Brief intro

I have been playing pokers for last 6-7 years, started playing once on a vacation in Macau on live tables and have been loosing ever since. I have probably lost about $60k in live poker and perhaps about $25k online over these last few years.

$60k live isn't actually that bad considering the stacks are usually very deep and games get pretty crazy towards the end of the night. The $25k online is plain tilt and stupidity, i remember on ocassions i would loose 2 buy ins on 25 NL table and go sit at $500 NL to make that money back quickly by stealing blinds, lol.

Last week, i promised myself i am going to give it another shot at online with alot more seriousness and this time with some clear head.

Logged into my PS account and had $12 or so left from past, decided to start at 2 NL and see how it goes. The goal is to stick to 10 NL or under ZOOM tables while i learn the game, well, learn it again.

Will post updates every 10k hands, i am expecting to play 2k-3k hands a day. Happy to answer any questions, appreciate any feedback

Good luck and I hope you keep the discipline to keep grinding at the micros. Questions: any big losses in one session you'd be happy to share?

When i posted this hand in BBV forum, no one believed this and i think they still don't but everytime we talk about bad beats, this one hand always comes to mind... Lost about $10,000 in live game about 4 years ago on this one hand... Enjoy the read and Troll

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/54...-beat-1051606/



Hands so far 6230

Thanks. Not trying to be a dick just genuinely interested. My advice is ease yourself in at the micros, play solid while you find your feet. Online might be a bit different from when you last played

Don't take me in a wrong way, i honestly feel you asked because you were genuinely interested, all i said was the people on the Brag, beat and Variance forum were really trolling the thread and you must have seen it's turned out to be a pretty long thread.

I am definitely playing Solid and looking for material to study while i am not playing, any good article on online Zoom Micros is really appreciated.



Hands so far 6392

Yes. Read the "bad beat" and this post interested. Nice that you are back. Hope I will meet you at tables as soon as possible

Having a hard time finding good material to study for Zoom Micros, most of the stuff is generally very old. I am sure alot of principles does apply but i would like to keep myself updated.

Guys, please provide link to any study material, training sites or videos on Zoom/Rush poker, specially on Micros.

Hands so far 10,928

You seem to be playing a lot of hands pretty quickly. I know 2nl might be easy for you, but if your win rate isn't what you want it to be, playing less tables will help a lot. Obviously if your win rate is good enough you can keep playing the same amount of tables.

I am playing 4 Tables zoom, just had a lot of time to play this weekend so perhaps thats why i have had alot of hands.

Also, i realize playing 2 NL and 5 NL zoom, i might end up becoming silver this month so putting more hours. Do not want to hit 480 VPPs and not finish it. I know, its silly and small but hey, that's a start.

The plan is to finish Silver and study alot and get alot of questions answered, learn and control the tilt.

I am struggling as always to not play limits that i can't beat, believe it or not i fired up couple of 25 NL ZOOM tables and also played 10 NL for a while today 4 tabling, that's how i have lost all my life and still struggling.

Hands so far 11,703

You clearly have huge tilt issues and playing zoom prob isn't the best idea tbh. Who cares about VPPs when your playing 5nl seriously. Play 4 tables of normal games and work on your psychological issues rather then banging out loads of hand at tiny stakes and getting tilted/not sticking to the plan.

Losing that amount of money isn't 'actually not bad' at all, its horrific and tbh you likely have a gambling problem. Sorry if I come across the wrong way but im genuinely trying to help. Keeping an ongoing count of the amount of hands you have played is about as far away from what you need to be doing as is possible.

I didn't read the entire thread but.. when you read your $10,000-hand again now, do you still think you played it well? If so, you should play less tables and focus on abc poker. The limping combined with the 2.5x 3bet (500bb deep!) OOP is plain bad.
I don't know your financial situation but playing such high stakes with this skill level does suggest some kind of gambling problem.

That said, even for playing micros I feel you are focussing on all the wrong things. Instead of worrying about your VIP status, the number of hands, or your results you should focus on the only thing that matters: try to make the best decision every single time.

