you can breakeven through 30k hands even winning at 5ptbb/100 over the long term. it's gross to think the long run is much longer than 30k hands but trust me it is. I have broken even before for 30-50k hand stretches and I have won 30 buy-ins in less than 10k hands.

QFT. Vinivici has no variance - see if you can find the 100,000 break-even stretch. That said, I'm assuming the poster above still has tons of leaks which are making him lose money aside from normal variance.

• Spend a week at $10NL.
• Play a very basic strategy (whether nit, TAG, or LAG - whatever your style is), focus on why you are making each play.
• Play only a few tables.
• If you start stressing out, take a break and do something fun (such as a hot chick*)

In a week, see how things are going, and decide whether you are ready to move back up to $25. If so, play the same style at $25 you were playing at $10.


*consider doing a fatty for karma

Step5. Take a break, do some exercise, clear the head.
Works everytime for me

More like Step X since I applied it between all the steps listed above

Gotta put the Mark grace quote in here "A slumpbuster is when you have to take one for the team. It's finding the biggest, nastiest, fattest broad, and you put the wood to her to come out of your slump. Also known as 'jumping on a grenade for the team'."

Ive played NL10! 14bb/100 over 10k hands. I only played until I had 20 BI's for NL25.

I play TAG pretty well IMO

Doesn't make a huge difference if I play 4 or 8 tables, im able to play pretty much the same.

I don't tilt anymore! In the rare cases that I do tilt, i take breaks, watch a movie or whatever.

Its just so frustrating. I play pretty much fit-fold because bluffing is just impossible! Why is bluffing impossible at NL25 you ask?

Because its impossible to put people on hands! Ive seen people min3bet me with j10o Ive seen it with AA Ive seen it with 47s. I mean, nothing makes sense! And its not a rarity or anything, that people play hands weirdly, it happens ALL THE TIME.

So basically I play fit-fold. now the thing about playing fit-fold is Im alot dependent on making money going to showdown, which is where I feel im unlucky! The question I have to pose IS, am I not giving up when I am sucked out on, or is it just standard variance?? Like say I get AA, raise preflop, all the standard stuff. Flop comes down K82r. bet/call. Turn is 10, bet/call. River is maybe another 2. Shove/call. Ooops villain has K10. Is that a cooler or should I have folded somewhere along the way??? Its that sort of stuff.

I guess the only way to truly find out is to hire a coach but their all too expensive. Ill just ride this one through and see what happens for the next 30k hands.

One last thing. When im playing NL10, im like almost 100% sure im making the right decisions. I have confidence. In NL25 I dont feel that way, because people play so random I have a really hard time being confident about making the right play because I am so often wrong. In the end I feel like im just guessing what people have. Im quite a good hand reader and I often read well but there are so many times where you just go "what?!". Its these moments that make me doubt my skill.

Poker is not really about bluffing, but even at 25NL there are still spots to do it (from today's session):

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

SB: $35.27
Hero (BB): $26.35
UTG: $58.30
MP: $26.32
CO: $64.28
BTN: $25.00

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BB with 3 3
1 fold, MP raises to $1, 2 folds, SB calls $0.90, Hero calls $0.75

Flop: ($3.00) 5 A 4 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP bets $1.75, SB folds, Hero raises to $4.25, MP folds

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 5 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

BB: $26.19
UTG: $43.45
CO: $32.36
Hero (BTN): $31.86
SB: $16.39

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with 7 6
1 fold, CO raises to $0.75, Hero raises to $2.75, SB calls $2.65, 2 folds

Flop: ($6.50) Q Q 5 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $3, SB calls $3

Turn: ($12.50) J (2 players)
SB checks, Hero checks

River: ($12.50) 8 (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $26.11 all in, SB folds

what made you take those lines?

hand 1) he's simply betting 100% of his range on that flop and a flop raise will show profit by itself even if we always c/f turn plus we also have 6 outs to continue with if we are called.

hand 2) he's prob. only calling a shove 10% of the time or less given his line

Yes, but don't try to be over aggro, you'll get things like this (only 14 hands on villain at the time):

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players
The Official 2+2 Hand Converter Powered By DeucesCracked.com

