Ragnar4 OP: There's a moral in here somerwhere.

[Ragnar4]

--Edit, check the dates.
no new content until page 2, near the bottom.

NEW VIDEO!
YouTube - Always Look On The Bright Side of Life


Tonight, I played 500 hands.
Yesterday I played 500 Hands too.

I think on an accountability level I made some pretty heinous mistakes. I mis-read a hand early and basically what happened is I had AK and he had a pair of fours on a 479r board. I checked to him cuz I was OOP, and he minbet 2c into a 25 cent pot. I read this as weakness, so I re-raised over him, and he min-raised me back... and then I called and shoved the blank turn. What should have been a giant warning flag was free money for him.

I did burn him later when he had top pair and I had top two with the exact same play. I checked, he minbet, I raised the pot, he minraised me back, I shoved the turn and he snapcalled. So I got my money back.

I also made a bet into a K J 9 2 7 pot that was a huge overshove with top two.. and I realized the MOMENT I hit the bet button, that I effectively turned my hand into a bluff, he thought about it for a millisecond before calling with QTs. At least I realized it when I did it.

I've adapted a new mentality about c-betting that I'm hoping is "correct" If I'm in position, and my opponent checks to me after I've raised pre-flop. I'm willing to c-bet all but the sloppy, wettest boards. If I'm OOP I only c-bet if I've caught some piece of the board, or am ahead of the board. I honestly felt better about my play doing that tonight.

It used to be c-bet the pot everytime I was in a sitaution that I "should c-bet", getting popped back is hard in that situation because you may feel you're already pot-committed at these levels.

I did run like a kenyan and caught like 8 sets in a row on my 5 tables combined.

Oh oh oh! I ran a bluff that got a set of queens to fold from a rather solid player (well solid except for that) I had pair and thought I was good, but I raised in position with a flush draw on the flop, checked behind on the turn, and valuebet on the river and got the set to fold too.. I was pretty stoked.

Anyway, no hands tonight, mostly because my compy crashed, but I really didn't end up in a lot of tough spots to be honest, and anything that seemed odd, I ran it through Pokerstove, and was either right, or very close.

What do I need to work on? Not being such a dam calling station with mediocre hands when my opponent is solid. If he's valuebetting me, don't oblige him dammit!

[kmind]

First of all, good luck!


Secondly:

I've adapted a new mentality about c-betting that I'm hoping is "correct" If I'm in position, and my opponent checks to me after I've raised pre-flop. I'm willing to c-bet all but the sloppy, wettest boards. If I'm OOP I only c-bet if I've caught some piece of the board, or am ahead of the board. I honestly felt better about my play doing that tonight.

It used to be c-bet the pot everytime I was in a sitaution that I "should c-bet", getting popped back is hard in that situation because you may feel you're already pot-committed at these levels.

While I don't disagree with most of what you said, I hope you understand the whys. The main thing I want to say is that you keep saying "opponent" but that's too general. If one opponent folds everytime he doesn't have TPGK why would we check a lot OOP? Even cbetting revolves around your opponents' tendencies.

Also, just by running through hands pokerstove wise doesn't mean you shouldn't post them. You may find certain plays you did as +EV but there may be bigger EV plays and different ways to play them. Just a suggestion. Good luck!

[bigred]

For cbetting, I think you need to take your opponent's fold to CBET stat and the board into consideration. Yes, you want to be careful with cbets OOP, but there's a huge different between a villain behind you who has a 95% fold to cbet and a 5% fold to cbet stat.

[Ragnar4]

Last night I played another 500ish hands. I didn't post immediatley afterwards because something came up and I had to deal with an emergency. Up 5 BI's.

I really don't like weekends. I went into the weekend, 4.5 BI's up on my operation career, and I left the weekend 3 BI's down, over about 12 hundred hands. I only got all my money in waaay behind two times all 1200 hands, all the other times I was a coinflip or way ahead.

Redzilla is the one that has put me on this path, and helped clarify my game in such a way, that I'm playing winning poker. The strategy seems relatively straightforward and simple. "If you have a good hand, bet every opportunity you have, and seriously consider giving up only when your opponent shows resistance."

Spoon also helped quite a bit, in his revelation of the megaimportance of blockers, and helping me refine my opening hand chart with a much easier to remember system than I've ever been handed to me before.

After last nights 500 hand session, I'm up 1 buy in every hundred hands. I know I've got a long way to go, but I've never felt so good about playing poker, and playing solid poker as I feel now.

I'd also like to thank Kmind and Bigred for their help in clarifying my thoughts about C-bets. I still don't have any sort of HUD, but I intend to get one relatively quickly. I did try to watch for people who like to see a lot of flops and fold to any sort of pressure on the watch, and made it a habit of picking on those guys, so far it's been working.

