hey, guys. this is my first post, and it's in the goals and challenges thread because i'm focused. this coming thursday the company i work for is holding a hold'em tournament to support the mamma jamma organization, and first place is two, 3 day ACL passes. i'm not trying to be tom dwan in a matter of days, but in the short run this is to make sure i'm practicing while my competition isn't(?). in the long run, this is to make me a solid, winning player and use 2+2 as the avenue to be involved in a poker community as i have no one in real life who takes this **** seriously.

my journey will be the same as entity's, and i promo for promo.

thank you.

Feeling good, got home from the movies an hour ago and fired up two tables of 10LHE. Drew out once, got drawn out on more than once, and that sent me on tilt. I shut down my tables and now i'm here to vent.

This hand was the knockout punch. I had a note on villain that was "AGGRO with Two Pair". Line check, please. Was this a spew with the Turn raise?

Table and Position Review
Game #40042433-204: Guggenheim Museum (40042433) - Limit $0.05/$0.10 Holdem - 0.02/0.05

Seat #0: augwest, $1.75
Seat #1: allluck10, $1.94
Seat #2: zanzara37, $3.13
Seat #3: muletrain7, $1.90
Seat #4: johnymac111, $1.77
Seat #5: thatsfngreat (D), $1.75
Seat #6: PatrickExtreme (SB), $3.16
Seat #7: HERO (BB), $2.34
Seat #8: drewlab, $1.95

*** Blinds ***
PatrickExtreme posts the small blind of 0.02
HERO posts the big blind of 0.05

*** Pre-Flop ***
HERO got hole cards [ 3 4 ]
drewlab calls 0.05
augwest folds
allluck10 folds
zanzara37 folds
muletrain7 calls 0.05
thatsfngreat calls 0.05
PatrickExtreme folds
HERO checks

*** Flop *** Pot: $0.22
[ 5 2 6 ]
HERO checks
drewlab bets 0.05
muletrain7 calls 0.05
thatsfngreat folds
HERO raises with 0.10
drewlab raises with 0.15
muletrain7 calls 0.10
HERO raises with 0.20
drewlab calls 0.05
muletrain7 calls 0.05

*** Turn *** Pot: $0.82
[ 5 2 6 ] [ 5 ]
HERO bets 0.10
drewlab raises with 0.20
muletrain7 folds
HERO raises with 0.30
drewlab raises with 0.40
HERO calls 0.10

*** River *** Pot: $1.62
[ 5 2 6 ] [ 5 ] [ 7 ]
HERO checks
drewlab bets 0.10
HERO calls 0.10

I've been thinking about my skill set, and after two years of study and play, i have to be honest and say that i'm a losing player. i'd like to think i'm not completely ******ed, and i know not being good at poker is reason enough to kill myself, but it's regrettable to find all the time spent in front of my comp for naught.

idk how to explain it, but i don't have a bird's eye view of the game; i'm seeing everything from the thick of things. i know what i should know, and in real time i try to understand it and apply it, but i can't. i dismiss the 'feel' i have for the game because mathematically, intuition has nothing to do with combinatorics and sklansky bucks.

i'm trying to up my game so i can have some extra cash in my wallet, cash that the ol' 9-5 isn't bringing in, but it seems i just wasted time. in telling myself that i have to learn how to fold a loser, i think i have to let go of one soon enough. i can't keep depositing on merge all the time, ya know?

I have $30 on carbon and i'm gonna play my best, but i'm gonna jump around from game to game and start the gradual change in perception from poker as life to poker as a part of life.

hahaha, i mean "not being good at poker is [not] reason enough...."

How much reading/watching videos/coaching have you invested in?

It sounds like you suffer from a a lack of discipline and a lack of knowledge (which is what every non-winning player has I guess). The discipline can be fixed through time--making clear-headed and math-based decisions. The other part, takes time, (usually) a small sum of money, and mental aptitude.

Poker is an investment after all...

Leveled myself into thinking villain's flop shove was to take down the dead money in the pot, even though I had warned myself pre-flop about the reverse implied odds of my hand. WTF, skig-scag, WTF?!

Some good advice there. I think you need to have a certain attitude to the game to be a winning long-term player. If your goal is to make a consistent amount of income you'll need to invest a fair bit of time into this..and that involves more than just reading threads about strategy.

Do you take time to review your hands? Do you post in the microstakes forums?

Guys, idk how ya'll do it, but my discipline (or lack thereof) is the problem. I always have poker on the mind (license plate numbers, 1-800 numbers, receipts all become flops), but as of late, I've been using poker for entertainment instead of a job. Don't get me wrong, I love playing cards, I think we all do, but once I get in the mode where I want to just have fun (not be disciplined with regards to poker), I jump around stakes and game types and ruin the success I do have when I play A-game poker.

