From micros to small stakes..JYamada's journey to beating small stakes NLHE
11-02-2014
, 04:51 AM
Whats good 2p2ers!
This is JYamada and like everyone else I've decided to start a thread to motivate and discipline myself as I'm currently in a downswing
Just a little bit about myself...I am a college student in Thailand with a pipe dream of one day making it as a full time pro and bringing in da MONAY! Getting a job in Thailand really sucks (people with college degrees start off with only about $500-$600 a month!). I started playing poker right after black friday, after accidentally stumbling upon a $2/$4 limit game at Terribles Casino (now silver sevens) in Vegas after getting raped at the BJ tables (i used to attend UNLV). I still rmb that I was literally playing any two cards (at the time 84 off or suited was my favorite hand
) and just got hit by the deck! I rmb winning over $300 
in my first session of limit poker, which was a huge score for a broke asian degen college kid who had a BJ addiction.. and i guess u can say the rest is history...
I pretty much grinded and played live 1/2 NLHE all over vegas for 2 years (I was a super passive fish at the time! didnt pick up a poker book or start studying the game till like the middle of 2012) to the point where my parents forced me to move back home to Thailand ...which was bitter sweet..but now I can now play on the worlds greatest site Pokerstars (even with the rake increase)! 
Currently I am a FISH at
50NL FR since I recently moved up from 25NL and also binked a tournament that gave me a comfortable roll to play..
Obviously the goal right now is to get outta the fish category and try to become a winning reg at 50nl..I have recently hired a RIO coach to help me with my game. We had completed one session and I went on a 14bi heater for the next few days but almost lost it all tonight after playing super bad and spazzed off my chips in numerous spots
, but obviously im really looking forward to our next session since one session really did make a big difference in my game..
Long term goal: try to become a winning small stakes player within the next year (i know this is vague)...monetary wise hopefully i can take my BR to the $5k mark before 2015.
Current BR: $1985
Short term everyday grinding goals: play from 12 tables down to 8-9 tables since i cant focus on all 12 tables at a time..try to average 4k hands a day... study at least 5hours a week (maybe watch an hour of RIO videos before a session)..review HH n stats after every session...
Health goals: In high school or 2010 i was pretty athletic, played varsity basketball, competitive golf on a national level, and was obsessed about trying to get big and ripped...but since picking up poker and my gambling habit i literally gained 40kgs...so im going to make it my priority to go to the gym 4 times a week with at least 20mins on the treadmill, try to limit my carb intake at night, and also to wake up before 9am everyday so i can be an active and sociable human being instead of grinding all night long and sleeping all day! hopefully i can get my weight down to what it was within a year...
Thanks for reading guys! I'll try to update this thread a couple of times a week.
This is JYamada and like everyone else I've decided to start a thread to motivate and discipline myself as I'm currently in a downswing
Just a little bit about myself...I am a college student in Thailand with a pipe dream of one day making it as a full time pro and bringing in da MONAY! Getting a job in Thailand really sucks (people with college degrees start off with only about $500-$600 a month!). I started playing poker right after black friday, after accidentally stumbling upon a $2/$4 limit game at Terribles Casino (now silver sevens) in Vegas after getting raped at the BJ tables (i used to attend UNLV). I still rmb that I was literally playing any two cards (at the time 84 off or suited was my favorite hand
) and just got hit by the deck! I rmb winning over $300 in my first session of limit poker, which was a huge score for a broke asian degen college kid who had a BJ addiction.. and i guess u can say the rest is history...I pretty much grinded and played live 1/2 NLHE all over vegas for 2 years (I was a super passive fish at the time! didnt pick up a poker book or start studying the game till like the middle of 2012) to the point where my parents forced me to move back home to Thailand
...which was bitter sweet..but now I can now play on the worlds greatest site Pokerstars (even with the rake increase)! Currently I am a FISH at
50NL FR since I recently moved up from 25NL and also binked a tournament that gave me a comfortable roll to play..Obviously the goal right now is to get outta the fish category and try to become a winning reg at 50nl..I have recently hired a RIO coach to help me with my game. We had completed one session and I went on a 14bi heater for the next few days but almost lost it all tonight after playing super bad and spazzed off my chips in numerous spots
, but obviously im really looking forward to our next session since one session really did make a big difference in my game..Long term goal: try to become a winning small stakes player within the next year (i know this is vague)...monetary wise hopefully i can take my BR to the $5k mark before 2015.
