Hey everyone! Ukraine 6-max player wants to get disciplined and decided to make a blog with results reports, interesting(tilt) hands, and progress updates.

How am I getting disciplined?

First of all, no more preflop "exploits"(well, maybe except vs nits), I want to follow ranges taken from GTO wizard. I already remembered 80-90% of opens, but currently struggling with 3-4/bets, especially on bb. Got to figure it out I guess.

The second goal is to be present at the tables, and not to play on autopilot. I recently tried to play fewer tables(3-4 instead of 6-11) and discovered many of my leaks(like doing shitty plays). Therefore I want to continue playing fewer tables until my strategy is consistent.

I'm sure many other leaks/goals will come up later, so let's try to take one step at a time and keep crushing!

P.S. I'm pretty new to blog posting, so will check out the threads to pick out some ideas on what can be entertaining to write about. For now, all I can entertain you with is my results graph of fairly questionable play, but I can do better!

Hi Alaska,

It's great to see your commitment to improving your poker game and documenting your journey through a blog.
Discipline and a structured approach are key elements of long-term success in poker.

Some tips and ideas to help you get started with your blog:

• Regular Updates:
  Consistency is crucial when maintaining a blog.
  Decide on a schedule for your updates, whether it's weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, and stick to it. This helps keep your readers engaged.
  
• Hand Analysis: Share interesting hands you've played, both winning and losing ones.
  Analyze these hands in detail, discussing your thought process, the decisions you made, and what you've learned from them.
  
• Progress Tracking:
  As you mentioned, tracking your results graph is a great way to show your progress.
  You can also include statistics like your win rate, volume of hands played, and any milestones you achieve.
  
• Study Habits:
  Discuss your study routine and what materials you're using to improve your game.
  Share insights from your study sessions and how they impact your play.
  
• Challenges and Goals:
  Set specific goals for yourself and share them in your blog.
  This could include financial goals, skill improvement goals, or even non-poker goals like fitness or lifestyle changes that can positively affect your game.
  
• Learning Resources:
  Share valuable resources you come across during your journey.
  This can include books, courses, and videos that have helped you. It's a great way to provide value to your readers.
  
• Tilt Management:
  Since you mentioned tilt, write about your experiences with tilt and how you're working to manage it.
  Many poker players can relate to this struggle, and your insights may help others.
  
• Entertainment Value:
  While your primary focus is on improving your poker game, don't forget to inject some entertainment into your blog.
  Share anecdotes, funny moments at the tables, or even non-poker-related stories to keep your readers engaged.
  
• Visuals:
  Consider using visuals like graphs, charts, and images to illustrate your points. Visual content can make your blog more engaging.

Remember that your blog is not only a way to track your progress but also an opportunity to connect with other poker enthusiasts, share your knowledge, and learn from others.
Stay dedicated to your goals, and your readers will appreciate your authenticity and determination.

Best of luck with your poker journey and your new blog!

Hey, slyless! Thanks for the tips!

Graph update without rake:



During the past two weeks of playing, there's been improvement in my play. I've been more present at the tables and deviated less from the standard pre-flop strategy. Unfortunately, I can't measure my progress, but it feels like these two areas are getting better, and that's a good thing. As for theory learning, I watch and take notes on training videos regarding range types, decision tree(macro/meso/microanalysis), and more. I had a fruitful discord discussion on how to effectively remember 3bet ranges. I haven't incorporated it into my game yet, will open a discussion in another channel, maybe will get more insights and useful tips. I think I have to structure my learning process, as it's too much useful info and I can't learn it all at once.

Noticed having many overcalls vs fishes, sometimes I just don't believe them! This leak should be eradicated as soon as possible, coz it must significantly improve my winrate.

Also, an interesting topic, what do you guys think about hand show? From etiquette and EV point of view. I tend to show my bluffs to fishes, so they don't think I have nut range only, but I noticed a significant downside, sometimes they just stand up and leave immediately.

At last, I present to you a couple of interesting(winning) hands:

the biggest pot to date:

EPvsMP bluff 4bet:

sometimes bluffcatch vs fishes work!

value, value, and the value

no split for you(opponent showed AK)

150bb TPTK merge


P.S. Next time I'm going to post blunders and losing hands only, don't think I'm a show-off, haha.

Good luck everyone, and not at the tables only!

Hey everyone! I'll give you all a small update. Unfortunately, I didn't prepare interesting hands.

Graph update without rake:



Not tilting, but had a bizarre sleeping schedule. Seems I've normalized my sleeping pattern, now it should be much easier to live in this world and play poker. I've been researching optimal player fields for me and I guess I found several good places to play.

Still have a tendency to overcall versus obvious value betting. Got to make some simple rules for folds like if I'm tanking timebank it's better to fold, and overall don't do any snap-calls vs aggression.

Making shots at nl50, even had a good run - all-in with AAvsAK.

Not much of a theory learning recently, and that's too bad. I mentioned before I have to structure my study process, will do some research on how to do it effectively.

That's all, for now. Have a beautiful week!

Nice results!

Regarding your study process, structuring it effectively is a smart move.
It's essential to strike a balance between playing and learning to continually improve your game.

Wishing you a productive and successful week ahead!

Hey, it's time for an update!
Thank you slyless for attending my blog and for reassurings that my approach to poker could have future results : )

Graph not counting rake:



Made a schedule for playing poker and trying my best to stick to it, I have a studying schedule as well but I lack the discipline to fully follow it. Hopefully, just for now. Although I watched a good video about 3bets OOP and took quite a bit of notes from it, but I don't think it's nearly enough.

Adding a couple of NL50 tables to my workload, it's good to see people there who can bluff:
The plan for this month is to fully transition to nl50, and stick to my study/playing schedule.

As always, have a great week ahead! Remember, as one wise guy said - it's just a game.

Same...same... working on it too

Cheers everyone, it's time for another update!

Let's dive into the results graph(no rake accounting) at once:



Played 2/3 of the volume at NL40-60. If we look at the graph, it was a dicey couple of weeks for my game. I would say "Eternal Classic" when transitioning to higher stakes. Good thing the poker variance Gods were really kind to me this time, and I'm not laying on the ground beaten to zero bankroll. Anyway, it's all lyrics, what matters is I AM NOT FOLLOWING MY SCHEDULE.

As you all know, young adult like myself living in Ukraine is in a unique position, and striking a balance between work/learning/recreation is a sophisticated task. A friend of mine offered to take a course in Cybersecurity, I agreed, it seemed like an easy call. Always good to know how to protect yourself online. Additionally, I'm applying to an online University to get a degree in Computer Science. So far I like the foundation course, where the topic of college success is discussed. In my opinion, it's relevant to poker as well, I think studying poker is easily related to the hardships of student life and I'm glad that I can access such a great resource.

The real problem for me is that I have less and less time if I want to succeed in these fields. I won't lie, I'm not a person who is goal-determined or self-disciplined. The good question is how far can I go to become successful. Success requires sacrificing an enormous amount of time, energy, and focus. I guess I need time to seriously think about it and somehow picture what I want to do or who I want to become.

Enough with philosophy! I decided to purchase a HUGE 43'' 4k monitor, deciding between DELL U4323QE 43 and LG 43UN700-B. It will be a huge productivity leap from my 24" 1080p + quite old 22" Samsung. I'm going to make a trip to the capital to chill a bit and maybe pick up a secondhand display there as well, coz they are not cheap at all!

Not much of an update about poker, but that's what's been on my mind lately. Next time I'll post some pictures of Kyiv for you, so wait for an update to check them out!

As always, thanks for reading and have a beautiful week!