Poker as entertainment is what I've been laboring under.

When I'm in grind mode I grunch threads and review some of my seshes. I don't really know how to review seshes (I use PT3 to mark hands I'm confused on), but end up writing notes on players instead of architecting a different line or so. I also don't know how to correlate my stats into leaks or strengths.

I'm gonna clear my mind for a day or two. Get away from the game so I can put my style into perspective, and I very much appreciate you two coming in and helping a micro donk.

No worries, I'm a micro donk too. Few years ago I played with what ended up being several hundred dollars and losing it all because I played poker for entertainment trying to pretend it was for cash. As long as you know the difference then you should be okay but be honest with yourself and get away from the game if you need to.

I took out what i had left in cash, uninstalled the software, and stopped thinking about it for a year or so before coming back. I'm not a winning player yet but my attitude toward the game has definitely changed. gl

GLGLGLG OP, study, post HH (hand histories), comment, and be humble

is the tourny nlh or limit?

Here is my situation. Finished university, doing an accounting designation. However.. Job less.

Why do I play poker?

To increase my analytical capabilities and built it to a point where I can get serious (increasing bankroll in the process). In the past, my BR management was to the gutter. I would spew chips tournies and sng and even cash trying to find my niche. I got fed up, I honestly did. I decided to set a goal in mind. I'm working on reading COTW threads and shoring up my game. Poker is not something that will be perfected, I don't care if your Ivey, multitabling wiz nanoko, or some NL2 player. Everyday should be a learning process. You have to accept downswings and upswings, You just have to hope the latter can sustain the prior. If you tilt, get out. DONT PLAY. Take a breather, read some stuff, listen to music, write a rap.

Just my 2 cents. Enjoy and run good, and learn more each day. That's the key.

Also, just wanted to add another tidbit. Set yourself a goal.

Khanrava is going for 50k

Microdot's goals are Preliminary goals:
[ ] Play ABC poker.
[ ] Quit my session whenever ABC poker gets boring
[ ] Post handsessions
[ ] Build a bankroll for 5NL
[ ] Somehow manage school, work, life, and poker.

And mine is to build to 3k by May for the SCOOP.

Set a goal and just go towards it. Set backs will come, but having a target is something you should chase. It will help you along the way.

nothing wrong with the hand.. that's typical in limit and happens.. you maybe could of saved a bet by not raising on the turn after the board paired but either way is fine.. the pot is huge and we have a good hand so were not folding nor should we... ever.. this is just example of the big limit variance train..

It was NLHE. I was first in chips, and one of the seats had to leave after the second hand of the final table. The host thought it'd be cool if we splashed the pot with her chips. We were five handed and I picked up J4 in the BB. The CO minraised, SB called, and I called (as did the rest of the field behind me) because of the implied odds the dead money gave me. I figured that hand to be a make or break hand as we were already 30 min over the host's time limit, and it was unclear as to when or how the tourney was going to end (whoever has the most chips after a set time limit or play until one winner?). Before the flop was dealt I warned myself about the reverse implied odds of my hand, "You can hit a four flush on the flop, but depending on the action you're gonna have to lay it down, even if there's a ton of dead money in the pot." Flop comes K2Q SB shoves. He's an unknown (we work together, but never talk) to me, but he has some pictures outside of his cubicle of him posing with poker cards, so I figure him to play somewhat. His action was the action I warned myself about, but I leveled myself into thinking he was making a move with TP or 2nd Pair. I called and he flopped the nut flush. I took third

I'd like to open my game up. I play 9-max (full ring king), but would love to improve my hand reading and aggression enough to play 6-max.

Like all, growing the bankroll would be awesome. This may be weird, but I don't play on withdrawing any of my future BR (I have a job, so I don't play to live, but I try to play like I do.) I'd like to reg 200NL. Once I get there I probably will withdraw, but, and this is probably a leak in perception, I see small stakes as a sign of being a good player (especially if you grinded your way up).

I can tell when people are playing hands weird: calling down with 2nd pair in the face of much action, always betting when checked to, so I'd like to adjust to villain's styles.

[ ] adjust to villains
[ ] grind up to LHE
[ ] play more 6-max

Something I found lacking in my goals is some measurable goals with specific targets in addition to those. Vague goals are hard to know how you're performing against..

Something like
[] Play 10,000 hands per month
[] Review top 50 winning and losing hands each week
[] Spend 3 hrs a week studying

Something you can actually hold yourself to and know if you've slipped up. Gl!