I intend to try to get in another 500-700 or so tonight, and afterwards I fully intend to post some hands and review my biggest winners and losers.

[bigred]

HEM has a 15 day trial. Should be more than enough time to decide if you like it. Worst comes to worst you go back to where you started.

[Ragnar4]

So I downloaded HEM.

It says I've used up my 15 days for a free trial. LOL> I haven't even tried it yet.

Anyway. Today was an amazingly standard, simple day. I have one hand that I'm not to certain about.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG+1 ($0.73)
MP1 ($6.02)
MP2 ($4.64)
MP3 ($5.69)
CO ($3)
Button ($0.77)
Hero (SB) ($2.75)
BB ($0.75)
UTG ($1.97)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 2, 2
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.02, 1 fold, MP2 raises to $0.26, 6 folds

Total pot: $0.09 | Rake: $0

Opponent was a multitabling reg as far as I can tell. He was nitting it up pretty good. The only thing that was odd, is he was nitty AND if he opened he opened up for a huge overbet. I wanted to stack him, but I'd bet my daughter this was QQ+

I froze when he re-raised and time-banked. I know according to the 5-10 rule I *can* call here, but I really didn't want to. Mostly because I was OOP.

I honestly feel that if you're in position, you should err towards the 10 side of the rule, and if you're out of position you should err towards the 5 side of the rule. That's why I folded. So my question is this: Am I right? Or should I always be willing to call off 10% of my stack when holding a PP, or is it better to let position do some of the talking here?

played a shade over 500 hands. Up 4.5 BI's. I've been averaging about 1 buy in every hundred hands. Normal?

[swiggidy]

5% would be 20x. You should really be in the 15-20x range (say 5-7.5%). You'll start noticing when you get 3bet you'll be right around 10, calling to set hunt is usually wrong there.

There are no hard and fast rules. Everything has some factor. So yes, position matters, and calling here to set hunt would be bad.

[Ragnar4]

Appreciate the Clarification Swig.

Spoon presented it to me as the 5%-10% rule. Very technically it was only 9.98% of my stack...

So does that mean if I were on the button I could call? What if someone else had called?

[swiggidy]

Appreciate the Clarification Swig.

Spoon presented it to me as the 5%-10% rule. Very technically it was only 9.98% of my stack...

So does that mean if I were on the button I could call? What if someone else had called?

ok, 5-10% makes sense, I was originally thinking 5x-10x which would be terrible.

The point is you need to be 8:1 (or maybe 1/8, don't remember) to hit a set. BUT you have to hit every time. With 10:1 there is very little margin for error, so against most tight players you're probably 0eV. When you run into a straight nit, like 4/2, I'd call with 10:1 odds.

When there is money in the pot it changes some. Look at the bet compared to pot + opponents stack. That's how much you potentially stand to win.

[bigspenda73]

fold, not close

[Ragnar4]

Spenda:

Cool, Why?

Correction. The last couple of nights, I've been saying I'm up about a buy in over 100 hands. It's actually a dollar every hundred hands.... 1/2 a buy in. My math has been shit lately.

Tonight though I was up 4ish buyins over 500 hands. Which amounts to a shade over 8 bucks.

I still don't have HEM. I don't think I'm going to get int until after x-mas. Truth be told, I have a VERY hard time justifying it right now. I promise not to move up to 10nl without it, and will probably get it once it costs *less* than my actual bankroll. Which stands at $63.13.

That's 23.12 bucks that I'm up since I took 2nd in the FTR ESPN League for Fantasy Football. I know this because the $40 I won was my new bank roll.

One thing that I think is really interesting, I only lost one hand at showdown tonight if I remember correctly. I made a really good read against my opponent who had AJ and I had AQ and I called a small bet on the river with just 2 overs. The reason I made the call was because his pre-flop action dictated either a big pair or 2 overs, and I 3xbet him and he didn't smack me back, so I figgured he was ahead.

--On with the hands.

Hand 1
--Part Brag, part big question about pre-flop. Is there any point where I should have been way more aggressive? Smoothcalled the 1.12 raise because I thought he was folding to the shove, and wanted to get it all in on just about every flop known to god.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (8 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($3.31)
SB ($1.26)
BB ($1.13)
Hero (UTG) ($2)
UTG+1 ($3.25)
MP1 ($4.50)
MP2 ($1.94)
CO ($2.67)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, A
Hero raises to $0.08, 3 folds, CO calls $0.08, Button raises to $0.14, 1 fold, BB calls $0.12, Hero raises to $0.45, CO calls $0.37, Button calls $0.31, BB raises to $1.12, Hero calls $0.67, CO calls $0.67, Button raises to $3.31 (All-In), BB calls $0.01 (All-In), Hero calls $0.88 (All-In), CO calls $1.55 (All-In)

Flop: ($8.48) 2, 3, 5 (4 players, 4 all-in)

Turn: ($8.48) A (4 players, 4 all-in)

River: ($8.48) A (4 players, 4 all-in)

Total pot: $8.48 | Rake: $0.40

Hand 2

--Guess I should have bet the flop? FWIW Villain had KTo. So he was ahead.


PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (7 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($5.40)
MP1 ($3.35)
MP2 ($0.79)
CO ($14.50)
Button ($2.83)
Hero (SB) ($2.59)
BB ($5)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 7, 7
UTG calls $0.02, 2 folds, CO raises to $0.06, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.05, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.16) Q, 6, 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($0.16) 10 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.12, CO calls $0.12

River: ($0.40) 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Total pot: $0.40 | Rake: $0

Hand 3

--Too weak on the flop? I just didn't think a queen was folding, ever. In fact, I'm hard pressed to think top pair ever folds.
PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (9 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

BB ($1.48)
UTG ($3.45)
UTG+1 ($5)
MP1 ($2.03)
Hero (MP2) ($2.99)
MP3 ($8.30)
CO ($4.97)
Button ($4.95)
SB ($2.94)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with J, A
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, MP3 calls $0.08, CO calls $0.08, 1 fold, SB calls $0.07, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.34) 8, Q, J (4 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP3 checks, CO checks

Turn: ($0.34) 9 (4 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP3 bets $0.15, 2 folds, Hero folds

Total pot: $0.34 | Rake: $0

[Ragnar4]

Also.. Tonight was a wierd night. Lots of tiny pots, I made all my money on that AA hand and on a Set hand that stacked 2 noobs at the same time. That's it. Without the hands, I'm pretty much only up like 1 buy in over 500.

[Ragnar4]

Blargh.

I really don't wanna talk about it, but 350 hands, down 1.5 buy ins. BUT I am holding myself accountable for all of my play. Not just the good days. 2 nights ago:

One hand I posted it was KK versus some dude that was 30/20. I got it AI and he flipped over JT for flopped trips.

The other was against a guy that was winning lots of little pots by being aggressive. He was willing to make garbage like AK and middle pair top kicker into really large pots. I took him all the way to the river, got him AI on the turn with a pair of tens, and he rivered me for a better pair.

It was also relatively quiet, just couldn't hit a hand. Lots of hands like AK and AQ and AJ/AT in really good positions and I couldn't catch an ace or if I did hit, It was middle pair and any c-bets were popped back, or I'd check it and there would be a bet and a raise behind me.

Whatevs. I knew after 5 days in a row of good days, I would have a "bad day" Nothing wrong with that.

Also I didn't play last night because I couldn't keep my eyes open.

[wesrman]

GL.

[Ragnar4]

Hansemil

look for him every time I sit down.. He's pretty much mentally retarded.

[bigspenda73]

how do you smooth call the 1.12 with only a $2 stack and give "I think he's going to fold to a shove" as a reason to do it?

[Ragnar4]

how do you smooth call the 1.12 with only a $2 stack and give "I think he's going to fold to a shove" as a reason to do it?

Because the guy was horrible, and had done that a couple of times. He'd demonstrated he could fold for half his stack before.

[wesrman]

how do you smooth call the 1.12 with only a $2 stack and give "I think he's going to fold to a shove" as a reason to do it?

Its 2NL they dont know when they're pot committed.

[bigspenda73]

omg plz just put the money in

stop being ridiculous

[Ragnar4]

Played 650 hands last night.

Up Just a shade under 10 buy ins.

No. Seriously. I am.

Seriously guys! Come on! SERIOUS

Made 20 bucks against one guy Hansemil

Over like 500 hands I was doing ok. I ended up like up 3.5 ish buy-ins, quietly grinding, only got stack vs stack in once and it was my set versus his flopped straight.

Then I Found this table with a seat open that had like 45% VpIp with a 2 dollar average pot. I was like "that's not right" but I clicked and sat anyway, and what I saw was like Christmas Morning.

This dude named Hansemil, buying in for 5, limping every pot he could find, and shoving every dangerous flop he could. He also couldn't stand it if you isolation raised him. So he would shove back.

I got it all in against him
AJ vs 57o
AT vs Q8o
A9 vs 32s

I got so comfortable with his range of hands, I was profitably and comfortably calling with

A2s on a KJ2r board and being way ahead when the cards were turned over.

Only once did I get it in behind and that was QTs against 55, and on the flop I was a favorite, 2 overs plus an oesd.

Bankroll 82.18

[Ragnar4]

I also did some research on this guy. He's an epic donator.

