Hi all,

Never thought I'll make one of these, but desperate times call for desperate measures I guess.

About me
- 27 Year old Norwegian.
- Electircal Engineer.
- Likes rock climbing.

Poker
Played poker for about 1,5 years now. Started out at stars breaking even at 2NL. Found a coach on reddit a little over a year ago (regitime) he got me the **** away from stars, grinded 888 from 2NL to winning at 10NL and BE at 20NL. Took some shots at 30NL snap and got into a crazy tilt spiral, ended up deleting my DB and ****ing around with other formats with no clear ambition (turbo SNG's, MTT's PLO etc.) I almost never posted hands or studied the game. read a few books cover to cover, but that dosn't really help much.

Withdrew most of my roll, left with 80 bucks in my pokerstars account.

In August I decided it was time to do this right.

Goal
- Get the **** out of the microstakes and start making some beer money on the side.
- I will start out playing zoom. It's the hardest games, but it will give me allot of flexibility when I'm spending allot of time studying. Plus I wan't to prove to myself that I can beat atleast 5z and 10z, might switch sites once I'm rolled for 25NL.
- 30BI BRM, no cheating this time.
- Study allot, I'm currently reading "the grinders manual" while taking notes and printing out all the relevant ranges etc. Next book will be "poker math that matters" and "The mental game of poker"

I'm getting coaching from Akroma (his coaching thread is here) I had 4 sessions, the last one of the package tomorrow, will see what I do after that.

So far I have played 65K hands:


Stats:


The last week have been pretty ****, this is my 5NL graph, "downswing" after 15K mark is due to a mix of tilt and runbad:



A couple of hands from the last week, don't hold back on the critisism I don't get sad:
















Calling **** off like a tiltmonkey, this is my biggest leak atm..:









Not sure about this one:








Another unnecessary tilt callof:

1) flop sizing is too big, we shouldnt go bigger than 1/2 pot, rest is wp
2) wp
3) exploit fold river is good, our hand is good to calldown holding Ks though so dont be too hard on yourself
4) wp ofc, river is a snap call. Think we can jam river ourselves fwiw
5) I wouldnt call pre facing an open >3x, 3bet/fold. We can bet/f river ourselves. Doubt he'll turn much into a bluff once checked to him.


Best of luck buddy

TY for the feedback!

Had my last coaching session of the package with Akroma today.
A really good session, learned allot of cool stuff I could do with HEM2. So far I've just used it for the HUD, but never really used the DB functionality other than looking at graphs...
Played around with HEM2 for a couple of hours after the session.

Also got some advise on mental game, which is good right now when I've been having a rough few days.

I decided to take Akromas advice and move down to 2NL to rebuild confidence, Not necessarily because I'm not good enough for 5NLz, but because keep playing in this mental state will do nothing good unless I catch a heater.
Even though I decided to drop down, I wanted one more day at 5NL just to make sure I would make silverstar this month. I paid the price for not sticking 100 % to my plan of moving to 2NL, lost another 3 BI's.

The session was really frustrating.
I won 1 BI and then I lost 2 pots which was kind of big, but not full stacks. I knew I was down, but 3Bi's was really surprising. The reason was mostly cbet's not working out, restealing from the blinds not working out, and villains getting there OTT and OTR.

1. In this one I my bet sizing was just horrible. My plan was to set up a shove on safe turn, but I guess I could just shoved flop. Was also scared of monsters under the bed (bigger set):




2. Not sure if this is to be concidered a cooler vs a guy not fully stacked, or if it's just a hig variance play which can be avoided.



3. Biggest winner of the session.




4. Frustrating hand, not sure if turn bet is good. Plan OTR was to check behind or fold to a donk.




5. Maybe I could have called turn here? I don't see him doing it with anything other than Ax or air tho..




Back to 2NL it goes! atleast for a few days

Dont beat yourself up too much for staying at 5NL for one more day. I think the reason you mentioned is definitely a valid one!

Maybe it cost you a little bit of EV as opposed to playing 2NL in the current state of mind but the extra rakeback might make up for it.

Nice to hear you liked the session as well

TY!

First day back at 2NL today!

