i've been a professional poker player for about five years now, but recently i've been struggling with discipline and having trouble taking it as seriously as i should, so i've decided to try to start a thread here to record my goals as i get back to playing my best.

a brief history of my career - i've been playing mid/highstakes for most of my career,but with increasingly poor results due to the games getting tougher and my own complacency.

a few years ago i was mainly playing 3/6 - 10/20 nl 6max,but gradually i let the games catch up with me and so for the last year or two i've been mainly playing 1/2 - 5/10, without ever settling on one level.

i've always found it hard to resist playing in a game i feel i can beat, which has lead to me taking shots at games where i feel i have an edge even when i shouldn't because of my bankroll, and so i've basically spent the last while jumping around in stakes and having fairly large swings.

for a while i had fallen quite far behind the games, but over the last year i've done quite a lot of study and thinking about poker and i feel like my A-game is now easily good enough to beat midstakes.

over the last 9 months i've had a good but not great winrate at 1/2 and 2/4,but have lost quite a lot at 3/6 and 5/10.

i've often ran bad at the higher stakes which is probably why i kept taking shots at them, hoping that i'd run well and be able to stay up there, but all the jumping around in stakes has definitely been bad for my concentration and bankroll, and as a result i feel like only a small percentage of the time i've spent playing poker over the last while has been productive.

this year i started out feeling focused and good about my game,and was beating 1/2 and 2/4 for about 5bb/100, but i lost a lot of money playing a maniac HU at 3/6, lost some more playing tournaments,and played fairly badly when i moved back down to 1/2 and 2/4,still annoyed that my shot at 3/6 had gone so badly.

so i've decided to move right down to .50/1, and move back up slowly, one level at a time, and focus on really playing my best every time i play and not thinking about the money or taking shots.

i'll hopefully keep this thread up throughout the year, and use it to post my pre-session goals, maybe some post session analysis and other thoughts on what i'm working on (a lot of which will be to do with focus and concentration). i'll also try and stick up some graphs and stuff every so often, and post some interesting hands.

so to start off;

MARCH GOALS.

- only play .50/1 nl.

- play 40k hands of high intensity 6max,playing no more than 4-6 tables.

- these hands are only to be played between 9am and 9pm.

- go for a swim every day before i start playing.

- focus on preparing mentally for each session,and quitting or taking a break as soon as my attention starts to slip.

- after 9pm if i want to do stuff related to poker,i'll be either working on my game,playing fish heads up or playing full ring.



i'll be posting in this thread every day that i play, and be starting either later on today or tomorrow.

SESSION 1 - GOALS.

- only play 4 tables.

- sit out on all tables and take a break for a few minutes every hour (clock starts when i get 4 decent tables open)

- no lobby scanning once i've got four good tables open.

- play tight while i develop reads on the players. (i'm starting over on a site i haven't played on in a while)

- don't pay off fish or nits.

- take a break if i start to feel like i'm not focused, quit if i take a break and am still making small mistakes.

- try and play mostly bet/fold poker until i have some reads.

somewhat frustrating first session, in that i ended up falling into the familiar trap of playing slightly too long.

i was playing fairly well throughout the session, but right towards the end i started to think about quitting, but played on a little bit more in the hopes of stacking one of the fish i had position on.

this is something i often do, and its always a mistake, in that i ended up calling a few 3bets too many, which probably frustrated me a little bit and meant i didn't think through the last big hand i played, where i instacalled a big river bet which i should have at least thought about.

having said that, i ran fairly badly situationally and still managed to play well for the most part, and felt like i was playing better than anyone else at my tables.

here's a few of the bigger/more interesting hands,i've left out standard hands like getting it in preflop with premiums.

