WE GON' MAKE IT
01-15-2017
, 06:13 AM
A little bit about me:
23-year-old Australian accounting student.
Past micro-star who's been off and on with poker about a year and a half. Recently started playing again and I want it to be different than last time. Previous times I run it up then go on a ridiculously small downswing that really gets to me, and I end up playing with my half my roll on a single table playing like a monkey. This is was the last time I ran it up from 10 dollars and before I blew half my roll playing 50nl
and withdrew in order to save the little 200 dollars I had made. 
I tilt badly. I have played a couple of 10k hand sessions 4 tabling zoom in the past to get unstucko. And I often move up when I'm getting sucked out/running bad and evidently make a lot of negative ev plays in attempt to get lucky, suck out, and win my money back. The biggest source of my tilt comes from the confliction in my mind from tossing up between a feel/exploitative strategies and GTO/math approach. For example, I'm basically convinced a min 5bet is aces at micros, but my friends and others I talk to say you can never fold KK as it's too strong. So I often think of their advice and get it in and go against my strong desire to fold. And when I see aces this infuriates me because I feel like I knew what I had to do but I can't follow through. This tilts me so much that I feel relieved when I'm wrong sometimes.
I habitually and impulsively look at my graph while I'm playing, which I believe is a huge leak. Looking at your graph constantly takes your attention away from the tables, and you are constantly triggering past memories of losses that annoyed you, which just harbors anger rather than forgetting and moving on.
So I've started playing again, and this time around I want it to be different. I haven't looked at my graph for a week and constantly try and remind myself that this game is a marathon and a month is a day in poker. I've also cut down to 3 zoom tables rather than 4, and I've tried to put a tad more thought into my hands. And things are going great I powered through 2z to 10z I'm winning a lot right now. I seem to be running great with a lot of fish in the pools right now paying me off. I hope to make 400 in 2 months at 10z and I'll move up to 25z which I believe I'll be winning at if I don't let my poor mental game get to me. And so yeah, I would be pretty happy with winning at 50z by the end of the year.
I play a pretty straight forward exploitative strategy and basically the only study I've done is watch isthar11 videos who is a huge inspiration
23-year-old Australian accounting student.
Past micro-star who's been off and on with poker about a year and a half. Recently started playing again and I want it to be different than last time. Previous times I run it up then go on a ridiculously small downswing that really gets to me, and I end up playing with my half my roll on a single table playing like a monkey. This is was the last time I ran it up from 10 dollars and before I blew half my roll playing 50nl
and withdrew in order to save the little 200 dollars I had made. I tilt badly. I have played a couple of 10k hand sessions 4 tabling zoom in the past to get unstucko. And I often move up when I'm getting sucked out/running bad and evidently make a lot of negative ev plays in attempt to get lucky, suck out, and win my money back. The biggest source of my tilt comes from the confliction in my mind from tossing up between a feel/exploitative strategies and GTO/math approach. For example, I'm basically convinced a min 5bet is aces at micros, but my friends and others I talk to say you can never fold KK as it's too strong. So I often think of their advice and get it in and go against my strong desire to fold. And when I see aces this infuriates me because I feel like I knew what I had to do but I can't follow through. This tilts me so much that I feel relieved when I'm wrong sometimes.
I habitually and impulsively look at my graph while I'm playing, which I believe is a huge leak. Looking at your graph constantly takes your attention away from the tables, and you are constantly triggering past memories of losses that annoyed you, which just harbors anger rather than forgetting and moving on.
So I've started playing again, and this time around I want it to be different. I haven't looked at my graph for a week and constantly try and remind myself that this game is a marathon and a month is a day in poker. I've also cut down to 3 zoom tables rather than 4, and I've tried to put a tad more thought into my hands. And things are going great I powered through 2z to 10z I'm winning a lot right now. I seem to be running great with a lot of fish in the pools right now paying me off. I hope to make 400 in 2 months at 10z and I'll move up to 25z which I believe I'll be winning at if I don't let my poor mental game get to me. And so yeah, I would be pretty happy with winning at 50z by the end of the year.
