)
UTG ($6.25)
MP ($25.47)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9, 9
1 fold, MP calls $0.10, 1 fold, SB calls $0.05, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.30) 3, 2, 8 (3 players)
SB bets $0.30, Hero raises to $1, 1 fold, SB calls $0.70

Turn: ($2.30) 4 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.10, SB calls $1.10

River: ($4.50) 6 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $4.50 | Rake: $0.22

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) ($9.85)
SB ($24.29)
BB ($5.85)
UTG ($3.60)
MP ($19.49)
CO ($8)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Q, Q
2 folds, CO checks, Hero bets $0.50, SB raises to $2, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($4.10) 10, 7, 9 (2 players)
SB bets $4.25, Hero calls $4.25

Turn: ($12.60) 7 (2 players)
SB bets $12.75, Hero calls $3.60 (All-In)

River: ($19.80) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $19.80 | Rake: $0.99

Both rivered 4 card straights. QQ < JJ, 99 < 57o.

/wrist

Anyways, sick of whining, so I'll post again when I'm doing better.

[Keith]

99 - why didn't you raise it up Pre:
- WTF is he calling your flop raise for
- I'd have bet $2 to make flush draws pay to get there.
- river - hmmm - I think i'd have checked too , but would a bet have taken the pot , but if he'd been on the flush draw he'd have called.

[Gobbatino]

Thanks Keith. No idea why I didn't raise that 99. I think I was just starting up the tables and sort of manually checked, it was literally my first hand. Any thoughts on the stats two posts up?

[Keith]

As far as I can see they look fine, maybe a bit on the nitty side but theyre whaqt I'm aiming for in my next 5k hands or so to try and overcome my looseness. Try downloading holdem luck as it will give you an idea of how well you got your money in ,its designed for poker tracker 3 as author got fed up waiting for it in PT3.
http://rapidshare.com/files/20771817...Luck-v0.14.zip

[Gobbatino]

I think I'm playing a lot better than before. I had about 3 positive days, all three would have been much more positive if it weren't for "that one bad call". But at least they are positive. Today it all went to hell. Turned straight, guy catches full house on the river. Overpair, vs TPTK, guy catches two pair on river. Repeat that twice more. KK vs J9 on a A2J flop, for all I'm worth I can't put the guy on an ace and hey, I was right! But he shoves his 30BB stack over my c-bet and catches his third J on the river. My TPTK vs some calling station's worse TP and he rivers two pair. Aaaaaand I'm down the two buy ins I made in the last three days plus one more for shits and giggles. Every time I have a hand, the guy with AF 9 who has been betting his second pair to the river suddenly wakes up with trips, two pair, etc. It's fucking frustrating as hell.

Anyways. If anyone bothers to read this, feel free to disregard, I just need to vent.

I just pokerstoved all my big losses today. The worst one I went in with 54% equity, after that they were all 70%+. WTF.

[Robb]

Hey, tino, no worries with the venting. We've all been there and know how it feels. And it's all right to vent about it, especially if it helps keep you from tilting at the tables.

GLGLGL, I'll be watching the op.

[Gobbatino]

Cash games make me tilt. This from today's session:

1. I was quite sure he was on a draw, hence my aggressive betting. Should I have slowed down on the turn?

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($8.57)
SB ($10.89)
BB ($3.70)
UTG ($28.28)
MP ($17.01)
Hero (CO) ($15.17)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q, Q
UTG calls $0.10, MP calls $0.10, Hero bets $0.60, 3 folds, UTG calls $0.50, MP calls $0.50

Flop: ($1.95) J, 3, 5 (3 players)
UTG checks, MP checks, Hero bets $1.50, UTG calls $1.50, 1 fold

Turn: ($4.95) 7 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $4.40, UTG calls $4.40

River: ($13.75) 8 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $13.75 | Rake: $0.68

Results in white below:
UTG had 5, K (flush, King high).
Hero mucked Q, Q (one pair, Queens).
Outcome: UTG won $13.07

2. Just... fail.

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($15.70)
SB ($9.74)
Hero (BB) ($19.69)
UTG ($9)
MP ($3.85)
CO ($4.54)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, A
1 fold, MP calls $0.10, 3 folds, Hero bets $0.50, MP calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.05) 3, 9, A (2 players)
Hero bets $0.70, MP calls $0.70

Turn: ($2.45) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.80, MP raises to $2.65 (All-In), Hero calls $0.85

River: ($7.75) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $7.75 | Rake: $0.38

Results in white below:
Hero had Q, A (one pair, Aces).
MP had A, 2 (straight, five high).
Outcome: MP won $7.37

3. Moar fail.

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($12.29)
Hero (SB) ($11.58)
BB ($4.09)
UTG ($16.74)
MP ($4)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, Q
1 fold, MP checks, 1 fold, Hero bets $0.50, BB calls $0.40, 1 fold

Flop: ($1) 8, J, 10 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.90, BB calls $0.90

Turn: ($2.80) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $2.90, BB calls $2.69 (All-In)

River: ($8.18) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $8.18 | Rake: $0.41

Results in white below:
Hero had Q, Q (straight, Queen high).
BB had K, A (flush, Ace high).
Outcome: BB won $7.87

4. 3rd time this week.

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($11.24)
SB ($7.58)
BB ($18.68)
UTG ($4.39)
MP ($4.41)
Hero (CO) ($12.73)

Preflop: Hero is CO with K, K
2 folds, Hero bets $0.40, Button raises to $3, 2 folds, Hero raises to $12.20, Button calls $8.24 (All-In)

Flop: ($22.63) Q, 9, 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($22.63) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($22.63) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $22.63 | Rake: $1.13

Results in white below:
Button had A, A (two pair, Aces and eights).
Hero had K, K (two pair, Kings and eights).
Outcome: Button won $21.50

4. Not too bothered about having called the turn because this guy was an aggro donk, reraising middle pair and shit like that. My aces suck in general.