Over 2000 hands he's down 150 buy ins according to one 2p2 poster.

I'm going to keep an eye out for him until he goes broke.

[Ragnar4]

UGH

No Seriously Ugh.

Over right around 1k hands yesterday, I ended up, UP a buy in. That's it. average earnings over 1k hands? .002 cents per hand. What really, REALLY grinds my gears is this:

AFter 500 hands I was up, WAY up. Like 44bb/100 up. It was the evening session that really crushed me.

I lost a HUGE pot wit 2QQ88, I had AQ got it all in on the turn, he obviuosly turned the fullhouse and rivered the quads.

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...ey-t80120.html

Then it was some 56/30 clown that got me AI when I had top 2 and she managed to show up with a set.

Then it was 2, count em 2 open ended straight flush draws that came in on the turn, all the money went in, and my opponent managed to land his full house both times.

Blah, rant over. I still finished up, up on the day, and the moment I was ready to throw my mouse against the wall, I logged off and watched espn. So at least I'm happy about that. In 16 days I've more than doubled my original stake so I'm pretty stoked about that.

Very technically, I'm at 20 buy ins for buying in for $5 at 2nl. I think what I want to do is start buying in for $5, until I get to 25 buy ins, before I think about moving up to 5nl. I'm kinda skurrrd though. I'm not so keen on the idea of having another run like that and pissing like 40% of my bankroll away by gettin' crushed on 5 tables at the same time. Come to think of it, I may push for 30 buy ins at 5nl before moving up. Suddenly I don't feel any big push to get from here to there.

Anyway. Part of this accountability thread is me taking ownership of my playing, and my skillset for my new years resolution. If you guys can see what I'm thinking maybe some of you will constructively hook me up. To be honest, this blog has been a very pleasant experience with you guys re-focusing me. I appreciate it.

Anyway back to the grind. I'mma try to get 600ish in tonight and deliver a blog.

[Ragnar4]

Last night was LOL. I've made a friend. I'm still undecided if it's a guy, playing a girl (has a girly avatar) or a girl that is just really bad at poker, but he/she is an epic donator. 54/7 over something like 250 hands.

What had happened was I had closed down at the end of one of my sessions to focus on one idiot that plays like 94/30, and was at the same table with this person, and when I'm at one table, I enjoy chatting around. Apparently this person has taken a liking to me because, well I don't know. But now she follows me around to every table I play at and chats with me. Which is fine because she's always sat on my right.

Anyway, I take money from her, she apologizes profusely when she sucks out on me, and has like a 90% fold to c-bet when she overcalls all of my garbage isolation raises.

It almost makes me feel bad because she's just so nice when she limps, I isolate with atc, and she calls, and then folds to my 1/2pot c-bet. almost

Also I ran like a Kenyan (100bb/100 in the last 250 and right around 40bb/100 in the 500...LMAO)last night, aside from one hand where I got it in behind preflop with AQs against a 50/30 who showed up KK (and I sucked out lol) and that 2 pair hand I posted in BC. I got it in ahead in every other instance, and I was even making "range based decisions"

I don't think my ranges were amazing, but I Feel like the only way to get better is to make the decision based on what you feel at that moment, and then tweak the range depending upon what you experience.

[wesrman]

And his/her name is???

[Ragnar4]

Something to the effect of Ever~0~After

The reason I'm letting this cat out of the bag is.

I've moved up, and I know she won't be coming with me.

Long story short in the form of a play

Me: lol I haz 110 dollars

Wes: Move up noob

Me: wat? What if I lose?

Wes: Don't be a dirtbag.

Me: Ok

Wes: lol I just flopped my tenth set in the last 15 minutes, I'm a ballah, holla!

Me: Iffn I lose, I'm taking mubnees out of your hide.

Wes: do it!

Me: Lol, middleset no good, down one buy in 5 hands in.

Wes: Don't be results oriented noob. Peace I'm out.

Me: (700 hands later) Weeee up 2 buy ins.

Also Hansemil was on. Donating epically, I went to a 2nl 6-max game to take care of him. I took 20 dollars off of him. in right around 100 hands. He ended up down 500ptbb/100.

[wesrman]

Nice.

[bigred]

Listening to Wes for advice is -EV

[frosst]

Listening to Wes for advice is -EV

depends on your goals

[Ragnar4]

So was it not smart to move up when I had 22 buy ins?

[wesrman]

Bigred was joking.

Start with about 20 buyins at 2nl or 5nl. This means either $40 or $100. Now, don't put anymore money into your poker account ever. Instead, grind through the limits and get good at poker. Then, the higher you get, take a slightly higher bankroll requirement than the stakes previous so that you better protect your poker bankroll.

