Start of Month Review, w/ graph

...Maybe adding "w/graph" will get some more lookers and comments!

So my goal this month was to start taking shots at 50NL, which I have, kinda, but only about 1.5k hands. I think I'm down about 2BI, (PTR has me down 4 :/), but haven't got the hands in my HEM at home 'cos they're at my sisters, but 25NL has gone well, and I've ran like shit. 6k hands, 7bb/100, but 6BI under EV. How sick, in 6k hands! But yeah, small sample but I'm starting to kill there, and I'm definitely a lot more confident in my game.

I'm looking forward to getting stuck in at 50NL, but I want to have a comfortable BR for it, I don't wanna have just $1k, move back to 25NL when I have $800, rebuild and lose it again, I wanna set myself a big limit, but at the same time I'm eager to get crackin' with it, so we'll see.

I'm just playing 50NL when I feel refreshed and ready to focus, otherwise I play 25NL when I've not as fresh or willing to sit and concentrate like a hawk. I've obviously got an edge at 25NL so it's capable, but I don't wanna make terrible decisions at 50NL because I'm not focusing, like when I reraise shoved over a fished pot bet on 99xK board and he showed K9, lol.

My hand reading is getting a ton better, and my discipline in folding is also better. Having watched a lot of videos and saying "wow, how can you fold that there, he's made like 3 small bets." It kinda hit me that these are the spots which cost me $$$, and also small spots that don't make sense but I'm not prepared to risk high variance by making the correct move, which is to get super aggro, so I definitely need to stop worrying about losing $$$ if i think it's the right move at the time, I guess I have to start trusting my reads a lot more.

So here is my 25NL graph for the month, as you can see, if I ran on EV, my graph would be shagable imo, but meh, not a lot I can do. I'm happy I've plugged some mental leaks, and am making the correct decisions and reads, so aslong as I stick at teh gameplan, I'll be fine.


Good luck.

Bad start to better beginnings

So I begun the month at Cake, and dropped about 4BI at 20NL. I played terribly, the play is actually terrible itself, but I give players absolutely no credit what so ever which effects me because I get all fancy n shit. I stopped FPS'ing at FT, but I can't take 20NL seriously at Cake, the players are terrible. But yeah, I started the month bad.

Then I gave FT a bash the same night determined to get my money back, and I did, I won five BI ~ 25NL that night and in the morning, although was running kinda warm at that stage. Dropped 2 yesterday and picked another up this morning, so all in all it's been a good start to the month.

Been carried away on FIFA '10 too, so little grinding. I need to start taking shots at 50NL before my coaching starts, which costs $300, and my roll at the moment is about $1k, so I need another $300 before that starts. Hopefully I'll take the shots before 20th, so I can make a video, send it to my coach before he starts with the session plans for the rest of the course.

Lacking teh grind

I haven't played much solid poker in the last 2 weeks, I've been running bad and tbh can't really be bothered at the moment. I've got my first coaching session at the end of October and I really want that to be at 50NL, so I need to have some stabs at that first. I'm just bored of 25NL, I'm just a little underolled for 50NL at the moment, but wanted more than 20BI. I guess with a coach who's destroyed these limits 20 is fine, but I just wanted comfort.

I've decided to take some days off, and begin grinding again on Thursday or Friday, 1st/2nd October, fresh start. I wanna take some shots at 50NL by the middle of October, so I'm prepared by the end for the coaching. I moved some of my roll to Cake to grind some HU, but the rake was appaling, plus I ran kinda bad, so I gave some 6max a try and it was soft as shit, so soft that I've started giving the players absolutely no credit, thus spewing money here and there.

Time to start focusing again imo..

Yo Taylor...

..l'm real happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! I found it funny, and what's even funnier, is the amount of people taking it personally, threatening to never buy anything Kanye again. Lol, get a life plz.

So I've stepped up my hunt for a coach, my first original choice was FenderJaguar, before I came across Grindcore on PokerSavvy. (Btw, bad news on the Grindcore front, after his BBV topic last week (which in case you didn't see), he's no longer accepting students, why the fuck didn't I approach him when I first came across him 2 months ago!) Anyway, I spoke to FenderJaguar and he explained that he charges too much for what it takes to beat 50NL, which was very honest of him, and he recommended me to one of his old students who's now coaching, alewis21. I've asked him about rates and availability, and if I like the sound of his course if you like, I'ma go with him. Ama0330 will probably be my next choice, I was impressed with the videos he put out on PokerSavvy, plus he's also recommended by Grindcore.

