Hey guys.
Thought I'd begin a PGC post to hopefully motivate myself to want to improve. It's safe to say I want to improve, but with the watching eyes of... everyone, it may just help.

During July I deposited $13 at Pokerstars, and used some risky bankroll management to play NL2. It's something I've done numerous times before and have found it to be one of those "hit or miss" sort of BRM's. Thankfully I hit the good side of variance though, and managed to turn it into a beefy enough bankroll for NL2 at the end of July.

Currently, my bankroll is sitting at the following:



This is after todays -$25 session at NL5, so it was even higher prior to todays session.

Today's session was terrible. I was tired from work, I wasn't thinking. I was angry, distressed, and despite reading hands very well always managed to call down without the goods. This all amounted to a huge losing session. Looking back at it I should not have been playing at all, but what's done is done, and I'll have to learn from it, keep my head high, and soldier.

Hopefully tomorrow I can start from scratch and make all the right EV decisions, rather than spew away 5 buy ins. I'll move down to NL2 despite being rolled for NL5. While others might think it's weird to do, I don't feel comfortable enough moving through stakes which can ultimately play rather differently, while knowing I cannot even make the correct moves myself.

Here's my August graph. Mind you, halfway through August when I hit $100 flat I decided I'd restart a database on Pokertracker 3, so I don't have all of my August hands at the moment.



Not too impressive, I know.
I've decided I'd leave out all red/blue/yellow lines. I'm not going to be too interested in if I'm running below EV, or whether my redline is in the plus or the minus (it's in the plus, but that doesn't matter).

Current goals...

- Continue to enjoy poker as a game.
- Felt all the rathole shortstackers. I hate them with a passion.
- Begin thinking on a more mathematical sense, rather than "Oh I have this and my opponent could have me beat but maybe not lolherp".
- Begin training my mind to keep myself cool, calm, collected.
- Hopefully move up to NL25 by the end of the year, or halfway through the next. Actually I don't care about when, I just want to play higher.
- Fold when I know for a fact that I'm beat.

Anyway, that's it for now! I'll begin posting hands here after my next session hopefully.

Quick question, do you guys know of a free Tilt Breaker program? I want something similar to Tilt Breaker but can't be bother paying $50.

Stay thirsty.
- OlyBrah.

Today was a good day.
Had a rough night last night where I just played poorly in some situations. Woke up this morning, went about my day, and put yesterdays session to rest.

Played 370 hands today, and made 2 and a bit buy ins. That's a rate of 31ptBB/100, although I don't expect that to be sustainable.

This hand was a bit wtf. Unsure what he expects me to call with which is worse.




Calling here might be bad against some opponents, but this one just went to show how overly aggressive some people play crappy hands.
His range makes no sense too. AK is going to 4bet/GII preflop, as is QQ. AQ might do the same but I'm unsure (lack of history). He's really representing here but I decided to take my chances and see. He can easily do this wish flush draws, but on a drier board I may consider folding.

He insta-sat out after that.
I was a bit higher up this session until I ran into a straight flush with my second nut flush. It happens, what can you do? Pretty pleased with how I played though.

Mucked around with Full Ring for a bit. Used to be my game of choice back in the day but got bored of it quickly. The games are super soft though. There's more fish there (since full ring games are the first you see without filters in the Pokerstars lobby), and the "regulars" are VERY easy to play against.

Also, overbets > all.




But that's it for now.
I've got a lot of grinding to do in the future, but shall remain playing less tables for now. It does help with my mentality and being able to think, so yeah.

Bankroll: $138.62

GG everyone, and good luck at the tables!

Well, hoping to put August behind me now.
It wasn't the best of months. Made more through bonuses than I did through profits.

Here's Augusts graph. As you can see, I ran a bit hot towards the end.



Looks like I've got some short term goals for September!

- Put in place a 2BI stop loss, and stick to it.
- Move up to NL5.
- Improve my thought process further, along with my self discipline.
- Make maney, The F do

Had an interesting hand from today. Was speaking to someone in the Beginner Bankroll thread who wasn't sure how playing less tables made a difference. It definitely does though. Having reads helps immensely.

Subbed, gl.

Good luck.

Thanks guys!

Today's sessions could have been better.
Down a little over a buy in for this month so far. Kind of blows, but I've noticed some mistakes that I can now work on.
On top of this, I've noticed there's a few players where reads seem to be no good. I had reads on one player that they overbet/fold. Called their overbet and ran into the nuts lol. Don't think this is them adjusting though since they're 60/2 fish.

