For those who know me irl the word serious doesn't equate with me ever. I don't wanna get into that but nonetheless i am going to start taking my life a bit more seriously.
The last few days have been a bit weird really.
I played for the university football (soccer) team on wednesday. Always a good release from work/poker. The game was really odd though. A long story short, we were totally outclassed by a team of grown men, i got punched in the back of the head by some random defender for no apparent reason. Not particularly shocking but never had anything like that happen to me in a game of football before. About ten minutes later i scored a volley first time from the edge of the box straight in the top corner.
I guess the reason i mention the game is that it illustrated a few things to me in as clear a context as i could possibly see irl. Firstly variance, one minute we're losing, i'm getting punched and it seems like the world is going to end. Ten minutes later i'm scoring one of the best goals of my life and we have a chance of getting back in the game. A pretty basic analogy i know but in poker these twists seem so far away when you're losing.
The other thing, they were well prepared and we weren't.
Our kit was wet, we didn't have matching shorts or socks. We didn't warm up properly and nobody really knew what tasks they were meant to perform on the pitch. The opposition had all the kit, they warmed up for about 20 minutes before us and had a huddle just before kick off.
Again basic analogy but if you don't prepare yourself in poker then similar results will usually ensue. I had to learn that the hard way on Wednesday, but i think the lesson was vivid enough for me to remember for a long time so it was worth it.
Ok enough BS. I've temporarily left uni because my current course is designed for 15 year olds i'm sure of it. Plus the employment prospects post uni are worse with this degree than the one i was previously on. So now i can pursue the previous degree at another uni in September and hopefully have some sort of long term plan as a result.So that leaves a 7 month LAG. I have kind of wasted the last 4-5 months but at least i had the balls to switch course before it was too late and my life was over with sub-standard qualifications.
In those 7 months i'm basically aiming to improve my HU SNG game as much as humanly possible. I think if i get a good computer set up and internet at my house then 50 games/day isn't out of reach and maybe monthly profits of $1k minimum will ensue. I hate making profit goals but if i play enough games and don't tilt at middle stakes then i don't see why $1k isn't achievable.
I haven't played a lot recently because i've been ill but when your ill you seem to realise so much more about life.
Hopefully post a solid graph for the month come the end.
Lates
Friday 13 February 2009
Wednesday 4 February 2009
February Goals and grinding $20s again yay!!
Right i'll try and keep this short because everything i write or say is too long.
January was very solid. I bagged a $600 profit with just over a 10% ROI. That's my second highest profit/month out of my 6 months of playing.
I'm hoping February will be just as kind, if not more so in terms of total profit. I have ran sick good this month in $20's. Hopefully my first $1k month is on its way which would be really cool.
I'm going to stop cashing out portions of my bankroll now as well. Gonna actually build up a solid roll and start moving up through the limits. So to actively pursue that goal i'm going to play 30 $20 games a day. At first i will 1-table but eventually i'll 2-table to increase my $/hr and maybe add in some more volume.
Also gonna stop playing random FPP sats and stupid $3 90 mans or $20+ MTTs on a whim. I'm just wasting my time and energy doing all that and it's a significant leak.
As for improving my game i'm going to keep my posts on 2+2 shorter because i waffle. Also, i'm currently 120 pages through Collin Moshman's Heads-Up book which i really like, although i never have enough time to read it except from at weekends.
Coupled with that i'm probably going to look into buying some videos off HokieGreg because after i watched his sample video i actually ran like god himself. I can't really afford them right now but once i'm owning $20s and my BR is larger i think they'd be a really solid investment in my game.
Here's my graph for the last week/100 games:
ok until next time, goodbye.
January was very solid. I bagged a $600 profit with just over a 10% ROI. That's my second highest profit/month out of my 6 months of playing.
I'm hoping February will be just as kind, if not more so in terms of total profit. I have ran sick good this month in $20's. Hopefully my first $1k month is on its way which would be really cool.
