Friday, December 30, 2011
Friday, November 25, 2011
Day 104
Well, Ive been putting off writing this post for the same reason I always put off making these kinds of posts, that is, Ive been doing pretty badly lately.
I stopped playing poker for a while due to school and this cute chick entering my life, and when I finally got back around to trying to grind again once in a while, I found that I had become super rusty, and my game consequently suffered. my br is sitting just a bit short of 460 at the moment, due to a gradual steady downward sloping greenline. ive stopped playing 10nl for the time being, and im going to be trying to focus more on studying instead of just grinding until I can reclaim my title as a profitable poker player.
All that said, despite the pretty big drop in my br, im not actually super worried about it. overall, my life is getting better, and though it got a little offbalanced at first (though not in a bad way), things are starting to level out. Its like how the game of adjustments works in poker: you see an imbalance, and you act accordingly, and then your opponent adjusts to the imbalance you created by exploiting his imbalance, so you adjust back, and so forth until theoretically optimal play occurs. only with life, youre not playing against opponents, and youre not exploiting. or at least im not. its like a win-win situation, where im trying to find the most optimal me.
i love poker.
I stopped playing poker for a while due to school and this cute chick entering my life, and when I finally got back around to trying to grind again once in a while, I found that I had become super rusty, and my game consequently suffered. my br is sitting just a bit short of 460 at the moment, due to a gradual steady downward sloping greenline. ive stopped playing 10nl for the time being, and im going to be trying to focus more on studying instead of just grinding until I can reclaim my title as a profitable poker player.
All that said, despite the pretty big drop in my br, im not actually super worried about it. overall, my life is getting better, and though it got a little offbalanced at first (though not in a bad way), things are starting to level out. Its like how the game of adjustments works in poker: you see an imbalance, and you act accordingly, and then your opponent adjusts to the imbalance you created by exploiting his imbalance, so you adjust back, and so forth until theoretically optimal play occurs. only with life, youre not playing against opponents, and youre not exploiting. or at least im not. its like a win-win situation, where im trying to find the most optimal me.
i love poker.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Day 103
Oh, tis a sad day. I only have 1$ left in bonus to clear. beyond this lies only the cold hard future of bonusless grinding. woe is me.
on the bring side of things though, my br is now just less than a dollar from 540. woot woot! gotta love 10% bumps in one night.
this was accomplished through multitabling every table of 4nl and 10nl that was open, and following a fairly tight preflop stratey. something like 10 tables in total i guess. cheers!
on the bring side of things though, my br is now just less than a dollar from 540. woot woot! gotta love 10% bumps in one night.
this was accomplished through multitabling every table of 4nl and 10nl that was open, and following a fairly tight preflop stratey. something like 10 tables in total i guess. cheers!
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Day 102
So, its been a while since my last post. I went on a bit of a downswing a couple weeks ago, br fell to 435. Then I went on vacation with my family, which was a really nice break from just everything, really. I spent some of that time studying poker, and trying to generally improve my game, and I also played some HU games (for freeee) with my bro. In doing so, I realized that its really cool. heads up, that is. Rather, going into it with some semblance of analytical reasoning is very cool. So between that, and my occasional games with my roomies, Ive been focusing a little more on my HU game. my br dropped a little lower after I got back from vacation, but once I got back in the swing of things, it started growing again. like a little flower.
er...anyways, so ive been playing cash games as usual, but ive also been mixing in some HU sngs for the fun of it. Admittedly, I havent been following very precise br management in that, but I usually play anywhere between 2$ - 11$, depending on how i feel/ what games are open. 5$ seems to be a pretty sweet spot, and even at the most, the 11$ games arent totally awful with regards to br management (eg, 400$ roll = ~40 HU games) The worst I did was an 18$ hu sng, which i won thanks to a suck out.
Another thing Ive realized is that it is a wonderful feeling to be playing higher stakes. not because theres more money on the line (honestly, even with my br management, i still get a little antsy at times), but rather because if i want, there are actually lower stakes games I can play. not to mention, its generally a softer game.
Also, I really like occasionally mixing up my games. eg., ill play cash games for a while, then switch to HU SNGs, and back again, etc ad tiredum. it keeps the decision making fresh and whatnot. Ive also been playing around with HU cash games, which is a little tricky since cake doesnt offer low stakes HU tables, but theres this one dude who ive been playing HU against who has been bumping my roll even more. its great.
hmm, what else did i want to touch on....oh yeah! last thing on my list is that i also greatly appreciate the ability to cut down on tables. yeah, i know its nothing new, but theres a certain difference between playing 4-6 tables of 10nl vs 2 tables of 10nl, and 2 of 4nl hu cash. iono, it might just be me being a silly person, but it takes some of the stress out of the equation.
unrelated to poker- i just started school again for the new year, and this quarter looks like a doozy. im just hoping that ill be able to force myself to not waste too much time, so that I can stay well balanced between school, piano, social life, and poker. we'll see how that goes.
Aaaaaaand for the grand finale, my br just broke 500! w00t w00t! in d4 h0uz.
er...anyways, so ive been playing cash games as usual, but ive also been mixing in some HU sngs for the fun of it. Admittedly, I havent been following very precise br management in that, but I usually play anywhere between 2$ - 11$, depending on how i feel/ what games are open. 5$ seems to be a pretty sweet spot, and even at the most, the 11$ games arent totally awful with regards to br management (eg, 400$ roll = ~40 HU games) The worst I did was an 18$ hu sng, which i won thanks to a suck out.
Another thing Ive realized is that it is a wonderful feeling to be playing higher stakes. not because theres more money on the line (honestly, even with my br management, i still get a little antsy at times), but rather because if i want, there are actually lower stakes games I can play. not to mention, its generally a softer game.
