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.

Your leak is Concentration

Ever since I was a kid, my school reports would come back something along the lines of "very clever, but distracted too easily and has a lack of concentration." or "talks too much in class, but when he concentrates, he's a stop student." My weakness has always been concentrating for long periods, and when I put my mind to something I can excel, but it's focusing for long periods which is a weakness for me, and for a lot of others too.

In Poker, we need to make the right decisions when they come along, but to make the right decisions, we've got the focus on everything else that went on in the hand, like "what could villain could on the flop and then lead the turn with", or "what could villain raise the flop with but then check the turn with", instead of "I've got AA, we're stacking off here always." And that's the trap too many players fall into, not concentrating at the right times, but playing their cards for face value.

Yesterday I started a session and decided to really focus on my hands, and I found that talking aloud to myself was critical to this. I wasn't thinking about anything else, I wasn't listening to music, I was just watching everything around me and discussing my thought process aloud, and it worked like a treat. I was taking down a lot of small pots and my profits for the session were growing, where as without concentration, more often than not your HEM/PT line is going down until it comes across a big pot, then it dwindles again, before it comes to another big pot.

I felt myself wiening off my peaks levels, and as I did, my profits started shrinking as the session went on, I was making decisions off the cuff because I had a big hand, and I wasn't thinking too much before I clicked, and this has accounted for a whole amount of profits, massive amount, amounts you wouldn't believe. I was up 2BI last night before making 2 decisons which took me back down to ground zero, all because I wasn't concentrating on the hand when it was a clear fold, even with a straight.

If you find yourself losing concentration in session, quit. It's as simple as that, you're losing a ton of value, and a ton of money. Don't play because you wanna rack up 40k hands this month, it's just not worth losing $$$ over. Talk aloud and make the right decisions, maybe even record the session with Camtasia if it helps you talk aloud as standard, it helps, a lot..

Dilemma, Help Me!?

Ok, I've spotted a 22" monitor in the Stars Store, it's sexy as fuck, and this is it.Now I have 10k FPP's, this baby cost 26k. I can earn about 4k per month give or take with GoldStar, so it'll give me about 4 months IMO, although I'd hope to be at 50NL by then, so I'd say 3 months, max 4. The dilemma is, whether I should move to FullTilt for Rakeback? I have an RB account over there but the player pool just seems so much smaller than Stars, and I've heard it's definitely a lot tougher because of the reg:fish ratio. I don't mind sitting with regs at my tables as I feel I can exploit a lot of their weak tendencies, but having a bigger pool will definitely make it more benifical, but is it worth going with RB for it?

Or should I stay another month @ Stars until I've gotten a better winrate at 25NL, and then move to FullTilt? HELP!

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.)