I'm going to stop cashing out portions of my bankroll now as well. Gonna actually build up a solid roll and start moving up through the limits. So to actively pursue that goal i'm going to play 30 $20 games a day. At first i will 1-table but eventually i'll 2-table to increase my $/hr and maybe add in some more volume.
Also gonna stop playing random FPP sats and stupid $3 90 mans or $20+ MTTs on a whim. I'm just wasting my time and energy doing all that and it's a significant leak.
As for improving my game i'm going to keep my posts on 2+2 shorter because i waffle. Also, i'm currently 120 pages through Collin Moshman's Heads-Up book which i really like, although i never have enough time to read it except from at weekends.
Coupled with that i'm probably going to look into buying some videos off HokieGreg because after i watched his sample video i actually ran like god himself. I can't really afford them right now but once i'm owning $20s and my BR is larger i think they'd be a really solid investment in my game.
Here's my graph for the last week/100 games:
ok until next time, goodbye.
Friday 23 January 2009
Quick Update
Right so January has been pretty nice so far.
I grinded my quota of $10s and now back on $20s. Since i don't have to worry about my roll being non replenishable i'm going to go for a more aggressive moving up/bankroll strategy.
I don't know if i'm going to quantify that but i think something like 20 BI's to move up and then move down when i have like 20 for the level below. So with $400 play $20's and only move down if i hit $200.
Pretty sure that's an aggressive strategy and hopefully i'll be playing higher than $20s in the next few months. I think at $600 i'll move onto $30s, if i die and fall back down to $400 then switch back onto the $20s.
I've come to a sort of "clicking point" where i'm becoming better at noticing my tilt and stopping playing as soon as i realise. I think it's like a maturity as a person sort of thing that now if i don't feel like playing or i know i'm not gonna produce my a-game, then i won't play. Concentrating on one table a time at the $20s is really cool as well.
Apart from that i'm gonna try and watch more hu sng videos. I always love watching them and my results in the games after are always good bar some variance. I entered 2 $26 HU MTTs this week.
I think one was on Monday night and the other was Tuesday.
First night was a 9th/252 and the second nigth i came 11th/202 for a total of about $170 profit after my entry fees. So that defo helps with monthly profit. I would have preffered to win the tourney as first is like $1000+ which is sick considering how weak the field is.
When i'm better rolled i'm gonna enter it more often, the only problem is that it starts at about 11pm for me and i think i went to bed at close to 4am both nights with classes the next morning. So it's kinda hard.
Realsied i'm wastin my time with Live MTTs unless i actually study them and play at the casino every night. The rake on the £20 deep stack is £5.50 which is over 25%. The play is terrible and the company worse. I don't think winning or the money even compensates for the anguish i expirience on those nights.
I've signed up for session reviews on 2+2 as well for $20 HU SNGs so hopefully i can learn a lot from that as it seems like something that would be beneficial for someone with a low coaching budget like me.
sngacademy byPrimo et al also is looking like a viable learning tool but apart from that my hu sng friends and videos are as good as it gets atm.
AJs is junk fwiw
Either way thanks and good luck
I grinded my quota of $10s and now back on $20s. Since i don't have to worry about my roll being non replenishable i'm going to go for a more aggressive moving up/bankroll strategy.
I don't know if i'm going to quantify that but i think something like 20 BI's to move up and then move down when i have like 20 for the level below. So with $400 play $20's and only move down if i hit $200.
Pretty sure that's an aggressive strategy and hopefully i'll be playing higher than $20s in the next few months. I think at $600 i'll move onto $30s, if i die and fall back down to $400 then switch back onto the $20s.
I've come to a sort of "clicking point" where i'm becoming better at noticing my tilt and stopping playing as soon as i realise. I think it's like a maturity as a person sort of thing that now if i don't feel like playing or i know i'm not gonna produce my a-game, then i won't play. Concentrating on one table a time at the $20s is really cool as well.