Also, I really like occasionally mixing up my games. eg., ill play cash games for a while, then switch to HU SNGs, and back again, etc ad tiredum. it keeps the decision making fresh and whatnot. Ive also been playing around with HU cash games, which is a little tricky since cake doesnt offer low stakes HU tables, but theres this one dude who ive been playing HU against who has been bumping my roll even more. its great.
hmm, what else did i want to touch on....oh yeah! last thing on my list is that i also greatly appreciate the ability to cut down on tables. yeah, i know its nothing new, but theres a certain difference between playing 4-6 tables of 10nl vs 2 tables of 10nl, and 2 of 4nl hu cash. iono, it might just be me being a silly person, but it takes some of the stress out of the equation.
unrelated to poker- i just started school again for the new year, and this quarter looks like a doozy. im just hoping that ill be able to force myself to not waste too much time, so that I can stay well balanced between school, piano, social life, and poker. we'll see how that goes.
Aaaaaaand for the grand finale, my br just broke 500! w00t w00t! in d4 h0uz.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Day 101
Had a kinda meh day of poker. I finally got moved into my new place, so I had a longer break than I would have preferred. I wasnt paying enough attention, even though I was only 2-tabling, but I still managed to come out with a little profit. Would have been more, but my qq ran up against a set of twos on an underboard, and I ended up paying the guy off. I could have gotten away from the hand, but oh well. live and learn.
br is about 475, though i transferred 10 to a friend, and perhaps the only reader of this blog. Yes, Im going to break the fourth wall, right here, Chris. gl mate.
br is about 475, though i transferred 10 to a friend, and perhaps the only reader of this blog. Yes, Im going to break the fourth wall, right here, Chris. gl mate.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Day 100
Wow, the big 100 already, huh?
its weird how time flies by. I still remember starting this blog back when I focued on sngs, to little avail.
I just finished a pretty good grinding session. I was kinda wondering if i could hit some milestones in honor of this hundredth post (not actually, since some days had multiple parts, but oh well.) Instead, im just a bit short of all of the milestones, but to be honest I kinda like it this way. Its like in honor of Day 100, my goals are in sight, but just out of reach, so Im keeping the forward momentum, instead of sitting atop my peak, with nowhere to go but down.
Anyways, heres the breakdown.
raw poker profit is once again just short of 100$$, and within 1 bi. Im less than 2000 hands away from 50k, and my total br is just shy of 400$ (also within 1 bi).
with regards to the session, I was doing moderately well, made a questionable play that lost me a bi(still with good profit overall though) and then i decided to stop playing after 3 more rotations at each table, since i was getting kinda tired. and then i just started flopping nuts after nuts. well not really, but there were like 2 or 3 really good spots, the most noteable one being when I held 67s, and the flop came 345 rainbow, and I got into a 3 way all in between full stackers. one had 33 for a set, the other guy spazzed out with like k5. the straight held up, and i took down a 30$$ pot. it was slick. Beyond that, there were only like two times during the entire session where i honestly just sucked out, the rest was pretty solid.
In 10nl now, its surprising how quickly my br can grow (or plummet). I know its just logical, but its one thing to say it, and another thing to see it.
i think ill wrap up this post by just saying that if youre reading this (hah, nobody reads this), just know that hard work and studying really do pay off in the long run. it may take longer than you expected, and there will be days when you may feel like quitting, but if you persevere, you can attain great results.
anyways, now that Ive finished writing like Im some sort of baller poker pro, Im probably lined up for another 10-15bi downswing.
cheers mates, and gl at the tables!
its weird how time flies by. I still remember starting this blog back when I focued on sngs, to little avail.
I just finished a pretty good grinding session. I was kinda wondering if i could hit some milestones in honor of this hundredth post (not actually, since some days had multiple parts, but oh well.) Instead, im just a bit short of all of the milestones, but to be honest I kinda like it this way. Its like in honor of Day 100, my goals are in sight, but just out of reach, so Im keeping the forward momentum, instead of sitting atop my peak, with nowhere to go but down.
Anyways, heres the breakdown.
raw poker profit is once again just short of 100$$, and within 1 bi. Im less than 2000 hands away from 50k, and my total br is just shy of 400$ (also within 1 bi).
with regards to the session, I was doing moderately well, made a questionable play that lost me a bi(still with good profit overall though) and then i decided to stop playing after 3 more rotations at each table, since i was getting kinda tired. and then i just started flopping nuts after nuts. well not really, but there were like 2 or 3 really good spots, the most noteable one being when I held 67s, and the flop came 345 rainbow, and I got into a 3 way all in between full stackers. one had 33 for a set, the other guy spazzed out with like k5. the straight held up, and i took down a 30$$ pot. it was slick. Beyond that, there were only like two times during the entire session where i honestly just sucked out, the rest was pretty solid.
In 10nl now, its surprising how quickly my br can grow (or plummet). I know its just logical, but its one thing to say it, and another thing to see it.
i think ill wrap up this post by just saying that if youre reading this (hah, nobody reads this), just know that hard work and studying really do pay off in the long run. it may take longer than you expected, and there will be days when you may feel like quitting, but if you persevere, you can attain great results.
anyways, now that Ive finished writing like Im some sort of baller poker pro, Im probably lined up for another 10-15bi downswing.
cheers mates, and gl at the tables!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Day 99
Well, three smirnoff ices into the day, I decided I had taken a long enough break from poker (I havent been playing for the past few days), so I decided to give 10nl another shot. To compensate for the booze and bad play in recent past, I decided to cut down my usual 6-tabling to only 2. The results?
well...when 6-tabling, I found myself hitting some pretty chaotic swings, and overall losing money at a slow (or sometimes faster) rate. 2-tabling last night, I made 4bi +10$$ bonus for a whopping total of +50$$, with almost no swings whatsoever. The big question here, I guess is why, and I have a bit of an answer to that. It might seem really obvious (and it probably is), but there is a whole shitload of little bits and pieces of information that I lose out on when I multitable. Also, when multitabling, I tend to fall into a pattern, and can suffer from a lack of thinking in my decision making, just relying on a set strategy. Which I guess wouldn't be so bad if I actually had a kickass strategy, but seeing as I am not that level of poker god, it tends not to work out quite so fortunately. Instead, I end up finding myself in spots where I dont really have any reads on my opponents, and so Im left with some % chance that I should call, and in those spots, I tend to overestimate that %, thus leading to Old Faithful-esque spew.