Current BR: $1985
Short term everyday grinding goals: play from 12 tables down to 8-9 tables since i cant focus on all 12 tables at a time..try to average 4k hands a day... study at least 5hours a week (maybe watch an hour of RIO videos before a session)..review HH n stats after every session...
Health goals: In high school or 2010 i was pretty athletic, played varsity basketball, competitive golf on a national level, and was obsessed about trying to get big and ripped...but since picking up poker and my gambling habit i literally gained 40kgs...so im going to make it my priority to go to the gym 4 times a week with at least 20mins on the treadmill, try to limit my carb intake at night, and also to wake up before 9am everyday so i can be an active and sociable human being instead of grinding all night long and sleeping all day! hopefully i can get my weight down to what it was within a year...
Thanks for reading guys! I'll try to update this thread a couple of times a week.
11-04-2014
, 01:05 PM
Sup 2p2ers,
So this is gonna be my first update since starting this thread..since tilting and spewing off my big upswing on saturday, my bankroll has recovered a little bit...i just had my second coaching session with coinflip and we worked on some post flop strategies and HUD stats since i'm a complete noob with PT4 and HUDs in general (thinking about it i guess i did pretty good job in building my bankroll without using a HUD the whole time). Its amazing how many leaks one could have in their game without ever realising it, i mean I have and still am reading books, so naturally I thought that i had a pretty good foundation to my game which was not the case. For all you break even and struggling players out there hire a coach man...yes its quite expensive to hire a coach, but i did recover that money and gained even more right after my first coaching session till i blew it on saturday after overdoing a couple of concepts that i learned (obviously short term results shouldn't determine whether or not the coach is good or not).
Anyway my current bankroll right now is at $2174 which is +$189 (I did spew off like $70-80ish on mtts on sunday)....
here are a couple of hands that I played over the past few days:
Sup 2p2ers,
So this is gonna be my first update since starting this thread..since tilting and spewing off my big upswing on saturday, my bankroll has recovered a little bit...i just had my second coaching session with coinflip and we worked on some post flop strategies and HUD stats since i'm a complete noob with PT4 and HUDs in general (thinking about it i guess i did pretty good job in building my bankroll without using a HUD the whole time). Its amazing how many leaks one could have in their game without ever realising it, i mean I have and still am reading books, so naturally I thought that i had a pretty good foundation to my game which was not the case. For all you break even and struggling players out there hire a coach man...yes its quite expensive to hire a coach, but i did recover that money and gained even more right after my first coaching session till i blew it on saturday after overdoing a couple of concepts that i learned (obviously short term results shouldn't determine whether or not the coach is good or not).
Anyway my current bankroll right now is at $2174 which is +$189 (I did spew off like $70-80ish on mtts on sunday)....
here are a couple of hands that I played over the past few days:
$0.25/$0.50 Zoom No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
9 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
Stacks:
UTG ($86.96) 174bb
UTG+1 ($52) 104bb
MP1 ($63.53) 127bb
MP2 ($51.88) 104bb
MP3 ($71.50) 143bb
Hero (CO) ($51.62) 103bb
BTN ($47.75) 96bb
SB ($56.99) 114bb
BB ($33.07) 66bb
Pre-Flop: ($0.75, 9 players) Hero is CO A
A
1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $1, 3 folds, Hero calls $1, BTN calls $1, 2 folds
Flop: K
3
4 ($3.75, 3 players)
UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $2.50, BTN raises to $6.50, UTG+1 folds, Hero calls $4
Turn: 8 ($16.75, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $10.50, Hero goes all-in $44.12, BTN goes all-in $29.75
River: K ($97.25, 2 players, 2 all-in)
obviously the guy was a whale but i didnt know it at the time since i as playing zoom with no HUD...but do you guys think i played this hand too aggressively since villain can have a set since he raised so big on such a dry flop?