Apart from that i'm gonna try and watch more hu sng videos. I always love watching them and my results in the games after are always good bar some variance. I entered 2 $26 HU MTTs this week.
I think one was on Monday night and the other was Tuesday.
First night was a 9th/252 and the second nigth i came 11th/202 for a total of about $170 profit after my entry fees. So that defo helps with monthly profit. I would have preffered to win the tourney as first is like $1000+ which is sick considering how weak the field is.
When i'm better rolled i'm gonna enter it more often, the only problem is that it starts at about 11pm for me and i think i went to bed at close to 4am both nights with classes the next morning. So it's kinda hard.
Realsied i'm wastin my time with Live MTTs unless i actually study them and play at the casino every night. The rake on the £20 deep stack is £5.50 which is over 25%. The play is terrible and the company worse. I don't think winning or the money even compensates for the anguish i expirience on those nights.
I've signed up for session reviews on 2+2 as well for $20 HU SNGs so hopefully i can learn a lot from that as it seems like something that would be beneficial for someone with a low coaching budget like me.
sngacademy byPrimo et al also is looking like a viable learning tool but apart from that my hu sng friends and videos are as good as it gets atm.
AJs is junk fwiw
Either way thanks and good luck
Wednesday 14 January 2009
I need more focus
Ok so i was playing online chess against a friend (i know him in real life it's ok), and he basically asked me what's up with my HU SNG "career". I thought for a moment or to and then asked myself the same question.
At the moment i'm grinding $10s to pay Chicagory his % of our stake and he's being really cool about it.
But after that what am i going to do? Well i guess i should start playing with more structure and consistency. I'm beggining to realise what makes me play well, i need to be well slept, fed and all that. Also i have to watch some sort of poker video to get in the right frame of mind.
Now, that frame of mind is like a drug. It only lasts for so long so you gotta take advantage of it before it runs out and you need another shot. I think the key for me is firstly understanding how to take that drug and then realising when i need another fix and getting it.
Once i can get into this sort of habit then i will pretty much be able to kill whatever limit i play. I'm confident i will be able to maintain an ROI above 10% when moving up just as long as i stick to the plan and walk away or get more drugs as soon as i feel them waring off.
So basically:
-Finish current stake
-stake myself
-Play 30+ games a day without tilt and move through the limits back up to $20 SNGs
I know this is a pretty pointless post but it's more of a note to myself than anything.
As a side, i took 2nd in a live Re-Buy event the other night. Got it in ahead heads up which is annoying because i've never won a live event but meh. Gonna keep learning about poker in general as i think MTTs are great fun and break up the monotony of HU SNG grinding.
Also chess is fast coming onto my radar and i think maybe if i can improve my chess game it will have a positive effect on my poker game.
Cheers
At the moment i'm grinding $10s to pay Chicagory his % of our stake and he's being really cool about it.
But after that what am i going to do? Well i guess i should start playing with more structure and consistency. I'm beggining to realise what makes me play well, i need to be well slept, fed and all that. Also i have to watch some sort of poker video to get in the right frame of mind.
Now, that frame of mind is like a drug. It only lasts for so long so you gotta take advantage of it before it runs out and you need another shot. I think the key for me is firstly understanding how to take that drug and then realising when i need another fix and getting it.
Once i can get into this sort of habit then i will pretty much be able to kill whatever limit i play. I'm confident i will be able to maintain an ROI above 10% when moving up just as long as i stick to the plan and walk away or get more drugs as soon as i feel them waring off.
So basically:
-Finish current stake
-stake myself
-Play 30+ games a day without tilt and move through the limits back up to $20 SNGs
I know this is a pretty pointless post but it's more of a note to myself than anything.
As a side, i took 2nd in a live Re-Buy event the other night. Got it in ahead heads up which is annoying because i've never won a live event but meh. Gonna keep learning about poker in general as i think MTTs are great fun and break up the monotony of HU SNG grinding.