I also suspect a little that people on Cake play worse at night than during the day, but thats just a bit of an aside.
Anyways, my new strategy is going to be to pay REALLY FREAKING CLOSE attention to the tables Im involved with. For now, Im going to stick with 2-tabling (tonight's results are quite reminiscent of my initial stab into 10nl, when I also made 5bi in a single session, 2-tabling), with the possibility of increasing the number of tables up to maybe 4, not dependent on my br, but rather dependent on the limits of my attention. Thus, my new task in improving as a poker player will be practicing attention discipline. That is, if I'm paying attention well at 2 tables and feel like opening a third (or 3-> 4) fine, but when I find that Im not paying as close attention to table action as I should be, I gotta close 1(or more) tables, and just work with that.
gl at the tables, mates.
well...when 6-tabling, I found myself hitting some pretty chaotic swings, and overall losing money at a slow (or sometimes faster) rate. 2-tabling last night, I made 4bi +10$$ bonus for a whopping total of +50$$, with almost no swings whatsoever. The big question here, I guess is why, and I have a bit of an answer to that. It might seem really obvious (and it probably is), but there is a whole shitload of little bits and pieces of information that I lose out on when I multitable. Also, when multitabling, I tend to fall into a pattern, and can suffer from a lack of thinking in my decision making, just relying on a set strategy. Which I guess wouldn't be so bad if I actually had a kickass strategy, but seeing as I am not that level of poker god, it tends not to work out quite so fortunately. Instead, I end up finding myself in spots where I dont really have any reads on my opponents, and so Im left with some % chance that I should call, and in those spots, I tend to overestimate that %, thus leading to Old Faithful-esque spew.
I also suspect a little that people on Cake play worse at night than during the day, but thats just a bit of an aside.
Anyways, my new strategy is going to be to pay REALLY FREAKING CLOSE attention to the tables Im involved with. For now, Im going to stick with 2-tabling (tonight's results are quite reminiscent of my initial stab into 10nl, when I also made 5bi in a single session, 2-tabling), with the possibility of increasing the number of tables up to maybe 4, not dependent on my br, but rather dependent on the limits of my attention. Thus, my new task in improving as a poker player will be practicing attention discipline. That is, if I'm paying attention well at 2 tables and feel like opening a third (or 3-> 4) fine, but when I find that Im not paying as close attention to table action as I should be, I gotta close 1(or more) tables, and just work with that.
gl at the tables, mates.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Day 98
played well, made profit, hit some bad beats, got distracted by a phone call, and tilted away profits and more. br is ~305
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Day 97
8$$ poker profit 0$$ bonus after about 4-5 hours or so.
this is so much rougher than it was back in 4nl. the difference is striking. course it could be that im just not that great at poker, and still have loads to learn.
overall, its more of a grind. people dont pay out as much, there are more short stackers, and you cant call as much for showdown value.
till next time ->
this is so much rougher than it was back in 4nl. the difference is striking. course it could be that im just not that great at poker, and still have loads to learn.
overall, its more of a grind. people dont pay out as much, there are more short stackers, and you cant call as much for showdown value.
till next time ->
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Day 96
grinding, grinding, grinding.
i probably played for about 7 hours or so today, and i made a total of 7$$ profit through poker. with depo bonus, i ended at +17$$
it was very up and down, and im still not quite beating the game. for now though, ill take any little victories i get, and in the meantime, ill continue grinding, grinding, grinding.
i probably played for about 7 hours or so today, and i made a total of 7$$ profit through poker. with depo bonus, i ended at +17$$
it was very up and down, and im still not quite beating the game. for now though, ill take any little victories i get, and in the meantime, ill continue grinding, grinding, grinding.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Day 95
aaaaaand its back to 10nl
edit: a little on that little swing out and back into 10nl- I went into 10nl assuming that I would be needing to do something vastly different than I had been doing to moderate success at 4nl. This time, Im going to generally try to play the same sort of game, and see what comes of it.
edit: a little on that little swing out and back into 10nl- I went into 10nl assuming that I would be needing to do something vastly different than I had been doing to moderate success at 4nl. This time, Im going to generally try to play the same sort of game, and see what comes of it.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Day 93
stole this from daven's sig on ftr. it helped me in the way i view poker, maybe if youre reading this, it can help you too
"
If you are a winning player, everytime you lose at the poker table is bad variance. This can be bad emotional variance, bad thought process approximation variance, bad situational variance, or any of the typical variance people talk about. It’s simple, but it’s true.
"
edit: oh, also i made my 5th bi at 10nl today, so the br is just above 350
cheers
edit 2: coincidentally, today also marks another milestone, that being the first time my online raw poker profits on cake broke 100$$ ;)
"
If you are a winning player, everytime you lose at the poker table is bad variance. This can be bad emotional variance, bad thought process approximation variance, bad situational variance, or any of the typical variance people talk about. It’s simple, but it’s true.
"
edit: oh, also i made my 5th bi at 10nl today, so the br is just above 350
cheers
edit 2: coincidentally, today also marks another milestone, that being the first time my online raw poker profits on cake broke 100$$ ;)
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Day 92
I had my first day of 10nl today annnnnnd......it went well! \o/
For now, I'm just 2-tabling until I feel comfortable doing more. Ended up with just a bit more than 2bi of profit. good times. now i just need to not get cocky, keep studying, do session reviews, and post hands.
cheers!