When you have $100, play 5nl. (20 buy-ins)
When you have $250, play 10nl. (25 buy-ins)
When you have $750, play 25nl. (30 buy-ins)
When you have $1750, play 50nl. (35 buy-ins)
When you have $4000, play 100nl. (40 buy-ins)
When you have $10000, play 200nl. (50 buy-ins)

If you follow this and regularly play and work on your game, you'll be making a lot of money in less than two years imo.

[bigred]

This advice was fine. I'm just assuming that you don't plan on only consulting him this one time for advice.

[Ragnar4]

oh snap.. I was going to offer him $30 an hour as a personal coach!!!

lol

[Ragnar4]

Ragnar4 6638 Hands

Won $82.65 19.65 BB/100



Pre-flop Total EP MP LP BLINDS

VP$IP 19% 11% 19% 26% 18%

Call Open 14% 10% (79) 12% 15% 14%

Limp 4% 0% 3% 8% 8%

Limp-Call 73% (26) 100% (1) 86% (7) 75% (12) 50% (6)

PFR 12% 11% 15% 16% 8%

Raise 1st 17% 11% 18% 31% 22%

3-Bet 4% 8% (79) 6% 2% 4%

Fold to 3-Bet 18% (80) 0% (17) 29% (24) 19% (31) 13% (8)

Blind Steal 31%

Fold to steal 86% (42)(SB)

Fold to steal 76% (38)(BB)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Post flop Total Flop Turn River

Aggression 2.5 2.8 2.6 1.6

Agg Freq 49% 48% 53% 42%

Check-raise 4% 5% 3% 0% (72)

Bet/Check 42/58 44/56 44/56 30/70

Rs/Call/Fold 11/33/56 10/30/60 15/37/48 7/41/51

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flop Total HU(Pos) HU(Out Pos)

Cont bet 68% 72% 73%

Fold to CB 51% 35% (23) 57% (28)

Donk bet 20% 35% (23) 10% (48)

Fold to DB 45% 31% (35) 67% (15)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turn

2nd barrel 51% WTSD 27%

Fold to 2nd 34% (62) W$SD 46%

Float/steal 40% (35)

[Ragnar4]

20 days into the operation. Running like a kenyan

That is all. I wish the above table could be broken down a bit better.

[Ragnar4]

Also it's really frustrating when I open a session, and get it all in good, but lose.

Like I got it AI versus top pair middle kicker with a OESFD and and an over, and missed, bad. So there I am, down a buy in + a little...
So tonight after 33 hands I'm down a full buy in+ a little, and I came out of the other end of the 500 hands up a buy in and a half. Which means, I had to chip my way back almost 3 full buy ins...

I don't want to play those kinds of hands more passively for fear I'll miss... But it sure takes the wind out of your sails when you do your 1 hour stat check and see -33ptbb/100.

[XTR1000]

Start open limp calling less and dont ever do it in the SB and 3bet more in position for value. Also, there aren´t many people around called noob by wesley

Do not check your stats during a session. Close your eyes when you´re AI or focus on other tables. Beware that you deserve to lose once you are AI. Its okay to avoid low ev/high variance spots, if a beat will affect your performance later on.

"Teens gone wild - Free sample videos" would be a great OP title.

Good luck

[Ragnar4]

Start open limp calling less and dont ever do it in the SB and 3bet more in position for value. Also, there aren´t many people around called noob by wesley


Good luck

I actually don't open limp on purpose ever. If I do it's either a mistake with a marginal hand when I think someone has limped ahead of me but I'm in another hand, or a mis click in the heat of battle. (ok, I lied, There was this guy who wouldn't call a pfr, but he loved to overbet to try to isolate early limpers, so I limped aces and re-popped him and called his shove preflop)

I *do* limp behind in family pots with a TON of hands, like T9o from the SB and the button.. Also I like to see suited connectors as cheaply as possible. I have a hard time wanting to raise small PP's against a large field too and would rather limp than raise with 22-77 with that many people. Although it doesn't seem to matter when I catch my set anyway.

[XTR1000]

I just took a quick glance at those stats up there (where they taken from?). Small sample, so nevermind, but 50% L/C in the SB looked scary at first. I´m off full rings for a while now, but I think 22-55 are 0ev at best in EP when played awesomely postflop, I remember some guys (me included) having them as loser UTG and UTG+1. Vs people who dont like to fold flops prolly not too bad to limp em.

Anyway, nh on title change. I´m gonna check daily from now on, looking for video linkz

[bikes]

Where the hell were the video links. I was wamboozled into clicking this blog!

