That's nice opinion about SnG's in early phases. It's always nice to get big stack on first hands. Like I was today, I entered freeroll just for fun. I went all-in several times with decent hands, not exact ABC poker hands and I got it big and felt very comfortable till I cashed in. 
so sometimes it's good to play stupid or aggressively on first hands,but only in low-stakes or freeroll tourneys.
Anyway, I'll follow your progress and wish you good luck. ♠_cool:
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$52
I am in the middle of reading The Poker Mindset. Its funny, I know all these things, but when I'm playing I play as if these things are not true (downswings don't exist, making the correct decisions is the only way to succeed, short term wins mean nothing). The way that it is laid out in the book is very simple and straight forward. Because having the right mindset is really simple - make good decsions. Letting my emotions and silly excuses cloud my judgment (suckouts, bad beats, "rigged") is what makes the mental side of this game complicated. Poker is complicated as a game. Complicating the mental side of it is counter productive. Very simple - Make good decisions all the time.
Part of the problem is also impatience. I know that I have a hard time letting go of top pair, top kicker on a drawing board, or Kings if there is an ace on the board, because it seems like opportunities to win a pot are few and far between. You get dealt Kings, you want to get paid NOW. So when you have to fold, or you call and get beat, it seems those opportunities will never come back.
$82
So I dug myself a hole and I'm almost out. I read my first posts and after reading the poker mindset those posts seem almost silly.
Complaining about beats? Silly.
There are numerous parts in the book that stick out, but the big one is that poker is a game of SMALL edges. I know that I have a tendency to stray from my A game, and that's when I lose. It seems silly but I feel like I just needed someone to tell me that long term, inconsistent play will result in me being a losing player. I mean, I AM a losing player (hopefully not for long), but I'm making a concerted effort NOT to be. By being inconsistent, I am erasing whatever small edge I may have.
$83
I've made a change to my rules... I've decided to use a HUD.
I figure everyone else is using it, so NOT using it puts me at a significant disadvantage.
Now, I'm a noob at using the HUD but already I FREAKING LOVE IT!
I don't know how I did anything without it before.
It doesn't make you win each hand but it helps with big pots, obviously, but it also helps with little pots, little leaks. I appreciate how it helps me steal, make good folds, pick good spots to check raise. I love how it helps me abuse other players by using their tendencies against them. Now, again, I'm no expert but there is a huge, palpable difference in the quality of my play and results. I have used it for cash games only up till now. Interesting that I recently did not use it for my last 4 tourneys, and I lost them all.
Coincidence?
Maybe it is the novelty of a new toy but I am enjoying the game more.
$100.50
Hooray! Sort of...
I've made it back to my starting position. I gotta say, I think that experience trying to climb out of the hole has taught me many things.
Most Important...
1) If I do not play my A game all the time, I will lose in the long run.
2) If I stick to my BM rules, I will play successfully for a long time.
3) Use and analyze my HUD/tracker.
4) Select tables wisely.
5) There are many small profitable situations over the course of a session if I look for them.
6) Complaining about bad beats is immature.
I am a lot happier with my play. I am having fun but not playing like it. I'm glad I am not using rakeback for this because I feel it would not present an accurate picture. A good player is supposed to beat the rake. If I am successful here with this personal challenge, I will get a rakeback deal on a PS site, but I feel I need to prove something to myself first.
Silly?
On to round 2.
I made some costly mistakes. I was playing at two tables with two players that I've won $ from in the past.
Player A - Played him last month. During that session last month, I noticed he was loose / aggressive, so I waited until I hit a big hand and let him bet bet bet until he paid me off. Easy money.
Player B - Played him last night. Not as loose but definitely aggressive, and I noticed that he C Bets 100% after a PFR, and also on the turn but going to showdown he won less than 30%. So, same as above, I waited until I hit a good hand and let him hang himself.
On to today...
My mistake with player A is assuming that the one hand I hit him with last month is a good basis for all future play against him. Also, I did not wait for a premium hand for him to pay me off...
I was in the SB and he was on the button. He raised the pot. This was typical for him last month. I looked at my HUD and he was VPIP 20, PFR around 10 and high won-at-showdown percentage. Is this the same guy? I looked at my hand A5s. Normally, I would fold. Or, I would see the flop and if I had no draw I'd quit right there. Then I remembered that one hand last month. I called. An ace came up but no real draw for me, there was also a jack. He bet the pot, which was typical for him last month. I called. On the turn, nothing, he bet the pot. Typical again. I felt it was last month replayed. I stupidly called. A 5 came on the river, he went all in, I called. He showed AJ.
I should have trusted my HUD and not played such a shaky hand. I should not have assumed that his mistake last month was the way he was.
