I'm new to the forums, but I've been playing poker online for 6-7 years. For those that are interested here is a piece I wrote for Full Tilt about my experience with poker http://www.fulltilt.com/blog/poker-story-zero-40000/
At the start of September, I'm moving out of my parents place and moving to Toronto. I'll be leaving my current job, and I don't have anything lined up. This grants me the opportunity to take a shot at playing poker full-time. This could end up lasting a couple months, or turn into something more serious, either way I thought it'd be interesting to track it here.
When I first started out in poker and was grinding up through the micro stakes, I was really motivated to work on my game. I studied hand histories, watched videos, talked with people better than me. Whenever my bank-roll hit 20 BI for the next stakes, I moved up. I was definitely the beneficiary of some run-good, but every time I took a shot at the next limit I was successful and moved up permanently. But eventually I made my way to 100 NL and it was almost as if I told myself "Ok, that's good enough". I became very complacent, because I didn't have to study as much anymore and I was making good money out of my hobby. Also, I think all that run-good I experienced with my previous shot taking hurt me here. The few shots I took at 200NL were met with resistance and not the immediate success I had experienced before. Since I was not used to battling through these down-swings, I eventually stopped shot taking and stuck to 100NL because I knew I could beat those games.
I'm hoping this thread can help motivate me to study harder, hold myself accountable for my performance and be less risk adverse when shot taking.
My Goals
[ ] Reach SN by the end of October (25kish to go)
[ ] $25,000 profit by the end of 2015
[ ] 100,000 hands played at 200NL by the end of 2015
Played a decent session today. As a quick aside, I landed a 25x in a $7 Spin'n'go last night for $175 and binked it, so we'll credit this thread for the run good. Also won the B Division Co-Ed Rec Soccer finals today (sick brag) so things have been going great so far.
As for cash today, was pretty swingy
Overall I am happy with my play. I was looking for good spots to take down pots where some regulars showed weakness, and just happened to run into the top of their bluff catching range. I could have been a bit more thin for value on some rivers vs fish, but overall I'm happy with my betsizing today. I made a couple "light" river calls vs regs in spots where I don't think they are balancing their range enough to justify it.
Some interesting hands.
1. I like my turn bet-size here. I think a lot of regs will confuse it with a draw that is trying to price myself in. Obviously he had a real hand here, but I think I get him to stick it in enough with his own draws he doesn't want to fold.
2. I figured he had a weak Qx type hand, which is why I didn't shove. Against a lot of regulars I'd prefer betting river (potentially overbet) but this guy was aggressive enough on rivers that he'll vb thinly and bluff his missed draws.
3. Kind of a weird play by me on the turn. I had a note on this guy that he likes to slow play, so on the flop I figured he has mainly QJ, KJ, KQ J8s type hands. On the turn when he checks to me, I figured he has hands like KQ, KJ that would fold to two barrels. I was planning on shoving most rivers, but then I rivered what I thought was the nuts so i sized down a bit to get called by his Kx, trying to look like a missed FD.
4. Vs a fish who was playing very tight, which is why I didn't 3b pre. I think on the turn he'd just continue betting with his nutted hands, and obviously he c/r for value is very narrow. I block both nut flushes, so I actually expected to just see some random hand spazzing. River is an easy call with my blocker and the fact that I don't expect him to c/r flopped flush draws often.
5. I would typically call here to keep in the fish in the sb. But when he donks with two weaker players in the pot, I expect him to be fairly strong. I'd rather just raise "small" to allow him to continue with his marginal holdings and fastplay his strong draws and sets. Also the fish can still get stubborn with his hands to this size. Turn sucks, but I think I like my line overall.
6. I find a lot of regs get overly sticky in these BVB spots. I think he almost always has a Tx type hand here, and can be as strong as JJ+, he might even be more inclined to call my polarized sizing with hands like 77, 88. I don't think shoving or overbetting river is best, since there is still a chance I am beat and I want to give him a "good price" to hero.
Not sure if I will be able to play tomorrow, going to my girlfriend's mom's birthday. It's at the horse track so maybe I can bring some of the thread run good there as well.
Well my run good didn't carry over to the horse track. "Drink in My Hand" let me down on the home stretch and let "GoodOldhockeygame" edge her out. Lost about $60, but I feel like I lost the most value to the $40 Buffet. Definitely one of the worst buffets I've ever been, especially considering the hefty price tag.
