Hey guys,
I decided to give another attempt at this since my last one didn't go so well. I went on a 13BI downswing, and then black friday happened, so it seemed like a good time to take a step away from online poker.

But now I'm back and prepared to put in the hard yards to move up in stakes, and become a winning player at 50nl by the end of the year.

I've been playing poker for quite a while now, and it may sound a bit arrogant, but I have no doubt that I can absolutely crush 10nl right now. I play at around 26/20/6 but I like to play around 28/22, a little more aggressive then your average reg. + I love stealing pots. My main problem IMO is that when I get coolered I just lose it and play like dog sh*t. So yeah, I tilt. Live it isn't a big deal because I just walk away, but with so much going on, I feel compelled to keep going, even though I'm not playing near my best game.

Obviously the inverse occurs, I run good, I play well. Simple as that.
I'll add more goals and all that jazz in my next post, just cause I'm super tired, so I'll put my graph up and some HH



Just for September








Man, did I get lucky on this one. Guy was a LAGGY player, but he was still pretty good. I didn't give him credit for AA on the dealer, but I should've laid it down PF, especially since we were both really deep. Got get lucky sometimes :P








This was a strange hand, another solid player who liked to steal quite a bit. Dealer raises, Villian re-raises to stay away from steal. Standard, so I thought 4 pop it and take down the pot. Guess not. Flop comes out and he checks, at this point I have him on a mid PP. Turn he bets big, couldn't continue, but the betting line didn't make much sense. He told me after he had 99's. So not a great flop for him to call, cause I'm really repping QQ-AA, AK









Wasn't really repping much here. I don't remember my full thought process, but I had him on a busted 2 pair or a bluff. Guess I was right




Ugly turn and river obviously. I flat the bet on the river just cause if I get RR he's got a flush, oh well









One of my leaks in my game IMO is playing Jacks. Just don't feel confident in this situation. I've feel they are a nice hand to get coolered on. What could've I done differently here. 3b pre? The guy behind me was why I folded, I thought he may be stronger to 3b in the SB










Another awkward situation. Dealer would steal from the button occassionally. Thought I would flat it and just see a flop (I would probably mix this up with raising). He then 4-bets, which was very rare for him. I spoke to a mate about this and he says 'jam and hope for the best' but is that just an excuse to get coolered? Very interesting hand.







I don't want to even show this hand, but good for my growth i guess. 1st hand i sit down, no reads, and I play like a monkey. I recovered over the session by playing proper poker, but here's an example of how I can just spazz out

I'm -EV cause I shipped it on 2 occassion with the nut flush draws and missed, not sure if I played them to full potential. Ill post em later

As I said I'll do a proper goal setting list tomorrow, but I've contacted a few people about having a sweat session (sorry I haven't been able to do it yet), joining a study group and getting my mate who used to play 50NL to sweat me.

So I'm up around the same, took a downswing and came up again. I haven't played as much as I wanted to, but I have a week off uni so I'll be able to squeeze in 5-10k more hands by the end of the month. I feel I could be up double that if I stopped spewing chips and going on tilt.

Have been thinking about some of my leaks in my game, and these are some that came to my head

- I spazz out too often. A lot of the time I will play against a reg, I'll take a nice chunk of their stack in a hand, and within the next couple of hands I will lose it back to them, or at least a nice amount of it, simply cause I tell myself 'they are playing back at me'. I'll play junk, 3b/4b just to take down the pot and prove a point, and then I'll get shoved on, doing away all my good work.

- I tilt/go into autopilot. I find it difficult to stop playing online and tkae a breather while I'm in other tables at the same time, I'm sure I would play a lot better if I just took a second to cool off as oppose to keep going.

- Not note taking/taking notice of player tendancies whilst 4-tabling. So now I've been 4-tabling and I'm still playing some good poker, but as a result I have stop taking notes on opponents and on player tendancies. Perhaps I should go back to 3-tabling, or I should just stick it out and start making more of an effort. I need to get this monitor situation fixed up, I can't 6 table on one monitor. I can beat the regs at 10nl, but I would have less trouble beating fish and exploiting regs with notes and reads.

- I am justifying to myself making bad calls. I've been playing live for a long time, a lot longer then online, and it really is a different ball game, cause you know who you are playing against, you have reads, history. Online I justify to myself making average calls because they would be profitable in live games. I've started seeing trips as this anomaly, like a straight flush, like I see 2 of the same card and tell myself they don't have it, making a very average call. My thought process is giving me problems cause I like to gamble, but players on the internet generally like to and play it safe.

- Getting the most value out of hands. This has been one of my biggest leaks since playing poker, but I've been trying hard to change that recently

- Looking at BB, not $
I play 50nl with mates constantly and 1/2 at the cas, so sometimes I see $3 bet I think nothing of it, but I have been getting better at it, especially since I've been using HEM, but occassionally I'll do a stupid call because it is 'cheap'




Today I thought I would muck around and mixing up my 3b/call and 4-bet range. I usually always 4b KK but thought I would give it a shot, in the end it was a much more valuable play (in this session) as it let my vilian 'get there'. Doesn't mean I should do it all the time, but it's definitely worth mixing up. Players can't have a top 4 hand everytime I pick up Aces or KK, so maybe look into there fold to 4-bet range/4-bet range will help me extract some more money out of these hands.







