Poker Forum

lol, its honestly not that bad, table ninja and Hold em manager make it very doable, and I'm definitely not folding anything premium. I think I have the loosest preflop stats of any winning regular I've seen at 50nl.



I'm just super tight in early position and super loose from late position, especially when people limp in front of me. I've been playing about 2.5 hours per day, 6 days per week, and spending about an hour each day doing something that will improve my game. I generally take one planned day off per week and then throw in another if my schedule gets crazy or I'm tilting quicker than I should. I also picked up 4 lawns for the summer, and you were right Frost I think that was a great idea. Its a good change of pace from sitting in front of a computer and I never lose money there, so no stress. If poker had gone bad it would have kept me sane.

I really haven't played that much during the summer, so the only thing that will be really necessary to cut out is the time I spend watching high stakes poker or other dumb stuff that is entertaining and poker related, but not really working towards any goal. I'll probably continue to do these and just play less cuz I enjoy them, but I think my schedule would be sustainable through the school year and most of wrestling season if I really wanted to keep it.

cheers,
Chad

Between live and online play I'm less than a buy in away from hitting the 4k mark (my goal) for the summer and I have about 10 days before school starts!!! my graph is looking much better, and it has a distinct new feature showing up that should vastly increase my bottom line and my overall enjoyment of the game! This being a small loss in comparison to my overall bankroll. The first quite a bit was up and just as much down, but now there's just little blips along the slope where I lost a little bit during the day and didn't feel the need to either make it a winning day, or reach my pain threshold with a big loss.



I was consistently playing far too long when I was losing and upset and not playing long enough when I was winning. This caused the super jagged stuff at first imo because as long as it was good I was fine, but as soon as things started to go bad I amplified it. From the looks of it my emotional control was about as bad as my knowledge of the game edge on my opponents was good, so my winrate was small.

Over the past month and a half I've done a lot better job at quitting when I start to get upset and this has been an immense help with poker in every way. I'm enjoying it more and making a lot more money. I still need work on the playing more when I'm winning part, but I've started to set a daily volume goal and not check my bankroll till its done or I'm starting to tilt, so as I get better with that I think the playing longer when I'm winning will fall into place too.

I'm so close to there, I've already stumbled today though. I've been setting a 1500 hand goal most days, and today I ran really good over two short sessions in which I played about 700 hands. I knew I was up a decent bit, and I went ahead and checked and saw I was up $258. At this point it would be far more painful to lose than it would be to win, so the right decision is to quit for the day and come back tomorrow driven to play my best and win again, but had I just not checked my result I'd still be motivated to get my last 800 hands in, and playing the hands in a quality manner is what will make the money in the long run, not good short term results.

On my actual play, I'm still trying to pick better spots to get aggressive, I often find myself with the bet button continually mashed down, and spewing to terrible players. I've found that against the regs at 50nl most are so nitty that they're making a lot of folding mistakes, and not nearly as many calling ones, so its a good strategy in general against the standard 12/9 TAG, but I'm still doing it against unknowns and fish and its a huge leak. So ya, gonna pick my spots better and stop playing so damn tricky against unknowns and fish and get back to basic value betting and folding when pushed back against. Also gonna play a little heads up with my now deeper bankroll, better tilt control, and understanding of no limit.

cheers,
Chad

Just finished a sesh and my summer poker earnings stand at $4053.74, so mission accomplished! I could definitely hit a downswing before the end of the summer and unaccomplish this, but for the time being I'm above the goal! I still fall back into my overaggressive spewy ways sometimes, but I definitely feel like I'm making progress and continuing to distinguish the lines I take against fish and different types of regs to get the most out of each! So ya, making money and continuing to improve my game a bunch! All is well on the poker front.

My dad just went in for a pretty major surgery and everything went well and he's on the road to recovery now, but will still be in the hospital for at least 4 more days, so I'm just thanking God that its all gone as well as possible so far, and that the thing removed wasn't cancerous. Pretty scary stuff, I've never really lost anyone close to me, so to some extent everyone seems immortal, but this was a wake up call and hopefully will encourage me to make the most out of the short time we're given here.

cheers,
Chad

Impressive accomplishment, Chad. Shows what can be done when you set a goal and do what is necessary to achieve it, including practicing good bankroll management techniques; not just throwing your chips around trying to get lucky. Your blog should be required reading for every newbie (and some oldbies ) here.