My mistake with player B, again, was feeling overconfident because of a couple of hands in the past. I played a crappy hand, and I played it crappy. Again, this game is a game of small edges and by playing so bad, no matter WHO it is against, I erase my edge...
I was on the button and he was in the SB. I called a cutoff pot raise with 89s. Player B reraised the pot. I checked my stats and the only other time he 3 bet it was AQs. So I am clearly dominated. I called anyway, looking to get lucky (Am I gambling or playing? Stupid!). The flop gave me a nine and a very flimsy inside straight draw. He bet the pot. I raised. All in. Call. He had Jacks.
Again... not mentally strong enough to sustain winning. I get back even and then I gamble?
$84
Very disappointed in myself because I knew better and did it anyway.
I'm at $90.
I started playing some regular SNG again. On the site I play on for this challenge, I've noticed that when I've won, it wasn't really because I played better than everyone else, it was because the blinds were so high that SOMEONE was bound to bust on the first unlucky shove. When I've lost, sometimes it may have been a bad decision but for the most part it was because the blinds were so high that I was the one on the receiving end of said unlucky shove. I would expect the blinds to be soooo high when there are, say, a third of the players left, maybe half. But I'm noticing that a lot of the times over half, sometimes 3/4 of the players are still in when the M ratio says shove or fold. I think it might be because the blinds go up a lot faster on this site compared to, say, a regular Full Tilt SNG. I don't think I will play these regular SNG too often anymore because I feel like any small edge I may have is erased by how quick the blinds get serious. Also, the blinds increase by large increments compared to Full Tilt. When I first started playing I liked the quick blind speed of Turbo SNG on Full Tilt because there was more action but now that I'm taking my game seriously and trying to be a better player I see that quick blinds make the game more of a gamble.
Thoughts?
$106
Today has been the worst and the best. I had my pocket aces cracked 2 times to bust 2 BI (once by pocket 99 and once by pocket 44) and got full housed on the river to sink my ace high flush for another BI. But I keep playing and trying not to get frustrated. I keep thinking back to the book The Poker Mindset. Bad beats are part of the game. If I have a winning strategy then I will win over time. Also, I don't start to do the name calling and immature ranting that some do. I don't have a right to a pot just because I hold aces. That is what pisses me off about these guys who insult others, call them stupid etc when they get a bad beat. If pocket aces is a guaranteed win, there would be no point in playing. If you shove with aces, you are taking a risk. I remember one hand a long time ago when I first started playing for money online. I had pocket aces so I raised preflop and got called. The flop came J J 4 rainbow. I bet, got called. Turn... bet, got called. River... Check, all in, call. The guy had a J. The guy wrote, "What did you THINK I had?" But then again, who can throw away aces? Now, I have no problem with people venting on a forum, I do it too, but I really hate the pathetic name calling and insults that occur during the game. It's really a lack of class. What I do if my aces get cracked is write "sigh" and that's it.
So back to my original point.
It had been a bad day. So I'm at a table with two regulars. Regular A three bets with impunity. I forget the percentage but it was REALLY high. So I have K9s and I'm on the button and its folded around to me so I raise. The SB calls and then Reg A is BB and he three bets. Now, I'm sitting at around 35 BB and it is seven more to call. I make a decision. If the SB folds and if I hit a K and the rest of the flop looks OK, I move all in because...
A) His range cannot be that high for someone who three bets as much as he does.
B) This could just be a tricky resteal / squeeze play to get us both to fold.
C) I am comfortable taking this risk against this player.
The flop gives me a K and no more face cards. He bets half pot, I move all in, he calls. Guess what he has... AA. Guess what the turn brings... Another K. So I win the pot and he rants and swears. A few hands later, I'm on the BB and Reg B is on the button. He raises, SB calls, I call with J 10s. The flop is K Q 4 rainbow. He CB half pot. SB folds. I call, hoping that if the turn doesn't improve my hand he might check and let me see a cheap river card. The turn is a 9. He bets big, I go all in, he calls. He has QQQ, I win the pot with my straight.
I got lucky. Should I feel bad? I don't because these lucky beats need to fall for me every now and again. If getting upset over bad beats is wrong, then getting upset over getting lucky is equally erroneous. Over time, if I am good, I will be up money. Individual hands, even sessions, don't matter. What matters is the long term result. The difference between these two hands and other times I may have got lucky is that I thought out what I was going to do. I had reasons. They may not have been the best reasons but I wasn't gambling, I was trying to make the best $ decision.
hahah i have same goal.