This hand had me spewing. Flop the nuts, then one of the worst cards coming out on the turn, then the river even uglier. Not much I could've done about it. The $2 was a tempting call, but I was losing to a pair, so I had to get away from it, this hand put my on tilt pretty hard from memory.








Another example of a hand where I just spew money away. I had barely any reads on the guy, he leads on all streets and I justify to myself 'that he may be bluffing'. If I had reads on the guy and knew he was a Laggy player then it may be ok, but this really was just stupid, these are the type of plays I'm trying to get away from







Another example. I didn't need to play this hand so strongly, I still try and win every hand I play, even though i probably should've shut down on the flop.








Here was a lucky hand for me. He let me get there, but I doubt if could've picked up that I had that hand. He probably just saw his set and assumed he was good regardless of what I have

I have a bunch of other hands that I spew chips away with, all similiar, me 3-betting pre when I shouldn't, then C/R when it's blatantly obvious they have overpairs.

Any advice would be appreciated, as I feel that I make stupid mistakes cause I'm 'too good' for 10nl. That doesn't mean I need to play cookie cutter ABC 10NL, but I can mix up some of my more aggressive plays at the right time. I've been bluffing a lot of rivers with quite a bit of success (like when blanks come out on busted draw boards) and they seem to be a nice way of picking up value here and there.

2 Other problems
- I can only grind 500 hands at a time. I can take a break within the games to recharge, or take a break every 200 hands or something, just so I don't get bored as quickly

- Not updating this thread. From now on, doing it after every session, where everything is up-to-date and I know what I was thinking at the time.

After September I'm up around $66, and running 1BI below ev. I'm also playing at around 5.23big bets/100 hands

I started stealing a lot more on the last 2k hands, while trying to pick and choose my spots when to pull off some big bluffs. I also started spewing a lot less, which is good, so hopefully I can reduce that number to zero. I'll post some HH later.

Gl Mate!!! will defo follow this seeing as I have the exact same challenge on.

Do you play on stars 6 max? If so I suppose we will run into each other quite a bit.

Yeah I do man. GL with yours. Link me your thread if you have one

Running good/playing good still, trying to isolate my fish and outplay the regs when necessary. I thought BB was big bets not big blinds. So right now I'm playing at 15.72bb/100, even though it is over a small sample, I intend on keeping it that way










I was happy with this hand, cause I got a reg to spaz out against me. He wasn't playing hard up until this hand, and he was getting sick of me stealing from him. When he would make a play, I would 3-bet. When he would 3-bet, I would 4-bet (Sometimes with and w/o the best hand). Got him to crack here, I thought he was gonna lay down the R on the turn, but he ended up calling with the draw, so even better for me.








Guy sat down on the table pretty recently, but was pretty fishy. + he's 3-bet range was really wide and I thought if I draw I'll take his stack. Luckily I didn't need to, and this guy did most of my work for. Didn't have him on a set cause he would've been betting smaller to induce calls, it seemed the whole time he just wanted me out of the pot

The last two sessions have been strange ones. Both times I've had a 1-2 BI Profit, but then it all goes to ****. Some of it from playing worse, others because I get unlucky. Most of the early money has been from playing against fish

I'm getting too attatched to the smaller things in my game (I think I am) like BB/100 and my non showdown winnings. Even though it's going down, it's going down for the right reasons, because It makes my show winnings increase (like playing aggressive donks who are going to pay you off, as long as you hit). As long as I'm winning and at a solid rate (which I am) that's all that should matter.

In saying that, It seems that I have been getting 3-bet a lot more in the past couple of sessions. It's probably too early to worry about this stuff, at least till I get a decent sample size.















A strange way to play AK admittedly, but I was more then happy when the Short stacker isolated himself PF. This guy was pretty fishy and would defintely call my AI with worse. Luckily I hit the turn.








Probably my biggest spewing hand at 10NL. The PF raise seemed fishy, so I thought 4b Bluff, when he called he is only doing that with 10-AA (10's being generous), AQs (generous) and AK. The FD look good, missed it on the turn, and just spewed my chips away. This is the type of plays im trying to get away from. Zz he has the nuts, but still a **** play.








Reg who had a wide 3-bet range PF so thought I would float and see how it went. Flop was hoping to draw out, but didn't get there, should've laid it down on the turn, but I wanted to see his play on the river. Again, I had a lot of chances to lay this hand down, it was really stupid.








This guy was sitting on $70 when I started the table and manage to drop it all. I'm glad I came along with this hand, because it set me up to win bigger later. Unfortunately I wasn't getting the cards to stack off against him, while the rest of the table got rich, I got marginally richer.