For now, I'm just 2-tabling until I feel comfortable doing more. Ended up with just a bit more than 2bi of profit. good times. now i just need to not get cocky, keep studying, do session reviews, and post hands.
cheers!
Monday, August 8, 2011
Day 91 - Milestone
Thats right mates, today marks a major milestone for me. Though my profit through poker is not the most its ever been, with my deposit bonus, my bankroll just broke 300$$
I am so stoked. I may have mentioned this before, but its a pretty crazy feeling to be moving up in stakes through proper bankroll management.
I am so excited, in fact, that Im not going to start until tomorrow night probably. In the meantime, Im gonna study, prep my A game, and cool my head. Also, I'm going to have a great day.
goodbye for now, 4nl, and hello 10nl. Ill probably have to move back down to 4nl in the future, but Ill cross that bridge when I get to it.
Cheers mates!
I am so stoked. I may have mentioned this before, but its a pretty crazy feeling to be moving up in stakes through proper bankroll management.
I am so excited, in fact, that Im not going to start until tomorrow night probably. In the meantime, Im gonna study, prep my A game, and cool my head. Also, I'm going to have a great day.
goodbye for now, 4nl, and hello 10nl. Ill probably have to move back down to 4nl in the future, but Ill cross that bridge when I get to it.
Cheers mates!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Day 90
i went on tilt and ended up losing all the profit i made from the wonderful bot. that was two nights ago. ive been playing through the night again, and ive been realize some things.
for one, cake poker sure has a lot of bots.
--
so this one time
i was sitting around
playing poker
and thinking about just how exploitable bots are
and thinking about the ways to systematically exploit the ways they work
since the trick is just figuring out how theyre programmed
how they work
and then i realized
that people are just the same.
the trick is
just depersonalize the game
imagine all your opps are bots
and then figure out how to beat them
logically, and systematically
if you know a bots going to raise any reraise preflop with suited cards
just raise to iso, flat the rr
and then take the good flops
leave the bad ones
its delightful
people are only a little more tricky
they adjust and such
but really, what is that besides slightly more complex programming
the most difficult thing to get a grasp of is the speed at which people adjust
and its hard to keep in mind for each individual opp
but thats just one aspect
there are so many other ways to use and abuse in poker
--
also, another thing ive come to realize is that i actually have a pretty decent game, i can generally make profit at a pretty stable rate. the biggest problem i have right now thats keeping me from making the kind of profit i want is just tilt. ive pretty much gotten over card tilt, since ive been playing for a little while now, and with good bankroll management practices, when bad beats happen, its like no difference at all. now i just need to work on dealing with life tilt, which is now my far the biggest leak in my game. its kinda funny how my biggest leak has nothing to do with poker. well, sometimes it does, but not in a direct way at least.
for one, cake poker sure has a lot of bots.
--
so this one time
i was sitting around
playing poker
and thinking about just how exploitable bots are
and thinking about the ways to systematically exploit the ways they work
since the trick is just figuring out how theyre programmed
how they work
and then i realized
that people are just the same.
the trick is
just depersonalize the game
imagine all your opps are bots
and then figure out how to beat them
logically, and systematically
if you know a bots going to raise any reraise preflop with suited cards
just raise to iso, flat the rr
and then take the good flops
leave the bad ones
its delightful
people are only a little more tricky
they adjust and such
but really, what is that besides slightly more complex programming
the most difficult thing to get a grasp of is the speed at which people adjust
and its hard to keep in mind for each individual opp
but thats just one aspect
there are so many other ways to use and abuse in poker
--
also, another thing ive come to realize is that i actually have a pretty decent game, i can generally make profit at a pretty stable rate. the biggest problem i have right now thats keeping me from making the kind of profit i want is just tilt. ive pretty much gotten over card tilt, since ive been playing for a little while now, and with good bankroll management practices, when bad beats happen, its like no difference at all. now i just need to work on dealing with life tilt, which is now my far the biggest leak in my game. its kinda funny how my biggest leak has nothing to do with poker. well, sometimes it does, but not in a direct way at least.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Day 89
Just finished for the night with about +9bi.
yes, i know. this is just silly. majority of profit was due to finding a bot who called every bet. also, tonight marked the first time i won a 30$$ pot in a 4nl game; i got aa vs another deepstacker's kk, with the bot in the hand, full stacked. flop comes 233, the rest is history.
br is now just short of 290$$, and so im suddenly quite close to my benchmark for starting 10nl, which is 30bi at 10nl.
its a weird feeling to be getting ready to move up in the stakes as a result of proper bankroll management. completely different from tilt-induced "OH I NEED TO GO TO BIGGER STAKES TO GET MAH MONEY BACK FASTUR"
yes, i know. this is just silly. majority of profit was due to finding a bot who called every bet. also, tonight marked the first time i won a 30$$ pot in a 4nl game; i got aa vs another deepstacker's kk, with the bot in the hand, full stacked. flop comes 233, the rest is history.
br is now just short of 290$$, and so im suddenly quite close to my benchmark for starting 10nl, which is 30bi at 10nl.
its a weird feeling to be getting ready to move up in the stakes as a result of proper bankroll management. completely different from tilt-induced "OH I NEED TO GO TO BIGGER STAKES TO GET MAH MONEY BACK FASTUR"
Monday, August 1, 2011
Day 88
Well, I just finished a + ~6bi night. Though I know that a lot of that was just positive variance, I'd still like to attribute a little bit of that success to studying. Also, rakeback rocks my socks. current br sits just a smidgeon short of 250 again.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Day 87
well, as i write this, im officially back where i started. i have managed to lose all of the profits i made playing poker on CP.
though thats not entire accurate, i still have made some money off of rakeback bonus, but if i continue playing this way, it wont be long before that disappears also. new plan: keep playing, keep reading, keep studying, and try to play as well as possible.
