Hello!

I am a very boring person, so introduction would be tl;dr. Instead, I'll write cliff's and define my current targets in more detail.

• Age 30ish
• Played MTT's full-time 5yrs ago
• Cashed over 6-figs, 5-fig profits
• Drank & gambled most of my br (more than once..)
• Spewwy + degen in all aspects of life

Now:

All good, have a family and a full-time job. The thing is, I never felt comfortable working for someone else. I don't know what the future brings, but definitely something related to entrepreneurship and being able to be accountable only for myself (and obviously to my family). At this point you may ask, why I'm here, in a poker forum. Well let's find out.

Poker

I wanted to start this in order to improve my game. In the last 5 years, I think I've played less than 1000 hands all together. That changed week ago, when I decided to give this lovely sport another go. This time, hopefully a bit smarter with BRM and stuff..

I am currently playing NL25 w/ 28 BIN's. Still not completely my comfort zone, but it is what it is. I am planning to move up to NL50 once I reach 30 BIN's for that and then I'd like to have 40 BIN's for NL100.

To be honest, I feel pretty lost at the tables, especially with the standard spots, that feels like they should be no-brainers. I do feel quite confident when it comes to pre & post flop play, hence my 34 / 24 / 12 stats (vpip/pfr/3bet).. I know, even after a long time with no proper knowledge of game theory (or anything else relevant..), those stats could come off a bit maniac. I don't know, maybe some super good / aggressive reg's can be profitable with those? I certainly won't see myself like that. Yet!

What I want from here:

A place for me to post HH's, graphs, how games are going, how I am developing, etc.etc.

What I want to achieve with poker:

• Win as much money I can
• Invest xx% of profits to stocks (using the "buy and forget" tactic..)
• Put xx% profits aside, in order to have enough savings to get the bank loan for our own apartment

If this whole "let's make my poker great again" goes very well, I don't mind making it a full time job, but maybe that's something to consider once I've actually beat the stakes I am currently aiming at I am currently up +400 BB's, but only played 1,8k hands. Will post the first graph at 10k hands. Not expecting it to mean anything, but if someone is reading this.. Well.. Graphs are always nice to look at!

Ok, thanks for those who made it this far! Let's go!

GL man,

why did restart playing cash and not MTT's which you used to play?

You can do it, effort effort effort and do not quit during the next 30 - 40 months.

I feel like you should play and handle a different BRM, be patience, get more BI, sure you can take shots on the next levels when you feel you are on ur A game (also at those times when games are beautiful like Saturday morning or Sundays.

Get better is your best tool at this journey, do not be on the comfort zone, go ahead and escape from there as much and many times you can.

Have a great journey bro

Thanks! I still would've loved to play MTT's, but it's just simply because I don't have the time needed for those. 9-5 job + family = 1-2hrs poker per night, if I'm lucky!

Thanks a bunch!

Definitely working towards improving myself, on and off the table. I do like being out of the comfort zone time to time, but when I do it, I would much rather do it for myself, not for someone I work for

You're right, the current BRM could be a bit too thin, but I am hoping to get through the NL25 and as you said, trying what kind of BRM gives me my A-game, NL50 and upwards.

//

Just called it a day. Pretty good one actually. For the most part I was happy how I was playing (I was playing super-nit today! Well ok, not maybe super-nit but like 26/17/9- nit...)

+3 BIN's in 529 hands. On total this whole new "let's play poker again" thingy is going good. 2277 hands and +6 BIN's

Will post at least one HH tomorrow.

One observation I made (again, keep in mind I have sample size next to none), which worries me a bit.

I don't know how good NL25 reg's are in general, but I am a bit worried that seems that I don't know how to play against them. I am confident I can outplay weaker players with my pre/postflop-game, but when it comes to reg's, I am not sure what level they're thinking & playing.. Something tells me they aren't THAT good, but then again, how would I know. I hope it's just my lack of experience in the last years, and I can start finding leaks from the micro-regs as well.. If I just look at their stats, I could make assumptions that they play 19/9/6 and doesn't do anything fancy that often.. I dunno. I do know one thing, people don't 4bet light at these stakes Maybe reg v reg could be different.

Anyways.. Here's my first HH. I am pretty bad at analyzing hands, but hoping to improve through this thread/blog.

BB villain is 45/31/12, fish.
UTG villain is 14/11/7, but only 28 hands.


Hero (BTN): $29.68 (118.7 bb)
SB: $25 (100 bb)
BB: $22.92 (91.7 bb)
UTG: $25 (100 bb)
MP: $39.88 (159.5 bb)
CO: $25.35 (101.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with T A
UTG raises to $0.75, MP calls $0.75, CO folds, Hero calls $0.75, SB folds, BB calls $0.50

Flop: ($3.10) 7 3 8 (4 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $2, MP folds, Hero calls $2, BB calls $2

Turn: ($9.10) 9 (3 players)
BB checks, UTG bets $5.75

I feel my play at flop is right, I wanted to keep the fish in the pot. It's the turn I am not sure how should I play it.

Raise? Call and hope that the fish calls as well?

