INTRODUCTION

Just a brief introduction into my poker hsitory to date; I'm 18 years old, I've been playing Poker for approximately 9 months (~6 months online) and in September I will be attending Exeter University to study History (well that is if I get the grades I need!). I am currently at NL10 with a bankroll of $240 with a pretty reckless online poker history to date; I don't want to think how much better I'd be doing right now if I wasn't so prone to monkey tilt. I busted up three rolls; 2 on PartyPoker - one with the aid of PartyBetting and one on Pokerstars.

I was very close to busting my fourth roll; iirc I was down to a measily $14 at one point but thanks to a 40FPP sat I got a seat into the daily $2.20 [$5K Guaratneed] - it speaks volumes that I couldn't even afford the $2.20 seat! Well anyways, as the story goes I binked 2nd place for a prize of $900 - maybe a very small sum for some on this forum but you must consider I had £0 in my bank account at that time (oh the student lifestyle)! I withdrew $860 of that so I had $50 in my Poker account - the reason for doing this was because what was the point in moving up the stakes if I was still losing money at NL2. Well this win was what I needed to boost my motivation and help me improve, since then I've been a winning player and have progressed to NL10.

THE CHALLENGE

As my winnings from that tournament have been slowly decreasing I realise I'm soon going to be back in a similar situation to as I was before; with £0 in my bank account which is a frightening prospect with university in just five months time! I'm not sure what job opportunities are like for students in Exeter but hopefully I never have to find out as my challenge is to be at NL25 at least by the time I'm at university and making a little bit of profit on the side to get me through university lfie with relative comfort. I hope I can get to NL50 by the time university comes around but I'd be more happy to be a winner at NL25.

LONG-TERM GOALS

I hope to have achieved the following by September 14th:

• REACH NL25 [ ]
• REACH NL50 [ ]
• 300,000 HANDS [ ]
• BANKROLL OF AT LEAST $1,000 [ ]
• LEARN HOW TO BEAT HUSNGS [ ]
• GAIN GOLDSTAR FROM MAY ONWARDS [ ]
• GAIN GRADES FOR UNI (AAB) - LDO [ ]
  

I currently have 80,000 hands in my database with a relatively small profit before any kind of rakeback so I think I'll easily be able to reach the hand target especially since I have three months between the end of sixth form and start of university in which I'll have a lot of free time. My plan for when I get to university is have a base figure (e.g. $1,000) and at the end of each week/month withdraw any excess of this amount. Therefore, when I do get to uni I won't be able to let my bankroll grow much, if any at all, so it is crucial I get as far up the micros as possible.

WHERE I'M AT NOW

All-time (my first database got wiped so lost quite ~40,000 hands):



April so far:



NL10 so far:



The graphs are pretty swingy, as you can see I lately went on a huge heater only to be followed by a sickening downswing which was arguably mostly tilt which is really annoying as I shouldn't still allow this to happen to me. My heater today encouraged me - I think my game is definitely strong enough to crush NL10 but I have a pretty aggressive style so when I do hit my downswings I must prevent it from affecting my game because although I was running awful during that recent downswing it should never of been that big and I'd say at least 5BIs of that downswing was just pure tilt. Therefore I must improve the mental aspect of my game too or I'll never be able to progress to where I want to be. This month so far I have 1500 VPPs so don't think I'll be able to get goldstar but if I'm close with a couple of days to go I'll put some volume in to get it but otherwise I would like to gain Gold star from next month onwards.

Well, that's my challenge and I really hope and believe I can do it. I'll keep this thread updated as much as I can with session updates and some interesting hands. Thank you for reading.

CURRENT BANKROLL: $242.38
CURRENT FPP COUNT: 1.71
STELLAR AWARD PROGRESS: 488/750

You definitely want to control your tilt problem if you want to be successful in this challenge I suggest the poker mindset or some other similar book that could help you think about this game in a new light, perhaps.

I will also be going to university in september so I can relate to most of what you're saying, and I will be playing HUSNG in order to try and build some money, so if you ever want some help, just hit me up with a PM.

