control.

Introduction
I haven’t played any poker for almost 2 months now while I have been finishing my final uni project. Now that I’m done with physics, I’m going to completely change direction; to looking for EV+ situations to make boatloads of money.
I’ve been reading a few books on finance, logic and psychology. (It’s fun times browsing the university library). I recently read this book, and hence, here is an investment plan.



Poker plan NovDec08

Play poker solidly till Christmas Eve
Goal: at least 3ptBB over 20000 hands at NL200, feel good playing on the limit, 12k Bankroll, Hit supernova.

-start at NL100
-3 buyin stoploss
-at least 1 hours poker-related study per day.
-at least ½ hour review for every hour played, much more when losing
-move down after losing at most 6 buyins.
-move up after winning at least 6 buy-ins.
-play for equity, play long term, play as much as possible

Worst Case Scenario: lose 6 buyins, take a break for a day review hands and study, move down a limit. Lose 6 buy-ins again, take a break.. etc. finish on Christmas Eve down a few k, call it quits for poker and cash out, find a job.

Best Case Scenario: I play perfectly, and grind long hours, constantly out thinking all opponent types and playing a more solid game. I select great tables full of fishy players and I get people on tilt to me. I take aggressive shots, move up quickly, and spend a lot of time grinding NL200, while taking shots at 2/4 when the games are good. I bank a lot of money; cash out the excess over 16k.

Also going to record a video of my first session to give me more material to review my play.

Going to be sporting my awesome VIP status to mess with the FR regs lolz


BLOG OUT

0 votes

Comments (13)

..Heater





4 tabling NL100 6max. nice way to move back up, first time I've run good in a long time. I'm looking to keep this going straight to NL1000.

BHOO YEAH!


Thanks to R_i for his 'help' improving my game there shall be much more sharpening the saw as I bulldoze my way up the poker ladder. atm I'm going for spending as much time studying/analyzing hands as playing

blog out.

0 votes

Comments (7)

Been pretty lazy with poker lately, mostly playing too much SC and sleeping in too long. Think I’m not as ‘hungry’ as before I cashed out $650 in platinum star bonus. Now I can afford all the instant and takeaway food I want...

sure beats plain bread every meal.



Been trying out Full ring, and it has been going pretty well ( apart from a few sick beats at NL100), I’m starting to realize that its all just poker. Played around with mass multitabling but found it didn’t really work for me, I need to keep tabs on the action at each table. 6 to 8 tables of full ring works nicely I’ve found, just enough to keep busy between making decisions and observing big pots I’m not in.

Heads up is pretty interesting, been doing a lot of thinking about how to best maintain an edge vs different opponents, Think some coaching could be good to help me ‘get it’ faster.


Anyway, feeling good about my ability to play any game type atm.

I’m looking to start working towards going semi-pro ^^

I currently work 4 evenings per week at the local supermarket (which is actually not too bad thanks to my Ipod) but I’d really like to cut it back to 2 nights per week.

Before I do that I want to have enough money in my bank account to live off for half a year.
That would be about US$3000
Current BR ~$7000 need to hit 8000 to move up to NL200
Looking to hit the 10k then celebrate with a cashout

So goal is: I’m going to start putting in at least 4 hours per day wherever is fishiest: HU to 6max to FR, NL50 to NL200. Just going to be focused on making money until I hit the 10k after that I will concentrate on moving up and improving as fast as I can again.

Right, This motivates! Going to earn some time off by playing poker :D

0 votes

Comments (3)

So goal was: “to play 8 hours of good solid poker every day of the Easter break”

Failed this Time


Worked well for the first 2 days but then hit a standard downswing and had to stop playing as much. Probably didn’t stop soon enough and made some spewy plays.

Was up 9 buy-ins but lost 6 on the afternoon of the third day, and 3 more next morning. Finished up only 1 buy-in for the weekend.
I did achieve platinum star (in fact when I achieved that was when lee turned on the doomswitch)

I think I did tilt somewhat after not being able to win a hand for 4 hours:
-after playing loose for a few orbits I did not tighten up as usual
-playing back at regulars, getting 1/3 of my stack in the folding in pissing contests.
This was mostly in 3 bet pots.
-possibly 4betting frequency too high vs regulars who can see through it, and spots where I choose to take a stand vs reshoving on my 4bets.
-some river bet/folds where I only beat a bluff, but opponent may well have been bluffing.

