Poker Forum

Finally booked a win today! I started out with things going as usual and lost about 150, but then finally caught a good streak and ended up making the most satisfying 50 i've ever made. As has been the case with all downswings I've improved my game tremendously throughout it, I just hope that I'm back on the climb and this isn't another slight hitch before more brutality.

Edit: Booked another 80 win today! I am starting to pick out the fishy players a lot better and I think thats going to significantly improve my win rate! I'll post a couple hand histories in my next post where I think I really implemented this well, and either extracted max value or got away from a bad spot where I wouldn't have before.

cheers,
Chad

I've got my gf's humongous monitor hooked up with my laptop right now, and I'm starting to feel a lot more confident about my game, so I'm just about to give 24 tables of full ring a go at 10nl! Hopefully its a little easier to multitable on a big monitor with really good resolution.

Lots of coolers again this morning, its amazing how long a downswing can last, but my game is getting so much better, just knowing when I'm in a pot with a fish has allowed me to value bet so much lighter and get paid way more often, and get away from some big hands against really tight players.

cheers,
Chad

This is ridiculous. I need some kind of change. I think I'm going to move my money back to full tilt. I don't get these urges to get all my money back anymore, so I think I'll be fine to play there. I've given pokerstars well over 5k in rake, and haven't gotten back nearly as much as I would've with rakeback at full tilt, and I wouldn't consider myself superstitious, but I just can't take it anymore and switching sites cuz I'm running so bad doesn't make sense, but screw it, I'm doing it anyway. I'm just going to use my FPP's and I'm done. I've lost 1850 in about 3 weeks, I can't even believe its possible to consistently run this bad.

Screw PokerStars,
Chad

Making a comeback again, going to start taking atleast one day completely off on the weekends, and maybe just play in the doyle's league and some cash tables while that is running on Sunday. I need to take more breaks, I play way better right after a break, and for some reason seem to always run better. Ran bad at the start of the summer, took a break to go camping for the weekend, made almost a grand. Now I just kept playing, lost almost 2k, took a break and slowed down and started turning it around.

I'm still stuck between switching to full tilt or not.

Full Tilt Advantages:
Better rakeback till December
Better promotions

Pokerstars Advantages:
Better rakeback after December
Easier to multitable

I think long term I'm probably better off with pokerstars, but right now I'm at the worst stakes as far as rake to amount you can win goes so that definitely makes it harder to move out at the moment.

cheers,
Chad

FTP uses the dealt rakeback method, stars uses contributed, so depending on your rakeback %'s, that could make a difference.

I had no idea they used different methods, I'm probably a touch looser than most, and I tend to win more than my fair share of hands, so pokerstars is probably better in that aspect. I wonder if its actually a significant difference or not??

Pokerstars does an incredible job of making it hard to stop playing at their site, the tiered VIP system is a huge incentive to keep playing there, and your FPP's are worth so much, that it doesn't really make sense to just abandon some.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/58/he ... er-671391/

I love this post, it describes me up to this point nearly completely. I feel like my understanding of the game for the stakes that i'm playing is good enough to be a solid winner, but I make more off bonuses than I do from the felt because of tilt, and that is the story of my poker career. When I was at really small stakes I'd kill the games and then jump way up when I ran bad and inevitably lose nearly my whole roll, this was a big form of tilt, but the games were so easy to beat that as soon as I got my head on straight again I'd win and grind back up to a couple hundred only to repeat.

Now its a more subtle tilt, but the games are a lot tougher now, so it still results in me just doing a little better than break even. For example, yesterday I was up 200, played well and ran well, but I was getting tired of playing and could feel my focus going, so I quit and started trying to figure out what else I could do for a while, but everyone was at school or work, so there wasn't much to do. I played more, and practically gave away $100. I knew I shouldn't play, but I lacked the emotional control to just not do it, and I frequently kill my winrate with decisions like these.

I think I am too smart for my own good, and I've never struggled so much with anything in my life. Sports and school are very low variance, so its easy to just perform, but poker tests people in other ways that I suck at, such as discipline and emotional control. In wrestling if I lose a match I freak out, and have time to regroup before the next one, so it doesn't affect me that much, or the same with a test at school or something.

If I can improve these flaws, I'll start moving up stakes quicker, and above all poker will have made me a better person, but for me this is not easy task. I think part of this is a maturity issue, and will get better with time, as it already has, but for now this is my prime focus. I am a smart, driven, thinking poker player that is AWFUL.

Figure out a way to control my emotions and I'll reach my goals, don't and I will continue to make a lot of FPP's and maybe years from now get to midstakes which is my ultimate goal.

On a positive note, I've made back $700 and have $335 in bonuses coming by the end of the week, so if I can manage to break even I oughta be a little over 1500 in a couple days and hopefully back on track soon to reach my summer goals.

cheers,
Chad

GOAL FOR THE WEEK

Take a 1 hour break if I start to get upset.