[flomo]

Where the hell were the video links. I was wamboozled into clicking this blog!

want to join our group with the class action suit

[swiggidy]

Where the hell were the video links. I was wamboozled into clicking this blog!

want to join our group with the class action suit

I was also under the impression there would be punch and pie

[Ragnar4]

*sigh*

All that damn work. blown in 1 night

I'm right back to where I started. Granted I only dropped 4 buy ins last night, but I've spent the last 2 weeks gettin' them.

3/4'ths getting the money all in with a set, only to get it in bad (set vs set) or to get it in and get drawn out on Top pair and GSD > my set. Followed by 1/4 tilty bluff gone bad... and all I want to do is give up and withdraw all my money and spend it on a really cheap hooker.

[XTR1000]

absolutely everyone here has been there. Its been repeated over and over again, just hang on and grind your way thru it, maybe take some days off. Look here for my summer adventure on AP and the last time I wanted to quit and spend it all hookers and booze

[Ragnar4]

Update

Played in 3 2.20 2500 9pm my time Tournaments, cashed in all three, Took 15th in one of them.

I know I'm not supposed to mix tourney and cash play.. But I'm really pissed at my grind game right now.. so I'm just trying to take my mind off of the grind and have fun.

I'm literally like BE over the last 5k hands and I want to scream. Every time I have a really good night, I Have a huge variance swing the other way. It just seems like I can't make any headway.

The grind re-starts on Friday... But I just need to keep posting.

ya digg?

[Ragnar4]

Experiment: Suited Connectors

For the next 2000 hands I will only be playing Suited Connectors from Hijack to Button, and only when there are multiple players in the hand when calling a raise.

I will only be isolating limpers with TJs + and will be limping behind with 1 gappers, and weak sc's. (from the afore mentioned area)

I feel like part of my swingy-ness has got to be because I'm overly aggressive, and playing SC's from everywhere but UTG and UTG +1 and UTG+2 which is probably a little largo.

[Ragnar4]

FML

Seriously.

1000 hands, and down 5+ buy ins.

Today some 56/14 jerkwad was overshoving on me with any two wheelhouse cards. EVERY TIMe

How many times did I win?

0 5 times TT vs AK, He won with AK
AKo vs AJs He caught his flush
AQ vs QT? TTT on the flop
KK vs QQ? Rivered a Queen

Fuckin' toolshed.

I was fullbuying trying to get my money back and he was STILL catching good on me! Fuck poker right now.

I think I'm going to cash out and call this a wash.

[Sl4y3r]

Ragnar get yourself together man, ive been following your thread queitly and have learnt from and really enjoyed your blog. Ive played you at 2NL and remember you were tough. Keep up the good fight plz and add more college teens :P

[Ragnar4]

down another 3 buy ins over 700 hands today. *sigh* Guess it's time to get some more coaching from Redzilla.

[Ragnar4]

Rollercoaster baby.

Played 1100 hands today.

Up 5 buy ins. it was about a 3.5-4 hour adventure broken up over the day. I was blessed as most of the situations I got into were pretty textbook.

No coaching though. I'm really hoping to save that for 10nl right when I start, so he can guide my shaky steps into the realm.

[Ragnar4]

seriously fuck poker right now. I tiltmonkeyed 7 buy ins off tonight, after 700 hands of break even poker.

I give up.

[Micro2Macro]

Breakeven over 700 hands is standard. wait till you see 1400, 3000, even 5000+. It can happen even in games you're killing, don't let it get you down.

[Ragnar4]

My Session: 19.95 won 269 hands 73.71bb/100

LOL

[Ragnar4]

Ragnar4 20116 Hands

Won $89.08 6.97 BB/100



Pre-flop Total EP MP LP BLINDS

VP$IP 19% 12% 19% 27% 19%

Call Open 15% 11% 14% 16% 14%

Limp 4% 1% 2% 9% 9%

Limp-Call 83% (99) 89% (9) 84% (25) 81% (42) 83% (23)

PFR 12% 11% 15% 16% 8%

Raise 1st 16% 11% 19% 28% 22%

3-Bet 4% 4% 4% 3% 4%

Fold to 3-Bet 22% 20% (70) 26% (72) 25% (64) 5% (20)

Blind Steal 28%

Fold to steal 86% (SB)

Fold to steal 75% (BB)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Post flop Total Flop Turn River

Aggression 2.2 2.6 2.2 1.5

Agg Freq 47% 48% 50% 39%

Check-raise 5% 6% 5% 1%

Bet/Check 40/60 43/57 40/60 30/70

Rs/Call/Fold 11/35/54 11/32/57 13/39/48 7/41/52

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flop Total HU(Pos) HU(Out Pos)

Cont bet 66% 69% 75%

Fold to CB 46% 29% 43% (90)

Donk bet 19% 41% (54) 14%

Fold to DB 42% 31% 64% (39)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Turn

2nd barrel 49% WTSD 27%

Fold to 2nd 33% W$SD 43%

Float/steal 44%

[Ragnar4]

The last 2 weeks, I realize I haven't been posting nearly as much as normal. But it's really been just more of the same. I haven't been confused about many hands at all, I've just been patting myself on the back when I make a good fold, and trying to get all the money in the middle when I catch sets. I really don't know if I'm going to have any more questions until 10nl.