When I’m running bad I just have to take a break from poker, then when I come back make sure to watch some poker vids and read some articles for an hour to get my head on straight before I play.

I’m really trying to figure out bluffing and re-bluffing vs aggressive players, trying to get the frequencies theoretically correct.
Also playing close attention to pots I give up on, I have definitely been getting a lot of money in then folding too often, definitely leaking here vs fearless players.
Not quite sure how to go about doing this, but I’ll start by reviewing hands, calculating some %s and making some adjustments to my overall game plan.

Gotta get to thinking clearly and consistently.

Ok, going to try the same thing next weekend, Till then~

0 votes

Comments (4)

- Be a millionaire in 5 years



So I’ve moved up to NL100, now I’m on the verge of making some decent money.

I question that I’ve been thinking about is where will I aim from here?

My main goal in poker is not to be the best in the world but just to make some decent capital to begin building assets. I’m going to play poker while doing a lot of reading on the different forms of investing, accounting and business law.
I’ll do this while I complete my last uni courses this year.

In terms of making money at poker, I think its vital to treat it as a game, and play to win.


For the moment some long term poker goals
1) keep on moving up using my current bankroll strategy of 40 buy-ins. I want to get up to NL1000, then play in whichever limit will be the most profitable.

2) Get a long term poker coach, feel I need to focus on game flow and turn/river aggression.

3) Spend at least an hour per day doing some kind of poker study, analysing ranges on hands I played, watching cardrunners vids, reading books, participating in discussion on forums. Be a student of the game.

4) put in more time. Its good to take breaks, but when I’m running well I should be playing more.


I also intend to set achievable weekly goals, for both poker and study.

For this Easter weekend I will attempt to make money to live on for the next month or so, because current part time work income needs supplementing.
So current bankroll is 5.6k anything over that on Tuesday evening I’ll cash out. My goal is to simply play good poker for at least 8 hours per day over this period and whatever will be will be.

I’ll update with a new set of weekly and month goals on Tuesday.

Right, now I’m fired up. GL All kekeke

0 votes

Comments (8)

Spent the first half of this month moving up and down from NL50 to NL100, just though I’d write down what happened so I can look back on this next time I’m having trouble moving up.

I’d been playing NL50 for a while and had come to realize that it is incredibly soft. Soft like jelly.

Planned to move up to NL100 at $4000.
Started taking shots at fishy looking tables at about 3800. lost a bit then went on a nice heater up to NL100, decided, lol, might as well keep playing while I run good, and ran like jesus up to 4700.

Cashed out 700 so I can get takeaways sometimes

After than suffered some variance... but every time I dropped below 3900 I made sure I stuck to NL50, focusing mostly on opening a wide range in pos and valuebetting, till I hit 4000 again

I moved up and down about 4 times, donating a lot at NL100. was nice to feel confident in being able to beat the NL50 games.

I ran pretty bad at times. The thought in my head was: quit when you are losing, keep playing when winning. And I did this. Left feeling pretty bad at times but went and did something else for an hour or two then came back if I felt like it.
Played some sessions when tired late at night and they did not go very well, really do need to ensure a focused ass-kicking state of mind before sitting down.

There were times I worried about the running bad and being stomped on at NL100 but I really shouldn’t have, just concentrate on playing good poker.
Mostly paying attention to hands or regs that went to showdown, paying attention to who will let me get away with stealing the blinds, making adaptations to my cbetting and 3betting and also stealing other aggressive players cbets. Just basically looking for good spots to steal and you definitely need to have time to think for that so 3-4 tabling is good.

After about 2 weeks got a break at NL100 again and without really noticing it I was up 300 in a session then 200 in the next session and I was moved up fully.

Now pushing 5.4k I need to make some new plans for poker, next blog post.


Just found the monthly summary recently, I find this very motivating :3


ramble ramble.. watch these if you got this far... brilliant stuff:

0 votes

Comments (6)

Been finding myself staying things like:
“firggen luckboxing nits”
“god I run so bad”
“fgfsdsggf” (yeah, I can actually say that)
“if I could just catch a goddamm hand” (learned that one from tuff fish )

Even though I’m half joking when I say these things, just the act of saying them reinforces and builds up tiltly emotion, which makes poker less fun and can very easily lead to spewtardation.

