BACKGROUND

• I have Experience playing live $1/$2 full ring cash and online $0.02/$0.05 6-max cash.
• Poker player for about 1.5 years
• I'm currently self-employed, so my schedule can be somewhat flexible.
• I mostly enjoy playing Zoom 6-Max cash and Turbo SNG tournaments.
• The dream is to develop into a crusher and enjoy poker as a lifelong side hustle and recreational activity.
  

DAILY & WEEKLY GOALS

• Balance poker with all other activities (personal, work, social, and family.)
• Grind Zoom $0.02/$0.05 6-max cash for a minimum of 2 hours a day
• Study poker learning material for a minimum of 1.5 hours daily
• Post a minimum of 2 interesting hands from sessions for feedback
• Become a regularly active member on 2+2 forums
  

LONG TERM GOALS

• Crush Zoom $0.02/$0.05 6-max cash
• Move up to Zoom $0.05/$0.10 6-max cash
  

good luck buddy.

Thank you. Check out two hands from the week, and let me know what you think. All feedback is appreciated.

Online $0.02/$0.04 6-Max Cash. Multi-way pot. I had played a big pot with the Button either one or two hands prior, where they won after I called the all-in with a good draw hand.

UTG:$5.65
CO:$4
BTN:$7.43
Hero (SB):$3.96
BB:$3.86

Pre Flop: UTG folds, CO opens to $0.10. The button, myself (SB), and BB call. I have 9 7.

Flop (Pot: $0.40): 6 6 10

I check, BB folds (weird), CO checks, and the BTN checks.

Turn (Pot: $0.80): 5

I bet $0.20, CO folds, and the BTN calls.

River (Pot $8.12): 8

I go all-in and the BTN calls. I win the pot with a Straight Flush, and the BTN mucks his hand. I'm really interested in what he had. I was hoping he made the flush or had trips, and wasn't going to fold.

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Online $0.02/$0.04 6-Max Cash. Villain seemed aggressive and a good player from the few hands I had played in or watched prior. I feel like I could have avoided this.

UTG:$4.07
BTN:$6.29
Hero (SB):$4.16
Villain (BB):$5.64

Pre Flop: UTG calls $0.04, BTN folds, SB (me) raises to $0.16, and BB calls, and then UTG folds. I have A K.

Flop (Pot: $0.40): 8 2 5

I bet $0.18 and BB calls.

Turn (Pot: $0.80): 9

I check, BB bets $0.36, and then I call.

River (Pot $8.12): K

I check, BB bets $1.16, I re-raise all-in, and BB calls. BB wins the pot with a Straight.

Both of these hands are misplayed.

Fold preflop in hand #1

Hand #2 Flop is a check - we want some flushes in our x/c range.

As played - just call river.

I see what you mean. I called in the 97s hand because of the price to call with a suited one gapper.

Immediately after reviewing the 2nd hand, I thought I should have checked the flop instead.

Milestones

• Multi tabled 1500 hands of 6-Max cash at a small profit of a few buy ins. Additionally I profited a few buy ins after playing a couple hundred zoom hands (recovered from a couple of buy ins downswing).
• Multi tabled up to 3 at different times pretty comfortably
• Practiced effective game selection, player profiling, exploiting specific opponents, and refining overall fundamentals (preflop and postflop)
• I’ve been able to study and play for 2 hours+ each and everyday throughout the weeks since the initial post
• Implemented running equity calculations on past played hands into my study time

Goals & Challenges

• Start analyzing more equities from the biggest pot won and lost from sessions
• Better manage tilt after playing big pots (don't turn into a tilted maniac and don't ride the wins too hard)
• Continue to develop a holistic strategy
• Better exploit fish at the table, while staying out of potential trouble spots with aggressive regs

Here are two of the biggest pots played at different tables:

Online $0.02/$0.04 6-Max Cash. AA on the Button. Successfully getting all the money in with aces vs jacks. Villain was a tight aggressive fish. Villain tanked during my initial re-raise and re-raise all in.

UTG (Fish): $4.69
BTN (Hero): $8.25
SB: $3.80
BB (Fish): $2.59

Pre Flop: UTG (Fish) opens to $0.14, BTN (Hero) re-raises $0.48, and SB and BB (Fish) fold. UTG (Fish) re-raises to $0.82, BTN (Hero) re-raises all in $7.77, and UTG (Fish) calls. I have A A.

Flop (Pot:$13): 7 3 6

Turn (Pot: $13): Q

River (Pot $13): A

UTG (Fish) shows J J and BTN (Hero) wins the $13 pot with a Three of a Kind.
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Online $0.02/$0.04 6-Max Cash. Q8s in Cutoff. Multi-way pot.

