New Year's Comin' Early...Gettin' a head start on 2015!
11-24-2014
, 08:23 PM
Hey PG&C!!
I love this sub-forum and was already planning on starting my own thread for 2015, so while sitting here bored at work I figured might as well get a head start on things and get this thing a rollin!
My name is Jay. I'm 36 and live in the great state of Michigan. I currently work in sales for a great company and am engaged to the most amazing and most understanding women I know. She travels a ton for work so that provides plenty of time for grinding, and even when she's home, she is totally cool with my playing...as long as we don't have anything going on of course, ha!
As for poker, I've been playing probably since 2004, maybe 2003. I remember watching it on good ole ESPN and thinking how great it would be to learn how to play the game. I remember downloading the old 888 software and shipping my very first freeroll. From then on, I was hooked. I read every book under the sun, watched videos, posted on forums, chatted with other players and played TONS. However, I quickly realized how hard and in depth this game actually was. I busted roll after roll after roll, but slowly improved little by little. By 2006-07 I had decided to focus solely on MTT's. In 2008, I had my first four figure cash, followed by my second. Things seemed to finally be going in the right direction as I didn't have to reload from 2008-2011. I started to shift my focus to learning more about cash games as I was getting tired of the MTT variance, then we all got smacked by the biggest variance ever, Black Friday.
Black Friday hit me kinda hard. I didn't have a ton of money on FTP (only about $500) and so I still got most of my roll quickly from Stars. It wasn't like I was living off of poker, but it was definitely providing me some additional stability in my life. I was able to afford some things that I might not have been able to otherwise. So, that's when I moved over to Merge and also regressed to my old ways. For the first year or so I blew roll after roll. Grinding it up only to piss it all away. Rinse and repeat. Games got harder and I was slacking in the studying department. This went on up until the end of 2012/beginning of 2013. I had just busted my bankroll and deposited another $50. I remember telling myself, "this is it, this is your last deposit." If I busted it, I was prepared to hang it up. Luckily for me, I haven't had to look back.
Now fast forward to today. I'm currently grinding $25nl with a $1,050 roll. I do withdraw a bit every month to help pay down some old outstanding debts and keep the rest to slowly build the roll. I primarily play 6max cash games at this point, but will mix in the occasional MTT or SNG as that's still where my true love is. Unfortunately, the MTT scene here in the US just isn't all that super profitable and so I can't really justify grinding for 7+ hours for a pretty small score. However, you will still see me playing a few of the better value MTT's throughout the week.
As for what you can expect to see from this thread? Well, hopefully good strategic content, good/thought provoking HH's, some nice MTT binks, consistent posts/discussion, graphs and anything else. I don't belong to any Skype groups or anything like that as I find it so difficult to fit that into my daily routine, so I would love to chat more here! When it comes to goals, I think my biggest personal goal would be to crack the top 100 in MTT rankings on OPR this year. This will definitely take more volume than I'm currently putting in so that may be way too far fetched atm. Besides that, I hate monetary goals, but if I can finish the year with $15k in profits, I would consider that a pretty successful year for me. Oh, I'd also like to be a steady reg at $200nl.
Finally, as for my plan on achieving these goals, it's simple....volume. I do currently grind pretty much daily at some point. I don't have the flexibility to put in massive sessions all the time, but I usually get some hands in every day. Working full time and having a life outside of work means I'm only able to put in 25-30k hands in usually and MAYBE 100 MTT's per month. I know this needs to increase, and that will be the plan. I do follow pretty strict BRM so it can be difficult to find a ton of good value MTT's. Here's a breakdown of what I'll be following...
Cash Games:
I take shots at 25 buy-ins. Usually about a 5 buy-in shot. Drop back down after that so I still have 40 buy-ins for the previous limit. So, at $1,250 I'll shot take $50nl, $2,500 for $100nl...you get the picture.
