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NL2 Story |
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Uptown . Nov 26 2008 08:31. Posts 3557 | | |
It's about time I went with the norm around here and made a proper blog for a change.
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Introduction:
I migrated over to LP from TL.net in the beginning of November, mainly because TL.net has become pretty boring as of late and I needed more reading material. I found the blogs here to be pretty entertaining to read with all the ups and downs, laughs and cries so I actually found myself on LP more than TL for a few days.
I sent a few random pms to Tenbagger saying 'hey', and we chatted for a bit and he was saying how I should start playing poker, and I was retorting with it'd be a waste of my time, yada yada. Then came the punchline.
Tenbagger: "At least you make money while wasting time unlike Starcraft or Travian"
He had won the argument. By a large margin. And considering I was procrastinating for hours a day reading random forums online or playing dota or whatnot, I eventually decided to give this a shot and started reading Daut's beginner guide and the uNL threads on 2p2.
While I had no means to deposit on PS for a day or two, Tenbagger again came to the rescue since he had owned me money from last year for fantasy baseball when I had finished 2nd place but didnt have a stars acct for transfer, and we were both lazy and I didn't really care about the $60 or however much it was that I won as net profit. So he ships me my starting BR, and off I go~. 2 tabling nl2 baby whoooo.
This was on November 3rd. haha I remember fiddling around on the play money tables for a bit to get a feel for the interface and stuff like that.
The first 3 weeks
The first few weeks were an up and down ride. First going up like $15 in the first few days, going back down to square one, getting up to a $30 gain, going down to the negatives, like -$10, fluctuating all over.
But during that time I got my hands in, got comfortable playing up to 8 tables at once depending on how nitty I'm playing, and went back and forth between nitty and standard TAG'ish stats. Learned how to properly raise pf, c-bet basics, and eventually started to be able to pick up on what the opponent probably has, from the way he reacted to my bets and how he betted, basic stuff but stuff that was all new to me.
I've got to give a big thanks to the TL/LP people who have helped me out and gave me advice. Wouldn't have been possible without you guys, and certainly wouldn't have been nearly as enjoyable grinding away at it <3.
So I have my share of highs and lows, catching river suck outs, getting bad beats left and right, frustrated to hell by the limpers that see the flop cheap, etcetc. Hence the fluctuation in the hands I played and how I played them. I think at one point I was so ticked at the limp/callers that I was open raising 6xBB to try to get them off my back. But that's in the past.
Anyways, here's a graph from Nov 3rd to Nov 24th. Graph actually starts at +$15 or so, b/c I didnt have PT3 in the very beginning for like 4k hands.
Graph of first 3 weeks: 15k ish hands.
So I end up around $-15, which is abouuttttt -$5 or something like that from where I started on day one. Swingy, going nowhere fast!
Stats.
At some points I was like 25/20, while at others i was like 9/6. The numbers don't really do justice  .
Oh, and I started buying in at the max $5 at nl2 on stars, eventually changed to $2, changed back to $5, then lost like $10 on Nov 24th.
Evolution?
So in dismay I decided to make a chart of hands to play from every position. I made one, then emailed it to a TL/LP friend who's been heping me out pretty actively while chatting about other things as well. It's funny that I've 'known' the guy for 2.5 years from TL, yet didn't really know him till I sent him the random "teach me pokerz sensei!" pm on TL.net. Making things even more ironic is that our taste in music is like identical, and we seem to get along really well. A real nice caveat from this whole poker nonsese I tell you! Moving on...
So I sent the guy a list of hands. He immediately shot it down, saying it was too loose. So I cut it down more! Still too loose! So he just tells me what hands to play from what position after the table does what, limp/raise/or folds to me. And I spend about an hour sorting everything out and making a chart with 6 sections:
1. vs unopened (raise)
2. vs unopened (call)
3. vs open raise (3bet)
4. vs open raise (call)
5. vs limpers (raise)
6. vs limpers (call)
And I vow never to veer off this chart ever. If I have ATo and the chart says I cant play unless I have AJo or higher, I simply fold. No matter what. So I play off 6 tables at first, looking down at the printed sheet of paper constantly, eventually going to 7, then to 8. B/c I'm playing so damn nitty, I'm able to barely handle the number of tables despite playing on a 19' monitor that we bought in like 1999. The saturation is so poor on this monitor that it hurts my eyes lol.
