So this isn't my first foray into PG&C but it's been a few years since I've been as deep into poker as I currently am so I felt it was time to make my return.

About a month ago (May 27th) I put £10 (~$13) onto stars after probably around 6 months of zero poker. It was a bank holiday weekend and I dedicated those 3 days to seeing how much I could spin it up and then decide how I was feeling about poker after that. Fast forward to today and we've worked our way up to nearly $200 and the poker bug is back.





So that's the story so far. You can see from the graph, there was a casual steady climb through 2nl, a more erratic rise and fall at 5nl, then grind back up through 2nl & now at 5nl again.

My current situation is that I'm working part time, so I have a decent amount of time I can sink into poker and really want to make the most of it, and poker is probably slightly more productive than football manager (slightly).

As the title suggests this blog is going to be used to keep myself accountable, both in terms of study time & controlling tilt. From a mental game perspective my tilt seems to mainly manifest itself in the form of running away from poker and forgetting it for months on end so hopefully posting here regularly will force me to tough it up when the downswings start coming for me.

For the sake of giving the blog a nice jumping off point, we'll write a line under today as the end of month one.

Here are our goals for month two.

- Try to keep the average of 60k hands we set in month one (we have some commitments where we'll be away from the computer for a number of days but we should be able to work around that easily enough)

- Read The Grinders Manual (I started a 30 day free trial of kindleunlimited today so really want to exploit that and take in as much poker content as possible this month, any recommendations welcome, currently reading Joe Ingram's Chasing the Poker Dream).

- Post at least one hand from my review sessions on here every time I study (just as a sort of receipt that study did in fact take place).

If anyone has any suggestions, be that for the poker side or the blog side, feel free to let me know, until then...

GLGL me.

Gl dude!

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

Not the greatest day at the tables yesterday but hey ho. I think I've got better with dealing with variance as I've gotten older. I used to fixate around my bankroll peak and if I ever dropped 5/6 buy ins from my peak I'd start to question my ability instead of looking at where my bankroll started compared to where it is now.

One small update on my approach: I'm going to be throwing in some regular table sessions after reading some things about the difference between regular/zoom and while I still prefer zoom it can't hurt to get some practice trying to read and make adjustments at regular tables, especially if I have any aspirations of playing live in the future. Not going to over do it but will probably throw in ~3 hours a week 4 tabling regular tables around my usual zoom play.

As far as accountability goes... Roast me fam.

Think I was pretty much on autopilot here but maybe it's not as bad as I felt it was at the time? Although what is he raising this flop with?

Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $10.41
SB: $5.02
BB: $6.28
UTG: $5.00
MP: $5.48
Hero (CO): $5.54

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is CO with Q Q
UTG raises to $0.15, MP calls $0.15, Hero raises to $0.70, 3 folds, UTG calls $0.55, 1 fold

Flop: ($1.62) 7 J 4 (2 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.85, UTG raises to $4.30 all in, Hero calls $3.45

Cheers!

I'd bet a bit bigger on the flop (just my preference, but lots of people prefer smaller sizing in 3B pots), but I think it's played ok (without any reads on the villains).

To answer your question, he could be raising with AJ, possibly KJ if he's a worse player. Maybe raising a FD. Maybe he's frustrated and raising AK. Or maybe a total bluff. Who knows? Of course, there's a decent chance he also has JJ, but I'm not gonna put him on the nuts all the time.

EDIT: Curious what he had...

Yeah I think I was more annoyed that I went into autopilot and didn't think through it a little before calling off. But in reality it's unlikely he just has JJ in this spot. Although in this instance he turned up with KK which was slightly weird but whatever.

Us holding the Qd takes away a couple of hands which might otherwise do this (AQdd, KQdd). But we need 34% equity to call the shove on the flop, so if he ever loses his mind with AK, or has AJ then we're in fine shape vs his range. Although now we know he can have KK when calling 3 bets pre that changes things a little.

It's called no limit for a reason.


Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $5.12
Hero (SB): $9.38
BB: $5.05
UTG: $5.50
MP: $2.12
CO: $11.23

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is SB with 2 2
UTG raises to $0.10, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.10, Hero calls $0.08, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.35) 2 9 2 (3 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $0.17, BTN folds, Hero calls $0.17

Turn: ($0.69) K (2 players)
Hero checks, UTG bets $0.35, Hero raises to $1.30, UTG calls $0.95

River: ($3.29) T (2 players)
Hero bets $4.35, UTG calls $3.93 all in


Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $13.01
SB: $8.58
Hero (BB): $7.73
UTG: $6.35
MP: $6.05
CO: $5.53

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is BB with A 5
1 fold, MP raises to $0.12, 3 folds, Hero calls $0.07

Flop: ($0.26) 3 5 T (2 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $0.17, Hero raises to $0.58, MP calls $0.41

Turn: ($1.42) 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $1, MP calls $1

River: ($3.42) 7 (2 players)
Hero bets $5.30, MP calls $4.35 all in




Overbetting is something I've not really put into my game at all, but these two spots came up today where it felt like a reasonable option. Vs weaker players at these levels I sometimes err too much on the side of trying to get calls from the highest % of their range instead of winning bigger pots vs the stronger part of their range.