My 2k hand exeriment morphed a bit, but I seriously feel like I've made much more money.

I've tried 3-betting in position against the more solid players with my Suited Connectors. It's been a mixed bag, I'm breakeven with the move, but I haven't won any huge pots.

I found another epic donator. I follow him like a lost puppy. I just don't understand how people can play *that* bad. Seroiusly. When I graduate from 5nl I'll tell ya who it is.

--Also, I'm only 15 p-stars points from "Professional no limit" I think I'll be buying it.

Also, I'm at $150. But I'm not moving up until I have 22-25 buy ins for 10nl AND I've purchased HEM. So it's gonna be a while. I'll be at like 325 from 5nl. But I don't think that's a bad thing.

[Ragnar4]

I now have a 2 epic donators who just love to give me money.

One of the donators is a 76/1/.05 super fish who insists on seeing the river for any reasonable sized (less than pot) bet. Which means that top pair seems to be good about 1/2 the time, but sets get tons of money when he catches 2nd pair and decides to raise.

Another donator is a get this 99/42/5.0 aggromonkey this guy bet, and bet big every time the pot went to him, he would raise and re-raise pf, and had no problem calling off his stack PF with wheelhouse cards, and PP's.

I won 7 buy ins last night just off these guys. I hope I see them around in the future.

Current BR. 171.49

I have enough points to order "Professional No-limit" I want to order it, I just need to get ahold of my dad to make sure it's ok that I send the book to him, because I'm right on the edge of moving from my current living situation.

it's a great feeling to finally see improvement in something I've put a little more than a good year into workwise.

[Ragnar4]

Played 400 hands last night.

QQQ < Straight Flush Draw on the flop
AA < KK
Had a couple of guys that felt like they were floating me really light. But I never had anything that I could call their float with. when I adjusted by not betting when I had missed overs, and betting when I had a good hand, they adjusted immediately.
Made one terribad call down

Down $3.26

I felt like I was chasing ghosts last night too. I really have a hard time sitting at any table that's Less than 25% vpip. I only had one juicy table (41%) and all the rest would start out absolutely gorgeous, and then by hand number 20 they would be less than 20% vpip and the same 5 guys would be at every table.

[Ragnar4]

Today I did not exercise proper bankroll management.

and I suffered for it, as I should.

I moved up to a really, really juicy game of 25nl with one buy in, trying to chase my losses at 5nl. I got my money in good. But The turd won for the same reason I was down 3 buy ins at 5nl. He caught his really longshot draw to beat me.

It's fine. I didn't want to ever move up to 10nl anyway.

lol.

[TonyB73]

Breakeven over 700 hands is standard. wait till you see 1400, 3000, even 5000+. It can happen even in games you're killing, don't let it get you down.

And they can be MUCH longer than that.

Now that I have lost 10 buy-ins in my last 2,628 hands of 50NL, my money won graph in PT3 is at the same "height" as it was 35K hands ago.

[Ragnar4]

So the last 3 days I've been flat out killing the game. Destroying it. 5-800 hands a night, at 25bb/100.

But I've been fighting with my computer because I've had some sort of nasty virus/trojan/DOS attack that I thought I had under control. I had been reluctant to re-format my computer because dealing with SATA drives is a pain in the ass.

Last night I finally found a program that slipstreams XP with the SATA drivers I need, I did the work, burned a new CD and I get the BSOD. I want to scream.

So until I get a computer back. NO poker for R4.

Also I'm posting from a friends computer.

[Ragnar4]

That's right, I'm back down to 2nl...

What of it?

Actually it's not bad that I'm back down to 2nl. I'm only there because I had to cash out. My wife told me the only way in hell I'm going to vegas in april is if I take my roll (about 150) and cash it out for gambling money. So I understand that it's a roll reset. And I know that I'm not supposed to cash out until I have "enough money to buy a house" online. (according to jyms... CCC)

But, I flat out blew through the 2nl games. I was out of there in 12k hands, and I spent a lot of time struggling at 5nl. I cashed down to 25 bucks, and after 500 hands I'm already back to 30. I think this will help me with some microstakes fundamentals that I'm missing. I'm also reading, and trying to apply "Professional no limit holdem".