HAND ONE.

villain looks fishy (32/18) but has a 3bet of 2%,i flatted because i presume he's probably not getting it in too light preflop. i lead the flop because its going to be a crappy spot to be check/calling and guessing, once he raises huge i didn't really know what to do but i've seen fish do this with draws and with weak overpairs they want to protect so i decided to just go with my hand. got lucky as it turns out but i dunno if there was any other way to play it without knowing the villain better.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
Hero ($130)
BB ($102)
UTG ($87)
CO ($150)
BTN ($69.40)

Dealt to Hero T T

fold, CO raises to $3, fold, Hero calls $2.50, BB calls $2

FLOP ($9) 3 5 2

Hero bets $6.75, BB calls $6.75, CO raises to $36, Hero raises to $127 (AI), BB folds, CO calls $91.70

TURN ($271) 3 5 2 T

RIVER ($271) 3 5 2 T 2

Hero shows T T
(Pre 79%, Flop 30.6%, Turn 100.0%)

CO shows 5 3
(Pre 21%, Flop 69.4%, Turn 0.0%)

Hero wins $268

HAND 2.

villain looked fishy (had openlimped a few times) but i didn't have many hands on him, felt like a nitty fold but i've been trying to get out of the habit of calling down fish when they show strength like this so i was happy that i had the discipline to play the hand like this. looking back though maybe i could consider checking back the turn and betting if he checks river, but i feel like there's still some value on the turn.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
SB ($94.27)
BB ($89.62)
UTG ($100)
UTG+1 ($35.55)
CO ($86.43)
Hero ($100)

Dealt to Hero Q K

fold, fold, CO raises to $3, Hero raises to $8, fold, fold, CO calls $5

FLOP ($17.50) Q 7 6

CO checks, Hero bets $10, CO calls $10

TURN ($37.50) Q 7 6 9

CO checks, Hero bets $16, CO raises to $32, Hero folds

CO wins $66.50

HAND 3.

villain is 43/29 and fairly passive looking postflop. i've been trying to focus on good spots to 3 barrel fish, i think this is a good example.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
SB ($94.27)
BB ($89.62)
UTG ($100)
UTG+1 ($35.55)
CO ($86.43)
Hero ($100)

Dealt to Hero Q K

fold, fold, CO raises to $3, Hero raises to $8, fold, fold, CO calls $5

FLOP ($17.50) Q 7 6

CO checks, Hero bets $10, CO calls $10

TURN ($37.50) Q 7 6 9

CO checks, Hero bets $16, CO raises to $32, Hero folds

CO wins $66.50

HAND 4.

basically on the flop i realised that a bet will probably get the two players who didn't 3bet to fold, and that the 3bettor will have a lot of hands that will probably call twice and fold the river if i can make the last bet scary looking enough,so i decided to bet small and hope he felt like i was trying to lure him in by the river, looks like it worked out.
i reckon good Aces cbet the flop most of the time,so i'm only really worried about a random Ax hand that gets stubborn, but i think i can even get a fair amount of weaker aces to fold by the river.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
SB ($236)
BB ($68.50)
Hero ($165)
UTG+1 ($98.50)
CO ($114)
BTN ($98.50)

Dealt to Hero 3 3

Hero raises to $3, fold, CO calls $3, fold, SB raises to $13, BB calls $12, Hero calls $10, CO calls $10

FLOP ($52) 8 A 8

SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets $18, CO folds, SB calls $18, BB folds

TURN ($88) 8 A 8 9

SB checks, Hero bets $28, SB calls $28

RIVER ($144) 8 A 8 9 6

SB checks, Hero bets $106 (AI), SB folds

Hero shows 3 3

Hero wins $141

HAND 5.

this is the last hand i played and i'm fairly pissed off about it. first of all, i had villain marked as a fish,but i didn't notice until after i 3bet him that his stats were something like 25/5, so his opening range is very strong. if i'd been paying more attention i wouldn't have 3bet him in the first place.

on the flop i took a shot presuming that i could get QQ and down to fold on the turn,obviously the turn bet is for value and i was planning on betting the river,but then when the river card came and he instashoved i should have thought it through - he can't be bluffing and he's unlikely to be doing this with Ax, so his most likely hand is really a house. i think i could have found a fold if i'd thought it through, but i'd been so happy about hitting my flush on the turn that i just instacalled his shove. i really need to work on thinking through river decisions like this properly.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
SB ($31.40)
BB ($33.50)
CO ($135)
Hero ($134)

Dealt to Hero 9 Q

CO raises to $3, Hero raises to $9, fold, fold, CO calls $6

FLOP ($19.50) K A A

CO checks, Hero bets $10, CO calls $10

TURN ($39.50) K A A 5

CO checks, Hero bets $20, CO calls $20

RIVER ($79.50) K A A 5 8

CO bets $96.53 (AI), Hero calls $95.65 (AI)

CO shows A K
(Pre 61%, Flop 99.9%, Turn 100.0%)

Hero shows 9 Q
(Pre 39%, Flop 0.1%, Turn 0.0%)

CO wins $268
ended up playing 5-6 a lot of the time,trying to figure out which
table to close.
done.
done,except to replace tables that died.
i ended up playing fairly loose (28/24) but mainly because i was
getting in pots with the fish,i played tight vs the regs and managed
to avoid the trap of cold calling them too much which is a mistake i
sometimes made.
done except for the last hand.
almost...
done

SESSION 2 - GOALS.