Hand One
I was pretty narrowed down on AA/KK/99/AK, when I raise the turn if he calls with JJ-QQ he's probably not going to want to call much on the river so I'm okay with him folding that if he's willing to call are large bet with the other things.

Hand two
I have the added benefit of my hand looking like (and also being) a missed flush draw. The way it played out it was pretty likely his range was pretty much JJ+, TT or a flush draw of his own. The flush draw is folding river to whatever size, unless he has something like 87/76ss and he calls half pot maybe. TT I think most weaker players just get it in on the turn but if he has it GG. Then we have all the overpairs, the moral of today is, people at this level just don't like folding overpairs, punish them.

Well we've just gotten off the rollercoaster.

We managed about 5k hands of volume this weekend, and officially ended the weekend down around 4 buy ins, not the worst but meh.

Then midnight hit.



Quietly complaining to myself all night about not getting any good spots, card dead, blah blah blah.


Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $7.03
SB: $20.24
Hero (BB): $7.77
UTG: $8.56
MP: $5.02
CO: $6.34

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is BB with T Q
1 fold, MP raises to $0.15, 1 fold, BTN calls $0.15, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.47) K J A (3 players)
Hero checks, MP bets $0.33, BTN folds, Hero calls $0.33

Turn: ($1.13) 6 (2 players)
Hero checks, MP checks

River: ($1.13) K (2 players)
Hero bets $0.75, MP raises to $2.29, Hero raises to $7.29 all in, MP calls $2.25 all in



Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $7.36
Hero (SB): $13.82
BB: $7.99
UTG: $6.23
MP: $5.22
CO: $18.85

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is SB with 8 8
1 fold, MP raises to $0.15, CO calls $0.15, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.13, BB raises to $0.50, MP calls $0.35, CO calls $0.35, Hero calls $0.35

Flop: ($2.00) 8 2 8 (4 players)
Hero checks, BB checks, MP checks, CO checks

Turn: ($2.00) 5 (4 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $0.96, MP calls $0.96, CO folds, Hero raises to $3.75, BB folds, MP raises to $4.72 all in, Hero calls $0.97



Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $6.62
SB: $5.83
BB: $6.83
UTG: $6.75
Hero (MP): $11.26
CO: $5.00

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is MP with Q A
UTG raises to $0.15, Hero calls $0.15, CO raises to $0.50, 2 folds, BB calls $0.45, UTG calls $0.35, Hero calls $0.35

Flop: ($2.02) T 6 Q (4 players)
BB bets $0.97, UTG folds, Hero calls $0.97, CO calls $0.97

Turn: ($4.93) 9 (3 players)
BB bets $2.37, Hero raises to $9.79 all in, CO folds, BB calls $2.99 all in

River: ($15.65) 4 (2 players - 2 are all in)



Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $9.74
SB: $8.44
BB: $4.76
UTG: $11.80
Hero (MP): $8.68
CO: $7.42

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is MP with J K
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.15, 1 fold, BTN calls $0.15, 1 fold, BB calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.47) 5 2 J (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.31, BTN calls $0.31, BB calls $0.31

Turn: ($1.40) 9 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.83, BTN folds, BB raises to $4.30 all in, Hero calls $3.47

River: ($10.00) K (2 players - 1 is all in)


The last two hands I'm not happy with play wise but it's 1:20am and I need sleep so they can be reviewed later.

Quick note, I think there has been some decent study gains this weekend, I've been in the lab with the grinders manual trying to absorb all the goodness & actually apply it to my approach. I also ended up discussing some of hands with people and getting pretty deep, plus hearing other perspectives on a villains possible range in certain spots is always useful.

Okay, bed. GG.

Gl

Thanks!

Okay finished today's grind before midnight, what a healthy grown up decision of me.

Ended up 3 tabling zoom for about 4 hours which I'm pretty happy with. 2014/2015 me was:
1) awful at zoom where I couldn't target fish
2) awful playing multiple tables
3) awful putting in sessions over two hours
4) awful at poker.

So improving on 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

I also ended up playing a few hands at 10nlz as I saw there was quite a few guys I'd marked as fun players splashing around (and I was 95% complete on my VIP step and wasn't sure when stars are moving to this new system). But managed to find a few fun players to mark/take notes on for when we eventually move up to 10nl more regularly so it was a nice little trip.

Study/Improvement notes:

The last few days I think I've paid better attention to guys yet to act before making a decision preflop, which previously I wouldn't really do then complain when the 15% 3bet from the small blind reg 3bets me when I open K8o from the cutoff.

I've also been working on my bet sizing, I've generally left a lot of money on the table with weaker bets in the past, especially on the river.

Writing here to give me something semi-constructive poker-related to do that isn't an ill advised zoom session starting at 1am. Discipline.

