I think it's important to realize when you're losing and accept that truth rather then deny it. That's why right now I'm admitting that I am losing @ NL200... and I just can't seem to beat it.
I think there's a lot of contributing factors, but the bottom line is that my stupid mistakes are killing me, and because of them my edge is not enough to make up for any suckouts I face. If I don't run into any suckouts I come out barely ahead. If I get sucked out on, I crash and burn. I don't have a very big edge at the limit cause I'm kicking my own ass with stupidity left and right.
I am not playing my A game. When I was playing NL100 I was on top of my shit, keeping myself calm, not being phased at all by coolers, putting people on hands, and most importantly I felt very confident about what to do in every situation. Now I am nearly always confused by betting patterns, can't put people on a hand, and am always worried about losing any money.
I thought moving up with 30 buyins would leave me with a big enough cushion that I'd be ok. I think I was wrong. I am way too worried about every single pot I lose and am put into tilt by the slightest thing going wrong. I'm making decisions to protect the money I have rather than maximize profit in the long run. I'm betting small on big hands cause I REALLY don't want people to fold and I wanna get some value... I'm betting big on weak hands cause I don't want to get sucked out on. I'm C Betting way too much in a hope to pull down any pot so that I can get some money back. It has turned into a sad desperate affair.
I was actually playing top notch poker for a good hour earlier tonight, but then I hit 2 coolers at the same time which basically erased my entire profit for the session, which lead me to make a bad tilty call-down... then I hit one more cooler and finally had the good sense to get off the comp. That all took me down to the point where I need to drop to NL100 again and rebuild.
My plan for now is to rebuild to a much bigger BR, at least $7,000 before playing NL200 again. I think if I can play with a big enough cushion I will be able to focus on good poker rather than fretting over every hand won or lost. I also think a bit of time rebuilding confidence and working on my game overall should be good. I think I can win pretty solidly @ NL100 considering how I've done so far and how much easier it is than NL200. I'm not giving up forever, just backing off for now cause the bottom line is that I am not good enough to beat NL200 yet.
I've got a shitload of hands from NL200 that I need to ask questions on so I will post those up slowly as I play NL100... that way I can be studying for my move back up. I am also gonna go crazy on any good CR videos about a LAG style @ NL200. If anyone has any suggestions please post em below. I also want to give a HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL THE POSTERS IN THE MEDIUM STAKES FORUMS!!!! I have received a lot of great advice and am very grateful for all of it. People have been very generous in replying to my million threads and a million hands per thread. I just hope that I can be good enough to add input as well in the near future, cause right now I don't even want to give advice to anyone cause I'm afraid I'll just encourage em play worse, hehe.
Might as well close with my NL200 graph over the entire run... sounds appropriate!
As you can see below I've recently started taking shots @ NL200. I've been very disciplined about it and followed a strict set of rules:
-3 tables max
-2 stupid mistakes and I quit the session
-1 tilty mistake and I quit the session
-Move back to NL100 if I lose more than 3 buyins.
So doing that I've been up and down a lot lately. I peaked @ a $6,500 roll, but then I cashed out $500 to cover some expenses coming up in Feb with the new apartment. Jumped back onto NL200 with 30 buyins and lost 3 and a half, so I went back to NL100. Worked back to $5,900 and tried NL200 again. Dropped 1.5 buyins, took a break, then won 1.5 buyins. So I'm sitting @ $5,900 and down about 1.5 buyins lifetime in NL200.
I'm getting better at it. That's for sure. But it's by far the hardest transition I've ever made and it has been quite tough. I am not giving up on it though. I really feel like I'm mostly just shooting myself in the foot with some horrendously bad plays. It's just much harder to get money out of people and I get frustrated and tilt it off. I'm also facing so much more aggression that ends up confusing me and also tilts me eventually. I really am my own worst enemy cause every single big pot I lost was by doing something I KNOW I shouldn't do, but I ended up doing it anyway because of either tilt or overthinking the situation, possibly even trying to overthink it cause I want to get a reason to be involved.