Easy call

I was going to come and let everyone know, how well I played today's +1k hands. Until last 2 hands I managed to lost 2 BIN's... Won 50bb's total today.. Yay.

I played those 2 hands poorly, and recent bluffs (successful ones) + good running caused me to think I can see everyone's cards. It turns out that I don't.

If I'm looking at the big picture, I am more happy than sad how I played today. Played two sessions, the first one I was playing horribly. Took a break, ate some food and wha-bam! Played really good. One that I was particularly happy was the fact that I found myself thinking about opponent's range's (and mine, when I was trying to rep a hand in a bluff-situation) and what they are repping. For me, this is something I've never done consistently. I guess those runitonce-videos are useful after all (not an paid endorsement).

Here's a hand from today that I was proud of, but it took almost the full time bank on river

If I knew how to explain my though process, I would but unfortunately I left it on the table once I called the river Anyways, I thought his sizing + range here won't rep that many hands that I would get beat by.




Will try to post another hand later today, where I lost a big pot against reg.

3,4k hands played so far. Up +6 bin's.

Been reading a lot of other PG&C-threads, and I've noticed that I should do a bit more organized plan for my development Still not sure what's the best way of doing this, but you gotta start somewhere. I'm still not sure why is it so hard for me to explain my actions / hands when it comes to HH's.

Big part of that problem could be the fact, I never took the time to learn game theory properly.. Not definitely the only reason I presume. From now on, I shall fix that. Here's my goals for the next 5 weeks:

[ ] min. 13 000 hands @ NL25 (I know. at the moment can't get more volume)
[ ] at least 5 x poker theory related videos watched @ runitonce
[ ] analyze & post HH's, from lost pots bigger than 50bb's
[ ] start sessions with 2 tables, and after warm-up, open the third

IMO, this was an interesting hand, and I really liked my thought process here:

With the given line & actions by villain, I don't think he has a lot of TT's here, which is basically the only hand he's betting there for value (expect back door flush). I feel he would've check back 2pairs quite often.

I'm in the same situation with not really wanting to work for someone else.

Interesting thread. Love the organisation skills. Remember quality > quantity

Yup, definitely noticed that quality > quantity thingy last night, when I wanted to try out the NL25 Zoom-tables. Horrible decision. I have to be honest, but I played tilted for like 500 hands. Managed to lose couple of coolers and got tilted.

Definitely something I need to avoid, since that was exactly the "old me" that would speww his rolls eventually with that kind of behavior.

Well, it's back to NL25 regular tables then!

Managed to dig myself halfway back from yesterday's tardfest @ Zoom. Was quite the grind though.. Played few hands so terribly wrong, it disgusted me.

As I marked on my goals for the next 5 weeks, I promised to post HH's where I lost 50bb's or more. Obviously not all of them, I would have to be posting 24/7.

BTN: 18/11/3 (258 hands)
My stats on the table: 21/13/5

I think Villain is reg, so I wouldn't see myself folding this ever pre. What I am more curious about, is what should be my line on turn?



UTG: $25.11 (100.4 bb)
Hero (MP): $25 (100 bb)
CO: $26.12 (104.5 bb)
BTN: $23.87 (95.5 bb)
SB: $15.07 (60.3 bb)
BB: $31.77 (127.1 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP with T A
UTG folds, Hero raises to $0.75, CO folds, BTN raises to $2.25, 2 folds, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($4.85) Q T 5 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $2.75, Hero calls $2.75

Turn: ($10.35) 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $5.25, Hero?

Poker is hard

I am not sure I'm fitted to play 6max cash games.. As mentioned earlier, I loved MTT's but can't play the due to the lack of hours on my life. (That sounded like i'd be dying. Nope, just other stuff going on as well!)

The transition from MTT's -> 6max cash games (and after not playing for a long time) has been harder than I expected.

I'm still determined to study the game and my original goals will be still valid (maybe not the 13k hands @ NL25). What game type I'm playing is still unclear for me. I have enough buy-ins for micro MTTSNG's / MTT's, but I'll have to find a way to make the schedules work around those if I'll ever be able to play them.

Lucky me, today I'll have the whole day (and night) for just myself since the family is going on a trip. For old times sake, I'll fire up just about every micro MTT starting after 6pm! Going to be fun!

Still here!

It seems my plans change as quick as my socks. Anyways, been focusing on studying a bit more than playing few days now. Will continue that same trend, since I have a long road ahead of me.

It could very much be that I'll be unemployed during the summer (I'll probably quit my current job in search for something else, but I am financially backed for few months of not doing anything).

I think I'll just scratch all the cash games and HUSNG's, in order to focus my studies MTT's. I really enjoy them, even I haven't been flipping that lucky lately. To be honest, I have also played poorly most of the time.

Oh boy.. Played really well throughout the tournament, only by getting f***ed in the @ss by a huge whale.. I think it was something like 100 to go in Big $11 8k GTD. Would've been somewhere top3 I guess.

I know know.. It will even out in the long run but this really hurts

Might as well post something useful, since we're all getting bad beats.