Take the rest of the day off if I tense up.

Don't play unless I have a positive outlook on poker and feel ready to play my A game.

If I can go 10 days in a row without breaking any of these I'll take some money out and go buy a climbing rope.

I'd probably be sick if I saw the amount of money not following these rules has cost me, not to mention the frustration.

Cheers,
Chad

It's easy to not tilt when you're crushing, but ya one session in the books. I'll probably eat, get my lawns done, and then play one more today! I think I'm better off learning to not tilt playing full ring, heads up is a lot more difficult, so I think I'll get good at quitting at full ring and then tackle heads up again with some more self control.

I've just about finished the free trial of PT3 and I'm starting the one for Hold em Manager now, so far there's a few things PT3 has that I'm not seeing on Hold em Manager, but I'm sure as I get familiar with the program I'll either find these things, or other things that I wish PT3 had. All the videos I watch seem to favor HEM, so hopefully I can figure out why in the 15 days.

cheers,
Chad

Yea I promise you will like HeM better.
It's much more solid and everyone is using it now.

Also, both stars and tilt use the Dealt rakeback system.

Thanks for the correction mo. I was misinformed.

Its def going to take some getting used to, but I'm starting to get used to HEM and agree that its starting to look a little better. More user friendly from what I've seen.

I actually got tested today, and I quit twice like a champ! I won't be putting in nearly as much volume for quite a while under my new plan, but hopefully as I get better at quitting I'll also become mentally tougher and be able to up my volume.

Cheers,
Chad

My gut is a phenomenal poker player, but my head talks it out of a lot of stuff. I need to trust my gut more, and not talk myself out of big laydowns against tight players, I call too often right now, but I'll get it fixed. Won like 25 dollars with my head today, but my gut would have folded a straight to a flush, a pair to trips, and a few other spots and won more than 150 if I'd have just trusted it. I also slow played 2 hands till I was beat, so gonna learn how to make a big laydown or not slow play anymore.

I've successfully quit several times now as soon as my mentality changed from what's the best decision to how much am I stuck or winning, I just have to not check my bankroll when I'm winning and quit as soon as I wanna check it when I'm losing, and I'll never get into that "I was up so much" or "how could I be losing so much to these lucky idiots" thoughts and start playing tilted. I've only played a couple days without tilting, but this will be the most profitable thing I've ever learned for sure.

If anyone has looked at my ptr, playing tilted is the reason for the huge spikes on my graph, I run good, and then play tilted as soon as I run bad, thus doubling the effect of a bad run, but I'd be willing to bet the swings settle out significantly over my next 100,000 hands, and hopefully have a steeper slope=)

I've started doing some sweat sessions with people from 2p2 using teamviewer and skype and its certainly nice to get a second opinion on my play and have to justify all my actions every now and then! If anybody here is still reading this =) and wants to trade sweat sessions or have me sweat them or whatever I'd be happy to, so pm me, or post here! I can prolly only really help with cash though just to warn you, I'm a terrible tourney player.
Cheers,
Chad

Hey man.
I'd love to sweat you if you play NL, I can't stand limit..
Ptr says u play 25nl FR now and doing good. So I can be of any help let me know. We can talk on skype too...
I don't think u would be interested in watching me because I play lower.

Lost some today, and started to lose the right mindset, so I'm done for the day.

I just tried to figure out what making supernova is worth, and its looking to be right about $4200 extra in 2011, assuming I get right about the same number of FPP's next year. I'm just a touch over 40,000 right now, so I really need to move up limits before the end of the year to give myself a good chance at getting it, that last month or two could be a real grind if I'm close, cuz playing bad and losing is very unlikely to be a 4200 hit, but hopefully I'll be very well established at 50nl or 100nl and getting a lot more VPP's, so I don't have to make any drastic increases in volume towards the end.

I'd contemplated making an account for family or friends and just getting the 600 deposit bonus, but I think its actually worth more to go for supernova and I don't have to mess with any hassle and the possibility of getting caught.

I need to learn to call less, I think thats every small stakes fish's biggest leak and its definitely true for me given I'm not playing tilted. I'm going to make an attempt to drastically increase my showdown winnings, it just seems like all too often I'm calling against a tight player with a strong hand when he's not raising with anything less than the nuts. So ya if a player has a VPIP less than 15 or so and a lowish aggression factor, then I'm not calling any raises with less than 2 pair unless the board is super draw heavy with none of the draws completed. These players are not bluffing . . . . . . EVER, so I'll keep playing aggressively against them and get them to make the bad folds, until they play back. Always having the nuts when you raise should be highly exploitable, but very few people at micro limits take advantage of this, and the ones that do probably move up quickly cuz they just crush the micros.

