From nl100 to ZOOM25 and back -Ganimator's blog

For an update, I went on a 10buy-in downswing for about 7k hands, running a lot under EV, lots of coolers and what not. But no one wants to hear about downswings so I will stop there. Needless to say, I won them all back within 2k hands last night.

After some thinking , I realized that I have quite a weak mental game. Not really in terms of taking bad beats, but it terms that when I win, I feel really good and when I lose I feel really horrible. I do have "The Mental Game of Poker" and am trying to work my way through it. This might have to do with the aggressive BRM I'm am using to get back to NL100, I'm not exactly sure.
If anyone shares the same kind of "tilt" , I would love some advice about how you stay grounded and not getting too high or too low after a session.

Originally posted by JJWic3
Ok, sorry for my half-ass comments. I was kinda tired and sleepy when wrote them. ♠_frown:

For hand 1 I think you should juts bet like 1/2 pot on river because your value/bluff ratio is kinda high.
For hand 3 I wasn't really aware of stack sizes, so as played, bet like $12 OTF and shove any non K,Q,T or . Villain rarely has a better hand and don't see any point in checking, basically you are still the preflop raiser.

Just so you know JJWic3, If it sounded like I was flaming you , I'm sorry . That really wasn't my intention, i do agree with a lot of your points.

For the Aj hand , I've had too many hands like this vs fish to fold

UTG opens 24% after 500 hands and folds to 3bet 85%, so I'm going to 3 bet him a lot.

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $112.55 (VPIP: 30.56, PFR: 25.00, 3Bet Preflop: 7.69, Hands: 37)
SB: $16.18 (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)
BB: $26.35 (VPIP: 16.82, PFR: 16.07, 3Bet Preflop: 7.09, Hands: 656)
UTG: $115.90
Hero (MP): $61.70
CO: $59.50 (VPIP: 18.06, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 5.88, Hands: 72)

SB posts SB $0.25, BB posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.75) Hero has T♣ A♠

UTG raises to $1.50, Hero raises to $4.50, fold, fold, SB raises to $16.18 and is all-in, fold, fold, Hero calls $11.68

Flop: ($34.36, 2 players) 2♥ 7♦ Q♣

Turn: ($34.36, 2 players) K♠

River: ($34.36, 2 players) 7♣

Biggest hand so far today)

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $66.21 (VPIP: 23.83, PFR: 19.89, 3Bet Preflop: 5.36, Hands: 550)
SB: $203.85 (VPIP: 22.19, PFR: 17.84, 3Bet Preflop: 11.35, Hands: 721)
Hero (BB): $76.49
UTG: $53.00 (VPIP: 12.22, PFR: 8.89, 3Bet Preflop: 2.63, Hands: 185)
MP: $40.79 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 5)
CO: $60.20 (VPIP: 19.24, PFR: 16.10, 3Bet Preflop: 6.86, Hands: 1,657)

SB posts SB $0.25, Hero posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.75) Hero has J♣ A♠

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to $1.25, SB raises to $4.25, Hero raises to $10.00, fold, SB calls $5.75

Flop: ($21.25, 2 players) 5♥ A♦ 7♦
SB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($21.25, 2 players) 3♦
SB bets $12.50, Hero calls $12.50

River: ($46.25, 2 players) 4♥
SB bets $55.00, Hero calls $53.99 and is all-in

No worries, sir. I had some rough time as well in last 2 days, but I'm coming back slowly.
And I wouldn't rely too much on rfi w/ low sample size(altough I do it too ♦).

GL with the grind. ♠_cool:

Any reads in the AJ hand or your da man

No specific reads lol, Aj is boderline to bet flop, shove turn. So once I check flop with TP in 4bet pot, I'm just never folding :f_grin:. He insta shoved river, so I'm quite happy calling off. It's pretty obvious he thought I had TT-KK

I'm quite happy with my play this week. Here is the graph overall :

I would really like to improve my sensitivity to downswings. For most of it, I played well and it was just variance. But after review, I made some mistakes that were very obvious to me and most definitely cause by my mental game. I tend to study a lot more on a downswing which is good. But I want to study just as much when I am on an upswing.

I'm trying out this new exercise where I rate my session :

1) Variance(1-10) : 10 = running really horrible.
2) How I played(1-10) : 10 = playing my A++ game
3) How much I tilted : 10 = breaking something I suppose

For this week)

Variance : 7
How I played: 8
How much I titled: 5

When I tilt, it isn't spazzing away buy-ins. I start to become too passive and avoid risk, even if I think they are +EV.

I will be talking the rest of the day off, going to have breakfast with some friends, hitting the gym, preparing a presentation for school, then going to a bar tonight! So I don't have much time for poker today.

Hoping to be back at NL100 by the end of the month!

So your tilt meter is 5 for this week. What did you break? Or which number means that you broke something? Just kiddin'..

