Hi! I'm a new player from Spain (yes I know ****ty country to play Poker from).

I have decided that to challenge myself to attain a good understanding of the game and develop the skills needed to becoming a winning player.
No desire of going pro, sustain myself through poker or winning a lot of money. Just interest in the game, like I have had in chess for most of my life.

These are my goals:
- Become a micro cash games winning player
- Build a bankroll to progress to the upper microstakes limits, eventually low stakes.
- Learn to play sit&go tourneys with good results (again at lowest stakes). This is for the future as I don't want to spread thin.

I've set a monthly budget of 20€ on poker that I will spend either playing or getting study material.

My training plan consists mainly on reading books, watching videos, reviewing hands, playing and now I'm including being active on this forum.

Results for my first ~3k hands are shown in the graph below. I'm playing NL2 FR and also had some ZOOM.

What is cool about my country, appart from the segregated playerbase, is that these 3k hands mean already 40€ rake with no rakeback deal and very bad bonus programs. Hurray Spain!

I'll be posting insights about my education, hands and progress reports here in hope of getting some feedback & support. Wish me strength!

Today I had my longest session ever, but I decided to play Zoom 6-max instead. Im starting to see they are much different games. I ran under EV but I think it's ok. Some hands were really crazy and I've identified that I should have folded quite a bit more instead of shooting myself in the foot.



I'm going to make good use of my remaining 7 days of DtB trial , watch some replays and take notes now. Study time!

I've been away from the tables for some days. I had a 1500 hand session where I played very badly (on zoom) and tilted like a champ. I decided to take a break, focus on painting and exercising only for a few days, then come back to study and forget about zoom.

I have been reading Crushing the Microstakes and plan to read it a second time taking notes after trial on DtB ends (today) . After that I may get Modern Small Stakes (Ed Miller) or Harrington's Vol.1. I accept book recommendations!

Also I decided to join a popular internet room that is advertised on TV here in Spain, this time with a rakeback deal (hope it works). They gave me some SnG tickets that I turned into 5,5€, played some cash and found out the games are much softer. I also played 6 more 0,11€ 6max SnG, placed 2nd in 5 and 1st in 1. I like SnG but I think I'll stick to cash for now.

Total roll: 60,69€ (roughly +10,50€ since the last post).

I wish you all of the best OP, you have a solid plan in action, don't forget studying is very important, just a little suggestion, add a highlighter to that list of materials, highlight important points in books, and also print out articles and highlight areas of them which are useful. I found that when I first began to review hands I was not always sure how to do so optimally, sure I could see where I went wrong, and how I could have folded here or raised there, but it was not until I had read and researched enough theory that I began seeing more and more profitable spots whilst reviewing hands. With a deeper understanding of theory and how to apply it you can analyse your hand histories much more deeply.

Long time no post! I have been taking a break from poker and also got a GrinderSchool subscription.

I decided to roll up a stage to NL5 and so far I've been doing pretty good. Noticed the drop in maniacs but an increase of people go ram their stupid hands against my nuts.

Also decided to stop play on two poker sites at once and focus on Pokerstars, which is the more reliable one.

I have identified I must:
- Learn to properly size my bets to maximize value when I get called or risk the least when they don't fold.
- Learn when to reraise a hand preflop. I almost always fold to a raise before me unless I have QQ,KK,AK. What about KQ? AQ?
- Learn to play small pocket pairs. They make me lose money.
- Study more. Make use of that damn subscription!

Total roll: 128,37€ (yes I've practically doubled my roll!)

EDIT: No tracking software for now since my HM2 trial finished. I want to get the PT one but after I study more and schedule some regular time to play.

Hi kasbe,

First of all - good results so far, keep it up!! If you are interested in someone to study with add me on skype: alex_poker5207

Hey everyone, it has been a while!

Shortly after my last post here I decided my most +EV move was to cash out, focus on my engineering career and stop playing games, which is what I have been doing for the last ~6.5 years. I am now living in the UK working a 6 figure job that I enjoy quite a bit.

While I no longer have the energy to spend on the game I had last time, I have always had a healthy respect for the lessons I extracted from poker at the time. I attribute some good decisions I have made along the way partially to reasoning skills developed from poker. I also know I only scratched the surface of the game and there are a lot more insights to extract and benefit from, and think I can add value to my life at this stage by taking the side quest of exploring the game deeper even at a reduced pace.

