Welcome to my blog,

I'll be the first one to admit poker isn't easy (not really the first) if you are a regular mortal being like myself and not some uber math genius, maybe you can relate to this. I can't remember the number of sleepless nights I've had, and me punching my pillow who is ever so innocent. but the good news is I am still alive today, and to realize it's okay that I am not able to crush the highest limit of poker.

Having said that, it is entirely possible to beat the micro stakes, why? because you are playing against other normal mortals, but that doesn't mean you don't have to put in the hard work. Krillin for one is a mortal but through hard work he's able to achieve power level of over 9000. This is my blog of moving out of micros (which is the 0.10/0.25c), and I am going to do it with the appropriate BRM and not jumping up to higher stakes with 10 buy ins.

A little bit about my recent history. I've never grinded NL10 in my life, ever since I played on stars I just jump right into 10-25c. This is obviously bad, but the reason I do it is because the amount of money played at lower stakes feel insignificant to me. I am also never properly rolled for NL25, and if I bust I just redeposit 50$. I want to bank on short term good run to move up stakes, and that never really happened. and because I focused so much on short term results, I get affected enormously from downswing sessions, as a result I tilt and have negative emotional control which hinders me from playing my best poker. I stopped playing in April this year and cashed out because I wanted a break since I couldn't beat the NL25 level. This is my graph from last year on NL25 until April:




Sometimes a break from poker is a good thing, it gives you time to think over things, focus on my job, find other hobbies. But I knew I would eventually come back to playing. However this time if I was going to play I will treat it more seriously and follow a strict bankroll management, no cheating and shortcuts up the stake. I also decide to drop down to NL10 for the first time in my life, I've always just started at NL25 but I didn't earn my way up NL25. and by starting at NL25 I ended up not going anywhere for over a year, so I realize there's no need to rush. I will take my sweet ass time this time and move up only when I earn right right to move up.

I deposited 100$ US into pokerstars (which translate to 87$ CDN, which is bull crap) and here we goooooooooooo. Now for all you wise crack that wants to remind me 87$ isn't properly rolled for NL10. Yes I am fully aware. I just don't want to deposit 500$, the stake is low enough that I can redeposit comfortably. For y'all that's asking why I don't drop to 5NL, the answer is I refuse to play with nickels.

I will post my bankroll in each update, and take shots at the next level when I have 50-60 buy-ins at the current level. If you are in a similar boat feel free to follow my progress and ask me questions. I want to keep this blog more towards about the steps and logic I am focusing on in this journey. Maybe I'll post some interesting hands here and there, but more likely I'll probably post them in other sections for feedbacks. I'll post the results and graphs and things I feel like I am doing right or wrong, if I'm playing optimally or tilted, and reasons for not playing well and how I plan to fix it.

August 2015 Bankroll: $158.22



So I am off to a good start (I am playing 6max zoom btw), running good on flips and all that. It's a small sample and the win rate will obviously go down, but we'll try to keep it up and focus on playing optimally. wish me luck!

this is basically my problem...however I promised to stick to 25nl, lose a few hands...jump to 100nl etc etc and get raped.

Ill be doing a huge run in 2016 at low limits...just gotta get myself under control before then lol

good luck to you

Instant Tilt Session:

This session is 75 hands long. I decided this is a perfect example of what throws me off so I will post the entire process that got me on tilt. Sometimes this is the reason I hate to play because you play hours of good poker and you get put in situations that sets you back half your profit in literally less than 5 minutes. Granted I did make mistakes in all these spots but I think just documenting it out will help me realize when and what I need to work on to minimize my loss & prevent similar future situations.

Hands: 75
August 12 Bankroll: $130.72 (-27.50$)

Hand #1

$0.05/$0.10Zoom No Limit Holdem
PokerStars6 Players

Stacks:
UTG ($11.04) 110bb
UTG+1 ($10.15) 102bb
CO ($17.81) 178bb
BTN ($23.20) 232bb
SB Hero ($10.70) 107bb
BB ($4.05) 41bb
Pre-Flop: (0.15, 6 players) Hero is SB K K

3 folds, BTN raises to $0.25, Hero raises to $0.90, BB calls $0.80, BTN folds

Flop: J 8 7 ($2.05, 2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks
Turn: J ($2.05, 2)
Hero bets $1.30, BB calls $1.30
River: 10 ($4.65, 2)


Hand #2
I open CO with 9J to 0.25$
BB is aggressive 3 better 3bets to 0.90$

This is a fold here but we are both 100bb so I decide to play in position

Flop: I hit middle pair + backdoor FD. he bets 2/3 pot & I call.
Turn: I added gut shot, he bet 2/3 pot again and I make.
River: Irrelevant he shoves i fold.