Hero (BTN): $25.50
SB: $25.35
BB: $27.36
UTG: $23.15
MP: $26.13
CO: $17.37

Pre Flop: ($0.35) Hero is BTN with Q A
2 folds, CO calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1, 1 fold, BB raises to $2.50, 1 fold, Hero calls $1.50

Flop: ($5.35) 8 3 A (2 players)
BB bets $3, Hero calls $3

Turn: ($11.35) 5 (2 players)
Hero says "Another barrel!", BB bets $7, Hero calls $7

River: ($25.35) 5 (2 players)
BB bets $14.86 all in, Hero calls $13 all in


I see a lot of those guys on the micros, squeezing and 3b-ing all the time, without thinking further. It makes the regs mostly more exploitable though.

this

and play it simple and stupid, the money will eventually come back (been there, done it, bought the t-shirt, etc.).

+1 Verneer,

HU definately something I have dabbled in very unsuccesfully. I think it would be an excellent game to practice hand reading etc

thanks for this very much

Verneer

muchos respect. there arent many guys who have beat unl and come back 2 help quite like this

most of them r dooshes who come back just for teh ego boost. it is nice to see that u dont do that once itt

props to ice_w0lf too great addition to the thread (did u get coaching?)

+#

Bojangles,

It's often hard to figure out why you lose in a given session. Is he sucking out and coolering you via luck? Are you failing to read when he hit his draw, and being stubborn?

I recently went through something similar. For a while, I was making 30bb/100. I was calling lots of aggressive river bets, almost all of which were lame bluffs. Suddenly, I felt like I was doing the same thing, but I was getting value-towned. My HEM stats say my VPIP and PFR are the same. I think the big difference may have been whose bets I was calling.

Here are my suggestions.
1) You have not told us if you have done a slump -buster yet. I suggest hanging a salt lick outside your home, and nailing the first fatty it attracts. I it is critical that you hang it up outside your home because your karma queen may not be able to fit in through the door.

2) Someone created a script whereby all values on the table are listed as number of bb, rather than actual cash values. Find this, and play a few 10 tables and a few 25 tables at the same time without knowing which is which. This will rule in or out the possibility of mental issues.

Definitely all three. I am taking a similar approach of trying to move through the micros. I think the three teach you different skills, all of which are applicable at 6-max if that's your game of choice.

verneer, i'm mega interested in the coaching on Thursday that you mentioned. Are you going to post details here or in a separate thread??

Also, I'm interested in HU much more than Full Ring. I'd rather see a separate HU thread though and keep this one to 6max

I would prefer same thread so I don't have to constantly refresh two different threads >.>

If you could add in HU material when you start playing there that would be awesome.

Yeah - I'll post here. I got asked to be on Rounder's Radio this Thursday at 9:00 p.m. Lou Krieger hosts a show called "Keep Flopping Aces". You can either call in or go to chat. If you ask a question which ends up getting put on the air or Lou reads it in chat, just identify yourself by our 2+2 name and I'll pick two people for an hour of my time (you can do w/e with that hour - have me sweat you, go over your HEM stats, go over specific hands, play me HU - it's your pick).

Let me know if you have any questions about that. I think in order to go into chat you have to register with them but it's super basic and easy. So, to recap:

When: Thursday, February 11th, at 9:00 EST
Where: RoundersRadio.com
What: Listen to the podcast, if you ask a question that Lou deems interesting enough to get on the air, your name will go into a pool for potentially an hour of coaching

I've done tons of videos but have never done a live podcast. I hope it goes well

OP is awesome.

this.

Progress Milestone: $1,000 Bankroll!

Looks like it took me a little over a month to 10x my bankroll. This is a pretty big milestone for me. The road to $1,000 was fairly difficult because I kept on getting close only to lose a cooler or something. I made tons of adjustments which I felt paid off. As you can see, I had a pretty big downswing on my way there.



Progress graph:



Now - this includes all the hands I've played - shorthanded and full ring. I actually noticed that I have not been doing well playing full ring (haha), so I'm also going to include strictly my 6-max stats/graph in a subsequent post. I'll also probably focus on 6-max and HU from here on out (which should make everyone happy).