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($5.36)
SB ($3.80)
BB ($5.42)
UTG ($3.72)
Hero (MP) ($8.85)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A, A
UTG calls $0.10, Hero bets $0.50, 3 folds, UTG calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.15) 7, 2, 6 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.90, UTG calls $0.90

Turn: ($2.95) Q (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $2, UTG raises to $2.32 (All-In), Hero calls $0.32

River: ($7.59) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $7.59 | Rake: $0.37

Results in white below:
UTG had 9, K (flush, King high).
Hero had A, A (two pair, Aces and Queens).
Outcome: UTG won $7.22

I ended the session at break even, so I'm not too dissappointed considering the above hands.

But anyways, going slightly off topic, since this OP is about cash games buuuuuuuut last night and this afternoon I took a break off of the tables and went to play some SnGs and tournaments and ran pretty hawt. At least it got my confidence up from my fail at cash games.
1/45 5$ SNG for 85$
7/687 2$ tourney for 46$
4/268 3$ rebuy for 214$

woot!

[Robb]

Tino, just keep grinding, my friend. Work on your game, and keep grinding. The results at the micros will follow.

[Gobbatino]

Thanks Robb. I will grind the grind no matter what.

I've gotten a lot better at extracting value out of small/medium pots, I think, and it helped sooooooo much in the last 5k hands or so. I've also been getting better at putting ranges on opponents and narrowing down on each street. It's so awesome when you value bet the river, he calls, and you know you bet just enough to be called by his range. This must be second nature to all you more experienced people but when I get it right I feel like doing a victory dance.

I put in a few more hundred hands after my post and ended up two buy-ins up for today.

[Robb]

It's so awesome when you value bet the river, he calls, and you know you bet just enough to be called by his range. This must be second nature to all you more experienced people but when I get it right I feel like doing a victory dance.

I put in a few more hundred hands after my post and ended up two buy-ins up for today.

In some ways, it gets easier higher up 'cuz there are more TAGG-regs with narrower ranges. And since I played ABC TAGG pokerz for a year-and-a-half, I know what the basic ranges are for most situations. But there will always be tricky spots where you have to put on the problem-solver hat and nailing those with just the right action always feels good, whether it's for $1 or a hundred.

[Gobbatino]

Oh em gee, I think I just had my very first heater. Man I ran like a god, 3.5 buy ins in 600 hands, 30 ptBB/100! The aces and kings held, the sets hit left and right and I actually got paid off by just about everything. Sweet!

That's +45$ this weekend from cash games.

Teh bankrollz I put on UltimateBet is at 368$, although this includes winnings from some tournaments and a bit of bonus. I also have about 80$ worth of rakeback coming soon, so my bankroll makes me want to touch myself a little bit.

Winning is ftw.

[Gobbatino]

Crappy session today. Started off decent then ran into a better set and lost a buy in, couple minutes later AI on a flop with 53% equity with an overpair and flush draw vs two pair but his two pair held up. Another buy in and a half. Then between being slightly tilty, being card dead and hitting fuck all I blew off another half buy in to finish the night at minus three buy ins. Gots to love the swings.

I did review my session and I only spotted a couple mistakes and none of them were huge, though. So I'll write this one off to variance.

On another note, I signed up to the micro version of GrinderSchool for a month and I'm watching videos and reading articles for at least one or two hours a day until the month is over. Hope it helps.

[Robb]

Crappy session today. Started off decent then ran into a better set and lost a buy in, couple minutes later AI on a flop with 53% equity with an overpair and flush draw vs two pair but his two pair held up. Another buy in and a half. Then between being slightly tilty, being card dead and hitting fuck all I blew off another half buy in to finish the night at minus three buy ins. Gots to love the swings.

I did review my session and I only spotted a couple mistakes and none of them were huge, though. So I'll write this one off to variance.

On another note, I signed up to the micro version of GrinderSchool for a month and I'm watching videos and reading articles for at least one or two hours a day until the month is over. Hope it helps.

I've signed up at GS a couple of times for various trials. I think Spenda's micro-vids are amazing, and if I were you I would watch all the one's he's made at or near your stakes.

[Gobbatino]

I'm getting really close to calling this thing off. Every session goes the same. I grind slowly, up a buy in or two, then kings go up vs trips or two pair or some such shit and I'm back to where I started. Rinse, repeat. (I'm actually down almost six buy ins with kings alone) I'm making no progress on the bankroll at all, it's just breaking even including rakeback. I've lost confidence, on one hand I fold the overpair facing agression and villain shows some random bluff or middle pair, the next time I decide to look him up he's got the nuts. I'm completely off my game.

So I'm taking a break from cash games, going back to tourneys and SnGs where I actually showed a profit. I'll get back to cash games at some point when I've cooled off, I guess. It sucks because I quite enjoy it, but it's just not working atm. I hope to update here again when I'm back and if I'm doing well. Otherwise thanks for those who showed some interest in the OP and gave some feedback either here or on the BC.

God it fucking sucks to feel like a whiny quitter. But I'll be back, I hope. They do say taking breaks is necessary now and then.

[Robb]

Over how many hands have you been break-even? And never feel bad playing the pokerz that make you the most money. Once you build some roll, there's always time to learn new games and formats. I even have this crazy idea that some day I'll learn to play SnG's and tourneys.

