Hello all.. I have a lot to say but I'll try to keep it short as I can. I've tried one of these threads before, atleast once.. probably twice. Thing is I came into them and just was too discouraged to post when I'd run and PLAY AWFUL after starting them. Now regardless of what happens I will do my best to come here and post about every session that I can, despite how terribad I may possibly do.. and I know for sure I'm going to have puhlenty of days where I play and run like sh*t.. but I must come here and write about hands and analyze more rather than just ignoring everything and continuing on. As embarrassing as it is it's part of learning and getting better.

A little history now, can't hurt.. started playing a couple years ago in home games like everybody else.. got addicted and went on 2P2 and read everything I could find.. played on FT started with like $50.. got up to like $150 playing 10NL and then I just couldn't stand it.. using horrible BRM I played 25NL a lot and played pretty well.. continuosly got my roll up to $1K, 1.2K and would take shots at NL50 and get owned.. rinse and repeat.. before eventually badplay/runbad etc caught up to me and I pretty much withdrew and lost everything minus $50.. I guess that's my feelgood story regarding Black Friday lol.

Anyways now I've been on Merge started with $100 and have been trying to work my way up aggressively through NL4.. I've basically been breaking even stuck at $100.. MW3 came out and I was addicted to that for a long ass time.. so I'm putting that aside and gonna focus on poker again.. I also have RL stuff going on like school/gf blahblah but whatever.. I really love poker and hate that I cannot succeed at it..

Wish me luck.. going to take a crack at a short session.. I also would like to get more involved like joining a study group or something.. Also on a sidenote I have been playing 1/2 and .50/1 live with like no BR and it's been killing me.. games are soft but I have been getting burned on rivers and have also been playing suboptimally/scared.. Need to back away from that until I'm more confident in my game.. I seem to be struggling playing OOP and with PP.

I realize that it's very difficult to cashout manie$ on Merge and stuff but that's really not my goal there.. I just want to play and beat NL4 as a start and we'll see what happens from there.

So goals are...

- GET BETTER
- PREVENT TILT
- UPDATE THIS THREAD CONSISTENTLY
- LEARN ABOUT EQUITY AND TRY TO USE POKERSTOVE.. too lazy to try b4 :X
- CONSISTENTLY BEAT EACH LIMIT BEFORE MOVING UP
- TRY TO HAVE 30bi FOR EACH LIMIT

Starting BR: 89.20

Just did a session.. only bout 600 hands lol. Cut it short to watch the Knick game (ugh, i know)



IDK if I'm doin this right.. i print screened and then put into paint lol. anywaysss was a meh session I'll probably play again later.

some hands that perplexed me

#1) QQ

definitely played flop wrong.. probably shoulda b/f flop.. or atleast c/f to PSB.. meh

Merge - $0.04 NL - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (BB): $4.17
UTG: $2.62
MP: $4.14
CO: $1.14
BTN: $4.78
SB: $3.82

SB posts SB $0.02, Hero posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has Q Q

UTG calls $0.04, MP raises to $0.18, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.60, fold, MP calls $0.42

Flop: ($1.26, 2 players) K J A
Hero checks, MP bets $1.26, Hero calls $1.26

Turn: ($3.78, 2 players) 8
Hero checks, MP bets $2.28 and is all-in, fold




2) Merge - $0.04 NL - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (SB): $4.25
BB: $1.56
UTG: $4.00
MP: $2.20
CO: $4.30
BTN: $3.99

Hero posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has 4 4

UTG raises to $0.16, fold, CO calls $0.16, fold, Hero calls $0.14, BB calls $0.12

Flop: ($0.64, 4 players) 6 3 5
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG bets $0.40, CO calls $0.40, Hero calls $0.40, BB raises to $1.40 and is all-in, fold, fold, fold



Flop was arguably a fold after 2 calls.. but i don't think so.. thought about raising but concluded it woulda been dumb MW.. easy fold after the raise, IMO

3) don't know how to find stats about dudes.. i need some PT3 tutoring lol.. anyways on this hand I was super surprised this guy had the balls to bluff.. nh to him.. didn't think I had SD value on the river.. lol

