ran super wonka ice cold tonight but controlled tilt well enough to finish just $4 down--I'd love to see how much below all-in EV I am over my last 800 games or so...

also, I was majorly grumpy and rude in the chat box tonight, apologies to anyone who may have been a recipient

running terribly over my last 100ish, but I still have around $1375--the horrendous all-in ev luck has to turn around at some point, right?

A damn good read OP, love the detailed personal story introduction, even if it takes a while to get through.

You've got me inspired to try some HUSNG again - might have to re-read Moshman's book for it, because my 1st read-through ended rather badly, I was struggling to maintain a 50% winrate at $2s... (so a losing player due to rake). Oh well.

Will subscribe, and GL to you!

Thanks a lot for the kind words and encouragement! I'm flattered that this thread inspired you and wish you the best in your own challenge.

To give a more detailed update, I seem to have hit a stumbling block over the last week but am fairly confident it can be attributed almost entirely to very bad luck. During my first 3k games or so, I never had to endure stretches like this. Since then, I've had two stretches lasting hundreds of games where it feels like the odds are inverted against me when I'm a favorite, and, when I'm not a favorite, I suckout less often than I should. I don't think I'm exaggerating because, having played so many games, I feel like I have a pretty accurate understanding of baseline HU sng luck. Can't wait until the rungood switch is reactivated

groundhog day--story of my week as exemplified best by these two hands, occurring within five minutes of each other..it is just unreal how many times I've gotten it in 90%+ over the last few days and been sucked out on:

Full Tilt Poker $22 + $1 Heads Up No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t15/t30 Blinds - 2 players - View hand 929253
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BTN/SB): t1230 41 BBs
BB: t1770 59 BBs

Pre Flop: (t45) Hero is BTN/SB with 8 7
Hero raises to t60, BB calls t30

Flop: (t120) 9 3 J (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t120, BB calls t120

Turn: (t360) T (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t240, BB raises to t960, Hero raises to t1050 all in, BB calls t90

River: (t2460) T (2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: t2460
Hero shows 8 7 (a straight, Jack high)
BB shows T 9 (a full house, Tens full of Nines)
BB wins t2460


Full Tilt Poker $22 + $1 Heads Up No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t20/t40 Blinds - 2 players - View hand 929257
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): t1860 46.50 BBs
BTN/SB: t1140 28.50 BBs

Pre Flop: (t60) Hero is BB with 8 A
BTN/SB raises to t80, Hero calls t40

Flop: (t160) 4 7 8 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN/SB bets t100, Hero raises to t1780 all in, BTN/SB calls t960 all in

Turn: (t2280) Q (2 players - 2 are all in)

River: (t2280) 7 (2 players - 2 are all in)

Final Pot: t2280
Hero shows 8 A (two pair, Eights and Sevens)
BTN/SB shows 7 A (three of a kind, Sevens)
BTN/SB wins t2280

the moaning paid off--I ran extremely well in my last handful of matches, bankroll is up to $1450ish

br just above $1600, though, yet again, I tilted like crazy to get all the way down to $980 or so before rising back, beginning with a decent MiniFTOPs cash ($150ish profit); in other good news, I put up enough volume last week to earn my highest rakeback in a really long time ($105), which will arrive Friday

While I did run decently below average during the sinking period, I have to admit that I did not play my A game. Worse, I simply did not play a game designed to take advantage of my strengths. Truth be told, I played like a tilted aggromonkey. I've regained my stride the last few days, including three different 8+ win streaks, and am now playing much more patiently and perceptively. I'm 32-14 over my last 46 games and hope I can build off this--I'm feeling extremely good and in control of nearly every match I play

dude relax with the tilting i know its easier said than done but trust me ive been the exact same place as you regarding tilt. i grind husngs exclusively. though it being on $1 games. (micro bankroll dont have much to spare) so far ive maintained 10% roi over a too small sample of games. But im confident i will maintain a close to that roi. But anyways not what i was going to say.