MTT's:
This is pretty straight forward as well. For any reg speed MTT, I buy in up to 200 buyins. So, for my current roll, I'll play MTTs up to $5 or $2 rebuys. I don't usually rebuy more than the initial boost to my stack and the add-on. I also don't usually re-enter any MTT. That's probably a leak on both, but I just can't get passed the mentality of knowing I have to go extra deep to turn a profit for every time I rebuy/re-enter. As for turbos/hypers, I try and keep it at about 300 buyins. Meaning nothing over $3 and $1 rebuys. Of course I may buyin for a little bigger portion of my roll from time to time, but only when I feel like I'm playing my A-game or it's a mega value MTT (i.e. I played the $11 OPS Main yesterday which was outside my roll) and it won't ever be for more than 100-150 buy-ins.
Anyway, I'm sure that was a super boring intro/wall of text. I'm also sure that I left out a bunch more useful information, but it's the end of the night and time for me to get out of here for the night! Hope you follow along and even more importantly, enjoy the ride!
I love this sub-forum and was already planning on starting my own thread for 2015, so while sitting here bored at work I figured might as well get a head start on things and get this thing a rollin!
My name is Jay. I'm 36 and live in the great state of Michigan. I currently work in sales for a great company and am engaged to the most amazing and most understanding women I know. She travels a ton for work so that provides plenty of time for grinding, and even when she's home, she is totally cool with my playing...as long as we don't have anything going on of course, ha!
As for poker, I've been playing probably since 2004, maybe 2003. I remember watching it on good ole ESPN and thinking how great it would be to learn how to play the game. I remember downloading the old 888 software and shipping my very first freeroll. From then on, I was hooked. I read every book under the sun, watched videos, posted on forums, chatted with other players and played TONS. However, I quickly realized how hard and in depth this game actually was. I busted roll after roll after roll, but slowly improved little by little. By 2006-07 I had decided to focus solely on MTT's. In 2008, I had my first four figure cash, followed by my second. Things seemed to finally be going in the right direction as I didn't have to reload from 2008-2011. I started to shift my focus to learning more about cash games as I was getting tired of the MTT variance, then we all got smacked by the biggest variance ever, Black Friday.
Black Friday hit me kinda hard. I didn't have a ton of money on FTP (only about $500) and so I still got most of my roll quickly from Stars. It wasn't like I was living off of poker, but it was definitely providing me some additional stability in my life. I was able to afford some things that I might not have been able to otherwise. So, that's when I moved over to Merge and also regressed to my old ways. For the first year or so I blew roll after roll. Grinding it up only to piss it all away. Rinse and repeat. Games got harder and I was slacking in the studying department. This went on up until the end of 2012/beginning of 2013. I had just busted my bankroll and deposited another $50. I remember telling myself, "this is it, this is your last deposit." If I busted it, I was prepared to hang it up. Luckily for me, I haven't had to look back.
Now fast forward to today. I'm currently grinding $25nl with a $1,050 roll. I do withdraw a bit every month to help pay down some old outstanding debts and keep the rest to slowly build the roll. I primarily play 6max cash games at this point, but will mix in the occasional MTT or SNG as that's still where my true love is. Unfortunately, the MTT scene here in the US just isn't all that super profitable and so I can't really justify grinding for 7+ hours for a pretty small score. However, you will still see me playing a few of the better value MTT's throughout the week.
As for what you can expect to see from this thread? Well, hopefully good strategic content, good/thought provoking HH's, some nice MTT binks, consistent posts/discussion, graphs and anything else. I don't belong to any Skype groups or anything like that as I find it so difficult to fit that into my daily routine, so I would love to chat more here! When it comes to goals, I think my biggest personal goal would be to crack the top 100 in MTT rankings on OPR this year. This will definitely take more volume than I'm currently putting in so that may be way too far fetched atm. Besides that, I hate monetary goals, but if I can finish the year with $15k in profits, I would consider that a pretty successful year for me. Oh, I'd also like to be a steady reg at $200nl.
