I started playing poker in October 2016, and in the last 13 months I've gone right from the start line to dropping everything for it. I've just dropped out from uni after failing my second year in Mathematics and decided that I'm at the optimal point in my life to commit to a radical life change like making a career out of poker, before I have adult responsibilities (mortgage, family, office job ect.) I need to take care of.

After having cruised along academically doing the bare minimum until that wasn't enough anymore and having been pretty average in all hobbies I've picked up so far in life due to a terrible work ethic, laziness and low self esteem, it's time I felt the growing pains of commitment to building a ironclad work ethic in poker.

Grinded 10NL to 25NL FR on Pokerstars for 2 months around April which tapered off after starting to play live in the summer holidays. Decided to move to 6max around September on Party Poker and a few other websites before coming back to Pokerstars around a week ago where I plan to put almost all of my volume.

25NL graph/stats so far






Live graph stats (mix of 1/2, 1/3 and 2/5)








My current online volume is lacking due to only being able to play 3 zoom tables max and becoming mentally fatigued after ~1k hands in a session and live volume lacks due to not living in London so only being able to travel there every other weekend.

Goals for the remainder of 2017:

[] 50k hands total at 25NL
[] Over 8BB/100 winrate at 25NL
[] Play 4 zoom tables regularly
[] Play a successful 3k hand session

If winrate and volume goals are both met I will move up to 50NL.

2018 goals coming soon

Will take advice anyone has on effective study methods, how to increase focus and endurance to play more tables for longer.

Hey man.
Good luck at the tables.
Like to follow you cause I think you are my country man.. Iranian are you?

glgl, might see you at the tables!

Of course, what gave it away? :P

Already subbed to you, will be sure to throw in any hands I play against you



Down 3BI today, GII in 2 cooler spots and AA<JJ which is why I'm below EV.

Ah, the classic "he's always got it" spot



Interesting spot. I expect a cold 4bet range to look like AK, QQ+ and we can have AJs, JTs, JJ, combined with the fact that I don't think anyone will have a bluffing range in this spot at these stakes makes me shove turn, definitely not standard though :S



Here's one that I will nurse in PIO later, maybe went too thin OTR

GL bro.
Hit me up on skype.. We have a little 5-6 person study group as well.
Would love to have improvers like ourself around.
Sent you the ID.
Cheers

It always feels better breaking even after a rough start than the other way around...



Station time



You know that spot when they spaz out and open shove pre and you're always left thinking "damn, if only I had a hand to call them with"


So close to folding to the snap bet OTF...



Was in the mood for a long session but I'm celebrating bonfire night in my hometown. Tomorrow's session will likely be short.

Graph is today (2k hands) and yesterday (1k hands). Played pretty meh in these sessions, but picked up on some preflop leaks of mine. Starting to get a bit more comfortable playing BvB.

Progressing towards my single session volume goal, halfway there. Finding it easier day by day to play for longer without fatiguing.



"Cold 4bet is always aces"



Really hesitated OTT, so close to folding but I guess I just struggled to lay down a flush there. Seeing it at showdown confirms that I'm basically always dead in that spot.



Hot jam from the last few days

Forgot this gem haha, the super standard call down with T high

Very frustrating day for me. I'd at least be breakeven for today if it weren't for two huge hands. I obviously need to put way more work into my game off the table.



Hand 1: Pretty sick spot, called because he may also shove JJ, AQ



Hand 2: 250BB deep. In hindsight maybe x/shove river may be better than leading. After looking at the hand he has 4 combos of FH/Quads and 10 combos of flushes, while having 6 combos of KJs, J9s and 4 combos of AhKx as bluffs, so if he's 14/10 value/bluff we can definitely x/shove. Unfortunately I think he checks back his Qx, overpairs and when he bets his value/bluffs I think he's more likely to overbet shove them which leaves us no room to x/shove. Thoughts appreciated.



Got my Dillinger Escape Plan poster framed recently

Qq hand. As you mentioned he will jam a lot worst and you are loosing to 3 combos. Very weirdly played hand by villain! Nothing wrong with your play though.
AJ hand, I really don't like the call pre. With the stacks these deep and a hand that can get you in real trouble OOP I rather pick a better spot. You can consider using it as a 4bet bluff simetimes as well but most often than not just fold it. You have a lot better hands with nut potential and imo these deep you beed hands with nut potential which AJo just doesn't have many..
As played, I guess your play was ok.. Just happen to run into top side of his range this time.. But know your opponent before opting on this kind of bluffs. By leadind this river you need an aware enough player that can fold KK-AA here and not good to understand your line repps so little.. And I doubt it works against 25NL pop that often to make it profitable..
Good luck and the next sessions bro.
Cheers

You're putting yourself in sh*t situations by calling very light preflop to 3bets. If you don't like folding hands like AJo, just 4bet over his 3bet. Don't call and be in a dominated situation post flop. You're literally burning money that way mate.

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That last hand, just raise the flop or turn. Don't call down with a gutshot and then lead river. That's pretty bad.

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The flush draw hand, fold on the flop once you get raised. You're against two players and probably one of them has a higher FD.

I don't either, it's not a hand I usually call a 3bet with UTG. Live and learn.

Haven't posted in a few days as I took a small brek from online then played a live tourney to boost my confidence. Ended up mincashing the Sky Poker Tour which was disappointing as apart from one huge hand I lost on the bubble, it was smooth sailing.