I tilted like crazy and must admit doing it earlier last week. losing 5 - 7 $1 games due to bad luck i thought. yesterday spent two hours of calculating my odds via pokernews calc. It turned out i was always on the losing side on every all in in that period of losing games. That helped me a lot today. now for being confident its not bad luck its just me sucking haha which means i can do something about it IMPROVE.

well i just need to lower the bad spots and increase the good spots. But i have been tilting (went to a $10 game to get it back) won fortunately or should i unfortunately. I think losing it might have been for the better to learn a lesson. and the sickest thing was that i was a 80/20% underdog to win that last all in. runner runner flush to his top pair. something.

But what i would suggest to your tilting problems is. accept a rematch when you win. as soon as you lose to a guy decline a rematch, i read somewhere you couldn't help accepting because you think you are better than him something. But sometimes we just have to accept losses to a guy. He might have been lucky or he might have been better than you. I would only suggest rematching a guy if you notice he plays more than poorly and win against you with LOADS of luck. rematch only if you know that you are totally calm and still confident and thinks that guy could be a grinding station to get some money if you know or think strongly you have an edge against him. I hope this helps in some way.

Good Luck with your challenge i will follow your progression. Hope i can follow you to the top someday.

Avataren -

Bankroll up to just above $1750, despite running under EV today; feeling super confident right now and just hope I can continue playing this well; moved up to $33s and fared well, moved back down to $22s at the end of the day when I knew I was wrapping up for the night

also, your wtf hand of the day:

Full Tilt Poker $22 + $1 Heads Up No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t15/t30 Blinds - 2 players - View hand 944123
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BTN/SB): t1365 45.50 BBs
BB: t1635 54.50 BBs

Pre Flop: (t45) Hero is BTN/SB with J 8
Hero raises to t60, BB raises to t90, Hero calls t30

Flop: (t180) 7 8 J (2 players)
BB bets t180, Hero raises to t1275 all in, BB calls t1095

Turn: (t2730) 7 (2 players - 1 is all in)

River: (t2730) 8 (2 players - 1 is all in)


worst beat of the day (let's pretend it didn't get allin preflop)/week/probably month:

Full Tilt Poker $33 + $1.50 Heads Up No Limit Hold'em Tournament - t25/t50 Blinds - 2 players - View hand 944126
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Hero (BB): t2220 44.40 BBs
BTN/SB: t780 15.60 BBs

Pre Flop: (t75) Hero is BB with K A
BTN/SB raises to t150, Hero raises to t2220 all in, BTN/SB calls t630 all in

Flop: (t1560) 3 3 A

Turn: (t1560) 8

River: (t1560) 8

Final Pot: t1560
Hero shows K A (two pair, Aces and Eights)

bankroll up to $1836, ran neutral EV today, after rakeback tomorrow bankroll should be just under $1950 :-)

first milestone reached: bankroll now past $2k (~$2020)--it would be even higher if I wasn't addicted to rush mtts :-)

now grinding $33s regularly, dropping down to $22s when tired, not playing well, or ready to finish the session; I'll probably move up to $55s when I hit $2600 or so

graphs:

nicely done thus far karam and grats on the milestone.

thank you! next milestone I hope to reach en route to the ultimate goal: $5k by Nov. 15

gl you got this

Thanks a lot for the support, everybody--I truly appreciate it. Here, finally, is a graph from my turning point that started last Sunday onwards--I hope I can keep winning at this pace:

LOL u still have windows xp

Gl, nice challenge

thank you, and love for xp itt

another great day, bankroll up to $2325ish, have won my last five 4 man shootouts

Ran pretty well in all-in situations today and had several yum yum opponents but somehow managed to win only ~$80--I'm pretty sure it was simply a matter of being outdrawn and having to make a lot of disciplined folds. One disturbing development is I seem to be waiting much longer now to get games, most likely a result of my recent success. Also had my first shout-out today from an opponent familiar with this thread--that was cool. Last, after I waited 5 min. for someone to sit me, I decided to take a shot at 55s. The result was extremely encouraging--it was my one of my easiest matches of the day day, against an opponent who has posted decent results at the 55s/110s. Hope that it is a taste of what's to come

Here are my graphs for the last 7 days:

Interesting read OP, gl with your challenge..

regarding your tilt, i think working on this area will vastly improve your +ev, and limit your losses. You referenced tommy angelo earlier on in the thread, have you read his book? Or watched his 8part video series which is focussed on the poker mindset and how to deal with tilt?