Do you know that on Pokerstars there is a "Responsible Gaming" section in the parameters somewhere where you can block any stakes you want so you are not tempted to go play higher stakes? You can then unlock any stakes you want, but it takes 24 hours, so if you lock any stakes higher than 5NL, and you become on tilt and want to play 25NL, you'll have to wait 24 hours before it gets unlocked and you then have time to cool down and lock it again before you lose too much.

This is the reason, i started the thread to have some one i am accountable to. I feel, if i am answerable to a community of good poker players, i will make good decisions, i will have a responsibility to make this thread into something that shows improvement.

I will reply to your comments in a few mins, i honestly appreciate every one's feedback very very much.

Your beer and Night stay is on me, if you ever make it to New Delhi, India.

I couldn't agree with you more about the Tilt issues, i have them forever, i can see it's there online, live games, sometimes in sports betting too.

I agree with you on VPPs, really a pointless thing when you are trying to grind up the micros but promised myself to never use the FPPs until i can use them for something substantial, that's probably what i keep thinking when i see i am at 413 VPP this month and can finish Silver, but point noted, this is a very stupid thing to worry about, i am going to drop that idea of focusing on VPPs completely.

The idea of playing Zoom was to not have to wait and go on tilt for just things going too boring. I realize, it's probably better to just start 2 or 4 regular tables and focus on that.


I respect the fact you are trying to help and you didn't come in a wrong way but i can guarantee you, i do not have Gambling problem. I think loosing that amount of money and calling it 'actually not bad' has a lot to do with my financial status at a very young age, i will talk more about that later.

Just to make a point, i was in vegas for few days in February and taught the wifey how to make money in Roulette by doubling the bet everytime she loses and starting all over again when she wins, betting only red/black (Martingale betting system). Gave her 12 bets and thought, she would have to be super unlucky to loose 12 times in a row and most likely it won't happen and she'd be happy about winning decent cash at the end of the trip. She did that and luckily didn't loose it all. While all this is going on, i am just interested in playing a plain good poker game and want to just focus on improving, didn't gamble anything, just not my thing.

Keeping ongoing account of hands played is totally just waste of time when there are bigger and better priorities and i must stop that.

That hands was few years old, i am not sure if i think i played it right or not. It doesn't look right for sure, but you have to realize the way these games turn out. Some things just doesn't make sense at that moment.

Once again, the good finances and amazing people to play with and ability to build connections is what got me going to these high stakes games. I promise, i do not have gambling problem

I think, you are right. I am focused on wrong things. I should care about the improvement only and making right decision every single time.

I had heard about it but have never used it and here is why

I am a very self motivated person and believe everything is possible in life, if you want it bad, i even feel people can recover from dug addiction if they just have strong will power (personally never took any drugs, or smoke).

So, when you have that kind of mindset, having yourself limit from not playing at 10 NL or 25 NL seems like a very small thing. I feel like, i shouldn't need the blocking tools to be disciplined, i should be able to say NO and just do what is right without hand holding...

I mean, i am going to be a father in 5 months, if i can't even tell myself no to playing 10 NL, how am i going to raise a good kid?

I know, you smell arrogance and i think there is some but i really want to do it with self control and discipline rather than having to block myself.

Hole card confessions by Owen Gaines is fairly useful, might be some stuff in there you haven't seen before.
Poker Math That Matters by Owen Gaines, again has some useful chapters. Both you can find online PDF versions. I'd say, look at the contents page and just read the chapters you'd feel would be most useful to your game.
Also, Hold'em manager is a must (sorry if you already have this) Reviewing your hands and then posting hand historys on here is also very useful.

The Poker Bank on YouTube has some very useful Videos.

Going to Play nothing but 2 NL standard 6 Max starting now, my promise to you guys. This is until i can make at least 20 BIs profit i.e., $40

If you feel the 20 BIs is too small, i am willing to take bigger number. This is going to be time consuming but hey, i have been loosing for years, whats the hurry?

play 5nl imo, not much difference in standard but playing 4 standard tables of 2NL will be heart breaking lol

I think 20 in a good number but I would be more concerned with your thought process and behaviour during that time and if you can actually stick to the plan. Also read books on poker psychology like Jared Tendler