Will definitely play the Sky Poker Tour when it comes round next time, top 10% got paid and mincash was 2.5x which I liked, field was unsurprisingly soft and it was 9 instead of 10 handed.

Now for the bubble hand: blinds 6k/12k, UTG opens to 25k, folds to me and I call with T7o.

Flop is 954cc, x/c 21k
Turn is 5o, x/x
River is 6c, I 2x overbet jam and he pretty quickly calls with AA no club.

Straight after the hand I realsied I should have check shoved river instead of open jamming as it looks stronger and I was specifically looking to fold out his overpairs here.

Won't bother posting the last sessions graph, it was like 600 hands and 3BI down. Confidence is back up and ready to crush again.

Areas for immediate improvement/adjustments I believe I should be making to maximise profit at 25NL:
- Adjust 3bet range
-Adjust 3bet calling range
- Overfold and overbluff rivers more
- Construct ranges in all spots based on what I think opponent would actually have in that spot and not what they SHOULD have (sounds obvious but I've noticed I'm not doing that).

Will just study/chill the rest of the day then get on the grind tomorrow. Planning on shipping 25/25 Thanet too next week.

Back on it after the big confidence meltdown, was in a good headspace today and felt like I played well apart from one hand I'll link. The 'ol losing 1.5BI in the time between hitting "sit out after next BB" and sitting out, classic.



Definitely stationed it up in this hand. Getting better about not calling down in these spots when it's obvious I'm crushed, evident I still need work though



Dream turn and surprise value OTR



Apparently I do have discipline to fold



Playing 25/25 Thanet, so no HH this weekend

25/25 Thanet did not go well, fired 2 bullets. Barely on track with online and I'm planning on some live cash in London while the GUKPT final is going on.

Happy with todays sesh, a few questionable hands as usual but played well throughout. No interesting hands to note.



Foodporn: Sirloin w/ spicy salsa, sweet potato and spinach

Back from London, 4 days of cash during the GUKPT Grand Final.
Day 1: Sat down at 2/5 that was opening, businessman sits down and asks what the max buy in is (yaas). Became very clear that this was going to be a high variance game.

CO opens to 15, I call on BTN w/ 8h8x, he 3bets to 180 I call. Flop 677hh, he bets 200, I call, turn Qo, he bets 450 I call, brick river x/x and shows down 24o.

Ended up hero calling him in a £3.2k pot which I lost to break my record for biggest ever pot lost. Down £400 for the day.

Day 2: Easily the worst live session I've ever played and this was at 1/2. Ran a big bluff with AK, villain tank calls KK, somewhat happy with it knowing that QQ-JJ are also folding and had a live read that he never had AA after my flop bet (4bet pot). Proceeded to lose 2 all ins with AA in one orbit and other jazz to net me -£1400 for the day.

Day 3: Maintained composure, +£800

Day 4: First ever time I've shouted at someone at the poker table. Prat to my left is complaining that I'm always 3betting and folding to 4bets (lmao) because he calls my 3bets 100% of the time and then has to fold, moaning that I'm losing him money. I lose it and finally call him out on it, rest of the table love it and the rest of the table proceeds to make jokes every time someone raises. +£100

Proud that I put up with losing such a huge chunk of my BR and maintained composure to continue playing well.

Yesterdays session that I didn't upload. FINALLY feel like I'm back in top form. Played A game even after a few coolers at the beginning, super stoked to end the session on such a positive.



Plan was to x/shove, ended up with a hilarious runout



Eyyy got that river call

Ugh what a **** day. -8BI, ran into some dire top end vs top end situations and lost virtually all of my all ins. Played A game at the beginning and play slowly deteriorated towards the end. Lets get back on the blue line grind.



Proper punished for not 4betting pre



Of course he had 55, lucky he checked river



Just gonna push myself harder tomorrow until I start winning.

Forgot to post before I went to London last weekend. Got destroyed again and feeling like it may be better to put in a higher amount of volume at 10NL where I'm much more likely to have a solid winrate.

Not often I see a guy with positive red line playing nl25z nitfest haha. Anyway, I have same goals as yours so wish you all the best and will be following

Haha true, true. Red line is good, better when you're actually showing a good BB/100 though

Big 10NL session, who knew it feels easier to put in more volume when you're playing at a stake you know you can beat. Redline going stronk.



ty for money



Sick flop feat. action



Ready to play hard tomorrow as well, but going to Brighton and London this weekend AGAIN for concerts, might play some live cash in between in Brighton if it's running.

gl subbed

First update in a week. Brighton/London for the weekend and personal life is incredibly stressful atm which has gotten in the way of playing and also the quality of my play. My first session over 2k hands I think, I aim to make that a session minimum now.

Managed to get to a live game one night in Brighton between gigs which went well as usual.



Again, it really felt like I was playing well (apart from maybe the beginning, need to implement a warmup into my routine) but quite a few times I was getting snapped off super light at all the wrong moments.



yawn




yawn 2.0, huge river snap as well



This one's probably my fault, should have overbet river



Mastodon were killer on Sunday

Good session today, feel like I'm getting back in the swing of things and am able to put in more volume/hr now that I'm 4 tabling. Just need to up the hours I play. Blue and red line both getting some love today!



Standard procedure



Was thinking he only has 78s, 77 for value OTT



Veeeeery large river jam hmmmmm

Hey man, gl!
Just a bit of advice, in a couple of the hands above (yawn, yawn 2.0), you are bluffing into someone with 60bb. General indication they are a recreational and generally unlikely to fold as much vs triples, especially on the AxxA board.