Anyway, I've been going over my hands pretty meticulously so that I can figure out how to improve and beat this limit. Just posted 2 new threads on the medium stakes forum which I hope get some replies. Here are all those hands again, cause I wanna try and get as much help as possible:
Here are 2 hands that I feel like I spewed but I got lucky and it worked out for me. The first hand especially fits into that description. I really need a LOT of help and advice on these hands and fully expect to be berated for my idiocy, so flame away. Hands are in the spoilers.
1) Villain is super nitty TAG (7.5/6/3) reg who plays LOTS of tables (not sure how many cause he hides from search, but I see him everywhere). There are 3 questions I have about this hand.
A. I'm gonna be OOP and he opened 3x UTG with SUCH a tight PFR range... I can't fold AKs but I think that 3betting here is wrong. I did it cause it's just how I've always played, but I wasn't sure I was doing the right thing considering this guys image. It seems to me like calling and taking a flop is best rather than 3betting. Of course when he 4bets it's the nuts from such a tight player and I should have folded.
B. If I had just called preflop instead of 3betting, how do I handle that flop? It's a good flop for me but the queen kinda sux since it turns one of the pairs that I'm beating into a set or counterfeits my ace vs AQ... but otherwise it's not bad.
C. Considering how it was played (yes poorly) what do you do with that flop? I figured shove was my best choice.
As an end note, YES I KNOW THIS IS HORRIBLE. I was a bit tilty at the time which lead to my call of his 4bet... but once I hit that flop with that big of a pot, I think I'm going all the way.
POKERSTARS GAME #14782428406: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/01/24 - 02:23:07 (ET)
Table 'Attica' 6-max Seat #5 is the button
Seat 1: Bungalow8 ($349.35 in chips)
Seat 2: sexuelity ($204 in chips)
Seat 3: mocambique ($120 in chips)
Seat 4: NutPopper ($34 in chips)
Seat 5: AGGIE ($260 in chips)
Seat 6: k2o4 ($218.70 in chips)
k2o4 : posts small blind $1
Bungalow8: posts big blind $2
Holecards Dealt to k2o4
sexuelity: raises $4 to $6
mocambique: folds
NutPopper: folds
AGGIE: folds
k2o4 : raises $14 to $20
Bungalow8: folds
sexuelity: raises $48 to $68
k2o4 : calls $48
Flop (Pot : $138.00)
2) Villain playing loose @ 35/21/1.4 over 30 hands. How is my line here? I figure I'm 2 overs and a gutter on the flop. The turn puts me open ended. Was this spew or solid?
POKERSTARS GAME #14779242843: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/01/23 - 22:54:22 (ET)
Table 'Circe' 6-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: bones42 ($205 in chips)
Seat 2: 2PCME ($326.65 in chips)
Seat 3: mrcrgl ($200 in chips)
Seat 4: Swanie1 ($194 in chips)
Seat 5: k2o4 ($202 in chips)
Seat 6: jongreenway ($473.80 in chips)
k2o4 : posts small blind $1
jongreenway: posts big blind $2
Holecards Dealt to k2o4
bones42: raises $5 to $7
2PCME: folds
mrcrgl: calls $7
Swanie1: folds
k2o4 : raises $23 to $30
jongreenway: folds
bones42: folds
mrcrgl: calls $23
Flop (Pot : $69.00)
k2o4 : bets $43
mrcrgl: calls $43
Turn (Pot : $155.00)
k2o4 : bets $129 and is all-in
mrcrgl: folds
And
These are some hands that I feel I definitely misplayed, but am especially curious about the value I missed, cause I think I missed some. I've been playing a bit scared lately and not making as much on my winning hands. I posted these all together cause they have a similar theme and I don't want to spam the shit outta the forum. The hands are in the spoilers. Thanks for any help!