[Gobbatino]

Yeah my roll from MTTs and SnGs is still healthy, since I set aside a part of it for this OP and have still been winning in the meantime. And it's not like I've lost the money I set aside for cash games either, it's just frustrating not to see results, like, at all.

I broke even for the first 12k hands, then dropped about 8 buy-ins in the next 8k, then have been breaking even since then for the last 10k. When I see others who raped through 10NL in 30k hands it just makes me feel like I suck, and I guess I do atm.

I'm running a TAGGish 19/15 for the last 20k hands (the first 10k were 23/8 fishy shit). When I look back my biggest losers are usually overpairs, bottom/mid trips, straights, etc. And lately I just find myself making the wrong decisions everywhere because I'm scared of my made hands getting busted - which they usually do.

I think a break will be good. I'll just have to try to stay away from the tables until I feel better about my game. The problem is I still want to play. :P Or maybe that's a good thing. I'm not sure.

[Gobbatino]

So I'm back to playing after my 5 day break, I'm feeling alright about my game, I realize I was playing a weak tight game, which seems to be what I tilt into when I get a few bad beats.

Played two sessions since the break and one ended about half a buy in down after a sick all-in beat, would've been two buy ins up otherwise. I feel I'm taking the beats better, toughening me up, so to speak. Today I ended up almost 3 buy ins up. I also received the rakeback for last month which puts my bankroll aaaaaaaaaaattttttt:

*drumroll*
408$

So there is a little bit of progress, I'll just keep grinding away. I've also gotten in touch with DaD01ng, another poster from here who's got an OP and playing at my level as well; we'll be doing some sweat sessions sometime which I hope will help both of us. The last couple sessions I was mentally telling myself what I was doing and why, and I think it has had good results. I stop myself from making stupid mistakes and sort of make a plan for each hand.

Main issue right now is playing 3bet pots that I miss, but I'm working on it. I just have a hard time c-betting these, especially OOP. Typical situation is AK/AQ from the blinds after a LP raiser, I 3-bet and they call. Flop misses and then I just don't know what to do.

I'm reading stuff on GrinderSchool and watching their videos/lectures. I also ordered NLHE:T&P, which should have arrived yesterday hopefully I'll have it soon. I've heard "Poker Mindset" is really good, and considering I tilt so badly (it's subtle so sometimes I don't even know I'm doing it, but it fucks with my play) it might be a good read.

Ok, enough rambling for now.

[Gobbatino]

Down three buy-ins this session. The usual, was about one buy in up, then someone rivered a straight with his TP 2nd kicker vs my TPTK, no draws completed eeeeeeever, set over set (the only set in 1k hands) and QQ, KK busted to K4s, A7o type of hands and then there go the day's profits. OH FUCKING WELL. I'll play some more later, see if I can actually hold on to my winnings a bit more.

[PlayToWin]

QQ, KK busted to K4s, A7o type of hands and then there go the day's profits.

With these great preflop hands, are you raising enough preflop to make trash hands fold? Are you paying attention to betting/calling patterns to try to recognize when villian completes his flush? Remember that folding is often the best play. It can save you money. GL

[Gobbatino]

QQ, KK busted to K4s, A7o type of hands and then there go the day's profits.

With these great preflop hands, are you raising enough preflop to make trash hands fold? Are you paying attention to betting/calling patterns to try to recognize when villian completes his flush? Remember that folding is often the best play. It can save you money. GL

After watching some of spoon's lecture/videos I changed my pre-flop raises to 3x from BU/CO. Those two I mentioned were both either from cutoff or button with the blinds calling. His reasoning for raising 3x from late and 4x from early makes sense, but getting these hands busted to that shit sucks. Would they have folded to a 4x? Who knows.

On another note, I hit a nice cash on a 5$ tourney. My bankroll can no w support up to 10$ tourneys again, which is nice, but I'll stick to 5$/8$ and the 3$ rebuy for now. I keep getting massive beats, but at least I know I'm putting my chips in when I should. As soon as these beats stop I'll strike a big win.

[Gobbatino]

Quick update before this topic falls off the end of the page.

So I took a nice break, read and studied some and came back feeling a lot better. More than anything I realized how much I fucking tilt.

1. Like, at first I was all like, "I don't tilt, yo, I has teh self controlz."
2. Then I was like, "Hmm, maybe I tilt but I don't realize it. But nps, now that I realized it, it'll never happen again. I has teh self controlz, rait?"
3. After that it was like, "Hey I'm tilting right now, stop it and kill everyone on the table through your superior playing skills."
4. But then I was like, "Omg, I actually tilt like a 14 year old cheerleader losing her pom-poms every fucking time AK misses and my c-bet get check-bombed on the flop. It's like I try to make that money back in another hand and play far too aggressively, which of course results in more loss and more tilt. There must be a way to control this instant-tilt after every small loss!"
5. Then I realized tilt comes in very disguised forms, very subtle and very lethal to the game. I realized I have next to none self control and that the best thing to do is gtfo the tables immediately. Poker will always be there, there's no rush to make 25NL by the end of X period, there's no rush to anything. It will only take longer if I am not playing my A game and lose as a result.

Anyways, after a nice little heater after my break I ended the month slightly positive (about 5 buy-ins).