I shouldn't have call the 3-bet preflop and flop and turn call was bad especially after he made it 2/3 pot each street. I think I was slightly pissed about the previous hand the guy cold calls my 3bet with 97o. I notice when I have signs of tilt I open up my calling range preflop (as I will do more later) and especially when I am on tilt it's a domino effect when I make a small mistake and it piles on top.

Hand #3

$0.05/$0.10Zoom No Limit Holdem
PokerStars6 Players

Stacks:
UTG ($8.66) 87bb
UTG+1 ($14.08) 141bb
CO ($12.96) 130bb
BTN Hero ($10.15) 102bb
SB ($10) 100bb
BB ($7.37) 74bb
Pre-Flop: (0.15, 6 players) Hero is BTN 9 8

3 folds, Hero raises to $0.25, 1 fold, BB raises to $0.70, Hero calls $0.45

Flop: J 6 Q ($1.45, 2 players)
BB bets $0.69, Hero calls $0.69
Turn: 10 ($2.83, 2)
BB checks, Hero bets $2.02, BB calls $2.02
River: 4 ($6.87, 2)
BB checks, Hero bets $6.56, BB goes all-in $3.96
Final Pot: $17.39


This is the only hand that is a cooler out of the 4 (I just realized after I re-read this, I thought I had double gutter on the flop, which I don't, I would have folded flop but wow, what a huge mistake). nothing i would do different in this hand after the turn, but I was definitely on moderate tilt after this hand (this is compounded from the KK hand I just lost and the bad floats mistake I made in hand #2)

I think at this point I thought I need to get up because I knew I was on moderate tilt and I can easily cool down after 5 minutes, but I JUST started the session so I was like *** it.

Hand #4

$0.05/$0.10Zoom No Limit Holdem
PokerStars6 Players

Stacks:
UTG ($45.69) 457bb
UTG+1 ($13.48) 135bb
CO Hero ($11.86) 119bb
BTN ($10.92) 109bb
SB ($15.84) 158bb
BB ($10) 100bb
Pre-Flop: (0.15, 6 players) Hero is CO 9 J

UTG raises to $0.30, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.30, BTN calls $0.30, 2 folds

Flop: 9 J 2 ($1.05, 3 players)
UTG checks, Hero bets $0.75, BTN raises to $1.50, UTG folds, Hero raises to $5.50, BTN calls $4
Turn: K ($12.05, 2)
Hero goes all-in $6.06, BTN goes all-in $5.12
River: 6 ($23.23, 2), 2 all-in
Final Pot: $23.23


Lots of mistakes here.
Preflop Mistake: 97s is easy fold, also UTG original raiser is a supernova player + I have no absolute position. Calling is just bad here because when I called I am hoping to flop something/ outplay the supernova player (which in turns makes my bluffing range on river way wider, which is a result of being on tilt, which is super -EV)

Flop I lead and gets min raised. I am thinking of 22 which is 3 combos but I just think there's enough hands I beat and I want to get it in. Maybe I am being optimistic, but I feel AJ, slow played QQ does this. QQ is 6 combos and lets just give 3 combos of AJs. I am never thinking of folding obviously (especially when I am on moderate tilt). I click back 5.50$ which is massive with the intention to call shove.

He flats which kind of confuses me I feel like 22 just get it in there. so I think maybe QT is in his range although feels unlikely QT min raises.

Turn is like the absolute worst card in the deck, but in terms of helping me get away from the hand this is the best card in the deck. I beat absolutely nothing now. JK got there, QT got there, set still beats me. if he has AJ I think it would go check check turn and river. so the correct play is to check fold. but at the moment I hated the turn K and I just decide to shove hoping I had the best hand. Just horrific play and I want to slap my face after.

Summary
so that is about 5$ I could have saved, and I could even reduce the loss just by staying tight preflop when I know im not in the most stable/ calm state mentally. I think it's the fact that I literally lose 4 big pots within 4-5 minutes that really tilted me at the moment. so here's what I think I should focus on:

1) Focus on long run, not short run results
2) Focus on playing each hand optimally
3) dont open preflop range when I know I am slightly on tilt, if anything I should tighten my range.

Anything else? I think these 3 is good to start off. It's fundamental mistakes I am making and this is a good place to start fixing them