$0.25/$0.50 Zoom No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
9 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
Stacks:
UTG ($69.58) 139bb
UTG+1 ($50) 100bb
MP1 ($50) 100bb
MP2 ($42.52) 85bb
MP3 ($24.28) 49bb
Hero (CO) ($65.97) 132bb
BTN ($51.25) 103bb
SB ($56.89) 114bb
BB ($89.73) 179bb
Pre-Flop: ($0.75, 9 players) Hero is CO A K
5 folds, yamadaj3 raises to $1.25, BTN calls $1.25, 1 fold, BB raises to $6.50, Hero raises to $16.50, BTN folds, BB calls $10
Flop: Q 8 4 ($34.50, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $16.50, BB calls $16.50
Turn: 4 ($67.50, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks
River: Q ($67.50, 2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks
i was so tilted after this hand...considering that villain had quite taggish stats my question at the was 'Y da f... did he call my 4bet OOP with 89?!" at least have TT+ man (since he cold called/ flatted my 4bet oop)...anyway i felt like my 4bet sizing was too big and did scream AK...i guess? Also even if he did have any of those top 3-5% hands he aint folding flop to my cbet...opinions?
thanks for reading guys will post again soon! Peace!
So this is gonna be my first update since starting this thread..since tilting and spewing off my big upswing on saturday, my bankroll has recovered a little bit...i just had my second coaching session with coinflip and we worked on some post flop strategies and HUD stats since i'm a complete noob with PT4 and HUDs in general (thinking about it i guess i did pretty good job in building my bankroll without using a HUD the whole time). Its amazing how many leaks one could have in their game without ever realising it, i mean I have and still am reading books, so naturally I thought that i had a pretty good foundation to my game which was not the case. For all you break even and struggling players out there hire a coach man...yes its quite expensive to hire a coach, but i did recover that money and gained even more right after my first coaching session till i blew it on saturday after overdoing a couple of concepts that i learned
(obviously short term results shouldn't determine whether or not the coach is good or not).Anyway my current bankroll right now is at $2174 which is +$189 (I did spew off like $70-80ish on mtts on sunday)....
here are a couple of hands that I played over the past few days:
Sup 2p2ers,
So this is gonna be my first update since starting this thread..since tilting and spewing off my big upswing on saturday, my bankroll has recovered a little bit...i just had my second coaching session with coinflip and we worked on some post flop strategies and HUD stats since i'm a complete noob with PT4 and HUDs in general (thinking about it i guess i did pretty good job in building my bankroll without using a HUD the whole time). Its amazing how many leaks one could have in their game without ever realising it, i mean I have and still am reading books, so naturally I thought that i had a pretty good foundation to my game which was not the case. For all you break even and struggling players out there hire a coach man...yes its quite expensive to hire a coach, but i did recover that money and gained even more right after my first coaching session till i blew it on saturday after overdoing a couple of concepts that i learned
(obviously short term results shouldn't determine whether or not the coach is good or not).Anyway my current bankroll right now is at $2174 which is +$189 (I did spew off like $70-80ish on mtts on sunday)....