Also, who was it that said NL2 regs are solid grinders? Yeah, way to put in close to 2 buy ins with middle pair.





Down $2.31.
Bankroll: $139.86

Today was a good day.
Ended last night with a losing session. Called it quits and went to bed telling myself I'd do better in the morning.
It's safe to say I did.

This mornings session had me up 4 buy ins to begin with, then back down to 0. Had a little break, got back to playing, and proceeded to play against an aggrodonk who loves to value shove J high!



This was the icing on the cake really, as this was the hand where I took what was left of his stack.
I did take more off of him though, don't you worry.




Then played a little bit of PLO. I really shouldn't since I can't handle the swings. Thankfully I was on the correct side of variance for this session of PLO though, as I made a little over a buy in (untracked since I only have PT3).

Didn't do too well with my AAxx hands in PLO though. One I flopped the nut flush draw, got it in versus another AAxx hand (it was obvious since this fish only ever 3bet AAxx). Didn't hit my flush that time around though and the pot was split.
Then I had another AAxx vs. AAxx hand where again I flopped the nut flush draw. They went on to bink for the straight though and I missed meaning I lost there. Did make my money all back with quads though!

So todays results have been good. Roll is beefed up a little, and I'm finally making progress.

Today's net: $12.30 (Not including PLO winnings).
Total Bankroll: $149.81

Unsure if I'll move up to NL5 in the next day or so. I might wait until I hit $160, so that I can hit my stop loss in case I need it.

GL at the tables guys/girls!

maybe it would be a good ideea to focus on one game ?

good luck!

That's the plan. Usually I only play PLO as a way to pass the time. It's a fun game but I'm just not aware of enough strategy to do supremely well at it, plus the swings get me tilting.

Thanks mate!

Another good day today!
Played some interesting hands. Had a few losses, few wins, but that happens fairly often.

Had some interesting call downs too.




Villains 3betting range is rarely going to contain TT here, or KQ or similar. I don't mind calling down here with blockers to Ax, although it's pretty marginal. It's one of those spots where he either has it or he doesn't. It didn't feel right at the time though and I was pretty skeptical on what he could have, so I just went along with my gut feeling and clicked call. Seemed to work out alright here.




Another interesting hand here too.
After playing with this villain for a bit I never once saw him overbet the pot, even with his strongest of holdings. It screamed of ugliness but I think he's going to turn up here with a bluff more often than not. Anything he's betting for value would be betting smaller. Jx wouldn't be overbetting the turn realistically since it'd be more likely to fold out worse hands, so I didn't think he was ever strong here.
I X/J'd turn on the basis that a lot of rivers may put me to a tough decision, despite me being pot committed for the most part. My line is pretty terrible, but if he's going to play 44 like this then I don't really care how my line looks.

After all that, had a pretty sick cooler. I expect him to have AA or something here fairly often. Never finding a fold to it though. GG and NH to him though! Nothing I could do but spin around in my chair pulling a herp face.






So after that I still managed to end the session at close to +5BI's! Rather pleased with my efforts. I've noticed I haven't been as tilted as often lately, and I've been enjoying playing which is good.

Today's results: +$9.58
Total Bankroll: $159.39

GL at the tables all!
Stay thirsty. xox

-6BI day today.
Pretty gross. Kind of makes me wonder whether I shouldn't be playing during the days that I've been to work, as I end up losing on those days for whatever reason.

Pretty disgusting set up in the last session for today, I must admit. Cheers, Pokerstars.

First hand is pretty standard but the last two tilted me a bit.









weeeeeeeeeeee

Today's results: $11.74
Total Bankroll: $147.62



Just feels like I'm never able to make solid headway on my goals of progressing through the stakes and hitting at least NL10, which seriously sucks. I play well for the majority of the day, then hit a couple of bad beats and tilt away a my days winnings + some. Or I'll just wake up and play like crap and second-guess myself every now and then which has me folding the case hand at times simply because I'm worried of being bad beat again.
Realistically, it's not the money losses that have tilted me and made me feel upset but the lack in my ability to win versus stakes I know I can easily beat (according to my lifetime graph I'm a 20bb/100 winner at these stakes). Whether I'm on the wrong end of variance or not? I'm not sure. I definitely feel as though I need to re-motivate myself to progress further though.

For now, I shall study.
I shall review hand histories.
I shall watch videos.
I shall play 2 tables at a time, and no more.
I shall recover from this. I don't know how. I don't know when. I will reach NL10 in due time though.

