Hi Guys. It's already 2 month into 2015 but I've recently been encouraged to start up a PG&C thread. I've done several threads before but always stop updating it for numerous reasons (I've never stopped playing just didn't stick to the thread) but I want to try and keep this thread up for an year.

Why a year? After I graduated from the University of Waterloo, I've drifted from jobs to jobs, I came across this job I took up in the North part of Canada. (It's a province call Northwest Territories, it's not actually the north pole but it might as well be, all my friends just say that I am in the north pole). Temperature right now range from -20 degree Celsius to -40, so it's not pleasant. Anyways I got a pretty good paying gig, and signed a contract here for a year and luckily this job is really chilled and on less busier days I can actually play poker at work, and of course on my days off I will also be grinding it up.

I am 28 years old now and I know I am getting older compare to all the young kids that are grinding it up, I've been playing poker for a while but I never really had the chance to give poker a full go. I feel this is like the best opportunity I will ever have (when I move back to Vancouver I just feel like I won't have the time to do this as much) and I want to dedicate myself this year to see how far I can move up. I mean it's the dream right, I know the challenges I am going to face and I am prepared to face them.

I've been playing at NL25 so that's where I am going to keep playing and hopefully I can move up the level throughout the years. Current BR is around 500$, and I'll post anything interesting regarding to my life and progress here, and certainly some hand histories as well.

Thanks for reading. Hope to hear any post or comments or questions from you guys ! and good luck to everyone else on the grind !

and here's some photos of where I live

I thought about doing posting the BEST bad beat hand for the year just for fun (maybe I'll do top 3 for the year, we'll see). I was going to only post a bad beat if it was worst than the previous one. Thought about doing this later but I might have a winner here that may last a while.

so I guess there's 2 category for bad beat
1) is the Equity % when all in
2) is the $EV Difference. which shows how big the pot was

This one actually hurt me a little. 3 way all in. Actually thought about folding because the action leading up to me was super strong, but who am I to fold 2nd set in a multi way pot on a Flush draw board. so without further ado here's:

ROYAL_LV7's TOP BAD BEAT for 2015

FIRST PLACE



$0.10/$0.25 Zoom No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
9 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($31.43) 126bb
UTG+1 ($24.18) 97bb
MP1 ($16.90) 68bb
MP2 ($24.65) 99bb
MP3 ($29) 116bb
CO ($33.12) 132bb
BTN ($29.63) 119bb
HERO (SB) ($25.10) 100bb
BB ($27.22) 109bb

Pre-Flop: ($0.35, 9 players) HERO is SB 10 10
2 folds, MP1 raises to $0.75, 3 folds, BTN calls $0.75, HERO calls $0.65, BB calls $0.50

Flop: 10 A 6 ($3, 4 players)
HERO checks, BB checks, MP1 checks, BTN checks

Turn: 8 ($3, 4 players)
HERO bets $1.43, BB calls $1.43, 1 fold, BTN raises to $5.66, HERO calls $4.23, BB goes all-in $26.47, BTN goes all-in $28.88, HERO goes all-in $18.69

River: 6 ($80.29, 3 players, 3 all-in)

Final Pot: $80.29
BTN shows a full house, Eights full of Sixes
8 8
HERO shows a full house, Tens full of Sixes
10 10
BB shows four of a kind, Sixes
6 6

BB wins $78.29 (net +$51.07)

BTN collects $2.41 (net -$27.22)
HERO lost $25.10
MP1 lost $0.75

So I had 95.2% equity and +$70.52 EV Diff, putting this at the #1 spot. This sets a high bar for the rest of the year, I am not rooting for another bad beat to overtake this one anytime soon =|

I'll mark Feb 22nd the starting day. I was actually up for the month of Feb but to make it convenient I'll post everything after today.

I'll post summary and graphs at the end of each month. February will be only a week but it's good, I'll just get use to this journal thread and get in habit of updating my progress, and decide how much I want to blog.

Put in 2500 hands today and broke even. was up until that bad beat hand, and immediately after that I lost preflop all in AA vs KK. Was planning to play more but decide I'll just stop, even though I don't feel tilted now I feel like another small beat can push me on tilt and I am already tired lol

I probably will just update my win/loss result + graphs weekly (if not monthly), feel it's pointless to keep track of being up or down for the day since it's really just a long grind and I am trying not to care about being up or down for the day.

We are living in sort of similar climates, and playing similar stakes, may the winrate not follow the temperatures!

Subbed, GL!

when its snow day outside you are trapped indoor to play online i guess lol. thanks man lets all win =D

subbbbbed! GL bro!

lets do dis!

i blame the fold hotkey on my mouse ..fml

very next hand on the same zoom table I flopped nut straight vs 2 pair and stacked opponent. so in hindsight I made an amazing laydown

Here with a Hand Analysis. Villian runs 19/15
aggression post 42,17,67. goes to showdown 17. i guess this is pretty straightforward but still any feedback is cool

$0.10/$0.25 Zoom No Limit Holdem
PokerStars
9 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
HERO (UTG) ($25.19) 101bb
UTG+1 ($26.92) 108bb
MP1 ($24.65) 99bb
MP2 ($10.30) 41bb
MP3 ($27.51) 110bb
CO ($34.15) 137bb
BTN ($25) 100bb
SB ($26.63) 107bb
BB ($27.28) 109bb

Pre-Flop: ($0.35, 9 players) HERO is UTG 9 9
HERO raises to $0.62, 4 folds, CO raises to $2, 3 folds, HERO calls $1.38

