Hey there,

Ill be playing 6max zoom cash games on pokerstars and start at 2nl with a $60 roll.
Im currently 30yrs old and want to make poker my job in the coming years. I dont have any talent for poker whatsoever, so I know its going to be a long time coming and there will be times where I want to quit or take a break, but thats fine, as long as I dont quit I will make it.

I prolly wont post any hands until I reach 10nl, since its all about not bluff catching and value betting hard at 2nl and 5nl and maybe at 10 still, will see.

I just read Easy Game Vol. I from Andrew Seidman and I think Im well equiped to beat the first 2 levels of cash game(2&5NL).

There will be weekly graphs and thoughts about my game.
Right now, I still have random blow ups, where I call down with a dump weak top pair, when I know Im never ahead. I dont know where this comes form but it still happens and thats why I destroy a good solid session with one hand and end it right after usually.

I think thats my biggest leak right now regarding the stakes I play (played some 2,,5,10NL lately)


To end this post, Id like to wish you all a merry XMas and hope u had a great year.

see you later, FreeWill

Best of luck, Will.

I am starting a similar challenge now as well. I'll be following along on your journey!

Hi,

not much happened since the initial post. I switched sites and play now on 888. I just decided to stay away from zoom/snap and focus on regular tables 5nl.

my hud looks like this atm:
name/hands/foldToSteal
vpip/pfr/aggF/steal
cbetFlop/fCbetFlop/cbetTurn/fCbetTurn
3bet/f3Bet/4Bet/f4Bet

if someone has any tipps on stats I should include I would be thankful.

I most likely will start and post hands here to get some input, if not here than in the micros forum

hi,

so I once again changed my plans and stayed at snap 5nl. It going up and down and roll is at 143 now. My problem really is my mental game. Im getting better but often call pot sized bads with top pair kind of hands and obv lose.

My holdem manager crashed somehow so no graphs or anything yet.

I will keep grinding and putting in the hands. On the side Im watching videos at iveyleague and really enjoy the videos of Omgclaydol. Obv trying to adopt his style and start winning.

Often it feels like a waste of time at the moment and Im second guessing this whole poker thing. But I know that things that come slowly feel so much better than things you get without any effort. So Im positive overall and ready to keep going.

just played another session and it went really well, the roll is now at 171, so almost 6 buy ins. played my A game oh yeah. most sessions is a real hustle to even be in the plus, so this is a nice uptime.

I really want to become a zoom500 reg within reasonable time and live the good life. A bit sad that MissOracle doesnt blog here anymore, just read his three year long thread and it's really inspiring and putting me in good mood.

I hope to take a shot at 10nl soon and it's really a quesiont of me playing my A game and my bankroll, the villains at 10 most likely are just as bad as at 5nl and this should be the case up until 100 or so, which also gives me hope that Ill move up through the limits pretty fast. lol see how Im in a good mood now because the session went so well.
There are times where I think I wont ever make it because I try my best and the results just arent there. But I think it slowly sinks in, that I cant pressure anything and have to play patiently. No 3bet bluffing at these limits, no bluff catching aswell.


If anybody knows a good cash game thread from here to follow please let me know

hi, so I played another session yesterday and went up to $186, which was nice. Then I got cocky and fired up 3 tables of 10nl...now Im at $266...just kidding it went bad and Im down at $155.

Got coolered twice and made a really bad river call for stack w AK on KQxxA where villain cc flop n turn and cjam river for 80bbs...what else could he really have there as fd didnt arrive.

But I guess it was another lesson for me. So I wont take shots late at night when Im tired anymore, also when Im not really rolled yet for 10nl. I played so solid for hours at 5nl yesterday just to ruin it with a need for adrenalin at 10nl.


Overall I have to say, that poker is fun and makes my heart pound at times. When I get it in with a set and villain has a fd for open ender, it's like the biggest rush I get these days.

Plan for today is to play solid again at 5nl and focus on getting that value just like yesterday.
Sorry for not hands or graph this far, but as I mentioned I dont have HM or PT4 right now cause I cant install postgresql for some reason. Once my other notebook is back from repair Ill start posting those.

have patience, shotting to early and failing lead to al lot of ending challenges.
most people can't handle it when all the hard work vaporize in one big cooler session.

just play solid on 5nl and you will be fine.
make a brm plan for shot taking moving up etc.

I usually take a 5 buyin shot when i have 25bi's for the next level

PS villain has JT :P

hey thanks for advice, that's what Ill do. 5 buy ins sounds reasonable. and yeah he had JT ofc

ok, so I badly lost 11 stacks, playing so bad that I now move down to 2nl for the time beeing.
Im really strugling with the mental part of the game, patience and the lag of valuing money/chips. Just calling calling calling. until I fixed that Ill stay at 2nl and minimize my losses.
Made the desicion to never deposit again. It's really a shame and my ego is no help to. Telling myself I got what it takes, the basic knowledge, the experience etc. but the reality shows a way different result. Im now trying to break through with cash games for almost 5 years and am still at the lowest levels.