Having lost my Dad when he was fairly young and my younger brother too, you are lucky to have all your family. It's a very scary thing to go through. Glad to hear your Dad is soon to be back home and in good shape.

Thanks a bunch Frost I really appreciate it! Haha, nobody seems to wanna listen to what I have to say, I think you're the only one that ever replies to me on this or in other parts of the forum =)

I decided to hire DiscoBisco for a sweat today, he had some good insight, and while I feel like it wasn't anything too dramatic, I did get a couple key things out of it that have already paid for the cost of the session. I ran sick good and made 160 during the session that cost me 60 bucks, so yeah thats always nice!

I'm planning on taking a shot at 100nl tomorrow!!!!!! I'll probably buy some hands from PTR so I'm not going in blind, and hopefully I run good right off the bat and stick around for a while. I'm sitting at 40 buy ins for the limit, which is a little less than I thought I'd take a shot with, but DiscoBisco thought I'd be a winner at those stakes with my thought process, and I'm done paying for rent and food out of my poker account, so its not too big a deal if this first go is a flop. So ya, I'll probably just play like 6 or 8 tables, and if I lose 2 buy ins, then I'll drop back down until I get back, then repeat (hopefully not necessary)! AHHH I'm so stoked! I feel like my game is good enough, and if I can run good right out of the gate for like 2 sessions that'd be awesome! Several people make a good living at 100nl, so I think its fair to say the game gets pretty serious around those stakes! and a hundred bucks is a lot of money! so ya wish me some run good!!!!

cheers,
Chad

Good luck at 100nl

Going by the number of views your blog has, someone is reading! Maybe they are just intimidated by your progress and knowledge and don't feel they have anything to add.

What happened to idespise you? He always had something to say.

I never noticed the views thing! I added despise on facebook, so i still talk to him occasionally.

163 hands of 100nl booked and $279 in profit! but its almost 2 am here and I'm tired, so hopefully I can get in some decent volume tomorrow. obviously I ran super hot, but I was pleased to see the game isn't much different, the regs are just better at 3-betting from my initial observation. So yeah, hopefully I can stick around at 100nl!

cheers,
Chad

It seems like simply playing poker to the best of my ability every time I log on would be simple. I know I make more money when I do, I enjoy the game more, even while losing when I know I'm in the zone, but for some reason I just can't do it. I've spent probably the last 6 sessions spewing off a ton of money, but these last two it finally caught up with me. So ya, before every wrestling match I go through a set routine to get myself warmed up and mentally ready for competition, but with poker I roll out of bed, log on, put $700 on the tables, and go. Surely I'm not in the best possible place mentally with this routine. I'm not sure how a poker warm up should go, but I need to get it figured out before I lose any more money. It's also embarrassing how I've been playing so I'm going to try to use that feeling in one way or another to help keep me from making irrational decisions. I would never make a lot of the plays I do if someone was watching me. I've also failed to quit when I'm frustrated the last couple sessions, and I was doing awesome with that for a while. I've fallen off the path, but I'll claw my way back up, and hopefully adopt some better habits to keep me playing my best.

cheers,
Chad

Try posting something over your computer like:

ARE YOU FRUSTRATED? QUIT NOW, OR YOU'LL BE SORRY!!!

Then go kick the neighbors imaginary dog and do something to relax and take 10 deep breaths.

Thanks Frost! I think thats definitely good advice. I'll have to add a background to my tables with something to that effect on it. I made a list of rules to read over before each session and follow unless the situation is perfect, and I think that has helped put me in the right state of mind.


1. FOLD WHEN YOUR GUT SAYS YOU'RE BEAT!!!!!!!
2. DON'T MAKE A PLAY ON A POT WITHOUT SOME EQUITY OR A REALLY
STRONG READ
3. Don't Bluff a fish
4. Don't bluff catch vs. a nit
5. Don't call a 3-bet oop
6. Don't call a 3-bet light ip
7. Practice good table selection
8. Make sure you're repping something when you bluff
9. Make the most plus EV decisions you know how and quit
if for whatever reason you're incapable at the moment
10. Set a hand goal and don't exceed that.
11. Quit as soon as you get frustrated!
12. QUIT AS SOON AS YOU GET FRUSTRATED!!!!!! NOT A SECOND LATER! The second it sets in, no exceptions, the very nature of frustration makes it so that you can't accurately say you're playing well or poorly, your judgement is skewed.
13. Only C-bet good boards against villains ENTIRE range.
14. Play good hands in position against fish, and profit.