- most important is to end on a "good quit" as tommy angelo would say.

- 4-6 tables,only play more than 4 if i've got position on a fish on all of them.

- no lobby scanning once i've got 4 good tables open.

- no looking at the cashier.

- think every big decision through, don't call any river instantly without the nuts.

- take a break ever hour.

Very interesting post...

SESSION 2.

500 hands, -$550. ($450 below ev).

annoying session in which nothing went right for me. i lost two all ins against an underpair and on the very last hand i got all in with AA vs AQ and lost.

i had already decided to quit because i could feel myself getting frustrated and a few bluffs had failed.

i think i played well overall but the risk of tilting was too high if i kept playing, so i'm happy i made myself quit even though the games were good.

few interesting hands:

HAND ONE

i'm just putting this in because it was a stupid mistake. the hand was played at a shallow table while i was waiting to get some proper tables open. i dunno why i bet the flop, i'm not getting anything that's ahead to fold, i suppose i just didn't think it through and was trying to avoid check folding, but that would have been my best option.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
Hero ($54.15)
BB ($83.07)
UTG ($106)
CO ($41.77)
BTN ($30)

Dealt to Hero A K

fold, CO raises to $4, fold, Hero raises to $11, fold, CO calls $7

FLOP ($23) 7 9 J

Hero bets $21, CO raises to $30.77 (AI), Hero calls $9.77

TURN ($84.54) 7 9 J 5

RIVER ($84.54) 7 9 J 5 3

CO shows 8 9
(Pre 36%, Flop 79.7%, Turn 86.4%)

Hero shows A K
(Pre 64%, Flop 20.3%, Turn 13.6%)

CO wins $81.54

HAND TWO.

this is against the same guy, who from the last hand is clearly a fish. once he checks back the flop his range is very weak, i shoved the river because i wanted to make sure he folded and didn't get curious, its very hard for him to have a hand here. i can't help feeling a little hard done by with this one!

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
SB ($20)
Hero ($56.70)
UTG ($103)
CO ($158)
BTN ($77.66)

Dealt to Hero Q K

fold, fold, BTN raises to $4, fold, Hero calls $3

FLOP ($8.50) J 5 7

Hero checks, BTN checks

TURN ($8.50) J 5 7 J

Hero bets $8.50, BTN calls $8.50

RIVER ($25.50) J 5 7 J 8

Hero bets $44.20 (AI), BTN calls $44.20

BTN shows A 8
(Pre 60%, Flop 74.7%, Turn 88.6%)

Hero shows Q K
(Pre 40%, Flop 25.3%, Turn 11.4%)

BTN wins $110

HAND 3.

this is the hand i decided to quit after - i didn't want to go on playing after i'd bluffed off a stack with no pair no draw after missing some of the action, but i actually don't think my play is that bad. villain used all of his timebank before calling, to add insult to injury!

what happened was i had two tables die at once so i was looking at the lobby, and i didn't notice the original raiser - i thought it was just blind vs blind on the flop.

once the villain called i had a quick look at his stats,and he seemed to be a reg. when the turn hit i felt like there were lots of hands that would call once more, but that anything worse than AK would usually fold to a river shove, so i thought it was worth a shot. probably still a bit wild and i was annoyed that i ended up in the situation through not paying attention preflop so i decided to quit anyway.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
SB ($202)
Hero ($116)
UTG ($101)
CO ($101)
BTN ($127)

Dealt to Hero 8 T

fold, CO raises to $3, fold, SB calls $2.50, Hero calls $2

FLOP ($9) 2 A 6

SB checks, Hero bets $7, CO calls $7, SB folds

TURN ($23) 2 A 6 2

Hero bets $23, CO calls $23

RIVER ($69) 2 A 6 2 3

Hero bets $83.10 (AI), CO calls $68.80 (AI)

CO shows 5 K
(Pre 56%, Flop 86.5%, Turn 100.0%)

Hero shows 8 T
(Pre 44%, Flop 13.5%, Turn 0.0%)

CO wins $203

done.
done.
done.
failed,i looked twice.
done with one exception early on.
n/a.