Best of luck with your challenge

HUSNGs seem like such a great bankroll builder but I just can't seem to ever beat them no matter what. I used to play them quite a bit at the 1.50 level, what would normally happen is I would grind a small profit for a while then run bad for a bit and go on huge tilt. That's less of a problem now and recently I had a big downswing on the hypers (not even funny how much the hypers hate me) - I ran ridiculously bad but I just don't really have a good strategy for the hypers so not really sure why I'm played them.

You got any sources to help me with HUSNGs? My main problem with the regular speed ones is how boring they are haha, I just get so bored and end up trying to create action which translates to 'spewing off chips'. I really want to be able to beat the HUSNGs, I think tomorrow I'm going to have a shot 2-4 tabling the 1.50 reg speeds to see how I do over a decent sample and since I'm playing so low I can't do to much damage to my roll.

GL, subscribed. Gl reaching 25NL It seems to hurt a lot of peoples bankrolls. mine included. Lets hope we break through it this time.

GL subbed. Hope it goes well

I am also currently grinding NL10! Are you going to Exeter main campus or the Cornwall campus? GLGL

Good luck, hit me up with a PM if you need a H/H review or anything.

Exeter main campus. Thanks for all the support guys!

Didn't manage to get on yesterday because I was busy but got 1.4K hands in tonight: so annoyed right now. I don't know how I manage to go on mini-heaters then slowly give it all back and more. :/



Was playing solid poker for a while and I'm up 3BI pretty happy, I get myself stuck in a couple of marginal spots (nothing I was unhappy with though) and I'm only 2BI up - then I just don't know what happened. I keep sliding, run into a cooler and get rivered twice in big pots and I'm stuck 2BI!

Cooler (I was so certain it was AA/KK then when he flipped over a set I cried):

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) ZOOM - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $20.16
Hero (SB): $10.00
BB: $5.75
UTG: $10.76
MP: $5.44
CO: $9.42

Hero posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has 5 5

UTG raises to $0.30, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls $0.25, fold

Flop: ($0.70, 2 players) J 8 5
Hero checks, UTG bets $0.50, Hero raises to $1.40, UTG raises to $3.13, Hero raises to $6.00, UTG raises to $10.46 and is all-in, Hero calls $3.70 and is all-in

Turn: ($20.10, 2 players) T

River: ($20.10, 2 players) 3

Hero shows 5 5 (Three of a Kind, Fives) (Pre 19%, Flop 4%, Turn 2%)
UTG shows 8 8 (Three of a Kind, Eights) (Pre 81%, Flop 96%, Turn 98%)
UTG wins $19.20

This was the final straw (had to quit just after this hand because tilt was incoming):

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) ZOOM - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $13.53
SB: $15.00
BB: $4.44
UTG: $19.82
MP: $18.88
Hero (CO): $18.53

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has Q Q

fold, MP raises to $0.30, Hero raises to $0.90, fold, fold, BB calls $0.80, MP calls $0.60

Flop: ($2.75, 3 players) 4 5 6
BB checks, MP checks, Hero bets $1.60, fold, MP calls $1.60

Turn: ($5.95, 2 players) 5
MP checks, Hero bets $2.40, MP calls $2.40

River: ($10.75, 2 players) 2
MP bets $3.00, Hero calls $3.00

MP shows 3 3 (Straight, Six High) (Pre 19%, Flop 36%, Turn 23%)
Hero mucks Q Q (Two Pair, Queens and Fives) (Pre 81%, Flop 64%, Turn 77%)
MP wins $16.00

Call was probably pretty bad on river but I thought he might be trying to blocker bet with a small overpair but when I saw 33 I started gauging my eyes out.