Sup people. It's been a while since I've posted, as it's been a while since I've played. As mentioned earlier in the thread, I've been taking a break from the game so I can clear my mind and calm down from the stress of knowing I don't know all I need to know about poker. Before the break I had been playing well; at 4LHE I've earned about 75 big bets, and set a goal of 100 hands/day that I'd been keeping up with.

I was watching A Kid's Game the other day, and they said something that I'd put my finger on before, but had never affected me. I forget who, but someone said that in order to smash at poker you have to put in hours upon hours of study time, and thousands of hands. Before black Friday, I'd been grinding my ass off, and when I occasionally played at home games, I would just kill it. An effect of that, however, was I would often spend all day on the computer. I have a girlfriend, and I would often feel that this was a negative in the relationship.

I don't want to break up with my girl, but I want to grind SO bad. I have the urge to get home from work and play, study, take a break, study, sleep and repeat. Not a minute passes in my time off from work that I don't want to grind. During the week, however, I feel that if I'm not involved with her I'm selfish(?). She'll let me play as long as I want, but she'll never say that it's bothering her, or that she wants attention.

My job isn't offering me anymore hours, and I know that if I grind like I was doing pre-BF, I can come home a winner. Trust we all need extra cash, but as much as I want to grind, I want some cash, so I see the grind time necessary not just for a personal goal to get better at the game, but necessary to stay afloat. When I come out a big winner I'll take her out and mention that all the time playing online "paid off", so she knows I'm absent for a reason.

I'm taking a break from the game for balance reasons, but I want more than balance with regard to poker in another area of my life. Contradictory, I'm trying to live with a balance.

"Never, never marry, my dear fellow! That's my advice: never marry till you can say to yourself that you have done all you are capable of, and until you have ceased to love the woman of your choice and have seen her plainly as she is, or else you will make a cruel and irrevocable mistake. Marry when you are old and good for nothing — or all that is good and noble in you will be lost. It will all be wasted on trifles. Yes! Yes! Yes! Don't look at me with such surprise. If you marry expecting anything from yourself in the future, you will feel at every step that for you all is ended, all is closed except the drawing room, where you will be ranged side by side with a court lackey and an idiot! . . . But what's the good? . . . . You don't understand why I say this, but it is the whole story of life. You talk of Bonaparte and his career, but Bonaparte when he worked went step by step toward his goal. He was free, he had nothing but his aim to consider, and he reached it. But tie yourself up with a woman and, like a chained convict, you lose all freedom! And all you have of hope and strength merely weighs you down and torments you with regret."
- Prince Andrei Bolkonsky aka Skig-Scag

Deep. Every man needs a muse, maybe yours can be the bottle. But seriously, don't become an alcoholic.

Back in the red and black court, and I played well, losing sesh, but played well.

I had a read on this hand and followed it. Before I clicked fold I committed to it, and don't care as to how it ran out.

Merge - $0.04 NL - Holdem - 8 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 3

SB: $4.45
BB: $1.90
UTG: $11.56
UTG+1: $4.20
Hero (MP): $4.00
MP+1: $5.12
CO: $5.46
BTN: $0.87

SB posts SB $0.02, BB posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: ($0.06) Hero has Q Q

fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.12, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to $1.17, BB raises to $1.90 and is all-in, fold, SB calls $0.73

Flop: ($3.92, 2 players) 3 J 9

Turn: ($3.92, 2 players) J

River: ($3.92, 2 players) Q

I played in a SnG at a friend's place last night. His format is a rebuy, winner take all SnG. I binked it for $70 profit, $10 entry. The lineup is LP serious donks. His game is weekly, and the past two weeks I've been on the cold side of variance, but all's well.

I played tight all night, was a little card dead, but doubled up in key spots. The best hand I played was also a key hand towards victory.

We were three handed and I was in the BB. UTG limps and SB raises 2.5BB. I have 20BB's and pick up A6o. SB has been raising all night with suited Q's/J's. I figure this is my time to shove. I do. UTG tanks for eternity and folds, but SB calls. SB has J9s. I hit an A on the flop, and hold while SB picks up an OESD and FD. UTG folded JJ.

I say this is my best played hand because UTG limps a wide range, and when SB raises that sizing he doesn't have A-high hands. I didn't think UTG had JJ (as he usually minraises 88-KK), and would fold, and SB would fold his Q-highs, and if he calls at least I have him high carded.

I got lucky with JJ folding, but for the most part things worked out the way I figured, and scored a key double up that would propel me to chip lead then 1st place.