here are a couple of hands that I played over the past few days:
$0.25/$0.50 Zoom No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
9 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
Stacks:
UTG ($86.96) 174bb
UTG+1 ($52) 104bb
MP1 ($63.53) 127bb
MP2 ($51.88) 104bb
MP3 ($71.50) 143bb
Hero (CO) ($51.62) 103bb
BTN ($47.75) 96bb
SB ($56.99) 114bb
BB ($33.07) 66bb
Pre-Flop: ($0.75, 9 players) Hero is CO A
A 1 fold, UTG+1 raises to $1, 3 folds, Hero calls $1, BTN calls $1, 2 folds
Flop: K
3 4 ($3.75, 3 players) UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $2.50, BTN raises to $6.50, UTG+1 folds, Hero calls $4
Turn: 8
($16.75, 2 players) Hero checks, BTN bets $10.50, Hero goes all-in $44.12, BTN goes all-in $29.75
River: K
($97.25, 2 players, 2 all-in) Spoiler:
obviously the guy was a whale but i didnt know it at the time since i as playing zoom with no HUD...but do you guys think i played this hand too aggressively since villain can have a set since he raised so big on such a dry flop?
$0.25/$0.50 Zoom No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
9 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com
Stacks:
UTG ($69.58) 139bb
UTG+1 ($50) 100bb
MP1 ($50) 100bb
MP2 ($42.52) 85bb
MP3 ($24.28) 49bb
Hero (CO) ($65.97) 132bb
BTN ($51.25) 103bb
SB ($56.89) 114bb
BB ($89.73) 179bb
Pre-Flop: ($0.75, 9 players) Hero is CO A
K 5 folds, yamadaj3 raises to $1.25, BTN calls $1.25, 1 fold, BB raises to $6.50, Hero raises to $16.50, BTN folds, BB calls $10
Flop: Q
8 4 ($34.50, 2 players) BB checks, Hero bets $16.50, BB calls $16.50
Turn: 4
($67.50, 2 players) BB checks, Hero checks
River: Q
($67.50, 2 players) BB checks, Hero checks
Spoiler:
i was so tilted after this hand...considering that villain had quite taggish stats my question at the was 'Y da f... did he call my 4bet OOP with 89?!" at least have TT+ man (since he cold called/ flatted my 4bet oop)...anyway i felt like my 4bet sizing was too big and did scream AK...i guess? Also even if he did have any of those top 3-5% hands he aint folding flop to my cbet...opinions?thanks for reading guys will post again soon! Peace!
11-09-2014
, 03:40 AM
Hey guys
So after that small little upswing i had right after my second coaching session, again I lost probably around $300 the past couple of days...i honestly feel like ive been playing much better than before (made a couple of big laydowns) however at the same time i feel like i'm running pretty bad...I know for a fact after going through my PT4 that i've lost over $250 with pocket KK alone over the last couple of sessions (keep running into aces or villain would some how go runner runner in a 3bet pot)...its gotten to the point where whenever I have KK n get cold 4bet i just never feel good at all and am just expecting to loose..again most of the pocket KK hands that i lost were at the zoom tables where I am essentially playing blind since PT4 does not work on zoom...so from now on even though i love zoom, im just going to have to stop playing that format for a while..
Anyway what do you guys think how I should proceed next time when I'm dealt KKs? Maybe try cold calling more instead of four or five bet get in pre? Again since from now on I'll be playing the normal FR 50nl games I'll be able to see how loose or tight villain is playing next time...
BR is at $1760
So after that small little upswing i had right after my second coaching session, again I lost probably around $300 the past couple of days...i honestly feel like ive been playing much better than before (made a couple of big laydowns) however at the same time i feel like i'm running pretty bad...I know for a fact after going through my PT4 that i've lost over $250 with pocket KK alone over the last couple of sessions (keep running into aces or villain would some how go runner runner in a 3bet pot)...its gotten to the point where whenever I have KK n get cold 4bet i just never feel good at all and am just expecting to loose..again most of the pocket KK hands that i lost were at the zoom tables where I am essentially playing blind since PT4 does not work on zoom...so from now on even though i love zoom, im just going to have to stop playing that format for a while..
Anyway what do you guys think how I should proceed next time when I'm dealt KKs? Maybe try cold calling more instead of four or five bet get in pre? Again since from now on I'll be playing the normal FR 50nl games I'll be able to see how loose or tight villain is playing next time...
BR is at $1760