Hi all,

Let me introduce myself: I'm a recreational live low-stakes NLHE player (1/3), and I have been playing since February this year. When I started out, I had no idea what I was doing and sorely unaware of this fact: only a basic understanding of hand hierarchy, chasing draws, over-betting with weak kickers, grossly passive etc.. As a result, the swings were pretty big - on a good night I'd triple/quadruple up, other nights I'd leave with nothing even after two buy-ins. I'm on my way to becoming a better poker player and have started to take it more seriously, and hope to make consistent side money by grinding. I feel that this is possible now that I have a better understanding of the game - nowhere near good, but just enough for the setup I have here in my city -, more self-control, and having loose/soft tables that frequent the poker room I'm a regular at.

The casino-administered tournament scene basically sucks here (30-50 people, usually only top 3 cashes) with the first place prize between 400-800. I've tried playing five times, cashed twice (once at 1st, once at 3rd) but I feel that cash games would be more worth my while, given that in tournaments I have to hyper concentrate for long hours for a modest sum.

I have a solid player who is close to me that likes to play higher stakes (5/10 usually, but sometimes 2/5) who gives good advice all-around but probably more fitted for bigger games. Unfortunately I'm unable to employ many of them given that, from what I understand, especially with many players playing ATC who love to chase at 1/3 where I play, grinding to maintain +EV requires somewhat different tactics from playing in order to maximize profit when a chance presents itself while assuming greater risk. Even when I sit at bigger games, I can't quite use those skills at my level either; I sit down with <50% of all other players' max buy-in, play super duper ultra mega tight where I might see a flop for amounts at least with big faces while always prepared to go all-in if it hits. I sit there mostly for experience and to hopefully hit one big pot.

On nights when I concentrate, play fairly tight and aggressive when warranted, pay attention to the table and focus on players who I believe is easier to profit from (I often get too competitive and try to bust someone who I really shouldn't be trying to - working on fixing it), I can make a little bit. I've started fresh two days ago to build a workable bankroll with an initial buy-in of 300, and have since accumulated 3 more buy-ins.


Goals:

Logistics
* Play 5-6 days a week for at least 5 hours
* Maintain 20+/hr profit
* Do not buy-in more than twice (hard to get back 3 or more buy-ins with the local table set-up and personal style)

Management/Mood and Self-Control
* Be conscious of my stack and leave at or near the peak
* Don't get competitive and try to bust better/luckier players who outplayed/out-lucked me
* ALWAYS understand leaving is an option, and accept that some days I will just have a bad run
* Don't have more than 1 drink every 2 hours
* Only play bigger games (2/5, 5/10) when I have a cushion from playing 1/3 the same day, sit down with no greater than 50% max buy-in, play like a rock with the understanding that my only weapon is all-in against the much, much, seasoned players, hoping to learn rather than expecting to win
* Don't get too discouraged and lose confidence from the constant criticism from mentor

Poker Skills
* Improve betting skills (something I am absolutely terrible with: amount, timing, figuring out when/how much with reraises in tricky/dangerous board situations)
* Again, remember: RERAISE is a powerful tool
* Become bolder and practice more bluffing
* Trust my reads more and act accordingly, and improve them even more
* DON'T BE SCARED

Deadline Goals:

* Get my bankroll up enough by mid-October to participate in the upcoming big tournament so that total buy-ins are not over 20% of bankroll


I apologize for this tl;dr post, but I wanted to solidify my determination and keep a record of everything for myself. I'll be heading out again tomorrow, and hope to continue to win a little with my new-found patience, awareness, and self-control.

Thanks for reading guys.

Update?

Glgl

When you say 1 drink every two hours do you drink just for image purposes?


Zy

I had no idea I received replies. Thank you guys for that.
I haven't been able to play too much since the end of last month because of reasons, and poker goals will need to be reevaluated once I get stuff in order. But I did manage to play a few times when I was just itching to touch some cards and couldn't help myself.

I do believe my game has improved, luckily translating into 5/7 profitable sessions despite having no room for bad luck with my limited buy-in amounts. The two times I lost I bought in for min at the 1/3 game.