Booked a good evening session, which included flopping a royal for the second time since I started writing here, the blog run good is 100% legitimate.

Poker Stars $0.02/$0.05 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

BTN: $5.92
SB: $8.42
BB: $11.34
UTG: $3.52
Hero (MP): $9.07
CO: $5.40

Pre Flop: ($0.07) Hero is MP with J A
UTG raises to $0.10, Hero calls $0.10, 2 folds, SB calls $0.08, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.35) Q K T (3 players)
SB bets $0.34, UTG folds, Hero calls $0.34

Turn: ($1.03) 8 (2 players)
SB bets $0.60, Hero calls $0.60

River: ($2.23) T (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.60, SB calls $1.60

Final Pot: $5.43
SB mucks J A
Hero shows J A (a Royal Flush)
Hero wins $5.20
(Rake: $0.23)

From a study perspective I do need to make sure I try to keep a balance. When things are going well I'm really eager to play and neglect the study side a little.

But overall, I'm really enjoying how things are going at the minute. I feel like I'm a winner in the games, my decisions and thought processes are noticeably getting better and I've endured some mini-downswings and not let them demotivate me. I kind of wish my mental approach had been what it is now when I was at university 2/3 years ago but there's nothing we can do about that, just gotta go crush now I guess.

Definitely triggered the doomswitch being this positive.

GLGL.

Gl mate subbed

Read The Mental Game of Poker while you got the trial, most strategy books are trash for micros online and basically useless.

Where in UK you from?

Got some pretty decent study in today. Ran some numbers on BB vs SB defence stuff, Practiced doing some EV calcs (FUN!) and got a bit deeper into The Grinders Manual which is proving to be a really helpful read as it goes over the fundamentals that I otherwise wouldn't really pay too much attention to doing specific hand reviews.

I was feeling pretty dead this evening and didn't think I was going to be able to put in any hands but we found a second wind eventually and managed to have a pretty decent session. Got aces in pre 3 times and held which always helps your session feel like a good one. Not really any massively interesting hands to share unfortunately, obviously been running pretty nicely for the last few days now which is always nice.

Planning on keeping my head down and grinding it out, I'd set a goal 3 weeks ago to be a regular in the 10nlz pool in 12 weeks. I think with 9 weeks left I'm looking like a nice favourite to make it in time but variance can be a cruel mistress so I'm taking nothing for granted. Played another 150ish hands at 10nl during my session today, getting used to the bigger $ risk (I'm such a nit) and got some of the regs/fish marked so I can have a bit of an edge diving in when the water looks warmest.

Let's go.

Cheers! & from Birmingham.

I've had The Mental Game on my iPad for years now, might actually get round to reading all of it soon.

Okay, so pretty big update for the goals of this blog and/or my year in general.

I was chatting with someone on their PG&C thread about the Bill Perkins episodes on the Joey Ingram podcast and how that's inspired me to be a little more motivated and ambitious. I also may have also jokingly said that if I get to 100nl by the end of 2017 I'll get a Bill Perkins tattoo, but I stand by that claim.

Anyway, IRL I'm hoping to be accepted onto a teaching programme over here which starts this time next year (I'll found out if I've been successful in a few weeks from now). This would give me a year free to do whatever.

My plan going forward is to spend the next ~8 months making the money to go and travel through Europe around March next year. A man, his laptop and a dream. Kind of been inspired by Jaime Staples and his vlog to just rock up in random countries and as long as there's wifi (and no unexpected poker laws) I can put in volume from wherever. I'm not planning to make all the money for this trip playing poker but hopefully it can be a nice little sweetener on top of whatever I earn the old fashioned way.

Well now we've got a real goal to work towards, let's get down to it.

Hey man good luck with job, poker and life. Any chance if you not in a study group you want to start one? If so drop me a message

Thanks man, and sure. I've been looking to find some people on here who're in a similar spot and maybe get a skype group going so sounds like a good idea.

Oh god... If this acc happens I'll lol

GL again. I'll stay tuned

Cheers! If I make it to 100nl in 6 months Bill has earned it as far as I'm concerned!

roooast

So yesterday we got paid with aces 3 times, today it came right back around on us. Wasn't the greatest day, dropped about ~4 buy ins, nothing major. Have some hands to review, will drop a few on here possibly.

In better news though, single tabling The Greeeeat Game of Pot Limit Omaha 2pl zoom is apparently the way forward, I ended up sitting with $18 dollars after about 45 minutes, so somehow ended up pretty close to where we started the day. Not sure how winnable microstakes PLO is as everyone complains about the ridiculous rake but we had our fun.

Back to the two card game, going to try to get in some decent volume over the weekend as I'm away Tuesday-Thursday night so need to make up for it in advance.

Thanks?

These are the swings we deal with, just gotta keep that emotion line steady.

PLO is really profitable FME, just the swings are nuts though.

Thought I'd return the favor and sub. Tear it up!

Thanks! Yeah I plan to upgrade my HM to add Omaha Manager if I get my roll into a nice spot just so I can actually track my results, review a few hands etc.