Hi guys. My name's George and I've been playing poker semi-seriously for the past few years, but never to the point of becoming professional. I broke even over the last 200k hands I played (10nl-25nl zoom) and gave up on my dreams of turning pro for a while. I've smoked weed all day every day for the past 8 or 9 years, eaten a diet so poor that there's barely any real food in it, and unsurprisingly suffered badly with depression throughout most of that period.

Bored of feeling ****, I decided to do something about it. I started eating properly a few months back and started meditating daily and suddenly the future seemed a little brighter. A couple of weeks back I gave up weed cold turkey and put myself on a flight out of the country for a month to ensure I'm not tempted to start up again.

I've started playing poker again over the last week and am intrigued to see what I'm capable of with a healthy mind and body. I had $130ish sitting in my PS account from when I played last and it's now at $190. I'll be playing 10nl Zoom with a modest goal of 4k hands per day until I arrive back home, where I'll be increasing that significantly. I'll be aiming to update this thread daily in the hopes that the accountability will keep me committed and focused.

There's alot I've left out but don't want to bore you any more than I already have Look forward to talking poker with you all and excited to see what the future holds! In case anyone is interested, here's my PGC thread from a couple of years ago that I abandoned after tilting off a bankroll (sorry about that, won't happen again lol) : http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...ng-up-1415114/

lol,just dont quick,U cant quick while on the pace...keep going

we can chat in skype,i have challenge aswell,and goin similar situation like you bro,write me

Any z00m thread I shall follow. Best of luck buddy!

Thanks guys. Falling asleep at the minute it's almost 3am here but I'll hunt down your thread tomorrow veteraan and also pm me your skype, it'll be good to talk to some people in a similar position.

Results for today:

Hands: 4523
Profit: -$19.58

Still getting back into the swing of things but I felt alot more comfortable towards the end of the last session. Played pretty poorly in my first session, dropped 5 BI's and tilt breaker kicked me off. I did some hand reviews and a bit of studying and came back strong for the second to claw a bit back.

1st half of session:


2nd half:


BR: $173.63 (+$1 pyramid)
SC: 1540

.

Apologies for the delayed update. I went into town last night to eat and watch the football, had a few beers and crashed out as soon as I got home.

Results:

Hands: 1970
Profit: $37.97



Playing alot better for the most part. I lost a stack to a misclick which I was pretty pissed off about. I opened ATo from the CO, BU 3Bets and BB cold 4Bets. I was trying to colour code a player on the table beneath and the table above steals focus and I click raise I also fell short of my 4k hands target but will make up the difference today.

Funny hand:

Preflop: Hero is UTG with A, A
Hero raises to $0.36, 4 folds, BB raises to $0.62, Hero raises to $1.71, BB raises to $2.80, Hero raises to $14.84 (All-In), BB calls $7.99 (All-In)

Flop: ($21.63) 10, K, 5 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Turn: ($21.63) 9 (2 players, 2 all-in)

River: ($21.63) 3 (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $21.63 | Rake: $0.97

Results:
BB had K, Q (one pair, Kings).
Hero had A, A (one pair, Aces).
Outcome: Hero won $20.66

BR: $214.05(+$5 Pyramid, -$2.50 Spin n Go (For Ticket :P))
SC: 1815

Gl

Cheers mate.

I'm going to update early as I doubt I'm gonna play anymore today. Played badly and ran even worse. I'm not feeling sorry for myself it really has been brutal Dropped 11 BI's - 7 of which came from getting KK's in pre (3 times vs AA and one vs QQ). Thought this hand was pretty sick too vs a guy I have tagged as a fish. Maybe I can find a fold but I guess I'm not that good yet lol:

Poker Stars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Converted at http://handhistoryconverter.com

Button ($9.97)
SB ($4.47)
BB ($24.30)
UTG ($4.63)
Hero (MP) ($40.39)
CO ($2.96)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A, A
1 fold, Hero raises $0.30, 3 folds, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.65) A, 2, 4 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($0.65) 9 (2 players)
BB bets $0.46, Hero raises $1.46, BB raises $2.64, Hero raises $4.68, BB raises $20.90 (All-In), Hero calls $17.86

River: ($48.65) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $48.65

Results:

Here's the sexy graph for those of you who take pleasure in others misfortune



Clearly there's alot of room for improvement which I'll take as a positive. Gonna spend a few hours studying tonight and hopefully I'll run/play a little better tomorrow. I might cash in my Stars Coins to lessen the blow a bit. Ideally I'd like to keep them seperate but we'll see what happens.

BR: $105.88
SC: 2790

do you have a brm for moving up and down? and a stop loss?

Ye I was gonna address this in my next post I'll be taking a shot at the next limit with 40 BI's at the previous limit and moving back down if I hit 30 BI's. So I'll be shot taking 25nl at $400 and moving back down at $300. So really I should have moved down to 5nl at $150 but I'm able to re-deposit if needed and know I can beat 10nl comfortably once I get my **** back together :P

I'm running Tiltbreaker which kicks me off my tables and stops me playing for an hour if I drop 5 BI's from the peak of my session. That's usually enough time for me to collect my thoughts, analyse some hands and make sure I'm not spewing lol.