I am not really seeking a monetary gain (though if it comes it comes), and I don't think playing micros is a hinder for me to gain knowledge at the moment so I am entering through there again.

There is some material in my hands at the moment:
* The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky - I chose this because I want a solid mathematical foundation, even if not all that focused on holdem.
* The Grinder's Manual by Peter Clark - Kind of like the guy, seeking more actionable advice from here.

My plan is to spend at least 70% of my time studying and then extract the maximum value I can from each hand I play. Very likely this will end up looking something like playing for 15 minutes then stopping for hand review. At this stage I care very little about volume and not at all about money.

My hope is that documenting my journey helps me organize thoughts, that the readers can also benefits from it and ultimately we can all benefit from discussing the game.

New beginnings then! My stars account was closed due to inactivity, so I got validated again and made a small deposit for the equivalent of $20. After signup bonuses and some initial practice to dust myself off (I am still incredibly rusty) I am now sitting on top of a modest $32.

See you in a couple of days for some hands, comments and maybe some reflections.

nice man good luck with it again.

I have played a little over 10k hands so far and switched to 5NL about a third along the way since I am starting to suspect NL2 is too much of a different game from NL25 which is my final destination. I am taking it slowly since I am spending more time studying the grinder's manual and reading/thinking in general.

I had a couple scary losing sessions while adjusting from ultra-nit to too loose and spewy and then back to something more appropriately tight and balanced.

The plan now is to go back to the books instead of following the natural urge to play more (since I have had not-to-bad results so far), then inject some more money into the bankroll and start playing some NL10.

Total balance: 73$ (+41$ since last post)

Also a couple of those rare hands that you do not get to see too often:

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 149.2 BB
SB: 112.4 BB
BB: 130.4 BB
UTG: 98.8 BB
Hero (MP): 107.6 BB
CO: 168 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 9 T

fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, SB raises to 12.4 BB, BB calls 11.4 BB, Hero calls 9.4 BB

Flop: (37.2 BB, 3 players) K Q J
SB bets 100 BB and is all-in, BB raises to 118 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 95.2 BB and is all-in

Turn: (332.4 BB, 3 players) A

River: (332.4 BB, 3 players) 4



Aaand from a brief excursion to NL10-land:

PokerStars - $0.10 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 244.7 BB
SB: 206.6 BB
BB: 103.8 BB
UTG: 94.5 BB
Hero (MP): 206.2 BB
CO: 169 BB

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has Q J

UTG raises to 3 BB, Hero calls 3 BB, CO calls 3 BB, BTN calls 3 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (13.5 BB, 4 players) T 9 T
UTG checks, Hero bets 8 BB, CO calls 8 BB, fold, UTG calls 8 BB

Turn: (37.5 BB, 3 players) 5
UTG checks, Hero bets 4 BB, CO raises to 8 BB, UTG calls 8 BB, Hero calls 4 BB

River: (61.5 BB, 3 players) K
UTG checks, Hero bets 187.2 BB and is all-in, CO calls 150 BB and is all-in, fold

QJ overbet is wayyy to much, possible flush and fullhouse/quads and 3way on the river.

Just bet like 33% and fold to a raise

And what's up with the 10% pot bet on the turn?

Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts. Terribly played indeed, and I admit there was no thought process these (and I have a bunch more hands like this). This was pretty early on but I remember at the time I didnt even pay attention to the fact that there were 4 hearts on the board, my thinking was something like "I have straight I bet".

At the time I was feeling invincible because I had been winning a lot of pots and I had started to develop a sense of "entitlement" which in a nutshell made me behave like a maniac. I have returned to poker to tame myself and oh am I getting my time's worth of insights.

All in all I am actually happy I can already see glaring mistakes on my side behind my biggest losses, I think my odds at becoming a winning player would improve quite a bit by fixing these brainless moves (that I won't assume I've fixed this until I have evindence over the ~10k next hands at least)

After reading "The biggest bluff" my suspicion that I can extract good lessons for life from poker is becoming closer to a value bet. Felt motivated to try out tournament poker not only because of the book, but because these are more self-contained than cash games.

I have played 11 sit and go so far at 0.5$ and 1.1$ and have cashed in 7 of them (3/1/3) for a slow but steady profit. I think there's a mixture of me tilting less, adapting better to the tournament structure and opponents making more mistakes than I see on cash. I appreciate a lot that my playing session is capped, since I tend to be quite busy and always end up playing far longer cash sessions than I plan to.