I like to get up to $1000 bankroll by end up this year.
atm $320
if i make it to $1000 bankroll i will try to to make it $5k and so on
good luck to you n my self
$107
So I'm at a tough table. I finally hit a big hand which more than doubles me up. According to my rules, I need to quit the table. So I decide to wait until the blinds come round and then leave. I look, however, and I'm going to be the BB next hand. So I decide to stay in anyway for a round. The very next hand, I get dealt a pair of tens. The flop has a pair of threes and an eight. I bet big and get called. Every instinct in my body is telling me to give up, take my winnings and leave. But he checks when another 3 hits on the turn. The river is a two. I check and he bets the pot, but not all in. I stupidly call, hoping he was bluffing but KNOWING and HOPING he wasn't. He made quads, erasing my winnings of the previous big hand.
This was not a bad beat or unlucky. This was...
1) I didn't follow my rules strictly enough.
2) I should have folded my full house when my instincts told me that this was not a very profitable situation given the development of the hand and the rules I have decided to follow FOR MY OWN GOOD!
Silly.
$117
Maniacs pay us off, however, the reason people become maniacs is because you pay THEM off every now and again when they get lucky and hit with their ridiculous hand.
I'm at a table with a maniac and get dealt pocket aces. He raises, I reraise, he shoves, I call. He has K2s. I win a nice pot. I didn't quite double up but I toyed with the idea of quitting the table. I really should have. The maniac paid me off, I should have just left. A few hands later, I'm dealt AJs on the button. He raises, I reraise, he calls. The flop is A 2 8 rainbow. He bets big, I shove, he calls. I shoved because he was a maniac. I should have just played it straight because now I'M playing like the maniac. He had A2o and cleaned out my previous winnings and my BI.
*sigh*
But over all I'm starting to make gains.
I'm going to post some of my stats on another forum section. I would love some feedback. Thanks!
You played the AJ hand perfectly against a maniac in my opinion.
I recently had an exactly the same hand. Really, exactly the same preflop play and the same flop cards and the flop play. My opponent turned over QJs. So if those maniacs play all sorts of hands like it, you shouldn't feel too bad about losing a BI or two.
Also, don't consider leaving the table when you double up against fishes (unless you tend to tilt or winning makes you play worse as you tend to think you can do better then), if there's a fish willing to play you, do it as long as you can, in the end, you should go out with a huge profit. Why would you want to quit playing fishes?
Hi hackbinder
Just found your post, I'm finding your challenge you've set yourself very interesting, and gaining some knowledge from your experiences, looking forward to next post, to see how your getting on.
I had a terrible time last month, wasn't sticking to BRM or a strategy. I started with $30 2months ago built it to $100 by last month i ended up losing all of it, topped up $100 and lost that in a week, i let a lot of the things you have been posting about get to me and not learning from them.
I took the decision to self exclude for a month, find out more about where i'm going wrong and how to improve online, found this site, starting to learn a great deal. I know it says i registered in 08 but i just started using it 2 weeks ago
I do quite well live, seems to be a lot of fish, people that don't know how to play or just don't care online, you get them live but not as many.
Keep up the good work, see ya at tables in two weeks
$117
But that number does not tell the whole story. I had a pretty rough downswing. And I can honestly say that it was, for the most part, a TRUE downswing. What I mean is that most of my money lost was not due to huge mistakes or gambling on my part. I was down below $80 at one point. I would be lying if I said I didn't feel really upset about it. I mean, how many times can your opponents suck out for the nuts, over and over again? Quite a few, actually!
During this time I made the decision that I would not make this downswing worse like in the past by taking too many risks. Its hard because you see what you have spent sooo long building just disappear, and it seems like rebuilding it will take an eternity. So you think about gambling a little. And I wondered, at one point, if it was even worth it. I had been trying to get back to $100 for soooo long that my success seemed impossible. I made the decision to just continue grinding and just play my "A" game and whatever happens happens. Well, I got some lucky breaks, I gobbled some fish, my "A" game evened out and I got back to my highest point so far.
I will say, also, that I am increasingly less intimidated by the regulars. And, again, my HUD is worth the money! Also, I am seeing more and more the value of a good fold, and the value of playing in position. I always knew those things were important but this experience is truly cementing these concepts deeply into my play.
@murdoch
BRM - The only reason I am still in this whole challenge is because I stuck to my BRM. When I was hovering around $20 early on, it was my BRM that kept me playing without having to reload. Not having to reload is alone worth using good BRM. Thanks for the support and good luck!
Thanks for the insights. The reason I quit the table when I double is because those are my BRM rules. This challenge yes is about making $ but it is also about the value of BRM rules. But I must say that when I'm up, I tend to play overconfident. At the time I don't notice, but when I lose a BI or two it hits me like a punch in the face! But I just quit the table. I don't stop playing. I just look for those fishes on other tables or I look for new ones (high VPIP)!
Very interesting to read,hackbinder. Setting yourself goals is a good way to get a motivation.
What about telling us how you use our content to improve your skill? I mean there are tons of material waiting for you which are surely better explained than in most books - at least in my humble opinion. Using videos if you are just not in the mood for playing, or actively taking part and asking questions in a coaching are surely options you do know.