BR: ~450

[PlayToWin]

5. Then I realized tilt comes in very disguised forms, very subtle and very lethal to the game.

Yep, you're right. The first phase is cussing while playing, lol. Then, more subtlly, chasing draws without proper odds. Ironically, I've found that big downswings can desensitise you to tilt and help your game. It's just poker maturity. GL

[Gobbatino]

I've been thinking a lot about iopq's Impulse Control, Willpower, Ego and the article he based his OP on. It never really sunk in how important these things are, even after reading and re-reading that article, it took weeks of mulling it over for it to start to sink in. The funny part is the article actually says just that, and if it weren't for the sentence saying something around the lines of "in fact, most people that read this article won't do anything about it," I probably would have forgotten it in a day. But it kept nipping back at me and recently I've made some (not nearly enough) changes in day to day life to sort of prove to myself that I have the willpower to do so.

Anyways, I feel those changes reflected in my play style lately. I'm more humble, not letting my ego get the best of me. That was part of my tiltage. Mustering up the willpower to play mathematically correct poker (or as close as I can to it), and finally thinking of my decisions more clearly, taking my time and basing my decision on specific reasons = impulse control. Also been running well, so that helps, too.

Anyways, random blurb + BR update, I cashed in some Ultimate Points for 10$ and had another short but nice session yesterday.

BR: 515$

[Robb]

I've been thinking a lot about iopq's Impulse Control, Willpower, Ego and the article he based his OP on. It never really sunk in how important these things are, even after reading and re-reading that article, it took weeks of mulling it over for it to start to sink in. The funny part is the article actually says just that, and if it weren't for the sentence saying something around the lines of "in fact, most people that read this article won't do anything about it," I probably would have forgotten it in a day. But it kept nipping back at me and recently I've made some (not nearly enough) changes in day to day life to sort of prove to myself that I have the willpower to do so.

Anyways, I feel those changes reflected in my play style lately. I'm more humble, not letting my ego get the best of me. That was part of my tiltage. Mustering up the willpower to play mathematically correct poker (or as close as I can to it), and finally thinking of my decisions more clearly, taking my time and basing my decision on specific reasons = impulse control. Also been running well, so that helps, too.

Anyways, random blurb + BR update, I cashed in some Ultimate Points for 10$ and had another short but nice session yesterday.

BR: 515$

I like this post a lot. I think a lot of us go through that stage early on when we're just learning to win. Poker is a decision-making battle, and the guy who uses his brain most effectively wins most often. Emotions, fatigue, booze, anger at wife/girlfriend, distraction by TV - anything that impairs mental sharpness kills our poker decisions. Call it tilt or w/e, controlling it is the most important thing.

After developing the correct mindset at the table, the next step is developing a mindset away from the tables that can handle the grind, day in and day out, upswongs and downswongs, through move-ups, stop-losses and all the hard work studying. This is where Wonderland got hung up, I think, and I've seen tons of guys who were winning overall but quit poker or took huge layoffs. I find it sad, because they're some of the maybe 20% of FTR noobies that actually win something and move up, then they don't find the satisfaction with poker to stick with it long term. The other 80% would give anything to swap places and not be losing. So my advice is start developing a productive poker mindset away from the table, too.

Good luck, tino. See ya at 200nl some day.

[Gobbatino]

I like this post a lot.

Ditto. Your second paragraph his so true, I think that's a really necessary part of playing poker that you can't really read and know it, you have to figure it out yourself no matter how many times it's shoved in your face before.

Sexy sexy start to July, woot! I am hearby breaking my ship it cherry.

[Gobbatino]

Yesterday I had a long, kinda frustrating breakeven session for over 1.5k hands. It was good in that I didn't tilt and just kept playing my game. I felt I kept playing well and was simply not really getting paid off. Today I went on a 6 BI heater as soon as I sat down and kept winning right up until the end of the 900 hand session. So far, July is awesome. If I keep his up I might be taking shots at 25NL sometime in August, woot.

BR: 565$

[Keith]

sounds like we're both on a scorching July so far. my roll is 570 so we're neck and neck.

[Gobbatino]

sounds like we're both on a scorching July so far. my roll is 570 so we're neck and neck.

Yeah man, ship that 10+ BI heater, nh!

[Gobbatino]

I went back to the tables after my short session in the morning only to have a 1.5k hand session of swing swongy fail. Both times I had grinded my way back up I got all ins with AK vs AA which both cost me over a buy in and a half each. I still ended yesterday with +5.5 buy ins so I can't complain. Maybe I have to stop 4 bet shoving AKs.

I've gotten in very nice volume so far this month, at around 6.5k hands already, which is more than half of what I did in all of June. Of course it helps to be running good, too.

[Gobbatino]

I just had a lol revelation. So I was about to open up the tables and I had this nasty feeling. I didn't know what it was at the time but I stopped, rolled a joint and talked to my girlfriend for a bit. Halfway during the conversation it was all revealed to me. Unfortunately it also meant I spent ten minutes nodding and laughing along with my girlfriend before I realized I had no idea what she was talking about. That was -EV in terms of girlfriend sex expectation. Which brings me neatly to this post's point.

So it turns out that because I've been running hot for my last 7k hands or so, I've now built this sort of monetary expectation out every session. And that was my nasty feeling. But that's the worst possible thing to do before a session. The short term does not matter. If I'm playing good, keep playing good, and play with +EV moves, then cool - if I get coolered a couple times or sucked out on when I put it in with the best of it then so fucking be it. In the long term, you just made money. What's important is keeping a straight head through it all, and that includes not expecting a specific monetary goal out of a session because in poker, shit happens - take it or leave it.

[Gobbatino]

Frustrating week, I've been breaking even a lot.

I'm going off to Barcelona next week to visit family and chill on the beach for a while, doubt I'll be able to play much so I want to put in some good volume this weekend to make up for that.