MTT's

Yeah, so I don't know how I've managed to cash 6-figs during my pro days, since I obviously have no idea of how the fundamentals work in MTT's. Don't get me wrong, I do know SOMETHING, but that something definitely didn't keep me as an pro for longer than ~3 years.

I can't emphasize enough, how great (even I've been losing money) these last days have been, since I restarted playing poker. It's not just the playing part I'm enjoying. I'm enjoying learning about the game, watching videos, estimating ranges, studying pot odds / implied odds etc.etc. Have to admit, I'm bit ashamed for encountering terms like "implied pot odds" as a completely new thing for me... I've heard of it, never took the time to learn those kind of things. Been watching HH reviews from runitonce, for myself those have been extremely beneficial.

It's 100% sure, that I'll get the best satisfaction when playing MTT's. At this moment I can't play them with proper volume, but definitely will looking forward to change that. I'm also looking forward what can I achieve when you add up all those years of playing with genuine interested of studying this time.

Will have another MTT session this evening and one in tomorrow morning. Looking forward to make my first deep-run and scoring 4-figs!

Yellow line. Where are you going at? Please! Come back.



[ ] enough MTT's played for sample size

Oh well.. Past few days have been getting it in with way ahead, but gotten unlucky. Those spots would've been driving me into some deeper runs. The good thing is, those will eventually turn in my favor.

Didn't have to wait that long to get that first super deep run. Unfortunately I probably made a bad push w/ K3o @ 11bb's, against good villain. Not sure if that would've been ICM-wise correct, but it happened. Finished 5th out of 599 on the $2,2 $750 GTD for $55,71

Another deep run is still going, since I'm currently sitting 17th out of 36 on the $3,30 Bounty Builder, $7,5k GTD.

Have made few big mistakes and definitely will need to go through those after I've finished this one last tournament. Most likely will not play anymore today.. I think these 2 tourney's have lasted +6hrs and still going strong.

Anyways, it's good to get some confidence, even it's smaller scores.

PS, when writing this, I managed to double (and got $7 Bounty) w/ AQo v 99. Hoping to take this down for good!

Couldn't win a flip. Ended up 20th place. A bit questionable call from the V but what can you do... Sucks.

It was a bounty builder so I don't see villain folding there BTN vs SB. They are the flips you need to win. Recently I've also taken some sick one's, but it's part of the game. And somehow I knew you'd end up back playing MTT's as that was the question I asked at the beginning of your thread. You probably made the right decision switching back to MTT's since it's what you enjoy. I've been back and forth as well between cash, MTT's and SitnGos and while I think that I'm more profitable at sitngos I really enjoy the challenges and gameplay in MTT's and I've blocked my account for cash games due to me not doing well, but also because I don't put in the time off the table in order to do well.

I think you're right. The bounty eases the call a bit. I haven't played enough these bounty tournaments to fully understand the mechanics. People calling wider ranges for sure.

It's unreal how wide some people will call, which can make it very annoying too

Seems that these kind of flops are the only ones I'm not able to lose today.

As I don't have any productive things to do or say here, I'm just going to blow off some steam by posting this here It's better than wrecking things.

He had the only hand that beats us here. I don't mind my bet-sizing, I think I had it all the way. He snap called the flop so I was just sizing it up for the river shove. Not much to do.

Regardless of the awful run I'm currently at, I can feel the 1st place finish coming any day soon

Ok, time for something else than bad beats.

MTT's

I've been actually pretty sick few days and have had the time grind out MTT's during days, and sometimes in the evenings as well. I think Sharkscope showed something like

Avg Field Size: 1650 (Will expand to other sites in few weeks to lower the avg. field size.)
Tournaments: 75
ITM: 24,6%
ROI: (something minus, I didn't bother to double check for the post)

To be honest, like 80% of tournaments have been turbo's, since I've still had limited time and I know if I start a tournament that could last +6hrs, I can't play my A-game knowing I probably haven't the time to finish it. Only one final table, but few deep runs where I ended my tournament in big bad beats.

Been so long out of the game that I don't even know what would be a good and sustainable ITM%, but I've been rather happy so far. Still a lot to improve on my post-flop skills. Been able to play pretty well when extracting max-values with top of my range, but other areas lack knowledge pretty badly.

Been studying approximately +3hrs every single day for almost 2 weeks, but it seems hard to developed some sort of an structured ways of learning. The amount of available information can get a bit overwhelming at times If I had the BR, I'd hire a coach in a heartbeat. That's actually something I never did with my career, so definitely looking forward for that day to come. Getting coached is definitely on top of my every to-do-list, when it comes to improving my MTT-game.

Any ideas of how to proceed?


[converted_hand][hand_history]Poker Stars, $1 Buy-in (1,000/2,000 blinds, 250 ante) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 5 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite. View Hand #37693206

Hero (MP): 39,111 (19.6 bb)
CO: 97,124 (48.6 bb)
BTN: 65,928 (33 bb)
SB: 59,763 (29.9 bb)
BB: 91,796 (45.9 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP with Q K
Hero raises to 4,232, CO calls 4,232, BTN folds, SB calls 3,232, BB calls 2,232

Flop: (18,178) 4 J K (4 players) Hero?

Edit: It was checked to me OTF