Dropped down to 2 tables today and nitted up a bit. Took loads of notes and was tagging players like a mad man. Fell short of my hands target but I did play over 7 hours and the internet is appauling so I'll let myself off I've also started leaving games when I have close to/over 200BB and then returning to try and lower variance a bit. I lost 2 500BB pots yesterday and it still hurts.

Results:

Hands: 2736
Profit: $42.82



BR: $153.55 (+$5 Pyramid)
SC: 3340

Moving back in the right direction. I'll continue playing 2 tables tomorrow and then maybe introduce another if I feel I'm playing well. I'll start posting some hands tomorrow too. I've been getting in quite late at night and I'm half asleep when I post these updates. Here's a fun one though. Gotta love 10nl

Poker Stars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Converted at http://handhistoryconverter.com

Button ($13.18)
Hero (SB) ($10.24)
BB ($16.56)
UTG ($19.38)
MP ($25.05)
CO ($13.89)

Preflop: Hero is SB with J, J
4 folds, Hero raises $0.16, BB raises $0.82, Hero raises $1.90, BB calls $1.19

Flop: ($4.22) 9, 4, 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $2.49, BB raises $5.58, Hero raises $5.64 (All-In), BB calls $2.55

Turn: ($20.48) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($20.48) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $20.48

Results:

Best of luck

Thanks mate.

Hands: 6987
Profit: $10.03



Today was a proper grind. Dropped a few BI's early on and it was an uphill battle from then on. I was determined to end today in the black so I ended up playing a 6 hour session, took a half hour break and then played another 3 hours. The sharp spike at 4k hands was me tilting like a dickhead. Luckily tiltbreaker came to save the day. Still annoyed at myself though and clearly my mental game needs some more work moving forward. Should've been up 5 or 6 BI's instead of 1 but it's all a learning curve.

On a side note I've booked a flight back home for the day after tomorrow. I was originally going back on the 23rd but I'm finding it hard to put in volume where I'm at and the internet is tilt inducing. It's cost me at least 4 BI's over the last week I'd say. Gonna have to find a place to live when I get back so it's gonna be a bit hectic but I'll still be getting in the 4k hands a day minimum even if I have to grind in starbucks

BR: $162.98 ($1 pyramid)
SC: 4640

PS: Hands to come in the morning 100%. Marked quite a few from today I'd like some advice on it's just I'm all pokered out atm and going through hand histories may just tip me over the edge

I've always been pretty hesitant posting hands in the past for a number of reasons. Firstly I don't want to waste anyone's time with hands they might consider boring/standard. I also find it really difficult to remember why I marked a hand in the first place. Alot of them seem pretty standard once you know the results and it's hard to imagine playing them any different (from here on I'll keep a notepad nearby to jot down what specifically caused me problems). And lastly - I don't want to look like an idiot However, all successful players agree it's a crucial part of development and so, insecurities voiced, I'll fire away. All I ask it that you provide some reasoning with your answers (if any) as oppose to just "fold flop".

H1: Vs Fish, fold turn?


H2: Vs Unknown without a full stack. Don't even feel like fish raise a flop this dry with a 9 but who knows.


H3: Vs Unknown. Here's an example of where results cause me to doubt myself. I'm pretty sure I played the hand correctly but post session I half convinced myself I shoud've checked back river. Could maybe size smaller OTR but with his range so heavily weighted towards Kx I didn't want to lose value.


H4: Vs Unknown. I don't really like my bet OTR, very hard to get called by worse. I'm leaning towards a c/c as I think we're a little too high up in our range to c/f with the flush missing?


And heres a fun one to finish off. Was almost certain I was going to see 9x and a flush draw but I was pleasantly surprised

Hands seems wp. First AA hand never folding vs fish, especially to this sizing. Both river bets w AK seems fine, wouldn't xc the last one at these stakes if we decide to check river.

GL!

Thanks!

Barely played 1000 hands today as it's my last day here and I decided to be a bit of a tourist and buy some clothes and **** to take back. I'm flying home early hours of the morning and I've only just started packing. It's unlikely I'll get much sleep, if any, but I'll do my best to get in some hands tomorrow and at the very least I'll check in and update with today's graph and some hands.

Looking forward to getting back to England. It's hot as **** here and I've missed my internet. 1st world problems...

Sorry for yesterday's silence. Here's some results:

10.07.15

Hands: 823
Profit: -$4.16



Yesterday:

Hands: 3891
Profit: $8.77



Was really pleased with how I played yesterday. I dropped 4 BI's with PF AI's within 100 hands of starting the session, which I think is a first for me (AA v AKo, AK v QQ & KK v AA twice). I just shrugged it off and carried on playing as best I could and managed to end the day in profit.