A few replacement phrases:
“I RUN GOOD ALWAYS” (Mez to Baal)
“I play good”
“No one can play these cards as well as I can” (Phil Helmuth)
“I have clearly defined awareness of a single goal: to make the best possible decisions that yield the highest expectation” (Ket)

I want some more so feel free to post, cheesier the better

This is another factor in the framework of Kets Article, which I have been thinking about a lot lately.

Also looking for some good non-distracting music to play poker with, if you have any suggestions dear reader.

Ok, Time to get back in the flow

0 votes

Comments (5)

Heater continues since last blog post and has catapulted me into NL100.
Once on NL100 heater went into overdrive. Nice to run as I have seen other luckboxes run. But I know variance, and I know my long-term winrate is probably somewhere around 4ptbb/100.

NL50 run:


Even though I am on a heater, I’m still completely focused on playing the best possible.
I’m still making some spewy plays but overall 4 tabling hour long sessions has really helped to keep my head in the game and to keep up the will to outplay everyone else at the table.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Things to work on
- I’ve been making some thin plays and having them turn out well, but vs ranges I think they must only have a more dubious and possible –ve EV. Example of this was my QQ vs JJ in a 3bet pot vs a tightplayer on a low board.
- I’m making some spewy calls vs shortstacks who shove over my open.
- I’ve been 4 bet bluffing a lot in btn vs blind was vs Taggy players, and I see other regs doing it too. I’ve yet to get much experience with this, so have to watch that I don’t start leaking here.
- Aggression stats, up to NL50 always had low turn and river aggression compared to ideal (i.e midian) stats. Going to keep aware of where people are folding and look for good spots to bluff on the turn and river, increase my bluffing frequency slightly. Also looking to make more correct folds on the later streets. I think I call too much vs weakbets even when its incorrect to call given pot odds.
- game dynamics have become a lot more important to me, and they influence my decisions a lot more. At one table I may be playing 14/12 while on another I will be playing 38/32. The factor I want to focus on is when to change gears and how to make adaptations to the other aggressive regulars. I think this is the most important part of improving at this level. I will look at getting some coaching on this.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also been having some troubles with real-life Banks, cashed out $450 via moneybookers international bank transfer. Money bookers are good and only charge $4, but my bank stole over $30. I’m looking around for a bank with less daylight robbery and considering other options. If you have any experiences in this area, dear reader, I’d love to hear them.


***shameless plug***
I must also mention that I was coached by gawdawaful earlier in the month and I highly recommend his services to any struggling microstakes player. He really understands this game deeply, far better than I do, and he is good at conveying his ideas too. Infact I would say he is the best possible coach for micro players even if he charged much more than the paltry $30/hr he does charge.
Check out his blog for more detials
*******************


Anyway, I’m officially moved up with my bankroll over 40 buy-ins. I’ll reassess my plan for poker over the next few days, till then going to play and improve~

gl all

0 votes

Comments (8)

Hoping it continues:

Been table selecting like a demon and 4 tabling.
The games on stars seem sick soft after wasting my time on FTP. I can easily find 4 tables with 3 or 4 massive fish, and most of the regs are pretty easy to bulldoze too.

I feel I've improved as a player although turn and river aggression are not totmidian level yet... need to work on that.
In the process of rewatching alot of old vids with a new perspective. mostly looking for how pros handle game flow. Jonny Cosmo's NL100 vid helped me alot (see cosmo's blog for details) basically just been trying to emulate that sick hero. And I rewatched Mez at NL200 and picked up on alot I missed before.

going to cash out a little to pay for courses and car repairs so that will certainly turn the doomswitch back on.
after that... only 26 more buy-ins to win before NL100 whooo!!!

1 votes

Comments (6)

Full of grinders and rigged



This session was down a lot doing spewy things (and getting bad beat every 2nd hand obv).