Really misplayed this hand:

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) ZOOM - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $67.08
SB: $1.75
BB: $41.06
Hero (UTG): $12.32
MP: $35.56
CO: $9.81

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has A K

Hero raises to $0.40, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to $1.75 and is all-in, BB calls $1.65, Hero calls $1.35

Flop: ($5.25, 3 players) 2 4 8
BB bets $2.00, fold

Turn: ($5.25, 2 players) 7

River: ($5.25, 2 players) 9

SB shows 7 7 (Three of a Kind, Sevens) (Pre 56%, Flop 73%, Turn 84%)
BB shows T A (High Card, Ace) (Pre 44%, Flop 27%, Turn 16%)
SB wins $5.01

Probably should of 4bet PF but just never thought, was kicking myself on the flop especially when he flipped his cards over. :/

Not the start I was hoping for but these things happen I guess. I don't know how I manage to do it but ever since NL2 these sessions are so common; go up a couple of BI then slowly decrease until I come off. I don't feel like my game even deteriorates over the session but something must happen because they happen so frequently. Really kicking myself now, so sick to think of it as a $50 swing! Going to hit the HUSNGs now as I've cooled down a little to see how successful these are!

BANKROLL: $229.57 (-$17.75)
FPP COUNT: 116.85
STELLAR AWARD PROGRESS: 565/750

Ran better than I normally do at HUSNGs (don't think I could possibly run worse), really happy with how it went but still definitely plenty of room for improvement. Got my losses back from earlier and a little bit more on top so can't complain, if anyone has any helpful pointers for HUSNGs and in particular the hypers then it will be very much appreciated!

Had a mix of everything in this session:
Regular speed - 4 wins, 3 losses
Turbo -1 win, 0 losses
Hyper - 10 wins, 5 losses



BANKROLL: $250.03 (+$20.46)
FPP COUNT: 142.97
STELLAR AWARD PROGRESS: 582/750

I'm at Exeter Uni, gimme a shout if you wanna chat about anything! Subbed ofc

UPDATE 3

Had an amazing session, really happy with how I played and it certainly does help when you get some run good on your side! Also had a small hit and run session late last night (don't know why I do these - normally don't end well) in which I ended up a BI so heading in the right direction.

I deposited £200 last night so that I could get the SCOOP reload deposit bonus (50% of deposit so £100 in my case) but I've not converted it from £ to $ as this is not my bankroll. Once this bonus is done I'm going to withdraw the money straight away. I need to get 3,200VPPs in 30 days so that's going to be a lot of grinding for me now; at least this will ensure that I get goldstar for May which is one of my goals. Only got 1,000 hands in today and 62VPPs so will play some more HUSNGs tonight to try and get that number up to at least 100.

Just bubbled yet another 235FPP hyper-turbo sng! Lost the last four I have entered of these so my FPPs are not getting put to good use atm.



Some big hands:

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) ZOOM - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $10.32
SB: $7.65
Hero (BB): $28.58
UTG: $19.79
MP: $18.92
CO: $3.63

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has J J

UTG raises to $0.30, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.65, 2 players) K 5 J
Hero checks, UTG checks

Turn: ($0.65, 2 players) 5
Hero bets $0.50, UTG calls $0.50

River: ($1.65, 2 players) T
Hero bets $1.20, UTG raises to $2.70, Hero raises to $6.00, UTG raises to $18.99 and is all-in, Hero calls $12.99

UTG shows T T (Full House, Tens full of Fives) (Pre 17%, Flop 3%, Turn 0%)
Hero shows J J (Full House, Jacks full of Fives) (Pre 83%, Flop 97%, Turn 100%)
Hero wins $38.13


This next hand I got so confused on the river, the villain I remember had quite fishy stats so in the end shoved because I thought he would call with worse 2 pairs and maybe even a bare A he seemed that fishy. Probably a bad decision in the end, never actually realised the flush had came in (sometimes I just so bad at reading boards and not seeing the most obvious things) and definitely should of bet larger on the turn.