Also chess is fast coming onto my radar and i think maybe if i can improve my chess game it will have a positive effect on my poker game.
Cheers
Sunday 11 January 2009
Grinding $10s tehehe
I've gone back to $10 SNGs for a short period.
I tilted off some money playing hu cash and i'm not really super rolled for $20s atm. I'm just gonna keep grinding these for a few more days and then back on the $20s.
A long story short with the tilt. I lost a few $20s in a row, missed about a 5 big draws and a few flips. It just really hacks me off and i usually cool off by playing a $3 90 man or a FTPP sattelite or something like that.
But this time round i decided $50NL HU Cash would be a good release. LOL I was up on this Ukranian guy who was so aggressive it was unreal. He literally bluffed his stack off to me two times with total air. So i was starting to think i would just sit with him all night and things would be dandy.
However, he spiked a pretty lucky hand. He was 3-betting close to 80% which was pretty unreal for me because i've never seen anyone so aggressive. Happens that he 3-bet QQ and i thought i'd go with my top pair on a xxT board with a King kicker and flush draw. Obv miss. He actually asked if i wanted to 2-table which really fucked me off because it seemed like he thought he had an edge on me. Maybe he did i dno.
Anyways gonna give it a miss on writing heads up articles for the time being.
Instead i am focusing on running up my BR to pay Chicagory his % of our stake as well as learning how to deal with tilt because it is becoming a really serious issue and one that needs addressing sooner rather than later if i am to progress.
Trying to get into MTTs as well because i play live occassionally but reading how other players play and think post flop sometimes ruins your own thought process momentarily. That's a whole different issue though.
Cheers
I tilted off some money playing hu cash and i'm not really super rolled for $20s atm. I'm just gonna keep grinding these for a few more days and then back on the $20s.
A long story short with the tilt. I lost a few $20s in a row, missed about a 5 big draws and a few flips. It just really hacks me off and i usually cool off by playing a $3 90 man or a FTPP sattelite or something like that.
But this time round i decided $50NL HU Cash would be a good release. LOL I was up on this Ukranian guy who was so aggressive it was unreal. He literally bluffed his stack off to me two times with total air. So i was starting to think i would just sit with him all night and things would be dandy.
However, he spiked a pretty lucky hand. He was 3-betting close to 80% which was pretty unreal for me because i've never seen anyone so aggressive. Happens that he 3-bet QQ and i thought i'd go with my top pair on a xxT board with a King kicker and flush draw. Obv miss. He actually asked if i wanted to 2-table which really fucked me off because it seemed like he thought he had an edge on me. Maybe he did i dno.
Anyways gonna give it a miss on writing heads up articles for the time being.
Instead i am focusing on running up my BR to pay Chicagory his % of our stake as well as learning how to deal with tilt because it is becoming a really serious issue and one that needs addressing sooner rather than later if i am to progress.
Trying to get into MTTs as well because i play live occassionally but reading how other players play and think post flop sometimes ruins your own thought process momentarily. That's a whole different issue though.
Cheers
Thursday 8 January 2009
LOL Fulltiltaments
Ok so it's like 10am i seriously needed to play some poker and was kinda aprehensive about playing because i had lost like 5BI's yesterday and i wasn't sure how i would react.
Here's the first hand from my first game of the day. I think it just confirms that there are always bad opponents to be found who literally just donate and splash. It's not spectacubad but it certaintly demonstrates my point.
Also, i'm gonna write a series of articles on moving through the micro SNG limits and post like one article every week on here. I'm gonna post for ideas on 2+2 but feel free to post comments/ideas for the series on here as well :)
It will literally be aimed at people playing $2 HU SNG's and will hopefully equip these/you guys with the tools to play $5-$10 and eventually $20 SNGs. Just a rough idea of topic areas i suppose would include pre-flop starting hands, bet sizing, bankroll management, tilt management, c-betting, check-raising spots, effective stacks and the implications on your decision. Stuff like that.