1) Villain playing 15/13/4 and opening like crazy from the button and cutoff. The button was very loose. I thought this was a great spot for a squeeze so I went for it. I've noticed @ NL200 so far that lots of people tend to check the flop acting first after 3betting, especially on these types of 1 high card 2 rag boards, and go for a CRAI, or will lead the turn if there's a check behind. This guy seemed kinda smart so I figured that I'd use that line on him to represent a bigger hand. When the Q came on the turn I kept up with that line making the bet but also being on a semi-bluff. I expected to take it down right there and was surprised that he called.
Here's the main question - How do I bet this river? Did I miss value here by shoving?
POKERSTARS GAME #14782208541: HOLD'EM NO LIMIT ($1/$2) - 2008/01/24 - 02:02:25 (ET)
Table 'Medea II' 6-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: k2o4 ($201 in chips)
Seat 2: Huha ($161 in chips)
Seat 3: agstremist ($360.85 in chips)
Seat 4: temberin ($252.20 in chips)
Seat 5: knsch ($225.70 in chips)
Seat 6: Chubsptrsn ($58.30 in chips)
k2o4 : posts small blind $1
Huha: posts big blind $2
Holecards Dealt to k2o4
agstremist: folds
temberin: folds
knsch: raises $6 to $8
Chubsptrsn: calls $8
k2o4 : raises $26 to $34
Huha: folds
knsch: calls $26
Chubsptrsn: folds
Flop (Pot : $78.00)
k2o4 : checks
knsch: checks
Turn (Pot : $78.00)
k2o4 : bets $49
knsch: calls $49
River (Pot : $176.00)
k2o4 : bets $118 and is all-in
knsch: folds
2) Villain playing 34/26/2.6 over 23 hands and no other info. Did I miss value here? I checked the turn figuring that a bare J would fold to a bet and that if a flush hit on the river I'd have a good chance to get paid off. Maybe I should have bet smaller there to look like a scared attempt to represent the A, which may keep a jack in the running and probably induces a flush draw to come along. On the river, I didn't think anything other than another A would call more than a pot sized bet... was that a good sized river Bet?
-PettyAces- leaves the table
k2o4 : bets $39
dannynguyen1 joins the table at seat #3
dannynguyen1 is sitting out
Barrin6: calls $39
Showdown k2o4 : shows (a full house, Aces full of Jacks)
Barrin6: mucks hand
k2o4 collected $117 from pot
Summary Total pot $120 | Rake $3
Board
Seat 1: bones42 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: 2PCME folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: -PettyAces- folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Swanie1 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: k2o4 (small blind) showed and won ($117) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks
Seat 6: Barrin6 (big blind) mucked
3) Villain 37/15/1 over 90 hands. He'd been calling a LOT of my PFR and was also being a bit of a station postflop. At this point I had him on a flush draw that didn't make it. He had a high bet river percentage so I thought checking the river might induce a bluff from a missed flush. Should I have just bet for value or is checking good here? He may have been on a J or 6 or a 5 too and I might get a call from those hands... and 78 just got there and beat me...not sure what the best move was.
4) Villain playing 19/9.5/1/3 over 135 hands. I really wasn't thinking very much here. I guess I felt that since I had a boat I could allow him to draw at the flush free. I also thought that checking would encourage a bigger pocket pair to call a river bet. Maybe I was right but made the river bet too big? Overall not sure about my entire line... =
Huha leaves the table
k2o4 : bets $89
temberin: folds
Overall this month has been good in regards to NL100. I feel really confident in that limit and have done very consistently well. I am determined to be playing consistent winning poker @ NL200 in February the way I am doing it in NL100 right now. Let's close with a month summary up to this point:
Well NL200 is definitely kicking my ass. I win a bit and lose a bit, coming up even most of the time and then I make a stupid move, which tilts me a bit into a second stupid move and then I'm down. I quit and take a break and try again later. I drop down to NL100 and do great, win back everything I've lost, then I try NL200 again and the cycle continues.