ok, so thats not really the new plan as much as it is the old plan.
hopefully, i can do it better than i have been.
though thats not entire accurate, i still have made some money off of rakeback bonus, but if i continue playing this way, it wont be long before that disappears also. new plan: keep playing, keep reading, keep studying, and try to play as well as possible.
ok, so thats not really the new plan as much as it is the old plan.
hopefully, i can do it better than i have been.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Day 86
br is sitting at about 220. SADFACE
still not bad since im technically up 60, but a lot of that is now due to rakeback, as opposed to good poker.
still not bad since im technically up 60, but a lot of that is now due to rakeback, as opposed to good poker.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Day 85
So Ive been playing around with some probability simulators lately, not so much to come to a greater understanding of individual plays, but rather to get a feel for long-term variance. I think one of my biggest leaks currently is that I tilt too easily after a moderate period of neg variance, which leads to me questioning plays i shouldnt, and generally playing worse.
more later!
more later!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Day 84
had a pretty sickening downswing today. i was doing well, but then i lost my profits. brs at ~250, which i know is still good in the long run, but id rather be up.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Day 83
had a very slick upswing today. busted 2 people with a set of 3s, and then busted a tall stack with aa vs ak on a k high board. played for a bit over an hour, ended at about 259.
things are going well.
things are going well.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Day 82
didnt want to post until my br broke 240, but i changed my mind, what with the weekend ending and all. in todays session, i decided to try 6tabling. its been a while since ive tried that many tables, and it has never done anything good for my bankroll, so this was an experiment. why did i do this? because i feel that ive been playing better, and smarter lately. im not trying to get super tricky in a million spots, im just trying to play solid, good poker, taking advantage of a few exploitable things when they come up.
the session started out pretty awfully, and i dropped about 2bi. then i managed to make back everything i lost and more, only to hit a string of negative variance in which my aa, kk and some other hand that i forgot were cracked pretty much back to back. and thats when i started playing 10$$ heads up sngs.
just kidding! i noticed the tilt, calmed myself down, and kept playing solid poker. made back my losses again, and ended the day with a br of 235. good days.
now im gonna watch some house, have dinner, and pass out(hopefully) before class tomorrow
the session started out pretty awfully, and i dropped about 2bi. then i managed to make back everything i lost and more, only to hit a string of negative variance in which my aa, kk and some other hand that i forgot were cracked pretty much back to back. and thats when i started playing 10$$ heads up sngs.
just kidding! i noticed the tilt, calmed myself down, and kept playing solid poker. made back my losses again, and ended the day with a br of 235. good days.
now im gonna watch some house, have dinner, and pass out(hopefully) before class tomorrow
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Day 81
so yeah, my upswing has been continuing nicely lately. after that downswing i had between days 79-80, my br has been slowly climbing, and just today broke 220 after some undoubtedly positive variance. it certainly helps to study though :)
Friday, July 1, 2011
Day 80
Yayyy, my br broke 200 again
for the record, I totally dont have an unequal representation of good and bad days per number of posts. just sayin. absolutely no way that i tend to post losing days less often than winning days.
but anyways, the downswing i had since the last post wasnt too bad, and it certainly helped that i had a big enough br to sustain it without causing me too much worry. during it, i went on tilt and started to get the urge to play in some sngs/hu sngs to make up lost ground, but since thats my self-read for when im tilting, i stopped myself before i lost even more cash.
CHACHING.
moral of the story, 0ev - (-ev) = +(realtive)ev
for the record, I totally dont have an unequal representation of good and bad days per number of posts. just sayin. absolutely no way that i tend to post losing days less often than winning days.
but anyways, the downswing i had since the last post wasnt too bad, and it certainly helped that i had a big enough br to sustain it without causing me too much worry. during it, i went on tilt and started to get the urge to play in some sngs/hu sngs to make up lost ground, but since thats my self-read for when im tilting, i stopped myself before i lost even more cash.
CHACHING.
moral of the story, 0ev - (-ev) = +(realtive)ev
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Day 79
boop boop be doop.
br just broke 200. :)
i didnt play much after the last post, but ive been studying and playing for the last week. 4-5 days maybe, but still. getting deposit bonus is a nice addition, and it certainly helped that i found a bot that frequents the site, and ive been taking much of its money.
br is halfway to my next goal, though progresswise, im only 1/6th of the way there.
played badly at first today, took a short break, and started playing better. i was looking over my stats, and i realized that ive been running pretty lucky. aa 20 times, and didnt lose one. shortly after seeing that, i lost a couple aa xD
some suckouts, and i havent been paying quite enough attention to my opponents(reading, and taking notes, etc), but im pretty sure ive been playing better. though in retrospect, i could be playing MUCH better if i was paying more attention.
ill have to try to remember that for future reference.
on a non-poker note, im starting summer classes tomorrow, so i probably wont be able to put in as much poker time as i would like, but im not worried. ive gotta get my grades up, and itll be nice to have something else to do.
cheers!
br just broke 200. :)
i didnt play much after the last post, but ive been studying and playing for the last week. 4-5 days maybe, but still. getting deposit bonus is a nice addition, and it certainly helped that i found a bot that frequents the site, and ive been taking much of its money.
br is halfway to my next goal, though progresswise, im only 1/6th of the way there.
played badly at first today, took a short break, and started playing better. i was looking over my stats, and i realized that ive been running pretty lucky. aa 20 times, and didnt lose one. shortly after seeing that, i lost a couple aa xD
some suckouts, and i havent been paying quite enough attention to my opponents(reading, and taking notes, etc), but im pretty sure ive been playing better. though in retrospect, i could be playing MUCH better if i was paying more attention.
ill have to try to remember that for future reference.
on a non-poker note, im starting summer classes tomorrow, so i probably wont be able to put in as much poker time as i would like, but im not worried. ive gotta get my grades up, and itll be nice to have something else to do.
cheers!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Day 77
Hit up the casino again, more 1-3
I went in tired, and didn't play very well, so for a while I was in a little bit of danger of coming out negative, but I managed to make about +160$$ profit.