As for my game, I've focused a lot on hand reading in the last few days, accurately putting villains on tighter and tighter ranges and have made a few good decisions based on what I felt they were holding. I've been focusing a lot more when I play aswell which has helped, I've cut the spew out completely I hope and just tried to play a solid winning game, which is working out. I'm almost rolled for 50NL, which I will be when I get my next RB payment tomorrow plus the taketwo promotion at the end of the month (what a sick fucking promotion btw).

Is all for now, I'm off to grind.

Cleared Stars, IronMan still possible

So I finished clearly Stars's 15k FPP $200 bonus last night (this morning, 5am counts right), so now I've deposited on FullTilt and activated the $600 bonus, I can withdraw from there too, instead of using the shitty 2+2 P2P transfer system which is so annoying. So many people want FT for Stars, and no one wants Stars for FT, there's like a ridic ratio, everyone was posting asking for the same as me, when fortunately someone picked me, ain't I the lucky one 8-) ..

So yeah, depo'd at FT and have until mid January to clear the bonus, which will be no problem. I plan on using the $600 to invest in Grindcore the coach. I've been thinking about it for about 6 weeks now and figure he can pick some holes in my game seeing as he grinded the same stakes as me and moved up very quickly, so he's probably the most recent on the market too.

Not much else to talk about, I think I gotta start focusing on my play again cos I'm wiening off the good play and starting to go back to the FPS in certain places, like trying to make hero calls. Also had a job interview last week, they'll let me know if I get it on Thursday, keep your fingers crossed 2+2r's!

Fuck IronMan, just for this manth!

So in the first 10 days of the month, I qualified for ironman every day. Then I realised Stars are doing the instant cash bonuses, and I'm 1k FPP's away from getting the $200 bonus, so I'm in the process of moving my roll back to Stars to clear that as quickly as possible, and will then redeposit back on FullTilt and take advantage of their $600 deposit bonus, which is nice.

I've decided that I'll use the $600 to invest in Grindcore/EpicFoldGuy, which if you don't know, is a coach @ PokerSavvy. With a sick redline, I hope he's gonna transform my current weak/tight game, because that's pretty much what I am. I want experience in 3bet pots and how to play them, and also playing back at the regs, I don't do it enough and miss a ton of value, so hopefully he can teach me a thing or two. I'm currently downloading all his videos at PokerSavvy, so we'll so how they go and I'll make my decision in the next month or two, also got my eye on a couple of other coaches.

Month has gone okay so far, swingy still but the 7bb/100 goal is still get-a-ble, right now it's 4bb/100 with that sick downswing I had, so hopefully I can get it close to 7bb/100 soon.

Moved to FT and my current downswing

So I moved my roll to FT for this month for rakeback, then realised that Stars are doing the instant cash bonuses, so I'm 1kFPP's away from the $200 bonus, so at some point month I'm gonna move my roll back across, get that 1k, get the $200 bonus, and then deposit at FT again and clear the $600 bonus. Then I'll probably move it to Absolute Poker and clear a bonus there, I've heard it's super super soft.

I've put in about 10k hands so far this month, breakeven including rakeback. I started well, winning at about 9bb/100 over 6k hands and then my downswing hit. I've played real solid but lost had several coolers one after another. HEM says I've above EV but that's only because of some combo draws or me re sucking out, it doesn't take into count the amount of times I've ran AK into AA or KK, or got QQ in vs AK and lost.

I'm happy with how I've played though, but I've still got some big leaks in my game. 3bet pots give me trouble as I have trouble assigning ranges, especially when I have like AK OOP and I 3bet, they call and the flop is something like; 752r; what the fuck do I do here? If he's not paired up then I'm ahead, and I never get better to fold, so I just check/fold here a ton, probably being bluffed a whole bunch too.

I've got to work hard on my game because I'm breaking even at 25NL over about 45k hands and it's starting to piss me off.

Seen the Doctor, it's not good news...