Watched some videos on ranges at work and read a chapter in the grinders manual once I got home. I take bunch of notes and write down stuff that are good to have handy during sessions.

Even though I paid off a couple of hands I was still somwhat happy with the session.
I feel like I've made a lot of progress the last 3 - 4 days mainly on these topics:
- PF opening and calling ranges are now set, I will only deviate a little bit depending on villains left to act etc.
- Picking good spots to c-bet and having a plan for the hand. Even if this plan might be wrong, it still feels good to be 100 % concious about the decisions.

The irritating part of this session, and what made me cut it short is that I still can't find that fold button once I have a good hand.
Even though I spent quite some time yesterday reviewing in HEM and getting confirmation just how strong villains usually are when they raise OTF/Turn/river and when they call 2 streets then donks river.

1. What was irritating about this hand is not that I called down, but the fact that I was expecting to win here 100%. Surley a calldown must be ok vs a fishy player at 2NL tho.




2. Don't know about this one really. I elect not to c-bet flop to keep worse hands in his range. Plan was to call flop, and turn depending on sizing. Once he takes this line I just feel like he tries to bluff me off, which I should know by now, they don't do very often




3. Big mistake to not raise pre. Was trying to be sneaky and lure bb in. Big mistake to stack off OTF too, I just can't get myself to respect these people who don't buy in full!




4. River donk is usually super strong, but very hard to find a fold there, I was even thinking I block flush a little bit with my Kh..
What I was happy about was my c-bet sizings, I think I set up a smooth shove OTR, if he don't donk that is ;P




5. Maybe I should try to slowplay 1 street in position..




That's it for today. Gonna chill out with the last episode of Westworld now.

Hopfully book a winning session tomorrow

AK u shouldnt fold imo, 87 is fine. Gl with ur challenge, i wouldnt stick too long at 2NL tbh, the field is probably as weak and spewy at 5NL, prob way more EV+

GL!

TY
Will just play 2NL till I got my mental game sorted, I'm comfortably rolled for 5NL.


TY!

Well I didn't get to book that winning session I so desperatly wanted..

I think I should have raised turn in this one. Not sure if that bluff OTR is good or bad either..




Against 3 tabling Ukrainian..

hand 1, turn can be played both call/raise, at 2nl, i probs just call. Everything bricked by the river and I highly doubt V x/f here often. Just x it back.

hand 2, stab flop is very wide but ok imo, he should fold AQ and AK + our hand has ok barreling opportunities. I tend to x it back however. Rest is ok imo.

Yeah flop bet w AJhh doesn't make much sense, guess it might be ok at NL2 where I suspect ppl will overfold after checking as the pf aggressor, but I'd just x behind. Rest is fine.

QJdd river bluff is good. Don't raise turn, it sucks getting 3b jammed on 130deep w that equity, which will happen at these stakes. Just call and play a river, our implied odds should also be big when we hit so can't do much wrong about calling turn.

GL!

Don't look like I've will be escaping anytime soom. Not had a winning day in 2 weeks now.

Still doing good on the studying part though, well over halfway in the grinders manual now, pluss I'm doing a bunch of DB analysis/hand reviews.
So technicly I feel like I'm improving a ton even though my graph is crashing. **** that graph though this is 5NL and I'm playing to get better not to get rich.

I tried to play some 2NL, but tbh it's just to crazy for me. I've beaten it for 7bb/100 over 45k hands before I moved to 5NL, pluss I did it before on 888, I think that proves I don't really have to go back. Yes it could be variance and maybe I'm not as good as I think, but as long as I'm rolled for 5NL I'm staying there. I'll move down once I'm at 125$.

Cutting down to 1 table and playing allot of 30 min sessions instead of longer ones has really helped out on my tilt. I almost didn't feel tilted at all today, other than this hand that made me ragequit:

UTG was folding to 100 % of 3bets and not exactly very aggressive either, so I elected to call with my AA pf. Had no stats on the caller, other than he was 1 tabling. He could have 99 and 22 that beat me and a bunch of draws + maybe AK so I decided to rip it in.





The next hand I also posted in the microstakes NL forum, as usual I got some mixed reviews on how I should play it. Do belive I played it ok though.