Bankroll now sits at 1225$$
I have four buy-ins to a game where i should have 30. Next time I go, I am making sure i get plenty of sleep beforehand.
I went in tired, and didn't play very well, so for a while I was in a little bit of danger of coming out negative, but I managed to make about +160$$ profit.
Bankroll now sits at 1225$$
I have four buy-ins to a game where i should have 30. Next time I go, I am making sure i get plenty of sleep beforehand.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Day 76+
Ok, so I know it hasn't been 15 minutes since my last post, but I just received an email from FTP telling me they processed my Take 2 bonus money, so I just got 25$$ more in my account. If that's not a good sign, especially just after my last post, then I dont know what is.
:D
:D
Day 76
Well mates, it's been a little while.
In the meantime, things have been happening in the poker world as a whole, and for me individually. Ever since black friday hit, I haven't played online at all due to the FBI closing down FTP (among others) to all US players. So in response, I decided I could give a live cash game one solid chance. I know Im not really rolled for it, but I went in with the intention of playing the best poker I could, and hopefully, riding some positive variance to build a br.
So here are the results so far
Day 1) Bought into a 2-4 (1-2) game with 200, lost a bit, bought in for 100 more, and came out with 140$$ profit.
Day 2) Bought into a 1-3 game with 300, played tight-solid-agg, made profit, lost a bit when my flush got river royaled, and continued to play solidly. Ended the day with 660$$ profit.
Net results = 300 (original investment) + 800 (profit) - 40 (removed to pay for some stuff) = 1060 $$
So there it is folks, I guess I'm beginning my live game career. I've started up a new bank account solely dedicated to the br, since I want to keep my funds separate. Also, I know that even 1k is an uncomfortably small br for 1-3 stakes, but considering thats the smallest stakes available at casinos around here, its the best I can do. My plan is to keep playing the best poker I can, and hopefully build a sustainable roll from there. It's going to take a lot of concentration, but I think I can do it. My next goal is to get to 2.5-3k, at which I will have ~10BI, followed by 5-6k, for 20BI, and then 9-10k for ~30BI. From there, I plan to follow proper bankroll management, and hopefully, hopefully make this the most successful venture I've engaged in.
I've come a long way since I've started, and learned a lot, but I still have a lot to learn yet.
As far as online goes, I'm probably going to start playing again on a different site once I can withdraw my funds from FTP, but until then, I'm only going to leave funds in one site at a time, especially with the feds getting bloodthirsty for online poker.
Good luck mates.
In the meantime, things have been happening in the poker world as a whole, and for me individually. Ever since black friday hit, I haven't played online at all due to the FBI closing down FTP (among others) to all US players. So in response, I decided I could give a live cash game one solid chance. I know Im not really rolled for it, but I went in with the intention of playing the best poker I could, and hopefully, riding some positive variance to build a br.
So here are the results so far
Day 1) Bought into a 2-4 (1-2) game with 200, lost a bit, bought in for 100 more, and came out with 140$$ profit.
Day 2) Bought into a 1-3 game with 300, played tight-solid-agg, made profit, lost a bit when my flush got river royaled, and continued to play solidly. Ended the day with 660$$ profit.
Net results = 300 (original investment) + 800 (profit) - 40 (removed to pay for some stuff) = 1060 $$
So there it is folks, I guess I'm beginning my live game career. I've started up a new bank account solely dedicated to the br, since I want to keep my funds separate. Also, I know that even 1k is an uncomfortably small br for 1-3 stakes, but considering thats the smallest stakes available at casinos around here, its the best I can do. My plan is to keep playing the best poker I can, and hopefully build a sustainable roll from there. It's going to take a lot of concentration, but I think I can do it. My next goal is to get to 2.5-3k, at which I will have ~10BI, followed by 5-6k, for 20BI, and then 9-10k for ~30BI. From there, I plan to follow proper bankroll management, and hopefully, hopefully make this the most successful venture I've engaged in.
I've come a long way since I've started, and learned a lot, but I still have a lot to learn yet.
As far as online goes, I'm probably going to start playing again on a different site once I can withdraw my funds from FTP, but until then, I'm only going to leave funds in one site at a time, especially with the feds getting bloodthirsty for online poker.
Good luck mates.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Day 75
Day 75
Annnnnnd its back to 2nl for now. There are obviously some lessons that I still need to learn. But at least this time, I'm following proper bankroll management, so Im not really too worried about losing a few buyins attempting to crack 5nl.
Till next time, good luck at the tables, mates.
Annnnnnd its back to 2nl for now. There are obviously some lessons that I still need to learn. But at least this time, I'm following proper bankroll management, so Im not really too worried about losing a few buyins attempting to crack 5nl.
Till next time, good luck at the tables, mates.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Day 74
Day 74
Went in, decided to quit if i lost 2 buyins.
Attempt #1 to break 5nl - fail.
till next time.
Went in, decided to quit if i lost 2 buyins.
Attempt #1 to break 5nl - fail.
till next time.
Day 73
Day 73
The day has come. As I type this, my bankroll sits at exactly 100.60$$
this is the first time my br has hit triple digits, so its a pretty awesome day for me. In addition to that, this means that I now have a decent br to begin taking stabs in 5nl. wish me luck guys
and to anyone reading this, good luck at the tables.