SESSION 3 - GOALS.

- since this is a nighttime session for me,i'm only going to be playing fish HU.

- 2 tables max.

- quit if i'm not 100% focused.

- play fairly tight and stay calm.

SESSION 3.

181 hands,+$80.

played a quick HU session but i was feeling fairly tired so i quit fairly soon.
done
done
done
done

Nice work man, Good idea to post all your taughts on hands too, il follow your progress best of luck with it!

This is very helpfull to me with some of my leaks!

im already a fan of this thread just bc of the title of it--its tough to leave the ego at the door and drop down/take it seriously..best of luck man

gogogog sir. i will make sure to check back here. i like the idea very much.

i will start a similar log/blog as soon as some dutch dude you might know gets me a blog going

thanks for the comments guys!

i was sick yesterday so i didn't want to play my normal games,i spent a bit of time trying to learn how to play satellites and HU SNGs,i think i made a small cash profit,plus a 215 mtt ticket on stars and an "I busted a pro" tshirt on full tilt!

not sure if i'll play today or not,i'm still a bit under the weather but i did a lot of thinking about poker yesterday and i feel fairly focused so i might try and play a few 1 hour 4 tabling sessions or something.

SESSION 4 GOALS.

i played a little heads up this morning and felt focused so i'm going to try and play a proper 6max session.

- main goal is to quit as soon as i feel like i'm not 100% focused.

- 4 tables.

- sit out on all tables after an hour and take a break for a few minutes.

- stay calm and have a reason for every decision.

- don't pay off nits or fish.

- avoid acting instantly.

- if i find myself scanning the lobby or looking at the cashier,use this as a reminder to watch the games i'm playing even when i'm not in a hand.

SESSION 4.

550 HANDS,-$600 (-4 buyins because of currency differences)

very frustrating session, i spent most of it playing quite well and not making any mistakes, but i seemed to spend a lot of time trying to get good tables going, it seemed like every time i sat down at a table a fish left and was replaced by three ratholers.

the issue of table selection is a constant thorn in my side, on the one hand i play my best when i just have four tables open and am fully paying attention to them, but on the other i like to exercise at least some game selection and it can be hard to find tables that aren't all regs and shortstackers during the afternoons, so doing so often takes up a lot of my time and concentration.

anyway, a few interesting hands came up.

HAND 1.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
SB ($261)
BB ($170)
Hero ($123)
BTN ($100)

Dealt to Hero Q Q

Hero raises to $3, fold, fold, BB raises to $11, Hero calls $8

FLOP ($22.50) 7 3 4

BB checks, Hero bets $14, BB calls $14

TURN ($50.50) 7 3 4 5

BB checks, Hero bets $18, BB raises to $145 (AI),

i was pretty annoyed about this one. villain was a reg with only a 5% 3bet over 200 or so hands.

on the flop i think its an easy bet since worse overpairs will often play passively in spots like this. on the turn i bet somewhat for thin value but also to name my price for showdown, it seems like kind of fuzzy thinking but i don't like checking back and calling the river, since the pot is big enough for him to make a fairly big bet with hands that beat me,but i should be ahead fairly often so i don't like checking back the turn and folding to a river lead either.

when he check shoves i basically hate myself. i mean he must know its very unlikely i have many 6s in my range, so its technically a good spot for a bluff, but at the same time what can he be bluffing with? turning something like AK or 88 into a bluff? i think that might even be a good play in this spot but i can't imagine its very common,so i decided he probably just had some suited connectors which had fluked a straight.

every part of the hand is annoying me though,and i still don't know what i should have done. its tempting to think i should have checked back the turn but i dunno if i'm just thinking that because of how it panned out.