...I've been diagnosed with a severe case of FPS, and it's incurable it seems. I've got it real bad. :( It's killing the confidence in my game as my graph goes up, and then I go and ruin it all, by doing something like: shoooovvvinng. Sorry, had to add the Sinatra in there.. I had a 10/8 nit open UTG, we're both effectively 200bb's deep and I call with KQs OTB, there's a 80/xx drooler in the blinds and he's coming along so I'm happy. Flop is JJQr, UTG leads out I call, and the SB fish calls too (he's all-in). The turn is a 9 of diamonds, which gives me a TP, a gutshot and a flush draw, so I call another bet, and the river bricks off and UTG takes a while before checking to me. Now, I can check behind here and lose the hand, or I can shove 150bb's deep and get this fucker to fold AA/KK, which I think a 10/8 is weeellll capable of doing, so I take a little, and over shove the pot, which I've done earlier and shown down a set, so my image is good, but no, he insta calls, I actually think he clicked the 'call any' button because it was virtually before I even pressed shove, and he flipped AA and scooped a 375bb pot.

The table breaks as the fish has gone, and he says "the fish has gone so I'm off too" and I was like "that river, I thought I could get you off AA/KK" He sits for about 15 seconds more, and leaves. With my money. FML.

Back to the original subject though, by far my biggest leak is FPS. Really, it's got really bad recently since watching some LAG videos, I've upped my 3bet a lot more and don't have the acquired aggression to follow through on later streets if called on the flop, it's like I instantly put them on overpairs which they aren't folding, or TP which would require me to fire 3 barrels, which has never ever worked when I do it.

When I concentrate I crush 25NL, but then I ruin it at the end of session by doing stupid things, making moves. I know I'll plug it eventually, but it's frustrating because it's holding me back from moving to 50NL, I think I'm actually going to create a custom felt for my tables that says "DON'T SPEW. Stop. Think. Fold." Or something along those lines, because it's a hench leak which has me by the horns and won't let go.

Well, I lied

So I have played a little bit of teh Pokerz in the last couple of days.

Up a few BI, I played a good session tonight but ran okay, and I've steamed through 'What Would Joe Tall Do', which I'll name WWJTD from now on if ever mentioned. He's a limit players so obviously doesn't have the same mindset others have, as some of his plays have shown in the video, but having a DC Exec. with him, they kinda clear the mindset and give a whole new thinking of the hand, it's very good so far, definitely the most interesting series thus far in terms of the spots you get in every day.

Goals wise, I've marked all this months down as I won't be playing much on the weekend (I probably lied here too). I've put a K (for kinda) down on 25NL, as although I beat it, it was swingy and not very convincing, so I wouldn't call it consistent, but I would say the porblems were completely my fault, so I was 50/50 on that one, plus I didn't want a negative. ><

Will probably stick another post up at the end of August, for now chums.. (and btw, have reached GoldStar for the month the other day, good news.)

First time 24 tabling

So yesterday I decided to give 24 tabling a go for the first time. I've 12 tabled and 16 tabled before but I gave 24 tabling a shot and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, except my eyes started bleeding after an hour and I quit +2BI. It was only 10NL as I wouldn't feel comfortable doing it at 25NL obviously, and I was as high as +5BI until I got AKs in against AA pre, and got 2 outered on 3 different occasions, but it was a good experience I guess.

Hit a bit of a swing at 25NL, although I was playing far from my best game, I mean real far. I got into spots I shouldn't have, made a call when I knew I was beat (villain shoved for pot on 65AA8 river, and I had AQ, it's probably a piss easy fold, I don't think he does this with A7-AJ, and of course he flipped 88. Got QQ in against T8o on T74tt flop and he spiked a T on the turn obv.

College wise I've gotta give them a ring in the next few days and see how much I've gotta pay for the course. Of course I can withdraw my roll, and I wouldn't even care if I had to withdraw my entire roll, I would love to get a coaching/stake deal from 2+2. Kinda difficult to look for a job right now too as I don't know what's going on with college and what days I'll be there, so although I'm still looking it'll hard to apply for full-time jobs when I start college in 4 weeks..

Birthday in about 8 days too! Going out with 2 good mates on the saturday, and the saturday after prolly go down the pub 'n watch the Arsenal/Man Utd game with a mate I went to school with, probs won't get too pissed. Not.

SilverStar for next month and update

So I've played about 13k hands so far this month, so I'm nearly half way to completing my prop bet with Prem. I've racked up about 1.3k VPP's aswell so Silver's in the bag, and I only need about 1.7k for Gold, so unless I get sick ill or something, I don't see it being a problem.