This hand tickled me Time banks all the way to the end in a 20bb pot @ 10nl and then writes these words of wisdom in the chat before folding. "Well. Either a good bluff or a bad bet. Pretty obvious to me"

Poker Stars No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed)

Button ($15.90)
SB ($16.01)
Hero (BB) ($17.49)
UTG ($10.73)
MP ($4.45)
CO ($6.66)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, J
2 folds, CO raises $0.25, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.15

Flop: ($0.55) 5, 4, A (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

Turn: ($0.55) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.39, CO calls $0.39

River: ($1.33) 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.93, 1 fold

Total pot: $1.33

BR: $168.39
SC: 5465

Proper hands to follow shortly...

H1: Vs Semi-Nit. AF 1 with 4% 3Bet over a few hundred hands. Raise flop? Small value bet on river?


H2:


H3: Here's a spot I probably would've called down in the past but managed to find a fold. Thoughts?


H4: Don't see Qx leading out like this and 5x would c/c. Might be a bit spewy though?


H5: Only called because pretty much all the draws bricked. Came really close to folding turn though.



Appreciate any feedback, even if you can only be arsed to comment on a hand or 2

Didn't play at all yesterday but spent most of the day studying. I recently got Carroters book and been working my way through it. Today's session was a bit all over the place to begin with. Was trying to implement new strategies and improve on old ones and it's always a bit scatty to begin with. Things started to improve as I warmed up a bit and I felt alot more comfortable as the session went on.

Results:

Hands: 3534
Profit: $24.60



BR: $192.94
SC: 6540

H1: i would go for a bet fold river to gain thin value from his Kx hands.
H2: seems fine to me.
H3: Aah the annoying limp reraise:P, Well depends if villain is a reg or a fish. but normally this line is very strong imo. So i think i could find a fold to. but i'm not sure.
H4: when i make this kind of calls they Always have it :P. His bet is polarized so i the call can't be that bad.


H5: Flop and turn oke, river is close. i assume JJ 3bet pre, so you lose to his 99 and 6x.
the question is villain capable of playing his FD this way and turn them in a river bluff.
i think not, so im leaning towards a fold.

Thanks for feedback. Ye good point on H5. Don't think he's ever min raising turn, leading out on river with his draws so I should find the fold OTR for sure.

Yesterday was the new worst day of the "challenge" Woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep so ended up playing (bad idea) and dropped 5 BI's. So I woke up and began playing with that hanging over me which wasn't the best start. Tried to play as much as I could and just ran horribly, dropping another 10 BI's over 2 sessions. Whilst I was probably playing my B or C game, I didn't tilt or spew (to the best of my knowledge) and so I'll take that as a small positive. Finished the day 8 BI's below EV so it wasn't all me

Yesterday's results:

Hands: 8513
Profit: -$151.87



Issue with Stars currently as well which is pretty jarring. All my tables froze up yesterday afternoon and after I relaunched the software I had $10 stuck "in play" (with no tables open) and was earning no points whilst I played. Just checked this morning and I now have $30 stuck in play and my points still haven't moved since yesterday afternoon (paid $90 in rake). Emailed them a couple of times and they're "working on it" but it's putting me off grinding as I'm not sure I'll be reimbursed for the points I should've earnt. Time will tell

I also cashed in $60 worth of StarsCoins to lessen the blow a bit.

BR: $122.68
SC: 1090 (Hopefully a fair bit more)

Did you run in al lot of coolers.

When i see your redline breakeven which is not very common on this limit i think this has two reasons:
- your taking a lot of pots down before the river

But when you then see you blueline i am tempted to think you bring to many weak hands to showdown that should be folded on the flop or turn.

Or it is just a bad downswing.

Play less volume, do more study. Trying to play that many hands you're almost certainly going to miss spots

There's a ton of value in runitonce essential videos, you should defs pay the $10 per month and watch these videos on the reg and you should see big improvements in your game

Ye I'm definitely over calling rivers (vs 10nl population). My river call efficiency is <1.5 in most sessions so I should be finding more folds and it's something I'm actively working on. This being said, I think variance accounts for most of the negative blue line in the previous session. Was consistently running into the top of people's ranges. KK's into AA's multiple times, overpairs vs sets and flushes into flushes etc etc...

I'm prioritising improving over profit at the moment and am treating this all as a learning experience. I know I could play some ABC poker, have a soaring blueline and a plummeting redline and have probably moved out of 10nl already by now. But I'd rather experiment and make some mistakes here rather than at 25nl or 50nl. I'm still trying to incorporate and cement everything I've learnt recently into my game and I'm confident it'll come to fruition soon enough.

Thanks for looking out for me I agree 100% I need to be folding more rivers vs a population that massively underbluffs them.

I've been a member at most of the major training sites at one point or another. I've only just recently cancelled my grinderschool subscription as I've caught up on most of the content and have started up a deuces cracked trial. Got 10's of books that I've read and 100's of videos I've watched multiple times and still continue to do so.

I think the opposite is in fact true, in that I now need to play more volume and study less. Prior to starting this thread I'd been watching videos for a week solid to familiarise myself with the games after some time out. Worked my way through most of "The Grinders Manual" these past few days and at the minute I'm suffering from a bit of information overload that needs to be cemented by throwing myself into some spots. Thanks for the advice though. I've also never had a membership at runitonce before and for that price it's definitely something I'll be checking out.