I'm no expert by any means but i just think it would be cool to write 5-10 articles on the basic concepts that you would need to understand to grind out a winning HU SNG style at micro stakes. There is no "system" it's just about understanding. So if you understand these things then you should be able to beat these games pretty easy and for a decent profit provided you play high volume.
Full Tilt Poker Game #9920087385: $20 + $1 Heads Up Sit & Go (75433191), Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 5:11:12 ET - 2009/01/08
Seat 1: MeeEAndZolOfT (1,500)
Seat 2: doku22 (1,500)
doku22 posts the small blind of 10
MeeEAndZolOfT posts the big blind of 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to MeeEAndZolOfT [7h 6h]
doku22 calls 10
MeeEAndZolOfT checks
*** FLOP *** [8h 5d 9c]
MeeEAndZolOfT bets 20
doku22 calls 20
*** TURN *** [8h 5d 9c] [Qh]
MeeEAndZolOfT bets 50
doku22 calls 50
*** RIVER *** [8h 5d 9c Qh] [9d]
MeeEAndZolOfT bets 120
doku22 calls 120
*** SHOW DOWN ***MeeEAndZolOfT shows [7h 6h] a straight, Nine
highdoku22 mucks
MeeEAndZolOfT wins the pot (420) with a straight, Nine high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 420 Rake 0Board: [8h 5d 9c Qh 9d]
Seat 1: MeeEAndZolOfT (big blind) showed [7h 6h] and won (420) with a straight, Nine high
Seat 2: doku22 (small blind) mucked [Ac 2c] - a pair of Nines
Here's the first hand from my first game of the day. I think it just confirms that there are always bad opponents to be found who literally just donate and splash. It's not spectacubad but it certaintly demonstrates my point.
Also, i'm gonna write a series of articles on moving through the micro SNG limits and post like one article every week on here. I'm gonna post for ideas on 2+2 but feel free to post comments/ideas for the series on here as well :)
It will literally be aimed at people playing $2 HU SNG's and will hopefully equip these/you guys with the tools to play $5-$10 and eventually $20 SNGs. Just a rough idea of topic areas i suppose would include pre-flop starting hands, bet sizing, bankroll management, tilt management, c-betting, check-raising spots, effective stacks and the implications on your decision. Stuff like that.
I'm no expert by any means but i just think it would be cool to write 5-10 articles on the basic concepts that you would need to understand to grind out a winning HU SNG style at micro stakes. There is no "system" it's just about understanding. So if you understand these things then you should be able to beat these games pretty easy and for a decent profit provided you play high volume.
Full Tilt Poker Game #9920087385: $20 + $1 Heads Up Sit & Go (75433191), Table 1 - 10/20 - No Limit Hold'em - 5:11:12 ET - 2009/01/08
Seat 1: MeeEAndZolOfT (1,500)
Seat 2: doku22 (1,500)
doku22 posts the small blind of 10
MeeEAndZolOfT posts the big blind of 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to MeeEAndZolOfT [7h 6h]
doku22 calls 10
MeeEAndZolOfT checks
*** FLOP *** [8h 5d 9c]
MeeEAndZolOfT bets 20
doku22 calls 20
*** TURN *** [8h 5d 9c] [Qh]
MeeEAndZolOfT bets 50
doku22 calls 50
*** RIVER *** [8h 5d 9c Qh] [9d]
MeeEAndZolOfT bets 120
doku22 calls 120
*** SHOW DOWN ***MeeEAndZolOfT shows [7h 6h] a straight, Nine
highdoku22 mucks
MeeEAndZolOfT wins the pot (420) with a straight, Nine high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 420 Rake 0Board: [8h 5d 9c Qh 9d]
Seat 1: MeeEAndZolOfT (big blind) showed [7h 6h] and won (420) with a straight, Nine high
Seat 2: doku22 (small blind) mucked [Ac 2c] - a pair of Nines
Friday 2 January 2009
2009 Goals
Ok so i've got the whole year ahead to improve my game whist still being in University and not having to worry about finances and stuff.I think this moment in my life is probably very unique and valuable. I have a lot of time on my hands to focus on getting good at one thing with the safety net of no financial obligations and stuff like that.