Submitted by : Silver_nz

Full Tilt Poker Game #5195167300: Table Skipton (6 max) - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 3:27:46 ET - 2008/02/10
Seat 1: tonejimenez3 ($77.25)
Seat 2: MayZerG ($25)
Seat 3: MHDJ ($27.20)
Seat 4: Holyfish83 ($24.75)
Seat 5: albert46 ($22.75)
Seat 6: MuckEmSayUgggh ($25)
Holyfish83 posts the small blind of $0.10
albert46 posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #3

Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to MuckEmSayUgggh
MuckEmSayUgggh raises to $0.85
tonejimenez3 folds
MayZerG folds
MHDJ calls $0.85
Holyfish83 folds
albert46 calls $0.60

Flop(Odds) (Pot : $2.65)

   
albert46 checks
MuckEmSayUgggh bets $2
MHDJ raises to $4
albert46 folds
MuckEmSayUgggh has 15 seconds left to act
MuckEmSayUgggh raises to $8.50
MHDJ has 15 seconds left to act
MHDJ raises to $26.35, and is all in
MuckEmSayUgggh calls $15.65, and is all in
MHDJ shows
MuckEmSayUgggh shows
Uncalled bet of $2.20 returned to MHDJ

Turn(Odds) (Pot : $50.95)

   

River (Pot : $50.95)

   
MHDJ shows four of a kind, Eights
MuckEmSayUgggh shows a full house, Eights full of Aces
MHDJ wins the pot ($48.45) with four of a kind, Eights
MayZerG: still love FTP?
MuckEmSayUgggh adds $5

Summary
Total pot $50.95 | Rake $2.50
Board:  
Seat 1: tonejimenez3 didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: MayZerG didn't bet (folded)
Seat 3: MHDJ (button) showed and won ($48.45) with four of a kind, Eights
Seat 4: Holyfish83 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 5: albert46 (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 6: MuckEmSayUgggh showed and lost with a full house, Eights full of Aces

spewlog: tilting
spew rassoning: ACES ARE THE NUTS
correct reasoning: opponent unknown, 5th hand at table, assume mr is strength, play a small pot and get ready to fewld

Full Tilt Poker Game #5195820855: Table Paul (6 max) - $0.10/$0.25 - No Limit Hold'em - 5:12:53 ET - 2008/02/10
Seat 1: ericnr1 ($24.75)
Seat 2: robvsrob ($24.90)
Seat 3: DrunkAndSexy ($25)
Seat 4: NoFkinLuck69 ($28.70)
Seat 6: MuckEmSayUgggh ($50.20)
ericnr1 posts the small blind of $0.10
robvsrob posts the big blind of $0.25
The button is in seat #6

Holecards(Odds)
Dealt to MuckEmSayUgggh
DrunkAndSexy raises to $0.85
NoFkinLuck69 calls $0.85
MuckEmSayUgggh raises to $4.20
ericnr1 folds
robvsrob folds
DrunkAndSexy calls $3.35
NoFkinLuck69 has 15 seconds left to act
NoFkinLuck69 calls $3.35

Flop(Odds) (Pot : $12.95)

   
DrunkAndSexy checks
NoFkinLuck69 checks
MuckEmSayUgggh has 15 seconds left to act
MuckEmSayUgggh bets $8.50
DrunkAndSexy raises to $20.80, and is all in
NoFkinLuck69 folds
MuckEmSayUgggh calls $12.30
DrunkAndSexy shows
MuckEmSayUgggh shows

Turn(Odds) (Pot : $54.55)

   

River (Pot : $54.55)

   
DrunkAndSexy shows two pair, Jacks and Eights
MuckEmSayUgggh shows two pair, Aces and Kings
MuckEmSayUgggh wins the pot ($51.85) with two pair, Aces and Kings
DrunkAndSexy adds $25

Summary
Total pot $54.55 | Rake $2.70
Board:  
Seat 1: ericnr1 (small blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 2: robvsrob (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 3: DrunkAndSexy showed and lost with two pair, Jacks and Eights
Seat 4: NoFkinLuck69 folded on the Flop
Seat 6: MuckEmSayUgggh (button) showed and won ($51.85) with two pair, Aces and Kings

yessssssssss I might have tilted people enough to be back to even
(btw I can't believe he didn't hit running jacks)

1 votes