Dirt's Blog

I've finally realized the reason for my hero play and tilt issues that have been killing me for the last month: I've been RESULTS ORIENTED!!!

I know I always promote NOT being results oriented, and I'm usually not when playing hands regarding who wins or loses the hand...or so I thought. It just came to the that I make the high-variance hero type plays in marginal situations because I end up thinking to myself, "If I win this pot, I'll have THAT much more money and I'll be THAT much closer to moving up." Basically, I have been trying to win too much too fast, and I've been trying to force the issue by trying to win more pots than I should be. Also, like I said before, when I end up losing these hands I just go on tilt because I think I am stupid for putting myself in a spot to lose that much money, and then I just start spewing.

But no more! Now that I know the reason for all of this, I can stop doing it and get back on my grind and win like I was before, when I wasn't time crunched to win money or anything like that. Even though I need to at least cashout $100 a month to pay for my citation (for like the next 4 months or so), that shouldn't really be that hard at all. If I get a job when I get back to school like I plan to I shouldn't even need to cashout.

Now that my head is clear of all the shit that was in it, I'm much more focused on playing solid and not trying to force things, and this should lead to much less tilt and hopefully a much higher winrate...and poker will also be much more fun. Watch out micro-stakes...here I come!

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I'd like to start off by saying that I realize I've just been complaining a lot lately and it is probably pretty annoying, so I'm sorry if that's the case and I'm going to stop starting now.

The last month or so has just been a disaster, ever since taking a shot at 50NL and just getting raped there. This came after running really well at 10NL and especially at 25NL the month before, and I didn't know what I was doing wrong or how to fix it when I started to just lose constantly. I've tried a bunch of different stuff to try and start winning again...switching from FR to 6max, playing less and less tables, then playing a lot of tables and nutpeddling, trying to find easy tourneys and satellites, etc....and nothing has been working. I've just been losing steadily, and since last month my BR has gone from about $1200 to the $145 it is right now.

This whole time I've been trying to find leaks in my game to explain the problem, and I've realized 2 things that really kill me in the longrun: 1) I overthink marginal hands WAY too much and try to be some kind of hero at microstakes, where even if villain's line makes no sense I still think myself to believe they are bluffing and stack off with marginal hands when I know I shouldn't, and 2) once this starts happening during a session, I get myself going on some really bad tilt, and then I just keep playing really bad poker until I've dropped way too many BIs. This didn't happen during my upswing, which probably means I was just running good and not getting in enough of these marginal situations to lose a lot, or I just wasn't playing them as badly as I am now. Either way, I KNOW I never went tilt-monkeying until now, and it really kills anything I win when actually playing well. I don't know what happened to get me on this kind of lifetilt, but I know I'm on it and it has to stop. Even if I really am just running bad over the last month, these issues have really magnified it's effects.

Although these are probably my 2 biggest problems by far, I can't stop myself from doing them even though I know I am. Before every session I tell myself that I am not going to overplay marginal hands or whatever, but then I get caught up in the moment and do it anyway...then when I lose I go on tilt, and the cycle goes again.

I've decided to just take my BR back down to 2NL an start there from scratch. I'm going to try really hard to just take my time and think everything over during all of my hands, and think before putting too much money into a hand where I shouldn't. I'm not going to play tourneys anymore at all, and I'm going to limit myself to just 4 tables going at once. I'm not going to move up aggressively anymore until I am absolutely certain I have mastered my current level and I'm crushing the games there...I'll probably lock myself in until I've played like 50k hands at a particular level and then have to have a certain winrate (like maybe 4-5ptbb+) before even thinking about moving up, regardless of whether I am rolled or not.

I'm also going to increase my BR reqs for moving up certain levels, and progressively increase them as my levels increase. I'll probably have a 30BI rule for microstakes, 40BI rule for low stakes, 50BI rule for midstakes, and 60BI rule for highstakes (if I ever even get there), or something like that. That way a bad session won't hurt (or tilt me) as much.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to get all of this out so I can start thinking more clearly about my game and get started. If there is anyone out there who can help me control myself to not overplay all of the marginal situations or help me fix my tilt issues, please message me or something, I'd really appreciate it.

Wish me luck!