Finally, as for my plan on achieving these goals, it's simple....volume. I do currently grind pretty much daily at some point. I don't have the flexibility to put in massive sessions all the time, but I usually get some hands in every day. Working full time and having a life outside of work means I'm only able to put in 25-30k hands in usually and MAYBE 100 MTT's per month. I know this needs to increase, and that will be the plan. I do follow pretty strict BRM so it can be difficult to find a ton of good value MTT's. Here's a breakdown of what I'll be following...
Cash Games:
I take shots at 25 buy-ins. Usually about a 5 buy-in shot. Drop back down after that so I still have 40 buy-ins for the previous limit. So, at $1,250 I'll shot take $50nl, $2,500 for $100nl...you get the picture.
MTT's:
This is pretty straight forward as well. For any reg speed MTT, I buy in up to 200 buyins. So, for my current roll, I'll play MTTs up to $5 or $2 rebuys. I don't usually rebuy more than the initial boost to my stack and the add-on. I also don't usually re-enter any MTT. That's probably a leak on both, but I just can't get passed the mentality of knowing I have to go extra deep to turn a profit for every time I rebuy/re-enter. As for turbos/hypers, I try and keep it at about 300 buyins. Meaning nothing over $3 and $1 rebuys. Of course I may buyin for a little bigger portion of my roll from time to time, but only when I feel like I'm playing my A-game or it's a mega value MTT (i.e. I played the $11 OPS Main yesterday which was outside my roll) and it won't ever be for more than 100-150 buy-ins.
Anyway, I'm sure that was a super boring intro/wall of text. I'm also sure that I left out a bunch more useful information, but it's the end of the night and time for me to get out of here for the night! Hope you follow along and even more importantly, enjoy the ride!
11-25-2014
, 01:14 AM
Just after midnight and I'm exhausted! Just thought I would come on here to post a graph of tonights quick'ish session. Overall, went well and add $20 in profit from a small MTT, I finished up about $150. I'd say things started off on the right foot. However, hard not to when coolers like this happen....
Merge - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4
BTN: $15.40 (VPIP: 36.52, PFR: 4.35, 3Bet Preflop: 2.44, Hands: 119)
SB: $34.05 (VPIP: 22.03, PFR: 14.41, 3Bet Preflop: 8.33, Hands: 122)
BB: $46.08 (VPIP: 20.92, PFR: 10.03, 3Bet Preflop: 3.94, Hands: 359)
Hero (UTG): $31.40
CO: $10.00 (VPIP: 18.35, PFR: 0.92, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 113)
SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25
Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has J
K
Hero raises to $0.75, fold, fold, SB calls $0.65, BB calls $0.50
Flop: ($2.25, 3 players) Q
T 9
SB bets $1.50, BB calls $1.50, Hero raises to $4.50, SB calls $3.00, BB raises to $20.25, Hero raises to $30.65 and is all-in, SB raises to $33.30 and is all-in, BB calls $13.05
Turn: ($99.50, 3 players) 4
River: ($99.50, 3 players) 5
SB shows Q Q (Three of a Kind, Queens)
Main Pot [$94.20]: (Pre 60%, Flop 36%, Turn 24%)
Side Pot#1 [$5.30]: (Pre 86%, Flop 36%, Turn 23%)
BB shows 8 J (Straight, Queen High)
Main Pot [$94.20]: (Pre 9%, Flop 5%, Turn 4%)
Side Pot#1 [$5.30]: (Pre 14%, Flop 64%, Turn 77%)
Hero shows J K (Flush, King High)
Main Pot [$94.20]: (Pre 30%, Flop 59%, Turn 73%)
Hero wins $90.41
BB wins $5.09
As far as other hands go, I did mark a couple of others that I'd like to get some feedback on. I don't have the energy to break down my thought process at the moment, but thought these might prove to provide some good discussion. Would love to get into it a little more.
First hand....