How about posting some interesting hands in the hand evaluation forums.
I am sure you will on the long run make alot of profit by taking some time for the theory now.
Originally posted by SvenBe
Very interesting to read,hackbinder. Setting yourself goals is a good way to get a motivation.What about telling us how you use our content to improve your skill? I mean there are tons of material waiting for you which are surely better explained than in most books - at least in my humble opinion. Using videos if you are just not in the mood for playing, or actively taking part and asking questions in a coaching are surely options you do know.
How about posting some interesting hands in the hand evaluation forums.
I am sure you will on the long run make alot of profit by taking some time for the theory now.
hey SvenBe,
Articles are GREAT however I think videos are much better and easier to understand. I have improved MUCH MUCH more by watching video
Also Pokerstrategy ICM Trainer and Equliator really helped me.
ATM $344, from $5 SNG... and some 10NL ring/rush... but SNG is much more stable for me than ring/rush.
@Hackbinder, you dont mind me butting in to your thread do you? maybe we can try to get to $1000 by end of this year?
Of course I don't mind. I just can't believe people read this!
Well, I initially was told about PS by a family member. I was still really new to poker. I actually got interested in poker initially because on a whim I went to the casino and played a 2/5$ game and made 600% profit not having a clue what I was doing. I knew the basic rules of the game but at that point I didn't know what a flush was! I got really lucky and I think also the other players saw me doing all these weird things and must have thought I was better than I was. Its funny because I left about half an hour after this guy in a pokerstars hat sat down and proceeded to gut me. He saw right through me. I would have walked away with over 900% profit had he not sat down. So I started really getting interested in theory etc but I would be lying if I said that my primary motivation was not fun.
I have been playing online, off an on, for a few years now but only recently have I gotten serious about it. I was tired of losing money over the long term. Also, there is a bit of pride that kicked in when I realized I was a giant fish. PS has helped me immensely the following ways...
1) I've read almost every article that I have had access to. I especially found the articles on the math to be the most helpful
2) I also like the contrast between the two proven strategies that PS encourages SSS and BSS. While I don't play them specifically, I use elements of both when I play. To me, poker is a game where many different philosophies clash, like a supercollider. I like to watch how these different philosophies play out.
3) What made me realize that I was a giant fish was when I downloaded the elephant. The numbers don't lie. It felt like I got an F on a report card. I needed that. It doesn't sit well with me to know that I am seen by others as a fish.
4) The forum on PS is a great place. I've only recently started posting stuff like this thread. Before I just read alot. But what is interesting is that I guess what I read was not taken seriously by me until I realized I was a giant fish AND that I didn't want to be a fish any more. PS is a lot like university: What you learn will not help you unless you want it to, unless you truly WANT it to help you.
5) Clear advice about the importance of BRM - Nuff said!
As far as videoes go, I will try to watch some, although it is difficult because I play and do extending reading etc after the little ones and the wife are asleep. I play in silence! And I have been trying for weeks to figure out a way to import my hands from my tracker to this site the way other people do, but it is not the elephant so i am hesitant to ask for help because I don't want to be disrespectful to this site!
122$
he thanks for your really great answer.
I am not sure what you mean by importing hands from your 'tracker' but we have a softwareforum to ask questions
https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/board.php?boardid=1361
and a special forum for the PokerStrategy Elephant as well:
https://www.pokerstrategy.com/forum/board.php?boardid=1467
Please do not hesitate to ask, there are no stupid questions but stupid answers. Remember, if there was an answer that maybe helps you to increase your edge by just 0.5% it will pay out huge on the long run!
The first 1,000$ are the most hard ones to earn!
about the first upload.i won 1.17$ from 0,36 cents with pocket aces and my insticts told me QUIT DOG!i made the fatal mistake to not listen to my (imo) good instinct.i get pocket jacks,i flop trips,i AI two guys on the turn,one wins with a flush on the river (the other flush card was on the turn,and i knew he didnt had two suited cards in his hand).i only remain with 0,49.and its funny because this happened to me the exact day when i read your posts and i said to myself...weird coincidence.this guy went through exactly my situation.CONCLUSION:Double-up=>leave no matter what,but dont look at your cards,they can seem tempting.
$352
went up to 370 from rush and gone back down... ring/rush is REALLY not my thing, much swingy than SNG i believe,
any ways only played rush due to rush week promotion gonna get extra $ for that..
Im using sng wizard which has 90 days (i think) before you have to pay for.
also i bought poker tracker which is good i believe, it helped me HEAPS getting better.
Hope i get to $1000 by end of this year than my next target will be $10k by end of year 2011
@hackbinder also try forums in pokerstrategy and look at Hand Evaluations threads, These REALLY help. you can post one your self and look at how others play and their comments
hope both of us make to $1000 by end of this year!