UTG: $9.49
CO (Hero): $14.74
BTN: $2.56
SB (Fish): $2.20
BB (Fish): $0.66

Pre Flop: UTG folds, CO (Hero) open calls $0.04, and the BTN, SB (Fish), and BB (Fish) call. I have 8 Q.

Flop (Pot: $0.16): 2 5 9

CO (Hero), BTN, SB (Fish), and BB (Fish) check.

Turn (Pot: $0.16): J

CO and BTN check, SB (Fish) bets $0.28, BB (Fish) folds, CO and BTN call $0.28.

River(Pot $1): Q

SB (Fish) bets $0.50, CO (Hero) calls, BTN goes all in $2.24, SB folds, and CO (Hero) calls.

BTN shows 10 8 and wins the $5.98 pot with a Straight.

I would focus a bit more on study. Shouldn't be opening Q8s from CO, should never be limping/open calling. You're overvaluing hands against big river bets. AK is not a shove over that bet at these stakes - what hands are you expecting them to call with that you beat? Q8s is definitely a fold vs. that shove - again, what do you beat here? Those games look very soft so just sorting out some solid preflop ranges and being a bit more careful postflop will put you at a big advantage.

Good luck.

Thank you. After I played the hand I knew it was a done poorly. In retrospect, I don’t regret limping this hand in because there was a lot of successful limping from the other players, when I didn’t punish them. I knew this was the bottom of my range and that at best I should try to see a flop as cheaply as possible with weaker players.

I have to admit the call downs were loose and the river just being pretty wrong in most cases. It’s probably important to note, players were overvaluing and continuing with middle pairs. So this was hitting top pair and knowing my opponent could be here with just a Jack/ one pair hand. After the check on the flop, I put my opponent on having a Jx type of hand, when taking this line.

I see what you mean though, and besides this hand, I think I’ve finally removed this type of mistake from my game.

Well that Q8 hand is something else...

Raising it from the CO is very marginal and even more so when you seem to have problems getting away from top pair.
Then you call a 1.75x pot bet on the turn with a gutshot to a non-nut straight on a board that has a possible flushdraw.
On the river you call an all-in shove over a bet and a call with just top pair.

I originally didn’t see/ catch that it was an over-bet. Smh. I should punish myself with a 52 card pickup. Thank you for catching that.

Subscribed.

Doing a similar challenge but 5nl reg tables.

Good luck.

Milestones

• I recently took shots at 10NL; I went back and forth a couple of buy ins, so I moved back down to 5NL
• Started tracking hands to find leaks and improve my studying
• Put more focus into creating a poker study group

Goals & Challenges

• Short term goal: Get 100k hands played at 5NL Zone into my tracker
• Put in study on the 10NL playing field (I noticed it to be a nitfest at times with a sprinkle of some questionable characters who had some interesting hands at showdown, to say the least lol..)
• Mid term goal: Move up to 10NL
• Plug leaks as I can find them with the new tracker
• Grow my poker study group with like minded individuals working towards goals
• Continue to work on better managing tilt

I plan on posting a graph in upcoming post(s). Here's two hands I pulled. Feedback always welcome:

Bovada / Ignition Zone, Hold'em No Limit - $0.02/$0.05 - 6 players
Hand delivered by Pokeit

Seat 5 (UTG): $8.68 (174 bb)
Hero (MP): $5.82 (116 bb)
Seat 1 (CO): $5.27 (105 bb)
Seat 2 (BU): $5.88 (118 bb)
Seat 3 (SB): $1.49 (30 bb)
Seat 4 (BB): $2.15 (43 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07) Hero (Hero) is MP with J J
1 fold, Hero (MP) raises to $0.15, 1 fold, Seat 2 (BU) 3-bets to $0.55, 2 players fold, Hero (MP) calls $0.40

Flop: ($1.17) 2 J T (2 players)
Hero (MP) bets $0.84, Seat 2 (BU) calls $0.84

Turn: ($2.85) Q (2 players)
Hero (MP) bets $2.03, Seat 2 (BU) raises to $4.49 (all-in), Hero (MP) calls $2.40 (all-in)

River: ($11.71) 9 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $11.71 (Rake: $0.58)

Showdown:
Seat 2 (BU) shows 4 A (high card, Ace)
(Equity - Turn: 9%, River: 0%)

Hero (MP) shows J J (three of a kind, Jacks)
(Equity - Turn: 91%, River: 100%)

Hero (MP) wins $11.13
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Bovada / Ignition Zone, Hold'em No Limit - $0.02/$0.05 - 6 players
Hand delivered by Pokeit