HAND TWO.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
SB ($46.75)
BB ($127)
Hero ($100)
BTN ($168)

Dealt to Hero K A

Hero raises to $3, BTN calls $3, fold, fold

FLOP ($7.50) K 4 K

Hero bets $5, BTN calls $5

TURN ($17.50) K 4 K 5

Hero bets $10, BTN calls $10

RIVER ($37.50) K 4 K 5 3

Hero bets $30, BTN raises to $150 (AI), Hero calls $52 (AI)

Hero shows K A
(Pre 46%, Flop 22.9%, Turn 15.9%)

BTN shows 4 4
(Pre 54%, Flop 77.1%, Turn 84.1%)

BTN wins $199

this is a similarly annoying spot, i mean he's repping exactly one combo so if he's ever turning a mid pair into a bluff here i have to call, and i only have to be good 25% of the time for a call to break even, but maybe this is one of those spots where he just always has it?

his aggression factor was high but it was only over 80 hands so i probably should have ignored it, in the moment it was a dealbreaker though. the fact that i folded the previous hand was probably an unconscious factor as well.

the psychological problem with making river calls getting 3:1 is that you can be right and still lose up to 75% of the time, so its very hard to be objective.

maybe if this hand had happened in a session where i'd won my coinflips instead of losing them i wouldn't be annoyed about it,i dunno.

HAND 3.

after that hand i decided to quit since i was getting frustrated,but i still managed to spew off another buyin straight away, literally as i clicked call in the above hand i get 3bet in the next hand, villain was a fish who had 3bet me a few times before, and i just sort of autoclicked call.

as it happens i got it in flipping, but it was still a stupid call preflop and not one i would normally make.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
SB ($177)
BB ($160)
Hero ($103)
CO ($260)
BTN ($278)

Dealt to Hero 6 5

Hero raises to $3, CO raises to $9, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls $6

FLOP ($19.50) 9 8 2

Hero checks, CO bets $15, Hero raises to $38, CO raises to $251 (AI), Hero calls $56.70 (AI)

TURN ($208) 9 8 2 5

RIVER ($208) 9 8 2 5 A

Hero shows 6 5
(Pre 23%, Flop 47.8%, Turn 38.6%)

CO shows Q Q
(Pre 77%, Flop 52.2%, Turn 61.4%)

CO wins $205

SESSION 5 - GOALS.

i've been sick all week so i haven't been playing cash games, have been playing a few MTTs and some HU SNGs to pass the time and they've been going fairly well,but i think i'll see if i can get a quick, short cash session in. i'm wide awake now at 5am so the games should be good.

- 4-6 tables max.

- quit if i feel in anyway unfocused or distracted.

- remember that i won't know most of the players, so just playing tight until i've got a reason to do otherwise is important.

- take my time with any medium - big decisions.

SESSION 5.

100 hands, +$100.

i played for a little while but i didn't feel particularly focused so i decided to just quit, which i'm happy enough. of course the question is whether i would have had enough discipline to quit if i'd been playing the same way but was down a buyin, but i'm working on getting towards that point. no particularly interesting hands.

SESSION 6 - GOALS.

didn't get off to a great start last week and being sick certainly didn't help. i'm pretty much recovered now so i'm hoping to get back to it properly.

- play 4 tables only.

- focus on developing reads and don't make any moves or big calls on players i don't have a read on.

- quit as soon as i feel my attention levels starting to drop.

- no auto-piloting, have a reason for every decision.

SESSION 6.

1080 hands, - €40.

this was a pretty good session,i was happy with my attention levels and quit as soon as i noticed i wasn't fully paying attention to what was going on. nothing particularly exciting happened but i felt calm and focused and was thinking through most of my decisions well.

few interesting hands.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
Hero ($100)
BB ($114)
UTG ($116)
UTG+1 ($75.02)
CO ($190)
BTN ($218)

Dealt to Hero Q K

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to $3, Hero calls $2.50, fold

FLOP ($7) K J 4

Hero checks, BTN bets $7, Hero calls $7

TURN ($21) K J 4 T

Hero checks, BTN bets $14, Hero calls $14

RIVER ($49) K J 4 T 5

Hero checks, BTN checks

BTN shows 8 Q
(Pre 28%, Flop 37.1%, Turn 25.0%)

Hero shows Q K
(Pre 72%, Flop 62.9%, Turn 75.0%)

Hero wins $46.55

this is a good example of a hand where i might not have made a glaring error as such,but i still should have thought things through a bit more. when i hit my gin card on the river, first thought was to figure out how to get stacks in, and so it seems like an easy checkraise, especially since villain has been betting. but looking at it now, there are plenty of hands that he can value bet on the turn but might well check behind on the river, especially since a lot of 100nl regs aren't value betting nearly light enough. i think if i lead here i get calls from AK and QK which might check behind, and even a pair plus draw type hand which might put me on a busted flush draw. if he has a set or something he'll probably shove over my bet anyway, so really the only extra hands i get value from by checking are three barrel bluffs, which isn't something i should be relying on for value vs an unknown!