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) ZOOM - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $116.65
SB: $23.86
BB: $5.55
UTG: $25.33
MP: $9.37
Hero (CO): $10.49

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has A A

fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.30, BTN calls $0.30, fold, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.95, 3 players) J 5 T
BB checks, Hero bets $0.60, fold, BB calls $0.60

Turn: ($2.15, 2 players) A
BB checks, Hero bets $1.60, BB calls $1.60

River: ($5.35, 2 players) K
BB checks, Hero bets $3.05, BB calls $3.05 and is all-in

Hero shows A A (Three of a Kind, Aces) (Pre 88%, Flop 61%, Turn 82%)
BB shows 9 A (Flush, Ace High) (Pre 12%, Flop 39%, Turn 18%)
BB wins $10.93


Absolutely butchered this hand, I think his steal was quite high iirc hence the 3bet pre although there are probably better spots since we're close to 200bb deep and therefore he can widen his range quite significantly especially since he's IP; sometimes these thoughts just don't go through my head when I'm playing - one of my flaws which I need to work on. Anyways, I get a dream flop but have no idea what I was doing on the turn with that bet-sizing. I think that's the first time I've bet under 1/2 the pot on the turn ever, what sizing would people suggest here?

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) ZOOM - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $18.05
Hero (SB): $35.17
BB: $8.89
UTG: $11.36
MP: $6.35
CO: $10.73

Hero posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has 9 Q

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to $0.30, Hero raises to $0.90, fold, BTN calls $0.60

Flop: ($1.90, 2 players) 5 8 T
Hero bets $1.10, BTN calls $1.10

Turn: ($4.10, 2 players) 8
Hero bets $1.60, BTN raises to $4.50, fold

BTN wins $6.97

BANKROLL: $303.37 (+$41.65)
FPP COUNT: 33.06
STELLARD AWARD PROGRESS: 659/750
SCOOP RELOAD BONUS PROGRESS: 62/3200

On a slight tangent from Poker, I'm sorting out my Exeter university accomodation tonight. Think I'm going to go with Lafrowda standard room for £97.86 a week; pretty steep I must add! All my friends are getting en-suites at their respective universities but the cheapest en-suite at Exeter is £125 so I'm not valuing my own shower at uni at an extra £25 a week to be honest. I'll have to put up with sharing three showers with eleven others. When I went to the open day I actually went around Lafrowda as it had been recently renovated and it did look really good so quite happy with that choice.

UPDATE 4

Really happy with how this session went, wasn't the biggest session but the fact I came back from going down a little; I kept my cool, didn't tilt and just kept playing my best game and it worked out for me. My AA got sucked out on twice in big pots but I just got on with it, accepted the loss and booked myself a good win in the end! My game was slipping right at the end so I quit before I did give it all back, not sure what happened to my red line in the latter half of the session; it's been positive for a while now so probably just picking some bad spots to take down pots.



Almost had my first 500bb pot at NL10 but butchered the hand so bad, thankfully I run good in mammoth pots. Don't even want to know how I'd react if that flush had came in! Such a sick spot for villain though, 100bb deep he's probably sticking it in on the flop.

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) ZOOM - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $16.23
SB: $25.81
Hero (BB): $33.69
UTG: $19.18
MP: $10.10
CO: $20.25

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has J A

fold, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to $0.30, Hero calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.60, 2 players) K Q T
SB bets $0.40, Hero raises to $1.10, SB raises to $2.90, Hero raises to $6.00, SB calls $3.10

Turn: ($12.60, 2 players) 7
SB checks, Hero bets $4.75, SB calls $4.75

River: ($22.10, 2 players) 7
SB checks, Hero bets $8.00, SB calls $8.00

Hero shows J A (Straight, Ace High) (Pre 70%, Flop 60%, Turn 77%)
SB mucks J 7 (Three of a Kind, Sevens) (Pre 30%, Flop 40%, Turn 23%)
Hero wins $36.60


AA getting sucked out on in a 4bet pot - tbh I don't know why I overbet shoved the flop, sometimes I do some weird things in my games and I thought "**** it, if he has an overpair he calls here almost certainly,lets skip any foreplay!". When he snapped and turned over 88 I just laughed:

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) ZOOM - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $19.47
SB: $9.57
BB: $5.84
Hero (UTG): $14.40
MP: $14.81
CO: $10.42

SB posts SB $0.05, BB posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has A A

Hero raises to $0.40, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to $1.20, fold, Hero raises to $3.00, SB calls $1.80

Flop: ($6.10, 2 players) 9 9 8
SB checks, Hero bets $11.40 and is all-in, SB calls $6.57 and is all-in