BR: $585

[Keith]

you're pulling ahead ....or should i say that i'm falling behind. Dunno if you are finding ythis ....but I'm running into maniacs left right and centre the last couple of days.Easy to build a stack against them but also very easy to blow a stack against them.

[Gobbatino]

Short but sweet session tonight. I have to post some hands in here to make it a bit more interesting.

BR: 620$

running into maniacs left right and centre the last couple of days.Easy to build a stack against them but also very easy to blow a stack against them.

Yeah, that pretty much defines my breakeven sessions, if I keep their stack then ++ session, lose it to some chased flush or something and I'm breaking even.

[Gobbatino]

Some hands:

1. Villain is 27/19/3.3 - note on him says he is very aggressive with marginal hands, I'm not really sure how well I played this hand. Is the turn call spew?
Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (5 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop

Button ($23.35)
SB ($13.49)
Hero (BB) ($19.82)
UTG ($10.94)
MP ($1.93)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8, 8
3 folds, SB bets $0.40, Hero calls $0.30

Flop: ($0.80) J, K, 4 (2 players)
SB bets $0.50, Hero calls $0.50

Turn: ($1.80) 2 (2 players)
SB bets $1.20, Hero calls $1.20

River: ($4.20) 2 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

Total pot: $4.20 | Rake: $0.21

2. Villain is 11/9 - ubernit, I've been raising her blinds nearly every orbit, the times she has played she folded to a c-bet. The turn raise scared me with that flush on the board and the deciding factor in the end was how much I'd been pushing her around before. Thoughts?
Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (4 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop

Hero (Button) ($13.61)
SB ($6.41)
BB ($12.42)
UTG ($5.21)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K, K
2 folds, Hero bets $0.40, SB calls $0.30

Flop: ($0.80) 4, K, J (2 players)
Hero bets $0.50, SB calls $0.50

Turn: ($1.80) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $1, SB raises to $4.80, Hero raises to $9.60, SB calls $0.71 (All-In)

River: ($12.82) 7 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $12.82 | Rake: $0.64

[Gobbatino]

Woo, I just took 5/550ish 5$ tourney. Although this bankroll was meant to be only cash, since I played it on this site and was rolled for it anyways, I'm counting it as part of this roll. With this cash I'm at 800$ but I'll stay in 10NL until I hit at least 900$ or even 1000$. I need to know that I can win at 10NL consistently first and I don't feel I'm there yet.

[PlayToWin]

Woo, I just took 5/550ish 5$ tourney. Although this bankroll was meant to be only cash, since I played it on this site and was rolled for it anyways, I'm counting it as part of this roll. With this cash I'm at 800$ but I'll stay in 10NL until I hit at least 900$ or even 1000$. I need to know that I can win at 10NL consistently first and I don't feel I'm there yet.

Wow! Congrats. I'll be dropping back to 5NL but you will soar like the eagle!

[Gobbatino]

Omgz second page, must update. I went to Barcelona for a week and only played some tournaments, didn't win anything big. Since I had no HUD or PT set up there I didn't play any cash at all. Anyways, since my last update I had a couple nasty negative sessions so not much progress in terms of bankroll. I did reread NLHE:T&P during the vacation. Today I played a short session, around 1k hands and ended up almost 2 buy ins up.

BR: ~785$

[Gobbatino]

I haven't played much this week but just had an strong session. It was negative and I took a lot of beats and a couple coolers but I'm really happy with how I played. A month ago I would have tilted off several buy-ins. This time, instead of doing that, I kept my cool, and won some money back. The session was still about a buy in and a half negative but whatever. The money went in with me as the huge favorite in almost all the big losses, and that's what matters. I played my A game 99%, when I felt it wavering towards the end I finished my orbits and fucked off.



However, in the more long termish, I am a bit frustrated that I can't break out of this break even stretch. It's been almost 8k hands of pretty much break even since the second week of this month. Hopefully things will turn around to finish the month on a good note. Either way, even though I'm not running great (6ptBB/100), it's still my best month on cash tables by far. I just think I should be beating 10NL for a better rate but meh. As everyone says, gotta stop focusing on win rates and focus on my game.

BR: 795$

[Gobbatino]

Bah. I'm playing good but I keep getting coolered left and right. Between yesterday and today I've had FOUR KK < AA AI pre-flop. Of 14 pair of aces I've had this weekend, 8 have been folded to my pre-flop raise and SIX have gone up vs sets. KK likes to go up vs sets some too. I'm not stacking most of the time with these overpair vs set situations but I am usually losing at around 50BB each time and it adds up. I tilted off a stack just now with this hand and then stopped playing. Someone point and laugh at my terrible play please. Also, would I like some cheese with my whine? Yes plx.

edit: The Poker Mindset arrived on Friday, been waiting for it eagerly so going to read that this week. I try to get a book each month so I think the next one is going to be PNLHE and then the unofficial sequel SSNLHE (I think?). If anyone has any suggestions for really good books, throw them my way plx!

BR: 765$

Absolute/UB Cereus No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Absolute/UB Cereus Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Hero (Button) ($9.63)
SB ($9.90)
BB ($18.15)
UTG ($16.28)
MP ($15.53)
CO ($40.94)

Preflop: Hero is Button with 5, 6
2 folds, CO bets $0.35, Hero calls $0.35, SB calls $0.30, 1 fold

Flop: ($1.15) 6, 6, 2 (3 players)
SB checks, CO bets $1.15, Hero calls $1.15, SB calls $1.15

Turn: ($4.60) 10 (3 players)
SB checks, CO checks, Hero bets $3.50, SB calls $3.50, 1 fold

River: ($11.60) A (2 players)
SB raises to $4.90 (All-In), Hero calls $4.63 (All-In)

Total pot: $20.86 | Rake: $1.04

Results in white below:
Hero mucked 5, 6 (three of a kind, sixes).
SB had 10, 10 (full house, tens over sixes).
Outcome: SB won $39.64

[Gobbatino]

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...ew-t87761.html

Feedback appreciated!