Merge - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4
UTG: $12.11 (VPIP: 25.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 12)
MP: $29.31 (VPIP: 49.17, PFR: 11.06, 3Bet Preflop: 3.49, Hands: 617)
CO: $24.87 (VPIP: 38.89, PFR: 12.96, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 56)
Hero (BTN): $63.67
SB: $33.99 (VPIP: 23.52, PFR: 20.66, 3Bet Preflop: 7.59, Hands: 1,851)
BB: $29.19 (VPIP: 23.44, PFR: 19.49, 3Bet Preflop: 9.09, Hands: 279)
SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25
Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has Q Q
fold, MP calls $0.25, CO calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.25, fold, BB calls $1.00, MP calls $1.00, CO calls $1.00
Flop: ($5.10, 4 players) 6
5 3
BB checks, MP checks, CO bets $5.10, Hero???
And the other hand...
Merge - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4
Hero (CO): $62.30
BTN: $11.34 (VPIP: 44.93, PFR: 18.84, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 70)
SB: $10.11
BB: $28.60 (VPIP: 23.79, PFR: 20.94, 3Bet Preflop: 7.75, Hands: 1,896)
UTG: $26.98 (VPIP: 32.73, PFR: 20.14, 3Bet Preflop: 1.25, Hands: 288)
MP: $27.44 (VPIP: 29.36, PFR: 22.02, 3Bet Preflop: 7.50, Hands: 113)
SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25
Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has T J
fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.75, BTN calls $0.75, SB calls $0.65, BB calls $0.50
Flop: ($3.00, 4 players) K 7 9
SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks
Turn: ($3.00, 4 players) 9
SB checks, BB bets $1.50, Hero raises to $4.00???
Looking forward to hearing some opinions. For those interested in tonight's graph, here you go.
Night!
Merge - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4
BTN: $15.40 (VPIP: 36.52, PFR: 4.35, 3Bet Preflop: 2.44, Hands: 119)
SB: $34.05 (VPIP: 22.03, PFR: 14.41, 3Bet Preflop: 8.33, Hands: 122)
BB: $46.08 (VPIP: 20.92, PFR: 10.03, 3Bet Preflop: 3.94, Hands: 359)
Hero (UTG): $31.40
CO: $10.00 (VPIP: 18.35, PFR: 0.92, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 113)
SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25
Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has J
K Hero raises to $0.75, fold, fold, SB calls $0.65, BB calls $0.50
Flop: ($2.25, 3 players) Q
T 9 SB bets $1.50, BB calls $1.50, Hero raises to $4.50, SB calls $3.00, BB raises to $20.25, Hero raises to $30.65 and is all-in, SB raises to $33.30 and is all-in, BB calls $13.05
Turn: ($99.50, 3 players) 4
River: ($99.50, 3 players) 5
SB shows Q
Q (Three of a Kind, Queens)Main Pot [$94.20]: (Pre 60%, Flop 36%, Turn 24%)
Side Pot#1 [$5.30]: (Pre 86%, Flop 36%, Turn 23%)
BB shows 8
J (Straight, Queen High)Main Pot [$94.20]: (Pre 9%, Flop 5%, Turn 4%)
Side Pot#1 [$5.30]: (Pre 14%, Flop 64%, Turn 77%)
Hero shows J
K (Flush, King High)Main Pot [$94.20]: (Pre 30%, Flop 59%, Turn 73%)
Hero wins $90.41
BB wins $5.09
As far as other hands go, I did mark a couple of others that I'd like to get some feedback on. I don't have the energy to break down my thought process at the moment, but thought these might prove to provide some good discussion. Would love to get into it a little more.
First hand....