Every action you make proves that you're a good player or
a poor one. Prove that you're a smart individual with a lot
of self control by making the right play consistently, you
can be great at this game, you just have to make a
consistent and conscious effort to be. THIS IS REAL MONEY!!!

IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN HEADS UP PLAY GO TO DRAGTHEBAR, GET A SUBSCRIPTION AND WATCH PHYREBURN'S BEGINNER SERIES!!!!

Holy crap, that dude is awesome, he's up about 150k between his two sn's I know, and almost completely at 200nl HU, and unlike a lot of other good poker player's he explains himself extremely well. It has given me a really solid basis for heads up play and how to exploit different types of opponents, and helped with my tilt control a ton too. I realized from his videos that I've been thinking about the remedy to my tilt problem all wrong. I've been focusing on the amount of money at stake, so that somehow in my mind taking it more seriously for that reason will inspire me to keep my cool. MONEY is the root of the problem!!!! I've pretty much never played a game of Risk or Monopoly to less than the best of my ability, because there is no money involved, so I think clearly and don't get too emotionally attached. So to fix this problem I need to think about the money as little as possible. I'm plenty competitive enough as is to want to win. I just need to go into every poker game with the thought that I am going to make better decisions with the cards I'm given than anyone else possibly could. Then do everything I can to accomplish this goal. That doesn't mean I'll always win, but I'll be damned if I play any less than the best I know how, or if anyone at my stakes is doing a better job than me at making correct decisions, and I don't do anything to improve so that I become better than that person.

I have been posting myself a little note on my computer and that definitely helps keep me focused on the goal. My note now reads "Losing doesn't make you bad at poker, losing your cool and making less than optimal decisions does."

cheers,
Chad

If you're under platinum and playing on stars, without table ninja especially, you're getting screwed. If you're borderline, I'd make the argument that FT is still better. Ex: Say a fish deposits $100, and starts playing. Winning players are now at war with the poker site to see who can get their money first. On Stars, they get more of the players money that are Bronze, Silver Star, and Gold Star before we do. On Full Tilt some of the fish get rakeback, so they get some money back to donate to the regs, instead of the poker site getting it, and if they lose slower they are more likely to redeposit IMO. So ya, if you're going to reach supernova go for it! If you're under (like most of us) then Full Tilt is a better deal. GL



I've sworn against tourneys, but I've never played a rush tourney and was talkin to someone on skype and decided it sounded worthwhile. I fired up 3 $4.40 rush 135 man SNG's. Finished the first in 40th for $0 the second in 35th for $0, then pulled out a 2nd place in the third for $97 and change, not bad for a $4 tourney. Maybe I'll play one every now and then. Would have been sick if I'd nutted up and bought into one that was the right size for my roll.

I'm also pulling out of my downswing and playing a lot more showdown based game. I've begun to learn when to apply the brakes, and it has saved me a ton of money and probably even more by me not getting frustrated all the time. I'm really close to buying another $650 bonus, and getting another $100 milestone bonus on Stars, plus I've released $60 of a $400 bonus on Full Tilt, so hopefully I can clear a good portion of that. I think I'll grind it out at 50nl for about 2 more weeks, then I should release about 250 of my FT bonus in that time, and get 750 in bonuses from stars. If I can manage to just break even over this stretch I should be sitting on a 5k roll, which will be more than enough to take another shot at 100nl!!!! Its really frustrating to take a shot at 100nl win a decent bit, and have to move down because I blew it at 50nl. UGH!!! Back on the climb soon.

cheers,
Chad

My attitude towards poker sucks. Ever since school started I've been really stressed out, and my poker results have reflected this. I'm not having fun with the game, and every time I start a session I'm basically just waiting for the brutality to begin whether its getting coolered or sucked out on, I just can't win a big pot. I'm getting frustrated quick and am constantly playing on some degree of tilt. I've decided to take a week long break from poker to try and get my head on straight and my confidence back. I think that tilt has made a habit out of making different plays than the ones I know are correct, so hopefully a little time off will have me motivated to play my A game consistently and maybe teach me a little about patience in the process.