I play a pretty straight forward exploitative strategy and basically the only study I've done is watch isthar11 videos who is a huge inspiration
Last edited by gobbymcgee; 01-15-2017 at 06:30 AM.
01-15-2017
, 07:07 AM
01-15-2017
, 07:58 AM
Graphs and hands will be posted at the end of every month by the way. Although, there's not many exciting hands to be had at the micros unfortunately.
Last edited by gobbymcgee; 01-15-2017 at 08:04 AM.
01-18-2017
, 03:57 AM
Early update because I couldn't resist looking at my results. Bit surprised that my winrate is quite low as I thought I was crushing haha. Had some serious heat with a 10bi day today.
Biggest pots from today:
All sets and 98 most likely are going to raise flop here. Only lose to occasional set and QT. He could be jamming AK here and missed flush draw of course.
Kinda gross spot, expect to lose to AA,KK,QQ very often. But too strong to fold and probably will run into occasional bluff and chop with ak.
Run good. I check river because I think he's just going to fold his show down hands here (99,tt,88) and draws if I bet river so I was praying he's got a draw that he might bluff. And he most likely would bet AJ on the turn, KQ and AK probably bet river.
Results so far:
It's a good start, but it's only a start. Might mix in some more regular tables as they seem to be a lot easier but not very pleasant to play. Maybe 2 zoom 2 regular.
Biggest pots from today:
All sets and 98 most likely are going to raise flop here. Only lose to occasional set and QT. He could be jamming AK here and missed flush draw of course.
Kinda gross spot, expect to lose to AA,KK,QQ very often. But too strong to fold and probably will run into occasional bluff and chop with ak.
Run good. I check river because I think he's just going to fold his show down hands here (99,tt,88) and draws if I bet river so I was praying he's got a draw that he might bluff. And he most likely would bet AJ on the turn, KQ and AK probably bet river.
Results so far:
It's a good start, but it's only a start. Might mix in some more regular tables as they seem to be a lot easier but not very pleasant to play. Maybe 2 zoom 2 regular.
Last edited by gobbymcgee; 01-18-2017 at 04:12 AM.
01-23-2017
, 04:45 AM
Just downloaded all my hands from pokerstars and wow it was eye opening. It really put things into perspective that I'm a lot worse than I think, and the attitude of "I just need to put in volume I'm better than these players", is a terrible one. Yes, I might be better in some areas than most of the micro field, but that doesn't guarantee I'll crush them.
Time to get better. So I've decided to start fresh and rebuild everything I think is correct or incorrect. I've dropped down to two tables and I'm in the process of trying to improve how I allocate my hands and manage my ranges. I'm stilling going to press pot with top pair against fish, but at 16z you play a lot of hands against regulars compared to the other stakes (probably because the player pool is quite low). What I'm weakest at is bluffing. There seems to be so many variables you have to take into consideration when bluffing as opposed to allocating hands into value bets and check calls. Such variables such as:
For example, do you guys think if I'm cbetting this hand I will be over betting the flop?
These will be my valuebets on the flop:
And being balanced would mean I need to bluff around 25% here roughly as I bet around 1/2 pot. And as a default strategy without any exploitative adjustments, I should be bluffing these hands I think? AT might play better as a check back, being that it does beat a decent amount of hands. But then again, can we call the turn with AT?
I'm just trying to get a closer idea of what a balanced range would appear like and try and stay a bit closer to that as a default.
Looking back I believe my flop cbets have been a huge leak. My cbet % is quite low at 45%ish; however, I believe the hands and situations I chose to cbet were suboptimal. I know so because looking back at my previous sessions my flop cbets are pretty much subconscious autopilot driven. And I'm sure my strategy that has made its way into my subconscious is not good!
Another area I'm very weak in, is turning low SDV hands into bluffs. I'll often just snap check hands down knowing very well I'll win basically none of the time. And these hands are often great bluffs because they are often the weakest hands you'll have in some spots. Even knowing this, in the back of my mind I'm like meh check back or snap fold "it's only a small pot". But in reality, I reckon these spots are critical that you consider bluffing at times for a healthy win rate.