I hope to cruise through 2nl as quickly again, and have a smooth transition into 5nl and get back into the grind and stay at it this time. I also hope to be at 10nl by the end of april. I also hope to come back with enough money just to re-deposit my stake back onto p-stars to just jump right back into 5nl after I get back from vegas.

I also intend to try to play 1k hands a night once I finish professional no-limit holdems.

[flomo]

see the light

[Ragnar4]

where?

[Ragnar4]

oh snap

I finally have had the opportunity to read Pro-No-holdemz. and the chapter on committment turned my game into a juggernaut.

seriously. I fully intend to suck matt flynn, sunny mehta, and ed miller into happyness for re-aligning my thought process concerning committing to a hand. Play seems a bit swingier, but I get WAY more value out of good hands.

[Illfavor]

I dunno. The more I read the commitment section the more it just says "don't fold a third f your stack" in increasingly complicated ways...

[Ragnar4]

My Session: 560 hands, won 21.55 95.86 BB/100

[Ragnar4]

oh fuck me

-7.5 buyins tonight over 200 hands.

There was an epic all in donator shovament asshole.

100percent vpip for all his chips everytime.

I got it in with the best hand 4 times, and lost all 4 of them.

Then I bought in way deep, and camped his ass for a premium, he doubled through for 4, and then I caught Kings, he shoves, I call, some turd overshoves I ship, he calls 12 dollar pot, and wouldn't you know it, the jerkwad spikes his A9

If not for the other table I was playing tonight I'd be down so much more. I was kinda tilty tonight too, I kept running AK and AQ and KK into aces and snapcalling their shoves.

Sometimes I love the weekends, tonight I wish I had sex with a cheesegrater instead.

[Ragnar4]

Word to the wise.

don't ever say "Hey guise, I'm thinking of taking my last $100 and takin'g a shot at 100nl" on IRC.

They'll tell you it's a good idea, and even lead you to an empty table, where they proceed to take all your money, and laugh at you when you're broke.

And they won't give you any back, not even if they feel sorry for you.

[daven]

don't ever say "Hey guise, I'm thinking of taking my last $100 and takin'g a shot at 100nl" on IRC.

And they won't give you any back, not even if they feel sorry for you.

damn i wish i was there when/if that went down.
I'd give the fish back 1%

[Jason]

Are you speaking as an observer or participant?

[Micro2Macro]

heh that was funny.

oh and btw ragnar your 2.5x opens from the button tilt the shit out of me.

[Ragnar4]

heh that was funny.

oh and btw ragnar your 2.5x opens from the button tilt the shit out of me.

HAH! DANIEL NEGRANEAU'S SUPERIOR PLAYING STYLE STRIKES AGAIN!

[Micro2Macro]

heh that was funny.

oh and btw ragnar your 2.5x opens from the button tilt the shit out of me.

HAH! DANIEL NEGRANEAU'S SUPERIOR PLAYING STYLE STRIKES AGAIN!

lol I have his book yet I've read every section except his :/

Didn't really like a couple sections, but the David Williams section was pretty cool (i.e. I think I actually learned a few things from reading it unlike the terribad first chapter).

Have you read the book or are you just going off what you know about him?

[Ragnar4]

I haven't read the book at all. but I've seen several articles about smallball poker.

1) raise a bunch of hands with "potential" out of the later positions
2) c-bet way more often than you probably should
3)????
4) snapcall when your opponent gets tired of being fucked with and you flopped dirty full house with 25s and PROFIT>

[Ragnar4]

I don't know if it's the super hot weather, and the fact that my computer is in the hottest room in the house, which is also lovingly referred to as the second oven.

I don't know if It's the fact that World of Warcraft has been calling my name lately.

I don't know if it's the fact that I'm tired of working my way up to like $190 over the course of 3 months, and think to myself Hey, 10 more bucks and I can shot-take at 10nl, and then 2 weeks later, I'm wondering when I'll have to drop down to 2nl again.

I don't know if it's because all the guys on IRC make fun of me for being really bad at ranges, obsessed with SPR, or that I've been here like 4 years now and I'm still not out of the micros.

I don't know if it's the last 4 live sessions I've played where I got beat like I stole something.

All I know is, I cannot even FORCE myself to play. It really sucks that a game I used to be obsesses about now can't even get a second thought out of me.

I'm on hiatus. Which sucks, because I still think I could be a good player. But that's the beauty of the game, isn't it? Everyone thinks they can be good, and the feeesh keep on coming back.

[donkbee]

if you have to force yourself to play, then yeah, you should just take a break. Play again when you get the itch again and it's fun again. Although losing is never fun :P

A lot of us could become good players, but we lack the discipline or the drive to do it. I know that's me for sure. I think that I could become a good player if I ever put the work in, but I don't think I ever will.