The day has come. As I type this, my bankroll sits at exactly 100.60$$
this is the first time my br has hit triple digits, so its a pretty awesome day for me. In addition to that, this means that I now have a decent br to begin taking stabs in 5nl. wish me luck guys
and to anyone reading this, good luck at the tables.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Day 72
Day 72
I've surpassed my all time high. br sits at around 89$$
I hope this time though I don't manage to implode and blow all my hard-earned winnings. come the triple digits, I'll be near (if not in) the range where I can begin taking regular stabs at 5nl. The big difference between now and the last time I was at this size of a bankroll is that this time, I'm not jumping-out-of-my-pants ecstatic to have such a "giant" bankroll because I've obviously figured out how to "beat" poker. 5nl isn't the prize here, its just a step. I almost even hardly view moving up as different from staying in 2nl.
Ive taken a little break from the cash games lately, and have been meddling around in some 1-3 table 2$ sngs, in which I've been doing fairly well, considering all of my profit since last post has been due to this, with an additional 2$ that I had lost in the cash game. I find it kinda helps to occasionally switch up what game I play, because it keeps me from falling into a rut, as I've done in the past when I played either cash or sngs to death. Eventually, I just get tired of the same old thing, over and over again, and I got sloppy. Didn't pay enough attention and such.
One of the most important lessons I've bee learning lately is that in poker, as well as in life, the most important person you need to develop reads on is not among the people around you, or who's battling for your chips, it's yourself. It's far too easy to slip into tilt, and not even notice. In life, you'll end up making a fool of yourself, in poker, you'll spew all your chips away. In the words of a wise man, you have to "check yourself before you wreck yourself". I know I've talked about this before, but its worth repeating. When you're on tilt, it's very easy to get carried away by it, and overlook the effect it's having. So take notes, and when you notice yourself beginning to tilt, recognize it, and own it. By just doing that, you'll not only be able to limit the damage, but maybe you'll even be able to train yourself to develop triggers to counteract tilt, when you recognize it occurring. Maybe. I haven't gotten that last part down perfectly in poker, nor life, but I'm trying, and so far the results have been positive.
anyways, good luck at the tables, mates.
I've surpassed my all time high. br sits at around 89$$
I hope this time though I don't manage to implode and blow all my hard-earned winnings. come the triple digits, I'll be near (if not in) the range where I can begin taking regular stabs at 5nl. The big difference between now and the last time I was at this size of a bankroll is that this time, I'm not jumping-out-of-my-pants ecstatic to have such a "giant" bankroll because I've obviously figured out how to "beat" poker. 5nl isn't the prize here, its just a step. I almost even hardly view moving up as different from staying in 2nl.
Ive taken a little break from the cash games lately, and have been meddling around in some 1-3 table 2$ sngs, in which I've been doing fairly well, considering all of my profit since last post has been due to this, with an additional 2$ that I had lost in the cash game. I find it kinda helps to occasionally switch up what game I play, because it keeps me from falling into a rut, as I've done in the past when I played either cash or sngs to death. Eventually, I just get tired of the same old thing, over and over again, and I got sloppy. Didn't pay enough attention and such.
One of the most important lessons I've bee learning lately is that in poker, as well as in life, the most important person you need to develop reads on is not among the people around you, or who's battling for your chips, it's yourself. It's far too easy to slip into tilt, and not even notice. In life, you'll end up making a fool of yourself, in poker, you'll spew all your chips away. In the words of a wise man, you have to "check yourself before you wreck yourself". I know I've talked about this before, but its worth repeating. When you're on tilt, it's very easy to get carried away by it, and overlook the effect it's having. So take notes, and when you notice yourself beginning to tilt, recognize it, and own it. By just doing that, you'll not only be able to limit the damage, but maybe you'll even be able to train yourself to develop triggers to counteract tilt, when you recognize it occurring. Maybe. I haven't gotten that last part down perfectly in poker, nor life, but I'm trying, and so far the results have been positive.
anyways, good luck at the tables, mates.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Day 71
Day 71
Took my first real, honest, careful step into .02/.05. I wasn't following proper br management, per say, but I had just come off a +20$ session of .01/.02. Important things to note- 1)I didn't go to 5nl to try to make back lost money. 2)Before the 5nl session, I knew, and literally said to myself that at the time, I was capable of playing very good poker. 3)Instead of 4 tabling, I just sat at one, and paid very close attention. 4)My goal in playing 5nl was not to make crazy profit, but rather to start to get a feel for the game. 5)I set myself a TIME limit of about a half hour, since I needed to get to sleep early. 6)I stopped playing at the time I predesignated, and with about $1.5 profit.
Oh yeah, and if you were curious, I mentioned that it wasn't proper br management, but I'll be more specific. Going into the 5nl, I had about 15bi (for 5nl, that is). So while it wasn't the 20-25 bi rule that you'll hear quoted all around the net, it wasn't terrible. Not ideal, but not terrible.
Anyways, till next time, good luck at the tables.
Took my first real, honest, careful step into .02/.05. I wasn't following proper br management, per say, but I had just come off a +20$ session of .01/.02. Important things to note- 1)I didn't go to 5nl to try to make back lost money. 2)Before the 5nl session, I knew, and literally said to myself that at the time, I was capable of playing very good poker. 3)Instead of 4 tabling, I just sat at one, and paid very close attention. 4)My goal in playing 5nl was not to make crazy profit, but rather to start to get a feel for the game. 5)I set myself a TIME limit of about a half hour, since I needed to get to sleep early. 6)I stopped playing at the time I predesignated, and with about $1.5 profit.
Oh yeah, and if you were curious, I mentioned that it wasn't proper br management, but I'll be more specific. Going into the 5nl, I had about 15bi (for 5nl, that is). So while it wasn't the 20-25 bi rule that you'll hear quoted all around the net, it wasn't terrible. Not ideal, but not terrible.
Anyways, till next time, good luck at the tables.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Day 70
Day 70
Tilt happens. You can be playing well and doing just fine, and then you get 5 back to back bad beats, killing all the profit you made for the day. Hopefully, you can stay calm and just ride out the storm, but lets face it; we're human, and we make mistakes. So for that one time when it really gets to you, and you start spewing chips, just remember: if you play badly, your opponents WILL notice, and they will try their darndest to abuse you for every penny you're worth. It's not good or bad, it's just poker, and advantage is the name of the game.