Is it true that the variance of sit-n-gos is the smallest out of all formats (as well as the ROI) ?
Also, how many SnGs to play until there's a semi-reliable measure of performance?

On the other hand, after a couple of session getting 3-betted to death an losing many all-ins, I am doing pretty bad in cash . I think the time of the day matters, and also I think there's a lot of mental work for me to do.

Total balance: 67,7$ (-5,3# since last update)

Placed 4th at a 0.25 $ 45-man sit and go, my first time reaching a final table. This is the hand in which I busted:

PokerStars - 150/300 Ante 25 NL - Holdem - 4 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 88.41 BB
BTN: 23.27 BB
SB: 66.13 BB
Hero (BB): 47.19 BB

4 players post ante of 0.08 BB, SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.83 BB) Hero has 8 J

CO raises to 2 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 1 BB

Flop: (4.83 BB, 2 players) 9 T 3
Hero checks, CO bets 1 BB, Hero calls 1 BB

Turn: (6.83 BB, 2 players) J
Hero checks, CO checks

River: (6.83 BB, 2 players) Q
Hero bets 8 BB, CO raises to 16 BB, Hero raises to 44.1 BB and is all-in, CO calls 28.1 BB



After coming back to it a couple of hours later I think raise was the worst play I could have made. It is equivalent to saying "hey villain, if I am ahead we are done but if you are you can have all my chips". A call would have been much better.

I continue to play small SnG here and there, and while I understand tournament play is more swingy I think I appreciate the effects of the payout structure on the decision making. It seems to me the thinking involved is more situation dependent whereas in cash it is very stable.

Since one of the themes of this diary is also divergent thinking (without the intent of being obnoxious), let me also put forward a first rant:

I think we focus too much on the "hero calls" of life and too little on the "hero folds". While skill is important and reduces the influence of randomness, it would be ludicrous to pretend we can eliminate it.
We praise those who make big scores, but do we take into account the person could have held a premium hand and that things are easier on premium hands? On the other hand, I think we underpraise those who, through skill, manage to get hit for x rather than 8x.

My point is, when we have an upswing it is ok to enjoy it, but we must be ready for when things change. We also have to learn to lose.

A little fold I am slightly proud of how I reasoned through, although I do not know if I thought correctly. But hey, at least I thought. Now have a laugh:

PokerStars - $0.05 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BB: 144.4 BB
UTG: 101.8 BB
MP: 113.6 BB
Hero (CO): 120.8 BB
BTN: 100 BB
SB: 94.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has Q K

UTG raises to 2.4 BB, fold, Hero raises to 9 BB, fold, fold, fold, UTG calls 6.6 BB

Flop: (19.4 BB, 2 players) Q 2 A
UTG checks, Hero checks

Turn: (19.4 BB, 2 players) 3
UTG bets 11 BB, fold



My reasoning here is that UTG should have some pretty sick holdings, maybe not the topmost AA or KK but still pretty good ones.

I do not bet the flop because my hand is strong though not enough to build a huge pot. There is the possibility of AK, AQ, AJ, AT, QQ which are a good bunch of the range of hands I could see UTG flatting a 3-bet out of position to. The fact that I hold a K does not make me too happy: while it reduces the likelihood of AK it also reduces the likelihood of hands like KQ or KJ and maybe KT that I have beat.

With the check on the flop being procedural, I do not have anything to hold on and I cant rule out any of the stronger holdings that I think he can have. What do I think villain can have that I am ahead of? Mostly 3rd pair or weaker, which I think would not be make a lot of sense to bet on the turn (maybe on the river) so I lean that is less likely.

With the river still to come, I think I am either way behind or way ahead. I do not have a lot of outs considering they could also make my opponent a stronger hand, and I am certainly learning for a check-fold on the river on the majority of cards that could come out. The only hand I would bet-bluff would be KJ (less likely since I hold a K). For this reason I went for a many overly nitty fold. If he had JJ good for him, if he had something weird like QTs good for him. I do not want to learn poker thinking my opponent could have been playing something random since I know this should be less common when I move up and I do not want to pick up bad habits.


Maybe I am giving too much credit to my opponents position?
Should I have paid the river?
What do you think?