Seat 5 (UTG): $2.42 (48 bb)
Seat 6 (MP): $8.13 (163 bb)
Seat 1 (CO): $2.20 (44 bb)
Hero (BU): $6.29 (126 bb)
Seat 3 (SB): $12.88 (258 bb)
Seat 4 (BB): $5.66 (113 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.07) Hero (Hero) is BTN with A T
Seat 5 (UTG) raises to $0.10, 1 fold, Seat 1 (CO) calls $0.10, Hero (BU) calls $0.10, 1 fold, Seat 4 (BB) calls $0.05

Flop: ($0.42) 4 9 T (4 players)
Seat 4 (BB) checks, Seat 5 (UTG) bets $0.10, Seat 1 (CO) folds, Hero (BU) raises to $0.40, Seat 4 (BB) raises to $5.56 (all-in), Seat 5 (UTG) folds, Hero (BU) calls $5.16

Turn: ($11.64) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($11.64) 5 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $11.64 (Rake: $0.58)

Showdown:
Seat 4 (BB) shows 9 T (two pair, Tens and Nines)
(Equity - Flop: 82%, Turn: 93%, River: 100%)

Hero (BU) shows A T (two pair, Tens and Fives)
(Equity - Flop: 18%, Turn: 7%, River: 0%)

Seat 4 (BB) wins $11.06

Milestones

• Grew my study group to a handful of likeminded players. I think requesting and digesting the constructive feedback received from my study mates has been one of the most impactful factors to improve my game.
• Practiced using a HUD and involving it in my decisions (I liked it. Originally, I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the numbers and their meanings; but, it’s certainly +EV). In regards to poker sites, I think a built in HUD should be offered for all, or none at all.
• Since starting this thread, I’ve noticed a decrease in the amount of procrastination throughout the week. I’m completing more of the material I’ve bookmarked or saved.
• Played some 5 card PLO for the first time and when other games broke.

Goals & Challenges

• Continue to finish all purchased and saved study material
• Manage my time more effectively; create a better sleep habit (8 hours min.)
• Play more hands throughout the week (Been playing less fast-fold so, the original goal is getting a bit hard to hit without multi-tabling)
• Continue to go on a daily walk as a new habit. I’ve noticed it helps with my sleep.

Recently, I found some good $0.10/$0.20 games, so I’ve been playing whenever there is an opportunity. Here’s a graph of the last 900 hands:

Milestones

• I feel like I better managed tilt while playing (less sigh calls).
• Reached a new level of awareness regarding multitasking’s negative impact of on the quality of my decisions -> my results (I’ve implemented a 2 tables max rule, at least for now). I only add a second table when the other game looks good enough to compensate for being distracted from the main table.

Goals & Challenges

• Implement consistent medding throughout the week (before and after sessions)
• Continue to minimize multitasking

2.5k hands @ $0.10/$0.20:

Milestones

• Logged 2.5k hands @ 10NL (played mostly at fast-fold tables)
• No noticeable spew/ tilt offs of chips after beats
• Finally, I have a poker spreadsheet that I can feel content about. I’m not currently able to use PT4, HEM, or DriveHUD, etc., and I’m trying to keep expenses as manageablely low as possible.

Goals & Challenges

• Log 5k+ Hands @ 10NL by next update for this thread (I’ve never been able to share a graph with more than 2.5k hands)
• Get back into updating this thread at least once a week minimum (Not having a graph to share was previously a deterrent, but now this has been solved)
• Finish “The Mental Game of Poker: Proven Strategies for Improving Tilt Control, Confidence, Motivation, Coping with Variance, and More”
• Grow & maintain my poker study group (I’d like to add a few more likeminded and similarly challenged players). If any readers of this thread feel like this sounds like them, you can feel free to reach out to me by private message.
• Continue to practice conservative bankroll management by first logging 100k hands minimum at 10NL, before I move up to 20NL.
• Continue to complete all study material related to my current position (I’d like to spend no more $ on poker material or products till I have made the best use of what I currently have)

I’d like to give special kudos to @Kriegshetzer. Godspeed to you sir. I’m more than appreciative of all the quality advice/ guidance, and the much needed assistance you provided me with to get my poker spreadsheet running smoothly.

2.5k hands @ 10NL:

Cool that you´re doing well at 10nl. Games always get tougher when we move up, regs are better, diferent metagame etc. Not tilting and spewing, especially out of frustration, is probably one of the top 3 steps in doing well after moving up imo.

Congratulations!

Thank you, the success in my mental game has more than likely come from 3 simple and humbling breakthrough ideas.

1. You are NEVER entitled to winning.

2. Variance WILL happen, and it WILL happen to EVERYONE

3. Winning at poker is ALL about the LONG TERM