So ya, I'm banned from Tilt and Stars till next Monday. In the meantime I'll probably watch some videos and figure out how I'm running about 10% above the VPIP I think is optimal, and 5% above my target PFR. I also need to make some major c-betting adjustments and reactions to raises. So, not taking the week completely off from poker, but not going to play, and will spend far less time with it.

I need to buy a $650 bonus with FPPs and release my next $100 milestone bonus so I can move back up to 100nl soon.

cheers,
Chad

Taking a break was certainly the right option. I'm a little more on top of my school work now, and I've really put some thought into my game. I made an excel spreadsheet with all of my compared to the average stats of top winners at 100-400nl, and then tried to decipher the differences and figure out where I'm making mistakes.

http://s891.photobucket.com/albums/ac11 ... romPTR.png

The image itself I think is too big to post here, and if I sized it down I don't think you'd be able to read it, so if you're interested that is the link to a picture of my final spreadsheet.

But ya, I also looked into my positional stats against some very good players, and deduced that

PREFLOP

1. The first thing I should probably fix is my ranges from middle position around to the cutoff. I'm playing too many speculative and easily dominated hands in spots where I'm likely going to end up out of position.

2. I need to trim down the spots i bluff 3-bet in. Its great to turn the top of your folding range into a bluff when the spot is just right, but that doesn't mean A9s is always a 3-bet. I need to make sure I'm doing it against competent regs and only ip.

3. I have to slow down a lot with my blind defense. If I don't have a strong read that says they'll fold, then I'm going to be playing the pot oop. Phil Ivey said his grandmother could outplay him with position, so I don't know what makes me think I can do something he can't.

4. I'm cold calling with too many suited connectors in position. I'm playing them against every one, but I should be playing them against people that are too tight postflop, and fish. Good regs won't allow me to stack them when I hit, and they won't allow me to steal often enough when I miss, so I should just pick a better spot to mess with them.

5. I don't call very much agaisnt 3-bets oop, but basically any is still too much, and I'm also not folding enough ip. calling a 3-bet requires a strong read, I need to either think they'll give up enough after the flop to profit, or they're 3-betting enough that I'm ahead of their range with my less than 4-bet worthy hand, but in either case it takes a large sample for those stats to converge. So ya, gonna give people the benefit of the doubt in these spots until proven otherwise.

FLOP

1. I am c-betting too much. I have to start checking their fold to flop c-bet stats before I act, and start delayed c-betting a lot of really wet boards that I don't have a piece of. I'm also c-betting too much into multiple opponents with small pieces of boards.

2. I'm floating WAY too much. I'll often do it just because the board looks like it missed their range, and I think I can steal on the turn. Then I pick up a flush draw or something and river a pair, before I know it I've got more than half my stack in when I started with nothing and only improved marginally on each street. I need to start only floating with a really strong read, or really good equity.

TURN

1. This needs to be the street where I decide whether I am headed to showdown, I need to get out, or I think I can steal. Tightening everything up should make my turn decisions easier, but ya I need to start treating the turn in nlhe more like 5th street in stud, time to make your play or commit to a showdown.

RIVER

Fold more to a raise here. People don't bluff raise the river very often at all. I'm looking them up for big bets far too light. Once again, better previous decisions should make navigating the river much easier.

Phew long post, thanks for reading. I got a lot to work on. Not sure if this is allowed, but if anyone plays FR and wants me to do this for them PM me, I'd do it for 10 bucks. Don't expect a response, but figured I'd throw it out there. I think this database analysis is going to help me out a ton, I think it'd probably be even more beneficial for someone playing lower stakes, and I had fun doin it! GL at the tables.

cheers,
Chad

Hold em Manager is an awesome tool with a ton of potential. It has definitely helped me improve my game a ton over the past week. I've also been running really well too. Up $1100ish plus unlocked a $100 bonus, and bought a $650 bonus that I should release in about 2 weeks, so ya has been a really sick week!



Also made a little on Full Tilt, but not too much.