Thanks for reading.
- OlyBrah.
xox

Hand 8/12 fold pre, not even suited

Hand 10/12 fold pre

Hand 12/12 questionable call, probably a fold pre or 3bet depending on stats/villains, river is gross, i expect to see hands that beat us a lot after the river raise

seems to me you're making a lot of mistakes pre, esp cold calling
these should help

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/78...alling-426089/
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/32...sively-166132/

edit:: lol i thought you limped in a few hands and didnt notice its nl2 not nl5

Hand 7 wasn't limped. It was opened to 2.5x (my standard for OTB).
I do agree that my cold calling range is pretty loose, and I would like to tighten it up.

Thanks for the links!

yeah edited my post, thought it was nl5 for some reason

np

Last two days have been really good.
Read through the "Why you suck at uNL" threads (Thanks WCGrider!) and had a few "ah" moments involving my game. Have since stopped calling as wide preflop as I would normally. So thank you to WCGrider for the threads he made a few years back, and ctfd for sharing them with me!

These are my results over the last couple of days. Not bad if I don't say so myself.



Of course it's not a sustainable win rate, but it's good to make some headway. I must say though I have run extremely hot and my EV graph definitely shows it.

Have had some interesting hands throughout the numerous sessions I've put in throughout the last couple of days, including a nice hero call of mine.




Which goes to show that some people truly can spaz out versus passive playing.
I think on the river my call isn't too bad, to be honest, for the reasons I mentioned. If he was value-betting it'd be around $0.60 or so, not 2x pot. Bet sizing is a huge tell that gets overlooked at the micros.

This hand below is a very similar idea of bet-sizing tells.





He did end up with KK there, and I managed to extract as little value as I could by betting super small.
It's a prime example of picking your sizing depending on what you think Villain can be holding. That's why I think the villain in first hand bet big (although I think he subconsciously thought it, and wasn't able to stumble upon the concepts of it himself), and why I advocate myself betting small in hand 2.

While there may be more value to be had, I think I got the most out of it in the moment. As I said, I don't think he's X/C'ing the river to a larger bet, although he may have. Hard to say without history.


So anyway, I was telling myself yesterday that if my Bankroll hits and stays at $150 on Saturday, I'd take my second shot at NL5.
It seems as though I have achieved that, so unless I go spewing away massive amounts of money in the next 24 hours there's no reason why I cannot play NL5 tomorrow!

Last two days results: +$19.08
Current bankroll:




Ship it.
Good luck at the tables guys!
xox

[x] OP confirmed bad player.


Donked away a LOT of money at NL5 yesterday and the day before. In fact, lost close to $60. Not sure how I lost so much so quickly, but even while waiting for my orbits to end at ZOOM I lost another buy in or two. I don't want to blame it solely on a bad run of cards as I do believe I played like ass too, but oh well.

It's just something I'll have to learn from.
I deposited $20, and purchased another bonus of $10 from the VIP store which takes my total bankroll to $134 at the moment.

For now I shall be having a break, doing some research (finally get around to finishing BlackRain's book), and prepare myself for more 2NL grinding. While I'm disappointed in the large amount of money I managed to donk away so quickly, I must hold my head up high and carry on. After all, I'm still massively up from my $13 deposit that was done in July.

Current revised goals:

[ ] Begin thinking at a microstakes level.

What I mean by this, is ignore the majority of meta-game tactics. For instance, I leveled myself massively by thinking somebody may have been aware of Beluga's theorem, and was using it to their advantage LOL. People aware of Beluga's theorem and using it to their advantage at 5NL? Unheard of.
So something I need to do is start worrying less about leveling my opponents, and instead worry more about making the right decisions based on pot odds, holdings, and less about dynamics.

[ ] Grind the roll up to $150, and crush 5NL.

Soon.jpeg

[ ] Finally finish reading BlackRain's book, and order The Mental Game Of Poker.

Hopefully both of these will help me massively. I'll have to adjust BlackRain's book for 6-max, but I've heard it's easily done so it shouldn't be much of an issue.

[ ] Learn where good light 3-betting spots may be, rather than light 3-betting "just because".


So, with that in mind, I shall begin reading immediately! I'm also debating moving some of my game to PLO, so I started another HEM database (since I don't own Omaha tracker but do own Omaha manager).
Wish me luck guys, and I shall see you all at the tables soon!

Current goals:

[x] Begin thinking at a microstake level.
[ ] Grind the roll up to $150, and crush 5NL. (The roll is at $164 but I've only played 60 odd hands of 5NL).
[ ] Finish reading BlackRain's book. He was actually generous enough to send me an updated version, so that will be a good read.
[ ] Learn where good light 3-betting spots may be.