Same guy









This fish was calling with anything, I should've been more considerate of his raising range, but he could've called with an Ax or even a Kx. He gets there, oh well









Same fish, R/C with a gutty. Std. He gets there, oh well. Cooler. Just annoying.

Also got an extra BI from the FPP's which is good. Haven't been getting the volume I've wanted in. Exams and all. But when I get my volume up and play my A-game, ill be moving up in no time.

GL op, see you at the tables.

Very nice win rate. How many tables do you play?

I play 4 at a time, but I move down to 3 and then go back up, I play like dog **** when I'm tilting on 4 tables..

zZZZZZ, lost 3BI's in that last session. IT was just one of those sessions. Overs v Sets, Runner runners v overs, 2 pairs v sets, forced to fold boats. Made me sick. That + tilting. I guess it was bound to happen, will just have to play better and recover.

The thing is I could've gotten away from all the big hands, I was just tilting pretty hard, gotta start to stop tilting, it's seriously my biggest weakness.

So my nice heater couldn't last forever. Just like last time I went on a nice 10BI downswing. At least I've managed to stop it for now, and hopefully I'll be able to go on the up again. I started playing looser (32/27/10) instead of my tigher play (25/21/5). I've mixed it up, but I feel my looser play is getting me in more heated spots, maybe only bring it out when necessary.

-I keep getting seated to the left of fish, it's driving me nuts
- I've been doing this value/thin bluff bets 50% and have been quite successful

I'm still making the same mistakes feeling I have to call in situations, in ones where I know I'm beat but it's $2.5 into a $10 pot. I am 'committed' so I have to call. I'm sure this is a huge reason when I go on a downswing, I lose soooo much.

I've been squeezing a lot more with marginal hands that have blockers turning them into bluffs (KJo, Ax) and it has been working quite well.

Also I've been trying to decypher out hands and how they play them, and when I'm on my game, I'm pretty good, but when I'm not I end up calling stupidly and giving away more chips.

I played 1000 hands 2 days ago over 3-4 tables. I don't know how people can do it, took a massive toll on me. I guess it's just practice.

Furthermore I've been working on a theory in certain situations against regs or decent players, which has been very successful as of recent (I can only think of one time where it hasn't worked for now, but it still forced villian to play a 3b pot oop)

I need to fix up my HUD as well, the last 3 lines I never use and I'm sure they could be used way more effectively then that







This hand was against the big fish on the table. I knew I had him, but alas, he got there on the river. I could've jammed PF and he would've snapped me off. At least I played it right against him









Another hand where I just spew chips away, I'm never good in this position, but I still put my money in. Even If I just fold to the river bet, I'm saving money, I'm sure I can save a BI over 1 or 2 sessions just from avoiding calling the river call. I could save a lot more If I didn't get into this position at all








Aces getting cracked. zzz









This was a weird hand. He flops the nuts and donks it and calls my squeeze oop. I should've realised that something was up when he called the squeeze bet, but I thought he had a top pair with a straight draw, otherwise he wouldn't have donked it. But I need to stop finding reasons to call at these stakes, and I guess find more fold equity, since people are generally playing more ABC








Again, another hand where I don't believe villian, since he Min Raised me otf. Could I have gotten away from it here? These types of hands seem to be re-occuring at these stakes and I feel I have to call because it's 'standard'








Sometimes I run good :P. But I bet at the time I didn't believe he was 3b for value








I know I played this hand terribly. I remember thinking that I didn't want to 4b, since I didn't want to see a 5b shove (which I would've) or play a 4b pot oop, and I didn't want to lay down Jacks PF to a single 3b, even though this was a tight reg, and I was pretty sure I was beat. So i flatted oop (yikes). Got these in the end, but it really was terrible play by me.








Another time tangling with the fish. He out turns me and bets 30c and I out river him. Got tons of value, but again I could straight jam here and get a snap call IMO





[converted_hand][hand_history]Poker Stars, $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite. View Hand #11071322

CO: $10 (100 bb)
BTN: $10 (100 bb)
SB: $5.67 (56.7 bb)
Hero (BB): $17.56 (175.6 bb)
MP: $12 (120 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A 8
2 folds, BTN raises to $0.30, SB folds, Hero raises to $0.90, BTN calls $0.60

Flop: ($1.85) 9 5 Q (2 players)
Hero bets $1, BTN calls $1

Turn: ($3.85) J (2 players)
Hero bets $2.10, BTN calls $2.10

River: ($8.05) 4 (2 players)
Hero ?

I got myself in an awkward position here, but is this a 3-barrel or is it time to shut down?








Is this a call here, I've never seen somone take the C/R C/R line w/o having absolute air

A cooler hand in the sense of how it played out. I could've bet more ott (thoughts?). I may've given him the odds to call with a FD, but I thought the Ace would've scared him away if he did have one. I turned my KK into a bluff otr, and still called his river bet. I think PF, Flop and Turn play are good, but the river call was dreadful







Went on tilt cause of the hand before, and this occurred straight after. I said to myself 'he has AK' and sure enough.