Also had some winning hands today:

This one I could have raised flop, but given that I was In position and that Villain was a really tight 3bettor with 3% over 80 hands I decided to call down and bet river, could probably have sized it smaller tho?




Floped Straightflush draw with TP is always nice





I think I would fold river if this guy bets again. Dunno if that's good or bad.

Finally back to winning!
The last 3 days have been pretty good.
Wont post any graphs until the end of November, I think it's stupid to post graphs of small samples..

Study vice, it's been ok. Read a few chapters in a the grinders manual, and also watched some upswing videos etc. I review pretty much all the hands I play after sessions each 30 min session I play. The last 2 days I've been back to 2 tabling, since I had to complete a step before new month.

Some hands:

1. I think I played this hand fine, obviously want the fish to do something silly and maybe get some more money out of BB aswell.




2. CO had really fishy stats. Got a bit scared of the Q OTR, so decided to check back..




3. Still a bit gunshy vs unknown 2 tabler. dunno if x/c or b/f is the way to go OTR if he was a decent reg?




4. Biggest loser. I couldn't keep my damn finger off that Call Button OTR




5. Another looser, I know I should have folded Pre, been playing around with Upswing hand charts and didn't pay attention to stack sizes.. HOWEVER, I did math on turn shove and figured I need him to fold 36 % to break even, must be reasonable vs turn check?

Haven't posted here in a while, figured I would update every 10K hands or so.

The grind has been going pretty good since the last time I updated:


I have slacked off a little bit on the studying, but I still watch upswing videos at work and do alot of HH analysis after each sessions, so all in all I think it's alright. Definetly need to hit the books again though..

Will post giraffe and stats for 5NL at the end of the month

Two Big Losses:

1. Dunno if there is anything to do about this one tbh.




2. These spot's still get me. Don't know if this is WP or I should fold anywhere?




Two Big Winners:

1. Played some regtables last saturday, so much easier to make money there:




2. Nice to turn the nut boat:




3. As a recovering nit I think this is a "sick call"

Btw GL OP you got this kill the micros

---

I agree a lot with this chips.

H1 - I agree i don't think many people float at the micros and almost never in MW pots, we could go 1/2->2/3 pot here. Once Cu cold calls with 2 villain's left he def has a hand for sure and maybe some bluffs like 2 overs.

H3 - We could exploit fold the turn maybe i mean for him to have enuf bluffs he has to be over-bluffing a lot OTF, also ask yourself if he would bet 2-pair/set value combos OTT as well for thin value.

H5 - I actually think pre is good/okay maybe folded some weaker suited Ax also depends on how agro blinds are/if there are stationy fish in the blinds.
Yup agree with chips here bet/fold river if you think villain is going to be over-calling with a lot of hands here otherwise exploit x-fold.

Played about 13k hands since the last post I made here.

I did pretty good and was closing in on a shot at 10NLz. Then Runbad/playbad started:



One of the tilt problems I have is when I'm closing in on moving up after playing really well, then taking a few badbeats. Some unconscious part of me want's to just win it back quick so I play longer sessions, skip workouts to grind, play when tired etc.

This time I will tackle the problem before it goes as far as it did the last time, so I will take some days off, and when I come back I will play only 1 table and start doing more study again. I have been doing alot of reading , but not much posting of hands/HM2 stuff.

I feel like when I'm "in the zone" I'm crushing this game, but when I'm not I just try to apply the wrong concepts at the wrong time against the wrong villain type, it's not like I'm on autopilot like I used to, but my logic is wrong.

This is the graph since starting this thread:



Not happy with this at all. To be honest it's really sad and demotivating to look at. Even though I'm by no means a great pokerplayer I was for sure expecting to beat 5NLz for a much higher WR.

I'm a bit conflicted now if I should stay at 5NLz and try to grind out a better WR, or if I should just move to 10NLz once I hit 300 bucks. when I cash in my starcoins, I only need a few BI's to take a shot. I think I will take a shot just for the purpose of motivation. Some part of me suspect that my WR would have been higher if I just stuck to what I knew and didn't try to apply new concepts, but this isn't really a good way to improve.