[Gobbatino]

Cross post from July graphs post on the BC:


Here's the 10NL garph for July. I had a pretty nice heater at the start of the month, then I went into weak/tight "protecting my winnings" mode for the long breakeven stretch. When I finally realized how bad I was playing I ran into negative variance but I think I played well through it and kept even. I'm pretty happy with my take on poker atm. I know I have huge amounts of leaks and obviously tons of areas to work on; I'm going to fix them and I'm going to get better. Being average is not acceptable.

+141$ 10NL
+36$ rakeback
+10$ bonus
+23$ 5PLO
+186$ tournaments

Total: 396$

BR: 880$

Some might wonder why I'm still playing 10NL with a bankroll that supports 25NL and the reason for that is that I'm still very new to cash games. Most of the increases in my BR have been through tournaments up until this month so I definitely haven't made enough through cash games to justify the move up. When (wtf, I'd actually typed "if" instead of when") I make another 10-15 buy ins at 10NL I'll consider moving up stakes.

[Gobbatino]

I found Titan Poker installed on my machine and didn't remember why I had it. Ages ago I signed up to it through pokerstrategy and got those free 50$ - played a few SnGs and grinded up to 67 euros (currency is in euros for some reason), so I figured I might as well put them to good use. I'm going to try to get the points I need to take the money out and stick it on my UB bankroll. So I started playing with 67 euros at 20NL, went on a sick heater and am now at 123 euros in a couple hours.

So since I didn't go busto I'm going to play there until I get the 2k points I need to withdraw the money. It should go really fast, since I'm already at 212 out of the 2.5k I need with less than 1k hands played; I'll need about 7.5k hands total.

Zomg 7 days left on PT trial. I need to get HEM up and going. That also means I've been at teh cash games for three months.

[Gobbatino]

Well, Titan Poker project at 20NL is going well. The tables there are LOOSE and just juicy as hell. Like, worse than UB. Variance is a bit high due to some suckouts with the super loose play from like 50% of players but I'm still up around 5 buy ins over about 2k hands for 13ptbb/100 which is sexy. It's a pity I don't have rakeback there or I'd think about staying around. Also rake seems to be quite a bit higher at Titan than UB but I haven't looked into how it works.

I'm almost done with The Poker Mindset and man I am in love with that book. It has helped me more than I could ever have imagined. If anyone actually reads this blog, I seriously recommend it to anyone who thinks they have any problems with tilt or actually just anyone looking for a new poker book to read. It's really, really fantastic.

So including my Titan Poker BR, the BR got boosted artificially a bit since there was already 95$ on there that I wasn't counting before. I also moved some of my tournament winnings from UB to my FT account where I play most of my tournaments so my accounts now stand at:

Full Tilt: 292$
Ultimate Bet: 626$
Titan Poker: 215$

For a grand total of: 1133$

[Gobbatino]

I wonder what the odds are of having three made full houses on the flop or turn being beaten on turn or river within ~500 hands. Anyways, I nearly went busto (ok not really, but was down 6 buy ins at one point during the weekend) on my little operation on Titan Poker due to a lot of really bad run and some B-game mixed in which didn't help. I pulled back out of it and ended on a decent note. I feel I coped well with the losses though, which is what matters - and I felt I was playing my A game through a large majority of my sessions. If I tilted it was for literally a minute or two after the incident, then I cleared my head and moved on and then kicked some ass.

Like I said before the 20NL tables are way looser and maybe a bit more aggressive than 10NL I was playing before. But this is really terrible aggressiveness, like just blind aggressive, not selecting the right spots to do so. And that's really exploitable. But I guess exploiting these super aggro donks is high variance, which is what I'm going through.

Currently at 1630 points out of the 2484 I need to withdraw from Titan, so not long to go. I'm still not sure if when I go back to Ultimate Bet I should go to 25NL or back to 10NL. On one hand I feel 20NL on Titan Poker is something I can definitely beat and 25NL should be similar on UB, on the other hand, I haven't won enough buy ins at 10NL to justify the move up, strictly speaking. Thoughts on that would be good, if anyone still bothers with my half arsed attempt at a blog. :P

[Keith]

snap .....sorta .....managed 2 cracked full houses in 300 hands tonight.

[Gobbatino]

Well, project Titan is complete. It took 7.4k hands in the end and I ended at +115$ running at 8 bb/100. As you can see from the graph I trainwrecked at around 3.5k for about 600 hands where I ran really badly for a day (see post above). I'm actually ecstatic that I grinded back up to a decent profit after that bad run. After the 4k mark I didn't run particularly good, had a looooooot of rivered sets and two pair vs TPTK/2 pair kinda hands but I still did well overall. It shows that not only is my poker getting a little bit better, though still with lots of leaks to plug, but that my emotional and psychological state in regards to poker is much healthier. So yeah, good shizzle.



That puts my Titan balance at: 233$

I'm also down like 20$ from 5$PLO so my BR still around the 1100$ ish range. Still not sure if I'll be playing 25NL on Ultimate bet but my confidence is high after the good results from Titan so I probably will. This weekend I think I'll chillax playing some donkaments on FT.