At one point the losses these days felt so bad, I couldve cried out of desperation. It really means something to me to make this work and Ill do anything for it. Getting coaching at the moment is not an option, because my mental game is so bad, even a coach couldnt stop me from calling dumb stuff. I feel really dumb and worthless at times through this poker thing but I know that it's worth it. Once I can reach 50nl and be an 3-5bb winner Im making a living and the sky is the limit.

so for now this is the last update, probably will take me some time to overcome my flaws, until that gl at the tables.

everybody make mistakes so don't blame yourself for making mistakes to hard.
A lot of people make a small mistake such as a light call down and then go mad en do crazy stuff because of that mistake. if you want to make it you need to work on your game.

Try to build a solid ABC game.

- starting ranges
- 3betting ranges
- flatting ranges
- Cbetting
- second barreling

Gameplay
- using a hud
- taking notes
- learn to notice different type of players
- learn to adjust to these type of players.

- One step at a time. So it will take some time --> for 10 dollar you have a rio subscription.


Mental
- Please set a stoploss, set it up to 5 buyins. when you lose these just use the time to study. after losing 5 buyins mostly tilt will happen.
- write your mental leaks down.
- Learn to fold ( my leak was Always making river calls which were to light.) Which is a very expensive leak haha, worked on it and winrate jumped a lot.

Just don't stop posting but post hands here when you don't know what to do.
We can help you and give some good advice.

ps look at this old verneer threat.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/69...2010-a-676130/

And the biggest point, have fun!! when you haven't poker isn't the game for you.

GL buddy

hi, thanks for the tips again mike. Yeah often poker isnt fun for me but it's beacuse I play bad and Im mad at myself and feel worthless therefor.

So I switched sites again and play now on IPoker with a rakebackdeal, much better for me to build a roll.
heres the graph so far, without rakeback I would be barely breakeven:



I have defined my opening ranges now for each position and things are a little better already. Also as you can see in the graph, when I play my A-game Im able to have winning sessions. I noticed today again, that when I just focus on making the right plays and not on raking in $s, the money comes by itself, suddently I sat there with 3 300bb stacks out of 4 tables.

Im a bit lost on the HUD at IPoker Speed tables, it just doesnt show up and I tried everything they say on the HM2 forum. If anyone knows the trick please let me know.

So overall Im in a good mood right now and looking forward to the next days, patiently grinding away.

gla

nice to see you're heading in the right direction.

hey y'all!

Im still at 5nl but making progress finally. Think Ill be at 10nl in the next 2-3 weeks if things go as planned.
I keep watching vids on iveyleague.

What I noticed is, that I was really unhappy with how I play, thought Im just running bad all the time etc, was kinda deppressed even. But now that I made a little progress, Im much more happy and confident again, that Ill one day make it to 500zoom or even higher.

I realized, that at the micros, there are not surprises, poeple arent trying to trick you off you hand all the time, they just bet/raise when they have two pair+, it's that simple.

Also I now balance my ranges a little bit, like cbetting only top and bottom of my range, mixing some suited connectors into my 3betting range and if there's aggression from villain, I just fold when I dont have it.

I must admit, that I only have like 2 solid sessions since I realized these things, but it's a start.

wish everyone good luck at the tables. We can only fail if we quit, always remember that guys

Ill start logging my sessions here also post some hands, hoping some of you guys can give me advice.

session 1:
starting roll: $77.44
end roll: $80.84
result: +$3.40

please notice that Im able to upload more funds if needed, so the under 20BIs roll is no problem

At my last post the roll was at $119 and I felt like the ball finally started rolling. But since than I struggled again with losing sessions and bad calls. I really got to internalize, that a toptop hand is no good once we get raised at 5nl, poeple arent raising draws to have some bluffs in their range, they just have us beat.

Will post the biggest 3 losing hands and the biggest 1 winning hand of each session, every advice is highly appreciated!
I play on 888, so I dont have any hud while on snap.

hand #1








hand #2








hand # 3










and biggest winning hand:

hand #4

You really need to get your mental game issues under control but I think you know that already. The thing is you have know that for a while but seem to have made little or no progress. To improve in that area I really think you need to focus on your technical game though, even though that sounds backwards. It's just that as you learn the math of these situations more you won't be tempted to make bad calldowns. The better your technical game is the less you will get frustrated and do things that you know you shouldn't. Mikejax's post above is spot on and you should take his advice there as gospel.

Stop making hard rules for yourself like "no 3bet bluffing" and "no bluffcatching" or the "all I need to do to beat these players is X" because that kind of thinking will get you in trouble. On the flipside you should be making hard rules about your grinding and studying like
-not shot taking until X buyins
-review my last session before you start a new one
-only check my balance on Sundays, and sticking to a strict stoploss
Those exact things might not fit you, but those are the types of rules you need to have to succeed.