A few hands from the last few days:


1. No idea how to play this turn the best. I think both of the villains can have draws and JJ. 9x is unlikley when the turn is the 9, right?




2. Think I played this allright.





3. Villain is a passive reg over a small sample. 21/12, never 3b. Don't think I can do anything diffrent.




4. Don't know if this is bad play. Should I have bet flop or x/r?






5. Had a read that this guy was a maniac. Turns out I was right

Decided that I'm gonna keep play 5NLz.

Currently I'm BE at 5NLz after 50k hands, I've played 10k hands of reg tables and crushed so far, but this is a zoom challenge, so it don't matter.

the main problem is the redline, but I think I can be more aggresive with my value betting aswell, not really any need to balance betsizes at this circus stake..

The goal is to have atleast a 4b/100 WR over 50k hands, if I don't make it I'll have to play another 50k..

Not gonna be able to play much this weekend, but I'm gonna spend a good amount of time reviewing hands, running filters etc. Got flopzilla yesterday so hopefully it will be a tool I can use allot.

Also joined a poker study group with a bunch of good players(relative to my skill atleast) which is nice!

Woke up with a ton of motivation!
Studied allot and started listening to a mental game audio book.
Wrote down all my poker goals, obstacles and what to do to overcome those obstacles.

Decided to play a session.
within 5 min these two hans unfolded:

2017 new year, new me etc..

Since last time I updated this has happened:

Continued to break even / slight winner at 5NLz.

Binked the big (or hot, can't remeber) 1.1 for 830 $.

Moved my 1,1k roll over to Partypoker to play higher than 5NLz, cuz I couldn't be bothered playing in that nitfest with a 1K roll.

Played 25NL for a few thousand hands, felt I did pretty good tbh, but yesterday I decided to withdraw 500 bucks just to "have something to show for" in 2016.

Not sure what my plan for 2017 is pokervice.
I'm watching upswing poker videos and reviewing every day, also in a nice study group.

Got no Poker buddies that play same stakes as me so it's getting pretty boring at times.

Time for a update I guess.

Binked the big 1.1 for 830$ in December.
Two weeks ago I got 6th in sunday 6max for 230$.

So bankroll is looking healthy.

Officialy out of 5NLz too :


My play and decisions got allot better after joining upswing poker and a good study group.


10z is not going to well.
Starting to hit a rough patch mental game vice now, so I must monitor my mental state allot and not play as much to reduce spew.
This is super tilting cuz I really wanna grind, but it is just no way I can put in volume right now and still make good decisions.



Had a few days break to cool off and study, and today I had another losing session

1. Think I played it fine. OFC the bad reg got there.



2. Spew. Leveled myself vs a fish and got lucky.



3. Stupid to do this vs 1 tabler.



4. Actually think I played this fine. Some people screams to get it in pre with KK always, but deepstack vs Nitty eastern euro I think this is better.



5. Wanted to rep the K.




6. Think this is fine since I don't hold a diamond, and I block AJ.




7. Don't know what I'm doing OTR here. Pressing buttons.

Nice read

That 66 hand! Jesus

Back at it with the blog.

Bought a house that need a bit of renovation, so the time I have for poker a gonna be a bit reduced the next couple of months until the renovation work is done.

That's why I'm starting posting here again, cuz it's important that the hours I do put in are high quality.

A few hands from the previous days:


1.



Not the best board to use as bluffcatcher, as it blocks allot of potential bluffs.



2.



In theory I think this is a call. He checks back turn so he should not have that much value OTR. maybe AJ and KJ type hands. He was unknown tho, so I chickened out.

10z Graph:


Mental game has been really bad the last few days.

I'm constantly doubting the majority of my decisions, and also doubting if the stuff I study even applies to the stake I play.

Feel like every time I try to implement something new, I get punished.

This is the first time during my 1.5 - 2 years of poker when it really effects my life outside poker, I'm not happy at all.

The problem has to do with ingame stuff, when I post hands or review them myself I generally know what to do. But ingame I'm so insecure that I just constantly make wrong plays.

I'm turning into one of the guys that whines at the internet now too apparently!