The weird thing is that most of the time while playing NL100 I am very clear on what I'm doing, what's going on, and how to interpret peoples moves. At NL200 I'm running into much more aggression in the form of donks, check-raises, and 3bets, and it confuses me. I managed to make a great call of a bluff right when I sat down on a table and double my stack, and then within 10 minutes I'm having to rebuy cause I've lost it all through small stupid moves.
This is DEFINITELY the hardest move between limits I've ever had. 50 to 100 was pretty tough, but this is much worse. I think it's gonna take a lot of work to make this transition for me.
When I play a NL100 session I pull 1-3 hands out that confuse me. During a NL200 session I feel like 1 out of 5 hands that I am involved in are confusing, lol. Pretty sad =( I will go through my PT later tonight and pull all the confusing ones out and put down some threads. Luckily the 2 biggest losing hands of the night were on idiotic moves by me. I say luckily cause at least I know how to fix those cause they were plain stupid... so just don't do blatantly stupid shit in the future! But I've got plenty of hands where I just dunno what to do that are minor losers and some are even winners.
I have tried to play a bit more standard LAG @ around 22/19 or so instead of my looser LAG. I can pull it off @ NL100 but @ 200 I just can't play well enough postflop.
Anyway, probably down about 1.5 buyins @ NL200 today. Geh.
Well today has been quite interesting. And no, I don't have pics of a 45k porsche in here... I don't even have pics of the new car cause I have to pick it up tomorrow. It's only a saturn and I'm buying it cause my Rodeo's engine exploded.
Woke up @ 12:30 after staying up late playing NL200 and learning a LOT. Started the night spewing left and right but made it all back once I figured out what I was doing wrong and got a bit more disciplined with myself. From home I took my GF to the office so she could get some work done while I went and made the deposit on our new apartment. We've spent the last 14 days hunting for a place and we finally found a great 2 bedroom, 2 story with a basement townhouse for $625, and walking distance from our office, a movie theatre, and lot's of good restaurants. Bigtime score.
But the vexing part of the day was any moment in the car, as about 3 days ago it started making a rattling noise... which became louder and quicker and more annoying. I was hoping that the axel which we'd neglected to fix was just being more noisy than usual, but I was pretty sure that I was facing a loose rod in the engine. I've faced that problem before as all my previous cars were bought as cheap as I could get em, mostly off of craigs list, and I managed to run them all into the ground.
Got it into the shop yesterday and my worst fears were confirmed, so last night we hunted for a new car and found the saturn since we definitely weren't throwing anymore money into fixing this piece of shit. All day today was like driving around a time bomb and the ticking was audible to anyone within 100 ft of the car, as the rod kept banging away faster and faster the longer I drove. I began throwing it into neutral anytime I had enough speed going, and especially when going down a hill. I just wanted the car to survive one more day.
I got the deposit done, picked up the GF and we headed out the dealership. Luckily we made it there and worked out a nice deal for the new car. But it wasn't ready as they still had to detail it, so they told us to come pick it up tomorrow afternoon. We got back into the Rodeo and hoped it could survive the 15 minute drive back to the house... and of course it didn't. Right when we got halfway between the house and the dealership the car died on us... on the highway of course. Luckily there wasn't any smoke or flames (like I had on one of my last cars) so I just pulled it to the side of the road. We called AAA and were told we'd have a 2 hour wait for a tow truck... so we got some food, then got lucky and they actually came after 1 hour.
Home now and tired. Not really feeling poker right now though I definitely need to play and get that extra cash flow going to cover all these fun new expenses. I'm really happy to have a new car though, cause I've never had anything with any sort of warranty or less than 100,000 miles on it. It will be a good feeling to know the car is gonna start and isn't going to break down, and if it DOES, I won't have to pay for the fucking repairs.
The new apartment will be sweet also. Feb 1st we move in. Biggest problem is that we're not rolling deep in money and don't have that much stuff to move into the place. Hopefully I can earn enough FPP to get a TV off of PS. We're basically gonna have to slowly furnish the place as time goes on. We do have a bed and a table for the computer, and that's all that matters, right?
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