A question for the elite out there: how do many bluffs do you need to balance your value bets. I've read that it's related to your bet sizing but I don't want to get too deep into the theory. Just some guidelines would be good.
Playing 16z now and it's going decent.
Time to get better. So I've decided to start fresh and rebuild everything I think is correct or incorrect. I've dropped down to two tables and I'm in the process of trying to improve how I allocate my hands and manage my ranges. I'm stilling going to press pot with top pair against fish, but at 16z you play a lot of hands against regulars compared to the other stakes (probably because the player pool is quite low). What I'm weakest at is bluffing. There seems to be so many variables you have to take into consideration when bluffing as opposed to allocating hands into value bets and check calls. Such variables such as:
- What are their tendencies (do they fold or call a lot)?
- What are the best hands I should be bluffing here?
- How many of the top bluffing hands should I be bluffing to balance my value bets, if I have any at all.
- Am I blocking any of his calling or folding range?
- What am I folding by barreling turn and am I getting enough folds?
For example, do you guys think if I'm cbetting this hand I will be over betting the flop?
These will be my valuebets on the flop:
And being balanced would mean I need to bluff around 25% here roughly as I bet around 1/2 pot. And as a default strategy without any exploitative adjustments, I should be bluffing these hands I think? AT might play better as a check back, being that it does beat a decent amount of hands. But then again, can we call the turn with AT?
I'm just trying to get a closer idea of what a balanced range would appear like and try and stay a bit closer to that as a default.
Looking back I believe my flop cbets have been a huge leak. My cbet % is quite low at 45%ish; however, I believe the hands and situations I chose to cbet were suboptimal. I know so because looking back at my previous sessions my flop cbets are pretty much subconscious autopilot driven. And I'm sure my strategy that has made its way into my subconscious is not good!
Another area I'm very weak in, is turning low SDV hands into bluffs. I'll often just snap check hands down knowing very well I'll win basically none of the time. And these hands are often great bluffs because they are often the weakest hands you'll have in some spots. Even knowing this, in the back of my mind I'm like meh check back or snap fold "it's only a small pot". But in reality, I reckon these spots are critical that you consider bluffing at times for a healthy win rate.
A question for the elite out there: how do many bluffs do you need to balance your value bets. I've read that it's related to your bet sizing but I don't want to get too deep into the theory. Just some guidelines would be good.
Playing 16z now and it's going decent.
Last edited by gobbymcgee; 01-23-2017 at 05:08 AM.
01-23-2017
, 05:14 AM
Another line check:
My line of thinking is we can barrel on diamonds and a 2, 4 or 5 turn if called. Betting flops get better aces highs to fold. Turn barrel folds out 55-88. Picking up the 4 just means more outs and the hand isn't strong enough to check call so I continue. I'm not sure if I should just be open folding in this spot as I'm going to have many better hands such as KQ, KJ, 87, QJ. Villains also going to have a pretty condensed range of Tx. Thoughts?
This games hard. xD
My line of thinking is we can barrel on diamonds and a 2, 4 or 5 turn if called. Betting flops get better aces highs to fold. Turn barrel folds out 55-88. Picking up the 4 just means more outs and the hand isn't strong enough to check call so I continue. I'm not sure if I should just be open folding in this spot as I'm going to have many better hands such as KQ, KJ, 87, QJ. Villains also going to have a pretty condensed range of Tx. Thoughts?
This games hard. xD
Last edited by gobbymcgee; 01-23-2017 at 05:21 AM.
01-31-2017
, 04:06 AM
End of January
Results:
I played great to be honest. A lot of two tabling and making great decisions. Really tried to play more of my range in spots against the few regulars at 16z rather than playing the hand. I think I ran a bit below average as well.
Going to finish my exams and check out the upswingpoker lab and go hard on that for a month. Has anyone viewed the lab? I feel like it will benefit me a lot because I find I'm clicking buttons because I "FEEL" it's correct but really haven't looked at it logically, and I think the lab focuses on how to think about poker. I really am interested in a theory as well and evidently I don't know anything about it if you look at my previous posts.