Turn: ($19.24, 2 players) 2

River: ($19.24, 2 players) J

SB shows 8 8 (Full House, Eights full of Nines) (Pre 20%, Flop 83%, Turn 91%)
Hero shows A A (Two Pair, Aces and Nines) (Pre 80%, Flop 17%, Turn 9%)
SB wins $18.37

I think I can probably get away on the turn here, I just think to myself - "it's a 3bet pot, they might just be shoving with AK" but I think I'm behind too much here for this call to be +EV:

PokerStars - $0.10 NL (6 max) ZOOM - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $13.64
SB: $12.54
Hero (BB): $14.15
UTG: $12.77
MP: $9.85
CO: $10.54

SB posts SB $0.05, Hero posts BB $0.10

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.15) Hero has A A

UTG raises to $0.30, fold, fold, BTN calls $0.30, fold, Hero raises to $1.10, fold, BTN calls $0.80

Flop: ($2.55, 2 players) K 6 8
Hero bets $1.50, BTN calls $1.50

Turn: ($5.55, 2 players) J
Hero bets $3.20, BTN raises to $11.04 and is all-in, Hero calls $7.84

River: ($27.63, 2 players) 2

Hero shows A A (One Pair, Aces) (Pre 80%, Flop 13%, Turn 5%)
BTN shows 6 6 (Three of a Kind, Sixes) (Pre 20%, Flop 87%, Turn 95%)
BTN wins $26.39

BANKROLL: $318.73 (+$21.11)
FPP COUNT: 156.84
STELLARD AWARD PROGRESS: 741/750
SCOOP RELOAD BONUS PROGRESS: 145/3200

UPDATE 5

Did a small session that I had to cut short because my PT4 HUD stopped working which isn't ideal for grinding! Pretty uneventful session but finished up a BI from ~500 hands so can't complain. Need to start putting in more volume if I want to unlock my bonus, on 173VPPs at the moment so not even hitting 100 a day yet! Pretty tough to do when I've got loads of school work and a pretty busy schedule anyways so will try make up for it at weekends. Hit the 4th stellar award so got an extra $10 there so been a pretty good today, hoping I can keep this good stretch going.

BANKROLL: $340.20 (+$9.67)
FPP COUNT: 198.49
STELLARD AWARD PROGRESS: 20/1000
SCOOP RELOAD BONUS PROGRESS: 173/3200

UPDATE 6

Ever since 2+2 went down I haven't updated this thread, going to start doing it again as I've been meaing too for a while now. Little summary of what's been going on: Well, when 2+2 went down I lost all motivation to play poker and I think I played a total of 10,000 zoom hands in that month so I didn't even keep silverstar. I've also been going through a long break-even stretch at NL10 but I recently re-vamped my game to just focus on the basics a lot more and it's been helping; much more positive results lately.

I've successfully managed to stop myself tilting now which has undoubtly cost me so much and probably the biggest reason I haven't been progressing. With all these positive changes to my game I feel like my game is ready to move up to NL25, obviously my roll isn't quite there yet (when I get to $600 I'm going to be taking a 4BI shot) but with my recent results at NL10 I'm confident it won't be long before I get there, as long as I don't run horrificly.

SESSION 25/06/2012

Was a very strange and busy day for poker! Had an afternoon session which was really just horrible in about every single way imaginable. I ran bad, didn't play particuarily great and it was generally incredibly nitty and therefore boring. I ended -4BI after 1,500 hands, only 1BI was a mistake by me; the rest I felt like I couldn't have helped so I just moved on. I did, however, win the 235FPP sat so got $11 there so wasn't all bad.

About 8PM I was a little bored so decided I'd do another 500 hands or so, found myself quickly down and tilting BAD. Just stopped myself for a couple of seconds or so and said to myself "don't do this", that calmed me down and I went on to win back 6BI and end the day even which is great news because it was certainly looking grim at one point! Who knows how severe it could have been if I hadn't stopped the tilt.



BANKROLL: $472.08
FPP COUNT: 203.77
STELLARAWARD PROGRESS: 931/5000