Some notable sessions:

1. $60 buy-in at 1/2 - +$390 (4 hrs)
2. $150 x2 buy-in at 1/3 - +$1100 (7 hrs)
3. $350 buy-in at 2/5 mixed - +2100 (2.5 hrs)



1. 1/2 - Limpy/passive table where most players play nitty pre and make questionable plays postflop. One or two gambly players who'll call big raises pre if the pot is big enough with ATC. I played fold'em for the first hour.

Finally I get a hand worth playing on the button (JJ) but face a moderate raise from a tight player + one caller in front, and I fold pre (best decision ever given the circumstances, as old me would have impatiently shoved and lost to the AQ that hit).

This allowed me to play a better spot later; I isolated pre with AKs on the button, hit the flop (AQ7r), shoved and got called by Q8o (*shrugs*) - doubled up and went from there.


2. 1/3 - Played good TAG game, doubled up the first buyin but got sucked out AI on the turn with top two when villain hit the river flush. Reloaded, kept it tight despite being card-dead for a while and quite frustrated, and made a few successful bluffs in good spots for mid-sized pots.

The biggest pot I won was when I hero-called with middle pair a villain's $380 AI raise into a ~$400 pot OTR.

The few things I remember about the hand is that the pot had been bloated because of my ambitious squeeze on the button (Q9o), getting a couple of calls that became dead money with c-bet semi-bluff OTF with a modest pair where I became HU with villain, then betting my turned straight draw and again on the river that paired the board. If he just raised my river bet (1/3 of pot), it's quite likely I would have folded - but something about his quick river shove smelled so darn fishy.

Certainly other times it would be an insane call and very unlike me, but considering that this gentleman liked to float/chase, over valued (small) pairs, thought he could push me around, bet sizings/timings, and a run-through of the hand as I tanked, got me more and more convinced of the high likelihood of my initial thought that he had an ace+draw or low/mid pair+draw and missed. It's possibly the only real hero call I've made to date.


3. 2/5 Mixed - I just sat down to have fun with no risk (the buy-in was an "opportunity gift"), which allowed me to eliminate most scared-money mistakes I make sometimes. Kept fairly tight as a short stack should, caught cards at the right time and played them well, but also made some good steals with complete air. My bluffing instincts have definitely improved!

But there was big one mistake where I missed out on a lot of value. Donk donk donk. Long story short, I had turned the nuts (broadway) on a rainbow flop and stupidly perceived the second spade as a scare card and thought I needed to charge the newly produced flush draw, raising villain's bet (waaay too much too I might add). The fact that it was a pretty big pot in comparison to my stack and that I'd been going back and forth from NLHE to PLO didn't help with all the confusion in my head. It's a remnant of bad habits playing scared money on smaller stakes where river suck outs are common. I instantly regretted it after throwing in the chips.


************************************************** **********


I have no doubt been extremely lucky not to run into sick AA vs KK type situations and suck outs early into sessions short-stacked. But I also like to think I did better than before because I'm playing better than before. I'm may come across a bankroll actually worthy of the term soon, which would help tremendously in getting rid of one of my biggest leaks: playing money and not poker.



p.s I'll try to post better/detailed/formatted HH in the future instead of something like the mess above. The sessions aren't very recent and I didn't take notes, so I have trouble remembering more details like stack sizes, exact bet amounts etc.

Zy,

A drink or two would loosen me up from playing stupidly nitty and lessened the scardey-cat inclination to always assume that any big bet by a villain indicates a monster. But I've pretty much since ditched that approach, so liquid courage is no longer necessary in that regard.

I don't think it has helped/will help with my table image though. Many regulars know who I am, so unless I'm hammered, a drink in front of me won't change much of their opinion. I also imagine that strangers are likely to assume I'm a weak donk given no other info, and since the point of using beers as props is to achieve that look, it would be redundant.

I guess I just enjoy my beers a lot and sometimes get a little carried away, especially when I'm card-dead and bored. Hence the limit.