Finished my 'last' day of work today. Technically my last day is tomorrow, but it happens to be the annual company golf tournament. So I'll get to enjoy a few brews and impress people with my utter lack of golf skill. They try to make the teams fair by making sure there is an experienced golfer on each one. There are two guys who golf regularly, and because I'm tall, young and active they assume I'm in that same category. I'll dress the part in my red Tiger polo, which should help me maintain the image up until the first Tee.
As for poker, played a little session today. It's been busy finishing up work and trying to get stuff organized to move, so I haven't been able to put in much volume. But starting next Wednesday I'll be grinding hard, and I'm playing a bunch of the WCOOP events next weekend.
Preflop: Hero is BTN with K A
2 folds, CO raises to $2, Hero raises to $9, 2 folds, CO raises to $28.50, Hero raises to $308.88 and is all-in, CO calls $65.98 and is all-in
Flop: ($190.46) 6 4 Q (2 players, 2 are all-in) Turn: ($190.46) 8 (2 players, 2 are all-in) River: ($190.46) 2 (2 players, 2 are all-in)
Spoiler:
Results: $190.46 pot ($2.80 rake)
Final Board: 6 4 Q 8 2
Hero showed K A and won $0.00 (-$94.48 net)
CO showed Q A and won $187.66 ($93.18 net)
Got my friend's bachelor party this weekend, so might not be able to put in another session until next week. But definitely going to put in lots of volume Wed-Sunday.
Managed to get a session in today before heading away for the weekend.
Overall I don't think I played that great. Started out really rough and just made some dumb plays vs fish that I don't think are +EV. Then I ran really well flopping hands and didn't manage much out of it. Since I started this challenge I've finished every day around $200, which I can't complain about. But I think, especially today, I was set up for bigger
days and I'm making a few mistakes I need to change.
Interested to see some feedback on this hand
Wondering if people think I should be raising this hand, and potentially slow playing my less vulnerable hands to balance my range.
Turn obviously improves us, but it is just such a bad card for his range and great card for our range, so it's really hard for him to continue, and I shouldn't have many bluffs or even thin value to bet this turn.
Not sure if anyone is following this, but I'm finding it beneficial to my game reporting in here after each session. Therefore I'm just going to stick to poker for the time being, but if it turns out some people are following and interested in non-poker related content I'll go back to including a narrative of what's going on.
Today's results
Made a few mistakes. Mainly just calling in spots where fish are not bluffing enough for me to be "hero" calling, even with some of the stronger parts of my range. I also ran a few bluffs that were probably not +EV, but I learned how some regs react in different spots so it wasn't a complete waste.
Some of the more interesting/comical hands
1. Not sure what this reg is doing here. Don't think this is a winning call vs myself or the player pool in general at 100 NL Zoom.
Preflop: Hero is SB with J J
2 folds, CO raises to $3, BTN folds, Hero raises to $10, BB raises to $22.50, CO folds, Hero raises to $100 and is all-in, BB calls $77.50
Flop: ($203) 7 9 A (2 players, 1 is all-in) Turn: ($203) 8 (2 players, 1 is all-in) River: ($203) Q (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Spoiler:
Results: $203 pot ($2.80 rake)
Final Board: 7 9 A 8 Q
Hero showed J J and lost (-$100 net)
BB showed Q K and won $200.20 ($100.20 net)
Preflop: Hero is SB with K K
2 folds, CO raises to $3, BTN folds, Hero raises to $10, BB raises to $33, CO folds, Hero raises to $100 and is all-in, BB calls $29.48
Flop: ($127.96) Q 8 9 (2 players, 1 is all-in) Turn: ($127.96) 2 (2 players, 1 is all-in) River: ($127.96) 8 (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Spoiler:
Results: $127.96 pot ($2.80 rake)
Final Board: Q 8 9 2 8
Hero showed K K and won $0.00 (-$62.48 net)
BB showed 8 K and won $125.16 ($62.68 net)
I'm still in the process of moving, so my next few days might lack in volume. But I've started a prop bet with a fellow 100 NL reg. It's based on poker volume and working out and meeting weekly targets for each. If you fail to reach the targets you have to pay for 70% of the other's BI into the Sunday Million and you only get 30% of the winnings. Sorry we aren't high rollers so it's nothing crazy, but should be fun and help me get back on track.