[Gobbatino]

Having one of those terribad weeks where every overpair goes up against a set, every straight has a flush draw that rivers inevitably, every flush has a paired board, etc. I make hands, tons of them, it's just someone always has something better. Or they fold on the flop c-bet, one or the other. Nothing is paying off. It's pretty gay. Poker's not really "fun" atm, not making money either so I'm finding it hard to find a good reason to play. Instead I'm spending more time reviewing sessions and reading stuff. On my reviews I do find some mistakes where I could have played better but nothing huge.

Down about 6 buy-ins this week thus far. We'll see how it goes.

[Keith]

Having one of those terribad weeks where every overpair goes up against a set, every straight has a flush draw that rivers inevitably, every flush has a paired board, etc. I make hands, tons of them, it's just someone always has something better. Or they fold on the flop c-bet, one or the other. Nothing is paying off. It's pretty gay. Poker's not really "fun" atm, not making money either so I'm finding it hard to find a good reason to play. Instead I'm spending more time reviewing sessions and reading stuff. On my reviews I do find some mistakes where I could have played better but nothing huge.

Down about 6 buy-ins this week thus far. We'll see how it goes.

I know how you feel , just hope it doesnt keep on like it has for me .Hardly played because of work recently , but it doesn't really incentivise me to get back to it.

[Gobbatino]

1. Cutting down to 2 tables, will open a third once I have reads and if I like the tables and my position.
2. I've become too passive. Call less, fold more.
3. I need to tighten up (at least until I'm through the downswing).
4. I need to focus 100% on poker whilst playing; no watching shit, reading FTR, staring at session stats, etc.
5. I've gotten lazy with note taking. I need to write down every relevant read. Cereus' terribad note system doesn't help, was used to Titan's already; it's a lot better.
6. Be patient. It's called a grind for a reason. Second time I need to tell myself this.

I'm running bad and not playing my best. About 9 buy-ins down from my peak this month. It's nothing huge but the last couple days I feel it's starting to affect my play. Thankfully I was well rolled for 25NL so bankroll is still healthy.

Carry on!

Note to self: Every hand is the start of the rest of your poker "career" - play like it motherfucker.

[Gobbatino]

Fucked if I thought I was running bad before. 3 more sessions, all negative, about 4 buy-ins down in all-in EV, and that doesn't even count all the times I'm in on the river where some dickwad rivered the 1835th set with some ridiculous low pair after calling three streets vs my 2 pair/overpair/whatever. Everyone runs like fucking god vs me. Yeah, I'm whining, I know.

This is supposed to make me money in the long term, yah but fuck. BR is down to around 800$, so not much longer before the long term at 25NL is over. I'm taking a couple days break and then I'll give 25NL one more shot before moving back down. /sigh

[Robb]

2. I've become too passive. Call less, raise and - when you have to - fold more.

fyp

6. Be patient. It's called a grind for a reason. Second time I need to tell myself this.

Now's the time to listen. The life of a grinder is swongy. You'll just drive yourself NUTS if you worry too much about this. Just play through it.

Note to self: Every hand is the start of the rest of your poker "career" - play like it motherfucker.

:P

...all the times I'm in on the river where some dickwad rivered the 1835th set...

This made me lol

Just wanna say I wish things were going better for you. Keep fighting, working on your game, and playing your A game. Results will follow - eventually.

[Gobbatino]

Hi FTR!

I'm still alive, and I didn't quit poker. Yay! I'm somewhat suprised my OP is only on the second page, I actually started looking for it at page 6 or so. But anyways, I've played veeeery little poker in the last two months or so. I needed a break pretty badly but it sucks admitting it; eventually it dawned on me though. I tried coming back to poker a few times in the last couple months, all sessions dominated by a some fail and a lot of fail. I wasn't running good, that's for sure, and I wasn't in the right mindset to play anyways. There was a LOT of shit going on in real life and I really shouldn't have been playing anyways, not when I was what would probably be called clinically depressed if I had been diagnosed.

But life's good recently, I got a pretty kickass job with my company and they're moving me to Irvine in California early next year. I'm quite ready to move on from Paris, been here for three years and a half or so already.

Anyways, poker related news: I've had a couple of decent sessions so I figured I'd post and say hi and post a list of goals for the near future.

*Play a few sessions at week, at least.
*Don't burn myself out, take it easy, don't try to force it. Be patient.
*Get on IRC and chat it up with better players than myself, shouldn't be too hard to find.
*Go over PNLH again.
*Get back to posting hands and reading posts on the BC on a regular basis.

I'm still at 25NL at the moment, although my bankroll took a big hit during October since it peaked near the 1k mark. I'm still well rolled for 25NL though, and as someone around here said, a bankroll is nothing other than a tool and that tool happens to be good enough for 25NL.

BR: 815$

I have a question, if anyone happens to bump into this blog and read this. Since I'm moving to the US, should I be withdrawing my BR from the anti-US sites that I may have it on before or can I still withdraw when I'm there?

Now off to catch up on what all the regs around here have been up to on their OPs! See you guys on IRC.

[Micro2Macro]

What company do you work for? What do you do for a living?

Taking time off is nothing to be ashamed of esepcially if playing would be -EV for you given your mental state.

Not sure about your question regarding the anit-US site since I live in Canada and unfortunately I'm not up to date with foreign policy (
probably because I grind too much lol), but I'm sure one of the Americans here in the forums can anwser your question accurately.

Good luck sir, and definately drop by the IRC.