Just read my first post in this thread! Def cool to reflect on some of this stuff. Crazy to think it has been a year since I started this blog, but ya I think it is safe to say my poker journey has come quite a ways from the $133 I had right about a year ago!

Goal #1 is a continuing work in progress, but I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job with it, so I'll call it on path, but there really is no final destination for it.

Goal #2 is definitely completed. I'm sitting at $4510 in my account now, I've got a $650 bonus that should be released soon. I've made over $1000 live, and have taken $1300 out of my account for stuff.

Goal #3 I don't think I'm quite there yet. I'm probably sitting around 20 something per hour, but if I can make the transition to 100nl successfully in the coming weeks, then this one could be completed as well!

I've definitely changed my BR requirements since then, by these standards I'd be playing 200nl, 8/16 limit, $150 SNGs, and $109 tourneys. I'm laughably under rolled for all these, so def good that my BRM has changed as I've moved up or I'd be in for some brutal swings.

cheers,
Chad

Very impressive. Not only do I admire what you have accomplished this last year, but I also the dedication and the growth in your poker skills and understanding. You are so far above me in all those areas.

It's nice to see what can be accomplished with setting goals and tracking your progress.

Your ability to modify your goals and brm as you progress as well as your ability to objectively evaluate your play, imo, has also played a part in your success.

Continued good luck, good cards and good reads!

Maybe one day I'll take the game seriously enough to follow your lead.

Thanks a bunch Frost, I really appreciate the kind words! I owe a lot of it to this site. Winning 20 bucks for 1st place in that heads up freeroll tourney on Absolute Poker was so huge for me! Around that time I'd been toying with the idea of depositing like 10 bucks somewhere, and had I done this myself and lost, that may have been the end of my online poker days, but that 20 bucks gave me a risk free chance to see if I could go somewhere with it, and I'm pretty sure I got below 10 before I started winning. Its also been awesome for moral support during a downswing to be able to post here and get some feedback, or at least know that someone else is reading and seeing me struggle. Then being able to look back and see how many times I've struggled and bounced back. When I'm winning I feel like I could never lose, and when I'm losing it feels like I could never win. So going back through my blog has been a great way to see that what is important isn't my current results, but what I'm doing to improve all aspects of my game. Its when I've lacked improvement that I've struggled longest, which would certainly explain why every time I take a decent break I come back and win, and why I did really well most of the summer and then got crushed as soon as school started.

But ya, bottom line is I really appreciate your comments Frost and this forum in general! I wish some of the newer players that are really motivated to improve would post something here if they read it and ask for a little help, I'd definitely be willing to analyze some stats or watch someone play over team viewer and give advice to the best of my ability. I feel like that'd be a great way for me to give something back to the forum, and I know that would have helped me out soooooo much a year ago.

cheers,
Chad

Wow Chad

This is very inspiring stuff

Thanks for sharing!

When I get through your blog, I reckon I will have a few questions for you!

cheers

jemma5

Great work dude good stuff reading this. Your a great cash game player. And I hear ya when it comes to school and college it gets really stressful at times. But its all about balance and you understand that. Your a great player with great aspirations for the game

Its been a crazy couple weeks. I've seriously cut back on the amount of poker I've been playing and took 3k out of my accounts. So ya, I'm sitting with 1850ish in still and have moved down stakes too. I think its easier for me to not become addicted if I don't feel like I'm going to get rich, so ya have got my priorities straight now and will continue to play but not nearly as much as before.

I've gotten two buddies from the wrestling team into online poker and its been really cool teaching them and seeing them develop a ton. I gave one 10 bucks on stars and he's sitting at 320 right now, and just about to make a deposit and then withdraw the money on full tilt to get his first deposit bonus, so he should be making some big jumps in the next month or two. The other had like 15 on stars that he deposited a long time ago and hadn't played with in over a year and he's sitting at 350 and still has 510 of a first deposit bonus to clear, that he's already taken the money out from. So ya, kinda cool to see them really starting to understand the game and have some success after just 7 months or so. I also gave one of my wrestling coaches a poker lesson about a week ago, and he's going to open up an account soon. He's the most disciplined person I've ever met and an intelligent guy, so I think he'll have a lot of success soon too!

cheers,
Chad