Merge - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4
UTG: $12.11 (VPIP: 25.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 12)
MP: $29.31 (VPIP: 49.17, PFR: 11.06, 3Bet Preflop: 3.49, Hands: 617)
CO: $24.87 (VPIP: 38.89, PFR: 12.96, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 56)
Hero (BTN): $63.67
SB: $33.99 (VPIP: 23.52, PFR: 20.66, 3Bet Preflop: 7.59, Hands: 1,851)
BB: $29.19 (VPIP: 23.44, PFR: 19.49, 3Bet Preflop: 9.09, Hands: 279)
SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25
Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has Q
Q fold, MP calls $0.25, CO calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.25, fold, BB calls $1.00, MP calls $1.00, CO calls $1.00
Flop: ($5.10, 4 players) 6
5 3 BB checks, MP checks, CO bets $5.10, Hero???
And the other hand...
Merge - $0.25 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4
Hero (CO): $62.30
BTN: $11.34 (VPIP: 44.93, PFR: 18.84, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 70)
SB: $10.11
BB: $28.60 (VPIP: 23.79, PFR: 20.94, 3Bet Preflop: 7.75, Hands: 1,896)
UTG: $26.98 (VPIP: 32.73, PFR: 20.14, 3Bet Preflop: 1.25, Hands: 288)
MP: $27.44 (VPIP: 29.36, PFR: 22.02, 3Bet Preflop: 7.50, Hands: 113)
SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25
Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has T
J fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.75, BTN calls $0.75, SB calls $0.65, BB calls $0.50
Flop: ($3.00, 4 players) K
7 9 SB checks, BB checks, Hero checks, BTN checks
Turn: ($3.00, 4 players) 9
SB checks, BB bets $1.50, Hero raises to $4.00???
Looking forward to hearing some opinions. For those interested in tonight's graph, here you go.
Night!
11-25-2014
, 03:28 PM
Was just messing around with some mobile hands (finished 2nd in a 6max hyper and up just over a buyin in cash) and got to thinking...do you ISO rec players in position that open limp with the same wide range as would when ISO 3betting those same players? I just recently started looking for more ISO 3bet spots and it has really really done wonders for my win rate! I'd love to get some feedback, viewpoints and range breakdowns from other people that are really taking advantage of this.
Alright, back to work!
Alright, back to work!
11-30-2014
, 09:30 PM
Holiday Update:
Between all the wonderful time spent with family, all the amazing food and booze, I was still able to put in a few hands here and there. Still haven't put in the volume I've wanted since starting, but I kinda started this during a busy time/holiday season. However, tomorrow is a new month and hopefully a positive one! Just took my end of the month cash out and so the roll sits at about $1,076. Really want to start off 2015 at $50nl...here's to a good December!
Today's Session:
Overall:
Between all the wonderful time spent with family, all the amazing food and booze, I was still able to put in a few hands here and there. Still haven't put in the volume I've wanted since starting, but I kinda started this during a busy time/holiday season.
However, tomorrow is a new month and hopefully a positive one! Just took my end of the month cash out and so the roll sits at about $1,076. Really want to start off 2015 at $50nl...here's to a good December!Today's Session:
Overall:
12-01-2014
, 07:37 PM
Sitting here waiting for the last 25 minutes of work to go by. Was able to grind a few hands on mobile today and finished up about $5. Hate that I can't post any interesting hands from those sessions and can't include any of those wins/losses in graphs, but whatever, keeps me occupied during low times of the day.
Looking at this week's schedule, don't think I'll be able to play any MTT's. Working late pretty much every night in preparation to Friday's flight to Vegas. Heading out there to celebrate little bro's 30th birthday and to put in some significant live poker time. Always love playing live, even if it's extremely slow. If anyone's out there, might be up for meetin up.
Anyway, gonna get ready to head home and put in a decent cash grind, here's to starting off the month on the right foot!
Looking at this week's schedule, don't think I'll be able to play any MTT's.
Working late pretty much every night in preparation to Friday's flight to Vegas. Heading out there to celebrate little bro's 30th birthday and to put in some significant live poker time. Always love playing live, even if it's extremely slow. If anyone's out there, might be up for meetin up.Anyway, gonna get ready to head home and put in a decent cash grind, here's to starting off the month on the right foot!