It also sounds like you are getting too wrapped up in the results. All you can do is make good decisions, the results take care of themselves. You really should try to not look at your account balance for a few weeks. Poker should be fun, but if you are getting an adrenaline rush while playing then you probably aren't making good decisions. Playing good solid poker is usually pretty boring, gambling on the other hand is very exciting.

GL op. Please don't think that I am trying to pick on you or anything, I am just trying to give you advice that will help you.


Edit- 1K posts woohoo

thanks for the advice! Ill do this and not look at balance for some time. Also started posting hands in micros forum.
My mental game is pretty weak I know and Im working on it. congrats on 1k posts !

so I decided to move down to 2nl for the time beeing. It's just no fun to play at 5nl right now, I might have the basic knowledge to beat it but I cant get it to the table yet. At 2nl I seem to play better and I think it is because it's not like the money is real cause it's so little

I did take mike's advice serious and worked on heaps of what he mentioned already, I just need to get the knowledge to the tables, as said.

I've got 1.6k hands now at 2nl and will stay for at least 20k, will post about results then. Also posted couple of hands in micros forum, if you have the time, please check em out and give me you oppinion/advice on it, would really appreciate it.

so I played another 1k hands and here is the graph of 2nl so far, feels good to be winning:
[IMG][/IMG]

Just remember that 7.5 buy ins over 2K hands is running really hot. Try to remember times like this when you are having a bad day, because there will be days like this but I guarantee that you are not a 25bb/100 winner and you will have days that go in the complete opposite direction even though you make all the right moves. We almost never run near our true winrate over small samples like this, so the results really don't matter. What I mean by that is, If someone is a 5bb/100 winner they should win 1 buy in after grinding 2K hands. Over a 2k sample their results will be all over the place, sometimes winning 8 buy ins, sometimes losing 4, but if they put in 200K hands they will have won on average 1 buy in every 2K hands they played. This is why it is so important to get results out of focus. It's too easy to feel like you are the next Phil Ivey when you have +5bi days and it's too easy to feel like you just suck at poker and tilt off stacks when you have a bad day. If you are playing good winning poker it will all even out in the end and your graph will have a nice steady climb up. If you are attaching your emotions to your results then you will be all over the place emotionally on a day to day basis. When you truly learn that the short term is completely irrelevant in poker, I think you will have come a long way on fixing your mental game issues and as a player in general.

How many tables are you playing at once?

GL and subbed
go to my thread, i post many hands if you want to check

thanks WastedRu gon check your thread.

and thanks again for the advice IslandGuy! Today was -2.5BIs and I started to question everything again, changed my style to nit back to tag...Ill keep your words in mind for the future. Yesterday I think I flopped a set of 10s like 5 times in row when I had em
I play 2-3 snap tables, mostly 2 and theres no hud allowed at snap on 888.

So I just played another session and it went well, +2BIs. But more importantly I had an aha moment regarding my cbetting. All I ever heard was bet big for value in mircro stakes games. But I noticed that I get lots of folds that way, so I changed it to bet smallish for value and big with bluffs(not doing no equity bluff cbets tho, at least two overs or bottom of range with bd fd or so). that way I get 3 streets of value compared to 1 or none.
And this works really well, poeple even started to raise my value bets with absolut air.

I have 6.3k hands of 2nl now -> 13.7k more to go

gla

so Im done with half of the 20k hands at 2nl and its going really well. just played another session where I made 7 buy ins
ev wise Im running at 12.5bb/100 which is also great. here is the graph:
[IMG][/IMG]


played without listening to music this session and it was actually really relaxed, not so much brain fog now after playing. will keep this up in the future and focus instead of "having fun." after all I want this to be my job some time in the furure, so thats how I should treat it I guess.

will post some hands of today later or tomorrow.

Hey,

I thought a bit about how I want to move further etc and decided to play regular tables on 888 instead of snap. There Ill be able to have a HUD up and running. Ill be able to adjust to players instead of playing a robotic style like in snap where I have no reads or very few.
I read often that it's all about improving at the micros and not volume, so that's what Ill try now. Play two tables and focus on villains.
I got a rio sub now as well as my iveyleague sub, for a month to start at least.

Ill post hands after each session and hope to improve faster now than with volume grinding snap/zoom.

hey yall,

since last post nothing special happend, just kept on playing when I felt like and read some posts in the forum.

I post because I had a good week at the tables.

[IMG][/IMG]

145$ profit from mostly 5nl and some 10nl at the end. Ill get around 60$ in rakeback on top of that for the week, which marks my first week where I made 200 bucks

I think I finally found a style to play to win.

I am marking all the players either as regular or as recreationals and play against player types now instead of auto betting aka button clicking.

gla at the tables