THE KEY TO THE MICROS IS TO VALUE BET THE HECK OUT OF THE LOOSE PASSIVE FISH AND TO TAKE TONS OF SMALL POTS FROM AND NOT LOSE ANY BIG POTS TO, THE ULTRA TIGHT STRAIGHTFORWARD PLAYING REGS.

I'm getting pretty good at recognizing who's who with my stats quickly, I just need to pinpoint the thought processes of these two extremely common types of players so I can make those big laydowns against the nits or thin value bets against the fish.


cheers,
Chad

Movin back up! Gonna take a 5 buy in shot at 50nl, and hopefully stick around for a bit. I think my game is getting a lot better and I'm starting to recognize the spots where I should be making a big laydown or do something a little bit non standard that'll make a big difference in my winrate, so hopefully I can tune into that a little better and start crushing instead of winning a little more marginally.

I tilted this morning, but started shutting it down as soon as I made the first really poor decision, and didn't pursue the desire to get even, so thats a definite win in my book.

Gonna bump it down to like 8 tables so I can really focus and pay attention to my stats, and if I do tilt I'll be able to shut it down quicker and not do any kind of damage that I won't be able to undo fairly quickly at 25nl, also going to just quit immediately if I get to 1250 and not even wait for the blinds to come around, I think I'll be too eager to get back to 50nl to play well if I get that low, so it's prolly plus EV to just close the computer. So ya wish me some run good, atleast until I get my bankroll to stabilize a bit at 50nl!

I've made some money at 50nl now, and my roll is sitting 12 buyins above the number I said i'd move down at, so I should be able to weather some negative variance if the poker gods so desire. I did a hand history review today and really got a lot out of it. It seems like every time I take a step forward with poker and really make some improvements with my game, the biggest thing I realize is just how little I know and how many leaks I have, but I suppose thats how it should be and how it will continue to be for a long time or quite possibly forever.

Achilles157 has some great videos for Drag the Bar, and I think I'm going to go back through one of his for 50nl and take some more notes, his thought process is presented in a way that seems to make a lot more sense to me than any other video I've watched so I'm sure it'd do me a lot of good to meticulously watch that one a couple times and get everything I can from it. So ya poker is good, life is good, and I'm really motivated to learn right now so I should probably get to it.

cheers,
Chad

Still cruising! I've doubled my bankroll since I moved up to 50nl now, but I think 100nl is a pretty tough game, and I'm still making big changes to my game, so I'll wait until I get to 50 buy ins for it instead of the 30 buy in rule I've been going by at smaller stakes. I think that'll help me mentally deal with the much larger downswings too. I'll also be taking some money out for my summer living expenses in about a month, so I don't want to risk some money that is going to come out.

I've been working really hard lately to improve my game and I think I've been fairly successful so far. By far my biggest change has been how I approach a hand with a fish and how I approach a hand against nitty regs and LAG regs, the correct line to take in a hand against these 3 big player types is almost always unique to each, and its taken me quite a while to even begin to figure out the thought process of each enough to exploit them.

I'd eventually like to start coaching some really micro stakes people and kind of move up the stakes I'm coaching as I move up. At the moment I'm not confident enough in my reasoning for making different plays and I don't explain myself well enough, so I think this is a more long term goal, but I've helped out a couple of buddies and really enjoyed it, so yeah, eventually I'll be charging like 10 bucks an hour to coach 1c/2c through 5c/10c or maybe 15 per hour for 10c/25c. If anyone reading wants some help with those stakes (not for any money) let me know and I'd be happy to help as best I can.

I've finally started lifting and running to at least get in decent shape before wrestling season starts in a couple months, and I think it helps me play more focused poker too, so all around good stuff!

Poker is great, life is great, and I'm enjoying the home stretch of the summer!

cheers,
Chad

I am too loose and I look for a reason not to make a play, instead of a reason to make a play, and that gets me in a lot of really tough spots. If I'm going to continue to play 14 tables or increase that number I've got to tighten up a little bit. My results have been good but I feel like my current style has a lot of variance. On the positive side I'm pretty sure this style has improved my hand reading a lot, or I wouldn't be winning, but ya I'd like to adopt a slightly more conservative style and take a little bit of the stress out of my game so I can play more tables and put in a little more volume.

I'm also going to start setting a target volume at the beginning of each day, and not check my bankroll until I've completed it or am too tired or tilted to play anymore that day. I think this will greatly increase my bottom line and take some of the emotion out of the game.

I've got sooooo much work to do, its definitely overwhelming sometimes, but I'm enjoying the hell out of the learning process, and am so glad I decided to give poker a pretty serious go this summer. I've improved my game immensely, it has freed up a lot of time to chill with friends and really enjoy having a summer vacation for the second to last time, and I'm sure my efforts to improve will continue to payoff dividends for the rest of my poker career. So ya, 3 more weeks left to hit my summer goals! Hopefully I can catch a bit of run good and wrap it up!

cheers,
Chad