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
Hero ($114)
BB ($104)
UTG ($133)
CO ($100)
BTN ($114)

Dealt to Hero 9 9

UTG raises to $3, fold, fold, Hero calls $2.50, fold

FLOP ($7) 2 7 4

Hero checks, UTG bets $4, Hero calls $4

TURN ($15) 2 7 4 J

Hero checks, UTG bets $9, Hero calls $9

RIVER ($33) 2 7 4 J 5

Hero checks, UTG bets $16, Hero raises to $80, UTG folds

Hero shows 9 9

Hero wins $62

this hand is a good example of a kind of mistake i used to make a lot more often but am still prone to the odd time. basically the river decision came up when i had something going on on two other tables, and at the time my thought process was something like this -

"ok he's fired again on the river, i don't know if i'm ahead or not, but i can credibly rep a set if i c/r and he'll probably fold a lot of his hands. his value range is way ahead of mine so its a good spot to turn my hand into a bluff."

looking at it again though, it doesn't entirely make sense. ok i probably fold out AJ and down most of the time,but i've no idea if he'll fold overpairs here or not vs an unknown, and my hand also has a lot of showdown value. i only need to be good 25% of the time to call here,so its not impossible that by raising i'm only folding out worse hands,especially since i don't know how light he is capable of value betting, so without knowing how he plays i think i need to decide between calling and folding.

that's actually a pretty close decision, i'm getting such good odds that i think a call is probably in order since it should give me an idea of how he plays and if he's ever bluffing it can't be too bad, plus it'd be nice to know if he's the sort of player makes these sort of small value bets on the river with strong hands vs a weak range.

SESSION 7 - GOALS.

- 90 minute session,6 or less tables.

- quit if i find i'm not paying enough attention.

- don't worry so much about balance (i find i often pass up spots to go for exploitable value because "i would never bluff here" or whatever, whereas in reality i don't think i need to worry about that much at 100nl.

SESSSION 7.

450 hands, + €100

pretty good session overall but one or two dubious decisions.

just one fairly interesting hand,villain was fairly splashy over a small sample,i felt like i could get him to fold some aces,and also though that he was bluffing a lot but could be doing so with the best hand.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
SB ($76.35)
Hero ($265)
UTG ($85.93)
UTG+1 ($115)
CO ($100)
BTN ($101)

Dealt to Hero J K

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to $3, SB calls $2.50, Hero raises to $12, BTN calls $9, SB calls $9

FLOP ($36) Q 5 J

SB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks

TURN ($36) Q 5 J 2

SB checks, Hero bets $20, BTN folds, SB raises to $40, Hero folds

SB wins $73

SESSION 8.

in general i'm trying to avoid playing sessions at night for the moment, because i'm usually not that focused, but i just spent the last few hours talking and thinking about poker so i'm going to try to put in a quick session.

- quit if i'm not entirely focused.

- 4-6 tables,no looking at the cashier or in the lobby once i have the tables open.

- watch out for cold calling too loosely.

- don't pay off nits or fish.

SESSION 8.

670 hands, + €200.

fairly uneventful session,starting off paying attention well but i realised i was more tired than i thought fairly soon so i'm glaf i quit. i made one or two tightish folds vs fish too which i was happy about.

I think this hand plays better when you bet/fold 29 odd on turn and sometimes check back river, which I think you're obliged to do for not so thin value. Surely he calls his 88 to jj and folds his ax with either amount and cbets any 6 containing hand he could possibly hold? Checking would be poor, If I was going to be pot controlling in this spot villain would have to be so good I'd just 4bet pre! With your bet you're taking nutty non 6 hands and total bluffs out of your range and replacing them with nervous 88/pair+draw hands so you're certainly giving him a chance to turn his hand into a bluff (and that's exactly what it looks like). If he thinks you're folding qq here then it's a great spot for it!