I suppose what society wants me to get good at is falling into a routine similar to the 9-5 and then wasting my money on fashions, fads and alchohol in the night.
Well hopefully i can use this time to kill poker and maybe get good at internet marketing and stuff alongside that as well. This is where you see my studies fall a couple notches down the priority ladder. TBH i don't think my qualifications after university will matter anyways unless i am set on a "career" and the 9-5 away from my home. All of which i deteste. Where i live it is basically pointless having a degree unless you know someone who will help you get a decent job. Aside from that you just get the option of self-employment or minimum wage stuff. So honing a skillset where i can generate an income for myself is pretty important unless i want to work minimum wage from the end of uni to the end of my life.
So my goals-
-I said on 2+2 i was going to aim for $5k total profit but i think that may be on the smaller side of things. I wouldn't complain with $5k because i've made $1.5k over like 4 months and so that would be ahead of what i'm doing right now. However, i think as i move up in stakes and get better i should be able to bang out some good volume and get the profit up to somewhere between $7k-$10k.
Hopefully that doesn't sound too arrogant or ambitious but i think that with a lot of grinding and the introduction of 2 tabling i should be able to make it.
-I think second to this would be the goal of playing $100s by the end of the year.
I was way too cautious moving from $10-$20 SNG's but i think that's because $20 was a lot of money to me at that time. It's just stupid staying at a level you know you can beat though and as soon as i get the BR for $30's i'll be moving up.
-Ummm pretty closely alongside these two goals comes 2-tabling. I read Hokie's blog where he cites 2-tabling as a bit of an "ah-ha" moment. The same has happened for me. Once you get used to 2-tabling you can just go about banging out really high volume and it seems esier to play ABC because you don't get as much time to overthink things. It really is essential to 2-table if you want to max out profit which is essentially what poker is about.
Think that's about it as far as poker is concerned.
Cheerio
I suppose what society wants me to get good at is falling into a routine similar to the 9-5 and then wasting my money on fashions, fads and alchohol in the night.
Well hopefully i can use this time to kill poker and maybe get good at internet marketing and stuff alongside that as well. This is where you see my studies fall a couple notches down the priority ladder. TBH i don't think my qualifications after university will matter anyways unless i am set on a "career" and the 9-5 away from my home. All of which i deteste. Where i live it is basically pointless having a degree unless you know someone who will help you get a decent job. Aside from that you just get the option of self-employment or minimum wage stuff. So honing a skillset where i can generate an income for myself is pretty important unless i want to work minimum wage from the end of uni to the end of my life.
So my goals-
-I said on 2+2 i was going to aim for $5k total profit but i think that may be on the smaller side of things. I wouldn't complain with $5k because i've made $1.5k over like 4 months and so that would be ahead of what i'm doing right now. However, i think as i move up in stakes and get better i should be able to bang out some good volume and get the profit up to somewhere between $7k-$10k.
Hopefully that doesn't sound too arrogant or ambitious but i think that with a lot of grinding and the introduction of 2 tabling i should be able to make it.
-I think second to this would be the goal of playing $100s by the end of the year.
I was way too cautious moving from $10-$20 SNG's but i think that's because $20 was a lot of money to me at that time. It's just stupid staying at a level you know you can beat though and as soon as i get the BR for $30's i'll be moving up.
-Ummm pretty closely alongside these two goals comes 2-tabling. I read Hokie's blog where he cites 2-tabling as a bit of an "ah-ha" moment. The same has happened for me. Once you get used to 2-tabling you can just go about banging out really high volume and it seems esier to play ABC because you don't get as much time to overthink things. It really is essential to 2-table if you want to max out profit which is essentially what poker is about.
Think that's about it as far as poker is concerned.
Cheerio
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