Merge - $0.04 NL - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (UTG): $4.00
BTN: $3.50
SB: $3.70
BB: $3.99

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has 5 A

Hero raises to $0.14, fold, fold, BB calls $0.10

Flop: ($0.30, 2 players) 9 7 4
BB checks, Hero bets $0.20, BB calls $0.20

Turn: ($0.70, 2 players) 2
BB checks, Hero bets $0.42, BB calls $0.42

River: ($1.54, 2 players) 8
BB checks, Hero bets $0.85, BB raises to $3.23 and is all-in, fold



4) another weird hand here.. not sure what he's doing this with? 66/JJ/air either way I didn't want to pay to find out.

Merge - $0.04 NL - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

BTN: $3.96
SB: $4.00
BB: $4.00
Hero (UTG): $5.72
MP: $11.95
CO: $4.12

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has K K

Hero raises to $0.14, MP calls $0.14, fold, fold, fold, fold

Flop: ($0.34, 2 players) J 5 3
Hero bets $0.22, MP calls $0.22

Turn: ($0.78, 2 players) 4
Hero bets $0.58, MP calls $0.58

River: ($1.94, 2 players) 7
Hero bets $0.75, MP raises to $11.01 and is all-in, fold



NH.. back at it later.. all tips/comments appreciated

Played another mini session and won about $6.. sounds pathetic but I'm happy lol. Quit because I'm feeling tired.. will be back on the grind tomorrow

BR $97.79

gogogo gl man

hands
1.- i think c/c here is the worst option I prefer b/f o c/f
2.-being to calls on the flop actually gives you better odds for your straight draw
3.-its a bad flop to cbet and a bad turn to dbarrell
4.-not much value in betting that river and your bet looks so weak prefer c/c

thx man i agree with what you say for the most part. hand 1 i def shoulda b/f c/c is spewy.. #3 idk i guess you're right but i guess it's situation dependent.. #4 i was going for a baby blocker bet but bleh .. my bet did seem to beg to be raised.. but then again I would do the same with a BD flush or straight. thanks again for your input

anyways i played another mini session this morning b4 school and won a lil something.. i had to play FR though because there were no 6M games really running.. thought it was pretty straightforward and nothing crazy came out of the session.. what i hate about FR is that my HUD gets all cluttered and messy, but meh, w/e..

bout to start up another sesh right now let's hope for some RUNGOOD.. i'm considering taking shots at NL10 with $150 but I don't know if that's such a bright idea I may just play it safe and continue to beat this limit until I have like $250 or so. we shall see..

gl all

just had another session and was running well and playing well. then i got some annoying phone calls and started losing some pots so I just mass quit.. going to eat now and play again later.. also gotta mini headache right now too, blah..

Nice points there man, good luck with the challenge.

thank you max.

don't know why the graph I posted isn't showing right now, hrmm..



Anyways I feel like I am playing well, but I've been down this road too many times. Once I get some bad beats I tilt and lose moar and moar BIs. Trying to avoid that now.. I have been folding in spots that normally I snap call.. I've just in general trying to avoid high variance spots and am just grinding away.

Here's an example of a hand I normally woulda called without thinking.. In hindsight I think I guess I should have checked it back, but w/e that's a whole nother topic. ALSO I only flatted because there was a fish in the blinds I wanted in the hand.. everytime i try to do some FPS like flatting monsters I get toasted lol.

Merge - $0.04 NL - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

Hero (BTN): $4.64
SB: $3.36
BB: $3.20
UTG: $3.68
MP: $11.49
CO: $6.11

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has A A

fold, MP raises to $0.14, fold, Hero calls $0.14, fold, fold

Flop: ($0.34, 2 players) 4 Q Q
MP bets $0.17, Hero raises to $0.51, MP calls $0.34

Turn: ($1.36, 2 players) 9
MP checks, Hero bets $0.76, MP raises to $10.84 and is all-in, fold

River: ($2.88, 1 players) T



going to smoke a stog and startup another session let's hope for more goot run

Another good session today.. started badly because I had way too many tables open.. like I said before I'm just trying to play solid and GRIND.. avoid playing OOP as much as I can.. not making crazy calls on the turn chasing FDs and stuff.. really trying to avoid high variance situations that can lead to tilt... so yeah I'm just trying to keep everything very fundamental at this point. no interesting hands this time around.