When you start playing badly, it's easy to say to yourself that you've made a bad call, tried to pull a donkish bluff, or whatever flavor you're spewing at the time. But poker isn't just about knowing what's right or wrong, it's about acting on that knowledge. When you're on tilt, you may be able to recall certain strategies or odds, but the real harm is that you've lost the feel of the game you're sitting at. What was once your felt worktable now becomes a foreign place to sit, where all eyes are on you. It itches like wool on bare skin, and when you're distracted to that extent, it's impossible to focus on the warzone in front of you.
But Rome wasn't built in a day, and it can't fall in one day either. Sure it may burn pretty fast, but more often than not, fate gives you the option to get your bucket of water, and put out the fires before they spread. When you start playing badly, people WILL notice, but they won't notice immediately. Even if they're the sort to catch on quick, they still need to wait for the right cards. So the trick is, in the little time you have, you need to beat your opponents to the punch, and notice yourself playing badly. Like I said, it's easy to look at a decision you made and see that it was wrong, but to really succeed, you need to have the feel for it; you need to truly understand that you're playing badly.
So my advice? Figure out some way to test yourself mid-game. You can try thinking of your tilted self as another opponent at the table. Observe what kinds of hands he plays, what his leaks are, things that differentiate the way he plays from the way your profitable self plays. Take notes. Then, when he rears his ugly face at your poker table, you'll be ready. You may end up having to play some hands with him before you can pick up on his reads, but once you've got them, you can bring them to the next table, and the next, and the next.
So remember, if you can notice yourself playing badly before your opponents, you'll be able to save yourself a looooot of money. Trust me, I've seen both sides of it.
Good luck at the tables,
Z
Tilt happens. You can be playing well and doing just fine, and then you get 5 back to back bad beats, killing all the profit you made for the day. Hopefully, you can stay calm and just ride out the storm, but lets face it; we're human, and we make mistakes. So for that one time when it really gets to you, and you start spewing chips, just remember: if you play badly, your opponents WILL notice, and they will try their darndest to abuse you for every penny you're worth. It's not good or bad, it's just poker, and advantage is the name of the game.
When you start playing badly, it's easy to say to yourself that you've made a bad call, tried to pull a donkish bluff, or whatever flavor you're spewing at the time. But poker isn't just about knowing what's right or wrong, it's about acting on that knowledge. When you're on tilt, you may be able to recall certain strategies or odds, but the real harm is that you've lost the feel of the game you're sitting at. What was once your felt worktable now becomes a foreign place to sit, where all eyes are on you. It itches like wool on bare skin, and when you're distracted to that extent, it's impossible to focus on the warzone in front of you.
But Rome wasn't built in a day, and it can't fall in one day either. Sure it may burn pretty fast, but more often than not, fate gives you the option to get your bucket of water, and put out the fires before they spread. When you start playing badly, people WILL notice, but they won't notice immediately. Even if they're the sort to catch on quick, they still need to wait for the right cards. So the trick is, in the little time you have, you need to beat your opponents to the punch, and notice yourself playing badly. Like I said, it's easy to look at a decision you made and see that it was wrong, but to really succeed, you need to have the feel for it; you need to truly understand that you're playing badly.
So my advice? Figure out some way to test yourself mid-game. You can try thinking of your tilted self as another opponent at the table. Observe what kinds of hands he plays, what his leaks are, things that differentiate the way he plays from the way your profitable self plays. Take notes. Then, when he rears his ugly face at your poker table, you'll be ready. You may end up having to play some hands with him before you can pick up on his reads, but once you've got them, you can bring them to the next table, and the next, and the next.
So remember, if you can notice yourself playing badly before your opponents, you'll be able to save yourself a looooot of money. Trust me, I've seen both sides of it.
Good luck at the tables,
Z
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Day 69+
Just wanted to add on an additional thought for today. If you want to improve your game a bit (assuming youre not balla already), try thinking along these lines - Every time you make a bad decision, you lose money, even if you win the pot. Likewise, every time you make a good decision, you make money, even if you lose the pot.
if you can make yourself believe that, youll save yourself a lot of money, suck out less, and be better equipped mentally for when the bad beats come. and trust me, they come.
if you can make yourself believe that, youll save yourself a lot of money, suck out less, and be better equipped mentally for when the bad beats come. and trust me, they come.
Day 69
Day 69
Probably the most important thing Ive learned about poker lately is that you cant expect to have profitable days every day, and that having some negative days does not make you incompetent. It just comes along with the territory, and if you can accept that, youll instantly become about 3x as profitable. Of course, you need to have good fundamentals, because without it, youll just be spewing money, but if you can accept that little word of wisdom, youll save yourself a lot of grief for when that string of negative variance days comes. its not really the bad beats that make you lose money, its the mindset that youre inching closer to desperation.
all that said, Ive been doing quite well fairly consistently, and ive been keeping careful tabs on how my game changes when i start tilting so that i can keep an eye out for it in the future.
anyways, thats all for now, so back to the game, and good luck at the tables, mates.
Probably the most important thing Ive learned about poker lately is that you cant expect to have profitable days every day, and that having some negative days does not make you incompetent. It just comes along with the territory, and if you can accept that, youll instantly become about 3x as profitable. Of course, you need to have good fundamentals, because without it, youll just be spewing money, but if you can accept that little word of wisdom, youll save yourself a lot of grief for when that string of negative variance days comes. its not really the bad beats that make you lose money, its the mindset that youre inching closer to desperation.
all that said, Ive been doing quite well fairly consistently, and ive been keeping careful tabs on how my game changes when i start tilting so that i can keep an eye out for it in the future.
anyways, thats all for now, so back to the game, and good luck at the tables, mates.
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