Great video, put a lot of things into perspective for me i tilt no where near as much having changed my thought process, getting coolerd often results in shrugs and laughing sometime now depending how the hand went.. as there would of been plenty of other times where i could of won that hand,

the spew chat you mentioned will only tilt you more and help your opponent gain an advantage on you, they will see you tilting and exploit the hell out of you tilting you even more, hope you can sort this area out!

Gl with the rest of the challenge, really hope you succeed and get over your tilt


(tommy angelo video on the tilt is on deucescracked.com - if you dont have an account, i recommend signing up, they offer 7 day free trials which you can cancel if you find its not for you)

Jon Robert,

I agree that tilt chat is generally a bad thing. I've noticed that sometimes I do succeed in tilting or misleading the other player and have been able to use that to my advantage. However, any extent to which I benefit from it is offeset by feeling terrible about acting, frankly, like a mean-spirited dick. I think now of all the times I've tilt chatted and just feel ashamed. Thankfully, I've engaged in barely any of it over my good run. To be honest, I think that since starting this thread I've become a more mature poker player, more aware that bad swings of luck and losing to bad players are part of what you're signing up for if you want to focus on hu sngs.

I also think it helps that I'm playing a style that relies a lot less on getting all my chips in in, say, 60% type situations, where bad luck can compound rather quickly. My recent more restrained, small ball style allows me to grind down the opposition through steady but very calculated aggression. Before, I'd play very well for awhile but then always end up reverting to a strategy of wild, almost unrestrained aggression, more often than not winning 75+% of the pots in a match but oftentimes falling victim to K hi hero calls--I guess when you're acting like you have the nuts every hand, your opponent will pick up that you don't after awhile ;-). While I can win playing that style, I can't win at nearly as good a rate, and variance is killer when you're bloating pots that shouldn't be bloated and constantly getting it in as only a small favorite. Last night, I noticed myself becoming more aggro towards the end of the night (relatively speaking; remember, I'm already very aggro and a lot of opponents think I am insane until they lose to me four times in a row), so I will need to be careful to restrain myself.

Thanks for the good wishes and the Angelo video reference. I'm familiar with it but haven't seen it--I do intend on checking it out. I listened to him on the Pokercast and loved what he had to say. I should mention that I've read The Poker Mindset, which I've found has helped me deal with tilt, mostly by accepting it as a natural part of the game. I truly believe that what sets the best players apart is tilt immunity--you see the game for what it is and don't take bad beats personally, even if they come at a rate that seems extremely unfair. I want to reach that zen-like mindset :-)

ugh, dropped $200 tonight before excluding myself for 12 hours--I ran bad, but I also played while really tired and didn't really have my "radar" working, glad I at least quit before I could lose more -- better sleep well tonight! br: $2160ish

keep the grind on the mind. hopefully tomorrow's better

br around $2450; haven't run that great lately, but haven't played my A game either (probably B+); thankfully, I've mostly avoided tilt despite some brutal successive beats

Played 11 games with him at the 33s. Pretty solid player after the first few games (had some maniac meta-levelling going on there for a while). I didn't know it was him but we were talking and it just came out we were both 2p2ers. He doesn't want to be outed, but he's a relatively solid player.

I got absolutely soulcrushed. Got outplayed a few spots (although I made him level himself a few times) and just ran terribad. Couldn't win any hand in the 40/60 - 60/40 range whether I got it in good, bad, or even equity. Oh well, such is life. Maybe I'll play you again at some point

Class act--I told him I'd need a couple of min. before we could start a game and he was kind enough to offer a mutual sit-out until I got back. He's correct that I ran much better (and that he got soulcrushed ;-)). It's rare when you can develop a friendly, mutually respectable rapport at these stakes and was lucky to develop one with him.

Tonight was pretty insane. Shot up to +$220 in about 80 minutes, then played a tough opponent who coolered me two games in a row (both of us turned range-unlikely two-card str8s the first game, then AA v. bottom two pair on flop), making me tilt a bit and continue running into opponents at the very top of their range, until I was down to $-160 for the day. However, rallied back and finished up about $75. BR is $2515ish