BR is now at $120 and I'm already itching to take shots at NL10 again.. as much as I want to I will resist until maybe $175... maybe even $150 we will see lol..

may not have time to play in the upcoming days which sucks

till next time. GLGL to you all.

Hey all. I had a session yesterday that didn't go well. I lost $10, or 2.5 buyins.. which made me sick. I, like almost everyone I bet, feels that they should never lose so many buyins ESPECIALLY at 4NL.. prob is that it happens to me a lot. So rather than continue playing I just got high and chilled out the rest of the day. In the session however I don't feel like I played horrible. The villains were definitely a lot more aggro yesterday and were laying down when I had my value hands. I really couldn't win a big pot for my life. I also only lost a whole BI in 1 hand where I opened up w/AQ and got donked into AI by AK on a Axx board and called.. another was calling 89 on a 789 monotone board.. both probably should have been layed down. Bleh. I also played 10 tables which is much too many especially on my crappy laptop.. I will stick to 8 for now. Going to play a session right now and hope for the best and play the best that I can. Will update soon, hopefully happily.

Just played another session.. 1K hands.. lost another $5.. got very, very frustrated at the end so just mass quit the tables. It's really depressing because EVERY table I go to everybody has the same damn stats. There are like no fish in the sea.. I waitlisted every "good" game that had could have any fish, but regardless of the table there were minimum 4 tags all around.. so hard to get paid off.. wasn't even running good or bad.. just normal I guess. IDK maybe I just suck? Well I know I don't suck too bad but let's just say I don't feel like I have any edge whatsoever when there are so many damn people who have the same line of thinking as me.. BLAH! BR is about $105 now.

How does anybody here play this hand?

Merge - $0.04 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

CO: $14.13
BTN: $4.30
SB: $4.80
BB: $8.23
UTG: $4.04
Hero (MP): $4.07

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has 5 5

fold, Hero raises to $0.14, CO calls $0.14, fold, fold, fold

Flop: ($0.34, 2 players) 2 6 4
Hero bets $0.25, CO raises to $0.92, Hero calls $0.67

Turn: ($2.18, 2 players) 8
Hero checks, CO bets $1.63, fold



I really don't know what to do on the flop.. I feel like I have a lot of options. B/F maybe, but feels weak. can definitely C/C but I feel that's kinda face up.. idk

Feels weak may never be an argument for folding. What do you think his raising range is? How much equity do you have vs that range? How do you think the turn will go on different turns when you b/c flop?

Gl with ur challenge.

Guys I'm a huge noob lol I've been here so long, but sadly have not actively participated here enough.. and that's my own fault due to lazyness.. I guess I thought I would cruise through and crush but after all this time I'm really a breakeven player and want to change that. Anyways I'm rambling again, lol.. I said all that because I was wondering how do I find a player's stats in my PT3 database? Because clearly that makes a big difference..

but yeah I really am starting to see holes in my game.. like how I play OOP and esp w/mid PPs.

--------------

^^ posted that in another thread.. I really want to get better. I hope I can look back at this post and the rest of this challenge thread in a positive manner down the line.

As I mentioned above due to my noobness i have no idea what his exact stats were at the moment, but I know he was probably along the lines of 19/15 and aggressive.. had atleast a 7 3b I believe. His perception of me was probably kind of a bad lag running around 22/17.

anyways based on these estimations I think that his flop raising range can be very wide.. I feel like b/3bAI is kinda spewy (okay very spewy lol) but it's somewhat an option. I think I have pretty good equity because on this particular board like i said his raising range can be pretty wide.. anywhere from a set, 2 pair, 22-99~, pair+FD, pair + SD, xxss, etc imo..

ultimately though it sucks cause I guess all I can do is b/f.. b/c is way too weak imo (sad that I did it lol) I think though c/c could be a better option now that I think of it because my checking range could potentially be pretty wide too and may keep him honest and let him check back..

Also thank you bro for your gl, same to you if you're having one.. are you?