P.S. - and also, every post I make on LP form now on other than in my blog will be to try and learn something, not just complain or brag (like posting bad beat HHs in the "Hands" section that are really just standard situations), because I think it's just an annoyance and I don't want everything to just think I'm a dick or something

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I'm a little late, but I think "Transformers" might be one of my favorite movies now...

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Last night was the second night of my weekly mixed game here on campus, and we like to just fuck around and play crazy wierd shit (anything but NLH) and last night we decided to play a $5 crazy pineapple SNG! It was only 3 handed because of the rain though, so I had to get on my shorthanded grind. I doubled up the shortstack early when his 34ss(5s) hit a 25ssx flop against my AA(9) and the flush came, but I came back to win the tournament in an epic HU match, profiting a ballin $10!

Sick life =]

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I swear to god it's tilting me so bad. I build up at 25NL to a 50NL BR, take a 5BI shot or something, lose it in like 700 hands, then repeat. How can I have such a high winrate at 25NL and just get killed constantly at 50NL??

At first I thought the problem was scared money and maybe too many tables....I fixed that. Then I thought it was because I was bluffing/tilting too much....fixed that for the most part. Today I thought it was because I'm calling down unknowns too light and being too transparent with my hand strength....I tried fixing that today and it was working pretty well. Yet once again, I had another horrible -4BI session and couldn't win a fucking hand until I looked over a bunch of hands in PT and re-evaluated my game.

I felt that I was playing really well for the last few hours and outplaying a lot of people while keeping the spewing to a minimum, and made up a few BI very quickly. Then I just hit a wall and my luck seemed to run out, as I got bad beat/sucked out/coolered every big pot I played, or at least it appeared that way.

I don't want to say I'm just running bad because I think there are some big leaks in my game that need fixing...I doubt you can say you are just running bad if you can't win at one level but if you drop down you can make all your losses back in one session, then move up and get killed again. I think I am going to invest in one of the less expensive coaches (that I can actually afford) to help me out and see what is wrong, because I think having someone sweat me to see just how I do things would help tremendously.

If anyone could suggest a good coach that would be great, or if you are interested in coaching yourself that'd be good too...I'll take any good help I can get right now as long as I can afford it.

Sorry for the long rant but I think there is a big problem somewhere that needs to be addressed...hopefully I really am just running bad.

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I started 50NL yesturday after getting rolled up for it, and I've just been destroyed over my first ~3k hands so far for -8BI. Back down to 25NL it is! Here are the horrendous charts and graphs:




Regardless of what I get it is second best in big pots, whether I get coolered or sucked out in some way. Also, people at 50NL must be fucking geniuses to be able to put me on the only hand in my possible range that beats them whenever I try to bluff...I guess the "don't bluff rule" still applies (although I've only really tried 3 big bluffs since starting 25NL, so most of my losing is still from just running bad). Tilt has also played a part in my demise when I've made some pretty dumb calls knowing I was most likely sucked out on or something, but just so pissed that I couldn't fold and called out of spite.

Looks like my biggest problems (besides running horribly) have been trying to bluff with little or no info on a player too much and letting tilt affect my play. I'm going to go back down to 25NL and work on fixing those, then when I get back up I'll make another run at it.

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Last night I won $216 in one of those $4.40 180 person SNGs and launched my BR to just over $1k.



I'm going to follow a 25 BI rule for 50NL as opposed to my current 20 BI rule, because I want to progressively require more buy-ins for the harder levels. So once I hit ~$1250 or so I'll move up, and I'll probably follow the 25 BI rule up through 100NL. I can't wait to get out of micro-limit cash games ^_^

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Leave it to the Poker gods to doomswitch me the day after making a post about how well I'm running at 25NL. Today I ended up having my worst recorded session ever and dropped about 5.5 BI in around 1200 hands or so. Literally every big PP I raised and got called with flopped an overcard or some really scary board with AA, I rarely got called when I raised with a big pair pre anyway, all my bluffs were picked off (often by hands that should have folded anyway), and I experienced some of the most annoying fucking suckouts I have in a long time. Here's the PT and graph for the session:





The graph is apparently wrong as I lost more than it says, but fuck it. Apparently most 25NL fish think that just going all in with a $50 stack in a $10 pot when villain bets like $5 has $10 left or something is a 5x pot overbet and is a bluff, so maybe I should take advantage of that for value instead in the future. Here are some of the more entertaining hands of the night for you to flame me on, enjoy:

http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/286463 - my fault for slowplaying it all the way, but the river is still gay...an omen for things to come I guess.
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/286501 - I noticed that the table was being pretty nitty so I decided to raise here to see if I could pick up the blinds or get a good flop, and of course I did...I don't really like his call here but whatever.
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/286504 - awesome cooler. This guy had such a wide range of hands I couldn't fold, but I still wanted to control the pot size after he called the turn.
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/286510 - Maybe I should have just pushed but I actually thought I might be good here and if not I could get some better hands to fold, especially a hand like fucking Q9 here...
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/286522 - Here I thought my overs and a 3 might be good, and I also thought I could rep a FD or SD if it completed. Apparently he says it was obv I had nothing because I "overbet the river so much" even though he only had like $20 behind his $5 bet...whatever nc I guess.
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/286524 - lol I love this one. I knew I was good here but thought he would call with some kind of A-hi hand with a FD/SD or something if he wanted to be a hero, but instead he makes a brilliant call with JT and it gets there...another hand where I "drastically overbet" even though it was only for like 1/4 of my stack.
http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/286534 - lmfao my favorite hand of the night. Obv I wanted as much money in the pot as possible so I tried to let villain call another bet, especially after the shitstorm of a session I had been having, and I basically creamed my pants on the turn, only to have my hopes and dreams dashed once again on the river.

So there you have it, my session in a nutshell. At least I still have a BR to play 25NL tomorrow and hope for a good session, but as for tonight, I can only put it like this:



GG SICK LIFE

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SNGs were fun, but I missed playing ring games, so I decided to take a shot at starting 25NL after building my BR through the SNGs to about $550. I've been 6-tabling 25NL for the past 4 days and I've been killing it so far in my first 2100 or so hands, even though I only play about 1-2 hour sessions of about 500-1000 hands each. Here is my PT and graph for 25NL:





The sample is small so I don't know if I'm playing well or running well atm, but I think my stats look pretty decent so I'm just going to keep it up and hope this continues. I also like playing these short 6-table sessions instead of longer 12-table sessions, they are much easier and I still get results. Once I get a bigger BR for 25NL I'll probably progressively add a few more tables and see how it goes...the players aren't COMPLETE idiots anymore.

The only thing that really sucks about this progress is that it might all go to shit and I'll have to probably play 10NL again with only about a $350 BR soon. If I end up having to pay my fines in full it's going to run me about $450 and I'll need to cashout around $250-350 or so depending on how much cash I have before Wednesday. Ugh...

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I was studying for vector calc today and decided to take a break and play some micro PLO games because I was bored. I'm still learning the game so I only play $5 1c/2c for fun more than anything, but I still try and learn from my mistakes. Here are a few interesting hands that transpired today during a very short 45 minute or so session in which I made about 3.3 BI. Feel free to critique:

1) http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/281265 - I don't know if this is a good fold or not on the flop, but after one call I thought it'd be best to drop it with little chance of improving and a good chance of another pot sized lead on the turn.

2) http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/281266 - Here I thought he might have been making some sort of play with an A3hh hand and that the other guy was just drawing or calling down a weaker Q. I thought I had the side pot on the turn so I just put him in. Should I just fold this on the flop, especially with another player yet to act behind me who is getting a better price to draw if I call?

3) http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/281272 - I think the raise on the flop is standard, and on the turn I don't think he has a boat if he isn't raising my lead, but should I still be potting with a pair on the board here?

4) http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/281280 - I think that this one was just awfully played by me from the get-go. I should have just folded pre, but as played I thought I had to lead out on the flop. I thought I could 3bet here for some reason, and then I guess I pretty much had to call the shove on the 4th bet for that price. If anyone could comment on my flop action as played please do.

5) http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/281289 - I shouldn't have led out on this flop and probably should have folded to the raise, but I kept going on the turn because I thought I picked up a lot more outs for a good price.

6) http://www.liquidpoker.net/h/281293 - I think this one is pretty standard, but if I'm wrong please let me know.

In other news, I still haven't found my missing pants and the citations haven't come in the mail yet, but I am hearing that the school sends the parents a notification of the arrest because it's a violation of the school code of conduct or some bullshit (even though it was off-campus and I'm over 18). I'm going home this weekend and haven't told them yet, so it should be an interesting weekend if those letters do in fact get sent before I get there...

Sick life.

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