So by the looks of things stars will be banned in Aus, so I'll probably be heading over to ACR and playing 25nl regular. I will probably start by playing 4 regular tables and I'm quite excited. The software isn't too bad and the traffic is decent! It's most likely going to be softer than Stars.
Feeling really great about this year and I think there is a high chance I'll "breakthrough" at some point this year because I'm really motivated right now and actually trying to get better and think about the game. It might be because this time around I've been eating very healthy and exercising a lot. As before I'd get no sunlight and no exercise, which is really terrible.
Also, I forgot to mention; I won this from a promotion:
Thread saver (yellow fever confirmed):
Results:
I played great to be honest. A lot of two tabling and making great decisions. Really tried to play more of my range in spots against the few regulars at 16z rather than playing the hand. I think I ran a bit below average as well.
Going to finish my exams and check out the upswingpoker lab and go hard on that for a month. Has anyone viewed the lab? I feel like it will benefit me a lot because I find I'm clicking buttons because I "FEEL" it's correct but really haven't looked at it logically, and I think the lab focuses on how to think about poker. I really am interested in a theory as well and evidently I don't know anything about it if you look at my previous posts.
So by the looks of things stars will be banned in Aus, so I'll probably be heading over to ACR and playing 25nl regular. I will probably start by playing 4 regular tables and I'm quite excited. The software isn't too bad and the traffic is decent! It's most likely going to be softer than Stars.
Feeling really great about this year and I think there is a high chance I'll "breakthrough" at some point this year because I'm really motivated right now and actually trying to get better and think about the game. It might be because this time around I've been eating very healthy and exercising a lot. As before I'd get no sunlight and no exercise, which is really terrible.
Also, I forgot to mention; I won this from a promotion:
Spoiler:
Thread saver (yellow fever confirmed):
Spoiler:
Last edited by gobbymcgee; 01-31-2017 at 04:12 AM.
02-05-2017
, 12:01 AM
Early update:
Today lol:
Bit of tilt. Got doomswitched hard and had 32wwsf over 1k hands lol. So happy to recover it though. And an absolute robbery from today:
Results so far:
Might not play very much today. Going to focus on exams coming up and see what happens with poker in Australia. If I can still play poker I expect to ascend to a new level of GTO. Feeling very strong right now.
The goods (NSWF):
Today lol:
Bit of tilt. Got doomswitched hard and had 32wwsf over 1k hands lol. So happy to recover it though. And an absolute robbery from today:
Results so far:
Might not play very much today. Going to focus on exams coming up and see what happens with poker in Australia. If I can still play poker I expect to ascend to a new level of GTO. Feeling very strong right now.
The goods (NSWF):
Spoiler:
Last edited by gobbymcgee; 02-05-2017 at 12:25 AM.
03-02-2017
, 11:00 AM
Update: Haven't been playing very much due to a busy month.
Tilted a fair bit and punted a stack at 50z and many others.
Playing pretty bad and running just as bad.
My games developed a bit IMO as I feel I see the game a bit more clearly now if you know what I mean.
Ordered mental game of poker.
Main game 25z now (seems just the same as 16z with a lot of terrible plays and spew).
Smashed exams.
Broke up with GF (for the best).
Been reading every day and running every second day so far this year.
This hand kinda shows the level of play at 25z and my play being equally as bad (tilted as ****) :
Results so far:
Tilted a fair bit and punted a stack at 50z and many others.
Playing pretty bad and running just as bad.
My games developed a bit IMO as I feel I see the game a bit more clearly now if you know what I mean.
Ordered mental game of poker.
Main game 25z now (seems just the same as 16z with a lot of terrible plays and spew).
Smashed exams.
Broke up with GF (for the best).
Been reading every day and running every second day so far this year.
This hand kinda shows the level of play at 25z and my play being equally as bad (tilted as ****) :
Results so far:
Last edited by gobbymcgee; 03-02-2017 at 11:13 AM.