I really instantly saw results by beign really disciplined with the hands laid out in front of me. I had confidence in my friend's advice, and as a result I had confidence in myself and the decisions I was making. B/c i was playing so many hands, I no longer cared if I got suckered. I no longer cared if I got Aces in BB and it folded to me and I made 0.01$. I only cared if I either made a terrible decision to call or raise, or if I got outplayed / should have seen that the guy would have a better hand than me.
Surprisingly though, before this change the frequency with which I would KNOW i made a bad decision was somewhat high. But for the two days I have been using this revised approach, I have literally had ... I really think I've made either zero or one bad call over 4K hands. It's been a great feeling, it's been tremendous fun, and I feel like I'm actually going somewhere with this.
Pretty big change yea?
LOL so super nitty.
I'm sure I'll eventually have to loosen up, but right now I'll just be listening to my various poker senseis and heading their advice.
As a result of the last two days, I've reached the goal I set for myself before moving onto nl5, "taking $50 and turning it into $100 to be rolled with 20bi's for nl5".
So my nl2 story has come to an end (hopefully forever!), and a new chapter starts.
Wish me luck!
Postscript
I had the pleasure of playing with Raidern on one of my tables today, had a nice chat with him and it was really a lot of fun to talk with a fellow LP/TL'er while playing. I also sat with another LP'er with a french flag icon, somethingSKY, maybe AnotherSKY or something like that was his Stars ID.
Raidern seemed a little annoyed that I wouldn't tell him my TL.net ID though hahaha 
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Hopefully you enjoyed (or at least successfullly wasted more time!) reading this entry. It was actually a lot of fun writing it just now, although now it's 5:30 am and I'm royally fucked hahaha.
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Sicks Macks United States. Nov 26 2008 08:37. Posts 3929 | | | |
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maryn Poland. Nov 26 2008 08:42. Posts 1208 | | |
great story and gl in the future :> |
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TheTank United States. Nov 26 2008 10:52. Posts 830 | | |
gl bud, you and I are in the same boat. I just learned how to play 3 weeks ago but i've had great success. stay strong and take fishies money |
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| sigh...its like they are throwing money out of a helicopter and i dont have any hands...so i just break even. | |
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RaiZ France. Nov 26 2008 10:58. Posts 1503 | | |
Probably Youngsky, the guy you played 
He's constantly posting in the french LP for advices, so he's learning pretty fast i suppose.
Anyway, great that you didn't give up. Maybe you could get some nice present for the christmas at this rate eh ?
Way to go, and remember, be patient.
Good luck ! |
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| Shin-il : Yeah it was very very very good for me too. Rekrul : YOU MOTHER FUCKING FUCKING SON OF A BITCH | |
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Raidern Brasil. Nov 26 2008 11:24. Posts 4243 | | |
annoyed is not the word, i'm just curious =]
nice chatting idd |
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MayZerG United Kingdom. Nov 26 2008 11:40. Posts 2123 | | | |
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| I like to hold all the nuts - CrownRoyal | |
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lachlan Australia. Nov 26 2008 11:54. Posts 6991 | | | |
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TenBagger United States. Nov 26 2008 12:16. Posts 2018 | | | |
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morph1 Sierra Leone. Nov 26 2008 12:17. Posts 2352 | | |
gl
and fuck stats and shit, just learn how to play ABC poker |
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| Always Look On The Bright Side of Life | |
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EXCELED Canada. Nov 26 2008 13:38. Posts 401 | | | |
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caie United States. Nov 26 2008 13:57. Posts 13 | | |
another tlnetter to the dark side! |
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k2o4 United States. Nov 26 2008 15:04. Posts 4803 | | |
nice post, I would read again =)
You totally remind me of how I started, except I made a hand chart based off of grots guide right away and stuck to it.
Are you playing full ring or 6max?
Anyway, at the micro stakes being super tight is the most important thing. The fancier you try to be, the more you will spew.
GL and keep blogging. It's fun to read cause you have a lot of the same experiences / ideas I did when I first started. Just be disciplined and keep listening to your poker sensei and you'll cruise up. Around NL25 you get to start learning how to play real poker =) |
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John Galt Canada. Nov 26 2008 16:44. Posts 618 | | |
exactly how i started
my first BR came from my buddy who owed me 30$ back in may
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| MaidenFan: Stop worrying about what might be or what coulda been, the former is totally out of your control, and the latter is nothing but a twisted fantasy | |
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PanoRaMa United States. Nov 26 2008 20:07. Posts 1655 | | | |
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| http://panorama.liquidpoker.net | |
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