[Gobbatino]

I work for Blizzard Entertainment - WoW and all that. I started out here about 3 and a half years ago as a Game Master for the Spanish servers, then got a position as a trainer a few months after starting. The job was pretty shit after the novelty of working for Blizz wore off; was simply not a challenge at all and I felt like I was going nowhere. Finally just a few days ago I got a job I'm really looking forward to, which will be documenting the content of their games for internal use. Also, it's in their main HQ office in Irvine, which is basically a dream come true for a fanboi like me. I've wanted this job for years, big big +EV life move.

[Micro2Macro]

Wow man that is so cool. You have a job so many people would die for, and congrats on getting that dream position!

[Gobbatino]

Thanks dude.

Poker related stuff. I really feel like I'm playing great. I've been watching some DC videos of similar stakes I'm playing at and it's helping immensely. I'm so much more aggressive both pre and post flop. I went from playing a 19/14 to 24/22 and my aggression frequency is up by about 20%.

BUT (there's always one) I'm running like shit. Last session of 414 hands I ended at $-65 behind all-in EV, so nearly 3 buyins at $25NL. I also had a session vs a terrible aggro monkey who ended up butt raping me for about two buy ins after he rivered me a couple times for two pair vs my TPGK/TPTK - which was basically the nuts vs him. Anyways, the losses really aren't bothering me much since I'm almost break even even though I'm running way way behind expected. In total for the month I'm about 5 buy-ins behind. But whatever.

I would really like to put in more hands but with the move to the US happening in less than half a month, I have my hands full most of the time.

I'm also thinking of playing some full ring once in a while to vary the game style, but we'll see about that.

Anyways, that's all for now. Good luck!

[Gobbatino]

Run bad continues. Specifically:

The only solution to my problem is to stop losing with sets to overpairs, to stop running KK into AA pre, to stop constantly losing to people's 2 outs when I get AI pre w AA, to stop getting flushed out, to stop getting set-over-setted and flush-over-flushed vs donks who play top pair like it's the nuts...

Add to that soooo many turned/rivered two pair/sets, etc etc. I'm not claiming to be anywhere near Geni's level ofc, nor that this is the only problem that I have but it's pretty sick. I'm $250 behind in AI EV over around 2k hands, which is fucking sick considering just that was 1/3 of my BR. I won 1/10 AIs today, and I was a favorite in 6/10 and not much of a dog in the others. Oh and that one AI was vs a 30BB donk. And also that doesn't include every time I'm being sucked out on without going AI.

/whine

My bankroll is still enough for 25NL but if this continues much longer... down to 10NL for moi. Really sucks because I'm playing well. Just coolers and beats everywhere. Meh. Must be good for those that run decent/not run bad and crush the micros, they're so fucking beatable it's lol.

[Gobbatino]

Run bad seems to be over. DC videos are awesome, if anyone hasn't seen the Raod to Robusto by tubasteve, I highly recommend it if you are looking to open up your game. I'm thinking of ranges constantly and playing quite a bit more aggressive since I saw that series.

I really wish I had more time to put in good volume this month because I love how I'm playing right now. But with the move to the US happening this month, it's going to be hard to put in anywhere near decent volume. At the moment I'm up a few buy ins and still working on adapting to my new more aggro, loose play. When I smooth out the wrinkles on this I'm going to rape through 25NL.

Also, my first A high bluff induce/call!

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (4 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

Button ($52.09)
SB ($17.58)
BB ($15.07)
Hero (UTG) ($31.50)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, K
Hero bets $0.75, Button calls $0.75, 2 folds

Flop: ($1.85) 8, 5, 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $1.25, Button calls $1.25

Turn: ($4.35) 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks

River: ($4.35) 10 (2 players)
Hero checks, Button bets $3.25, Hero calls $3.25

Total pot: $10.85

Results below:
Button had Q, 9 (high card, Queen).
Hero had A, K (high card, Ace).
Outcome: Hero won $10.31

[Gobbatino]

Ohai FTR.

RL stuff, feel free to skip:

Mid December, 2009, I was relocated by the company I work for to southern Cali from France. On the way I stopped by Guatemala (where I was born and raised) for about a month. That was loads of fun, saw family and friends I hadn't seen in about 5 years while I was traveling around Europe. January 8th I flew over to LA and started up fresh. I finally feel like I've settled in, although I have one last big move to make from my temporary housing into my permanent residence. Work is going great so far.

Last week the parts for my new computer arrived. I built myself a monster. For those geeky enough to care, I got me an Intel i7 920, Asus P6T SE mobo, 6GB tri-channel DDR3 ram @1600MHz, 2x 750 GB Western Digital Caviar Black in Raid 0 and a 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5850. I'm normally much more of an Nvidia fan but I read a few reviews and comparisons and it seems they are really lagging behind at the moment. So far the ATI has been great. I also got a widescreen 24" LCD and plan on getting a 30" or better as a second monitor when I can. Anyways, that was a big nerdxplosion. I'm done now.

Poker stuff:

I want to take Poker a lot more seriously than I did before.

I put in decent time into Poker for about 3 out of the last 8 months. I read some books, which was good. I only really studied a decent amount for about a third of that time, maybe less. In general, my efforts were sporadic, at best. I've seen a bunch of other OPs with people who set goals for themselves, so I'll do the same. I'll start with some easy ones since I haven't played in two months.

Weekend + next week goals:
*8 hours of play
*6 hours of study (videos, session reviews, hand postage)
*Workout/Basketball/Volleyball 4x

That's it for now. I had my very first session yesterday, played for about an hour, up 4 buy-ins. Nice way to get started. It's good to be back and reading up on everyone's OP. Great progress for a lot of you guys out there (omfg Jason/M2M wtf grats).