I'm a bit annoyed about playing the microstakes at the moment. The other day I paid 15bb's in rake during a single hand. It'd be nice to get somewhere where my bb/100 isn't affected so largely, but these things do take time. As long as the fish keep paying me off I don't mind either way.

Here's my graph thus far. You can REALLY tell where the PLO has been played and where NL has been played.

Lolploaments.





Current bankroll: $164.71

Mind you, that's not all profits. I've made $20 in bonuses alone with in the last few days.

Hopefully 5NL treats me well from here on. It'll be interesting playing with some better people, as there seems to be a smaller fish:reg ratio compared to 2NL.

Best of luck at the tables guys!

PLOLOLOL



[ ] Sustainable.


So today's session(s) were pretty interesting. Had some really interesting spots and a few hands where I was deep + won. The thing I've really noticed about microstakes PLO is that people RARELY ever play aggressively, unless they have the nuts, or AAxx (because any AAxx is the nuts).

You see people checking behind rivers with trips+Top Kicker, on a non-flush/straight board. Makes it easy because you know any raise either means the nuts or AA.

People seem to just overplay AAxx at the micros in general. Here's a rather pricey 200bb deep example to prove my point.




Getting 200bbs in there with AAxx, no redraws, and only an overpair + backdoor flush draw is pretty... lolbad. Prime example of AAxx being the nuts at the micros though!

Had this hand versus a decent-ish player too once our table broke.



His turn bet is actually VERY scary, since it looks so much like him setting up for a river shove.
Rather marginal spot on the river. He could have AAxx here, or JTxx here a FAIR bit. Still, me being the station I am I decided to call, and it worked out just fine.

So, nice boost in the graph as of today!
Also, as a subtle brag, dat_redline!




Todays results: +$16.94
Total Bankroll: $186.32

Ship it.

Hoping to get back to playing NL soon enough. PLO is enjoyable but only in small doses.
Best of luck at the tables everyone!

I've hit a rather large milestone as of yesterday.

For those unaware, usually I'd just deposit about $10 on Pstars, run it up to about $80 or so, play some 50NL HU and lose it, rinse and repeat. I think there's been one time where I've run it up to $150, then withdrew all of it. I've surpassed that at this point in time though, which I'm very happy of.

So I've been optimally rolled for 2PLO, so I've been playing a bit of that. I think I'm going to start focusing on NLHE though since PLO at the micros is pretty loltastic. PLO is swingy and all, but my thought processes don't have to be there to do well in PLO at the micros since there's no real leveling. It's just get a hand, win money, the f do. Gets a little bit boring just nut peddling, where as NLHE at the micros needs at least a little bit more thought process.

Currently running hot which is good. $10 over EV at the moment, after being about $10 below EV. #yolo

So anyway, today's results have been eh and I'm down $1 or so.

But I've hit the milestone of grinding my bankroll up to $200, so I can't complain. Now that I'm rolled for 2PLO I may play more of that but we shall see! For now I'll focus on making money at 5NL, and stop myself from moving back down the limits.

Good luck guys!

I have seriously run like hotcakes the last few days.

Like... SERIOUSLY.
I'm actually kinda worried. I think in terms of Sklanksky bucks I'm doing poorly as there seems to be numerous spots where I bet as an 80% favourite and the person hits their outs. Oh well.

Here's the current graph.



Anyone wanna go halves in my run-good?

Today's sessions have shown a few things though...

1) I get the money in bad.
2) I don't give villains enough credit.
3) I'm fairly break even at 5NL.

Number one and two I can fix quite easily, by making sure I only get the money in in places where I expect to have the best hand nearly always.
Number three is something I'll have to work on over time.

Due to my break even sessions of 5NL today, I decided to play some PLO. I must say I did pretty well, but only because of a 90/60/55:0 aggro donk who was paying off lightly!

Today's results: +$26ish.
Total bankroll:

OP confirmed unable to win a pot.
Had a REALLY bad session at PLO the other day. Down 11 buy ins. Ran 6 buy ins below EV or so.

Pretty brutal graph.



That's really taken a hit to my confidence I believe. I've been playing terrible since. It's just a complete rinse repeat cycle of making money, donking it away, grinding it back up, donking it away again.

Variance isn't necessarily on my side either. 91% favourite on the turn? Don't worry, they'll hit their outs!

So it seems anyway.

So for now I have some serious studying to do. On top of that I'm going to have a break from poker for a bit I think, since I just can't seem to do decently at all. Worst of all is that I'm not even

Bankroll: $147.68

Good luck at the tables guys!