Last night was a good night, was sitting at one table 500bb's deep at one stage, in which I won my biggest pot - http://www.pokerhand.org/?4566106 Obviously I snap fold the flop and the turn if the UTG limper folded either pre or flop, but I just new the SB had a monster, I'd sat with him for 500 hands at the table, he'd let me steal a whole bunch without playing back, so when he 3bet I guessed he had a monster. I originally put him on KK+, and I was hoping it was AA as he'd have had a lot more equity on the turn once I hit my straight. Don't know what UTG was thinking though, fortunately he played it so badly I was allowed to see a turn. SH1P IT!

I'm finding 25NL quite easy, if a little swingy, I just need to choose my spots a little wiser and try not to spew in spots which should be avoided. By the end of the month I want to try and get my garph going up consistently, instead of up, down, up, down, up, down and back up.

All these 5am's (and then waking up 4 hours later) I keep having are having an effect though, I'm fucked. =(

Downswong

Hit my worst downswing so far, was only 5BI but in the space of time it happened, it was pretty sick, I cut my sessions short because of it. I felt myself tilting and I couldn't win a hand to save my life, I was putting a lot of money in and having to fold on the turn or river because of certain circumstances.

All my big hands were hitting the wettest flops possible, like AQs on a QT9 monotone flop to which I was check raised on, I figured the villain is never value raising anything I beat, and he's never ever bluffing on a board like this so it's safer to lay it down than see a turn card and still have to fold a brick.



So that's my graph for the last few days, as you can see I ran okay for the first 1.5k hands, and it just went down hill from there, had my best day ever, $119, then had my worst day ever the very next day, -$116. Probably grind some tonight and see if I can ride it out, or just move to 10NL for some fun to blow off some steam and get over it there while crushing the terrible players down there.

Not sure how many hands I've done this month, but I must be nearing 7k I think, which is good because I'm on track. I'm also on track to achieve Gold Star next month at Stars too, earned 638VPP's this month and we're only on the 6th day, so if I can get 100 per day Goldstar will be mine. Not sure why I'm even on Stars tbh, I could be making RB at FT while taking advantage of the $600 deposit bonus, I kind of wanted to get settled at 25NL before I switched sites, so we'll see how it goes, if I don't hit GoldStar I think I'll move next month.

[x] over rolled for 25NL

SHIP IT! Had a sick day yesterday, + 12BI I think, or atleast in the last 24 hours (inc this morning >). I started grinded at about midnight until about 5am and am up 8BI just for this morning, prolly gonna grind some more 10NL this afternoon to boost my roll and take some shots at 25NL when I get home tomorrow, but if I can pad my roll I guess my shot can last a lot longer, hopefully I won't have to move back down at any point.

I don't know how deluded I am, but I actually think I'm a lot better than most 10NL regs who take shots at 25NL, both pre-flop and post-flop. I see a lot of 2+2rs struggling to move to 25NL, but meh, [x] i'll show them all how it's done. *Cue FML post on the weekend.* I wanna watch some more 25NL videos at the weekend soon aswell, hopefully watch some of the 'The Coaching Tree' and start on season two of that by the end of the month, but we'll see.

I also used to play so bad on my sister's laptop, not sure what it was but I used to spew, I could never really play fully concentrated for some reason, I guess it was mainly a phsycological thing more than anything, but I've been running pretty hot on it for the last few weeks, albeit I haven't had much play time on there. I've kind of learnt a new kind of focus aswell, like when I played before I'd play to make money and not take much notice of the decision, I guess I played a little like a robot even when 4-tabling, but I stopped multi-tabling all together (4 tables not multi-tabling, I guess it's standard these days) and I just focus on my decisions a lot more, I guess that was a leak.




I'm not sure how much I'm up this money but it's way past the $150 I set last week, so aslong as 25NL doesn't go too bad, I think I've near enough past all my tasks, I think I can fire 30k hands in to, although the week my 'rents were supposed to go away doesn't look like it's gonna happen, they were taking my sister to Haven but I don't think they can afford it anymore now my step-dad didn't have any work at the start of the month, but we'll see.

[x] will be grateful to God if I can keep running like you.
[x] will be even more grateful if you can spare me a week of my parents at the end of the month.

Prem - HOLLA! =P