Flop: 9 K A ($4.35, 2 players)
HERO checks, CO bets $2.75, HERO calls $2.75

Turn: 7 ($9.85, 2 players)
HERO checks, CO bets $6, HERO calls $6

River: A ($21.85, 2 players)
HERO checks, CO goes all-in $23.40,

Spoiler:

HERO folds

15, of which 9 makes sense, combos that beats you, and he seems to be pretty aggro on river. I would bluffcatch here.

ya but his turn aggro is also not high, and his turn bet was aggressive. i think im beat a high percentage of the time but i guess its a spot where if i called i wont be too upset about it

just posting my feb stats altogether, not a good month in terms of my plays. definitely could have done a lot better

FEB 2015

test*

If you have HEM2 you should get Leak buster...It'll help with that red line

hey thanks man. i'll look into that. I didn't end up playing well to finish off the month. I am aware of the mistakes when i review my hands though. definitely will check out the leak buster

watching some retro 90s movies between breaks. i find it helps me specifically to get my mind off things if i need to relax and reset. so i watch 10-15 mins and then play and next break watch 10-15 min more. it's also relaxing and i just look for movies to watch each day.

found this, didn't know this movie had a sequel, it was entertaining just old school slasher horror films lol

here with a hand analysis. just wanna see some opinions. UTG+1 is the villain
only 15 hands on the villain. assume he's level 0 thinker.
73/0, not aggressive post flop running 0-14-20 on aggression %. goes to showdown 30%
he bet rather quickly

Stacks:
UTG ($18.62) 74bb
UTG+1 ($61.94) 248bb
MP1 ($52.87) 211bb
MP2 ($26.30) 105bb
MP3 ($13.49) 54bb
CO ($25.56) 102bb
BTN ($26.47) 106bb
SB Hero ($25) 100bb
BB ($21.50) 86bb

Pre-Flop: (0.35, 9 players) Hero is SB J Q
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, 2 folds, MP3 calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.15, BB checks

Main Pot : ($57.82)
Hero: +$57.57 EV (100.00%)
Flop: 6 Q 5 ($1, 4 players)

Hero bets $0.63, 1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.63, 1 fold

Main Pot : ($57.82)
Hero: +$57.19 EV (100.00%)

Turn: A ($2.26, 2)
Hero checks, UTG+1 checks
Main Pot : ($57.82)
Hero: +$57.82 EV (100.00%)
River: Q ($2.26, 2)

Hero checks, UTG+1 bets $6

March 1st - 12th

In with a first half of march update. this is harder than i expected. it's frustrating I keep breaking even. i keep having sessions that sets me back. going to review some plays and regather. definitely tilting a bit. i am not able to put in more hands because im getting tilted and i have to sit out to cool myself, and this is a problem.

Going to list some goals

Monthly:
- get 50k hands for march (logging in way too little hands, 50k should be an easy goal, currently 17.5k so far this month
- keep going to gym (been going, keep going)
- Study a course to get promoted at my job (this itself is a full time job, + im working full time)
- it's a tough schedule. but i'd also like to read 30 minutes of book of choice per night.
- eat healthy. minimal junk food (pop, chips, sh*t so bad for you, but i still eat them)

going to be more dedicated. I have a theory that if at the end of the night when I go to sleep and I don't feel like I put in 110% then i need to push myself harder. It's the same concept that applies everywhere, when I go to the gym and some days I am not pushing 100% for max weights, at the end of the day I know that I could have worked a little harder

my assessment of myself so far for 2015 is I've been putting in 40% effort everywhere and I am not satisfied with that. Will assess myself at end of the month on my own scale

March 14 - Today's Goal:
[ ] 3000 hands at least
[ ] no tilt, just play optimally
[ ] read one chapter (like to start with a poker book)

failed miserably.
X - played only 1000+ hands
got sucked out once but session was too short 1 beat isn't gonna tilt me
X - did not end up reading

was busy @ work and had to attend a birthday event at night but that should not be an excuse

gonna have the same goal today. maybe 2500 hands. gonna start by reading first today and read 2 chapters to make up for yesterday. I need to find the motivation and discipline to push myself.

How many tables do you play?

3 tables of zoom. it's where i m super comfortable at, i get more than enough time to think and decide. i can probably do 4 but i don't want to add tables for now. rather improve my quality of play. still can put in 600 hands / hour with 3. just need to log in more hours

seen your pizza thread its a good thread keep it up

have a bad habit of complaining about bad beat to my friends. i don't know why i do it because I don't get tilted by them anymore (at least in small quantities) but it must be this bad habit I developed before so i go and email a friend or tell someone "got beat by quads or whatever" and even though i wasn't tilted by the bad beat itself, i actually get more tilted more during the process of complaining. like it's reminding my brain "hey you are suppose to get tilted here" as I am filling my head with the details of this bad beat.

so the good news is i think im stepping in the right direction, because I am actually quite calm the moment i lose the hand, also i can take a couple of them without sweat. the bad news is im still following the same patterns of the process after I get the bad beat and that has got to go. For example, i had some unlucky spots today but I am still up for the day so why complain about the beats when i know they are going to happen. Albert Einstein says ""Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results" so right now im acting like a lunatic

so yea this is going to be one of my new goal, which is not whine about the beat (i always open up the replayer which was a bad beat and just look at it) sounds ridiculous yes but i do that. again the fact that i open the replayer is totally stupid, and by looking at it actually makes me tilt more because here I am opening up a visual display to remind me I got sucked out. there's nothing positive about that but i do it. so bad....no one likes a bad beat story.

I actually have a close friend who's very understanding and he reads my bad beat story and doesn't really mind it. i appreciate that but he's enabling me to continue this bad habit, so im going to do him a favor and put him out of this misery. no more bad beat stories from me.

subbed