Wow, graph looks nice. 100NL is not that far now. GL! ♠_biggrin:

Nice results, gl hitting NL100 soon

Pretty lazy weekend grind this week , I went to a bar on friday night. It was a fun night, I got too drunk and actually lost my ticket to be able to get my coat. The bouncers told me I was going to have to wait till 4am to get my jacket. So I said F**K THAT, conviced him both my parents were lawyers and that they would sue the club (for laws I was making up on the spot :P) if he dindn't get me my jacket right away. Eventually he got so scared he went in a got it !

As for poker, I'm up a few buy-ins playing cash. I also came 47th today in the bigger 55, for 560$ which I am quite happy about. Unfortunately I lost two big hands, one where i tried to bluff raise the flop and got shoved on. The second one I squeezed all-in with Aq and got called of by JJ. First place was 50k .

Anyone have any suggestions on a good tv series, so far I've watched Prison Break, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and Suits.

Will be back playing cash tommorow!

For TV suggestion, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

Nice run in the Bigger 55.

As for TV series, don't tell me you did not see LOST?! ♠_o: And the 2nd season of Hannibal just began last month so you can catch that as well. GL at the tables! ♠_thumbsup:

Band of brothers, hands down.

The Wire, maybe you already saw it?! True detective is really good, HBO series that has just been on the last two months. The mentalist.

Nice cash in the tourney, I'm sure if you keep playing them you'll FT! Just look at pleno! How do you find the fields?

Nice result mate

@peche the fields in MTTs are super soft, unfortunately I actually had a pretty tough table towards the end. But when I looked at the other tables , they each had at least 2-3 fish playing on their phones lol . But even the regs who crush MTTs are pretty brutal post flop.

For the tv show, I'm going to start by watching the Wire, I've heard lots of good things about it !

Going to play a session, I'll post a few hands after.

Originally posted by Ganimator
Pretty lazy weekend grind this week , I went to a bar on friday night. It was a fun night, I got too drunk and actually lost my ticket to be able to get my coat. The bouncers told me I was going to have to wait till 4am to get my jacket. So I said F**K THAT, conviced him both my parents were lawyers and that they would sue the club (for laws I was making up on the spot :P) if he dindn't get me my jacket right away. Eventually he got so scared he went in a got it !

Like a boss

Anyone have any suggestions on a good tv series, so far I've watched Prison Break, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones and Suits.

Arrow, Homeland, Walking Dead, Touch

Session was ok , ended up +1 buy-in was down 3 at 1 point. It was a really weird session, literally had no big hands with regs. Only won/lost big against fish.

I got pretty lucky in this hand)

Both villains are spewy fish, thats why I min raise. By shoving , you don't let them spew with over pairs and Qx. He will obviously show up with better sets some of the time.

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $49.51 (VPIP: 44.44, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 50.00, Hands: 9)
SB: $67.00 (VPIP: 30.56, PFR: 25.00, 3Bet Preflop: 13.33, Hands: 37)
Hero (BB): $59.63
UTG: $70.67 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 3)
MP: $55.83 (VPIP: 27.18, PFR: 21.36, 3Bet Preflop: 5.56, Hands: 106)
CO: $36.07 (VPIP: 16.67, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 18)

SB posts SB $0.25, Hero posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.75) Hero has 3♦ 3♠

fold, fold, CO raises to $1.50, BTN calls $1.50, SB calls $1.25, Hero calls $1.00

Flop: ($6.00, 4 players) 3♣ 4♦ Q♥
SB checks, Hero bets $3.00, CO raises to $6.00, fold, SB raises to $9.00, Hero raises to $12.00, fold, SB raises to $65.50 and is all-in, Hero calls $46.13 and is all-in

Turn: ($128.26, 2 players) 6♦

River: ($128.26, 2 players) 3♥

2) Against another fish

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $55.06 (VPIP: 17.49, PFR: 13.93, 3Bet Preflop: 4.68, Hands: 1,170)
Hero (SB): $126.16
BB: $33.67 (VPIP: 21.74, PFR: 13.04, 3Bet Preflop: 15.38, Hands: 25)
UTG: $20.65 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)
MP: $44.10 (VPIP: 21.79, PFR: 16.67, 3Bet Preflop: 12.68, Hands: 158)
CO: $49.25 (VPIP: 31.25, PFR: 25.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 16)

Hero posts SB $0.25, BB posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.75) Hero has J♣ A♦

UTG raises to $1.00, fold, CO raises to $1.50, fold, Hero raises to $4.50, fold, fold, CO calls $3.00

Flop: ($10.50, 2 players) 9♦ J♠ 4♥
Hero bets $6.00, CO calls $6.00

Turn: ($22.50, 2 players) 5♥
Hero bets $12.00, CO raises to $38.75 and is all-in, Hero calls $26.75

River: ($100.00, 2 players) A♥

3) Another fish

He just had extremely aggro post flop stats. Thats why I flatted

PokerStars - $0.50 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $30.42 (VPIP: 26.03, PFR: 19.18, 3Bet Preflop: 14.29, Hands: 75)
SB: $43.64 (VPIP: 21.32, PFR: 15.44, 3Bet Preflop: 11.29, Hands: 138)
BB: $29.50 (VPIP: 37.50, PFR: 22.50, 3Bet Preflop: 10.71, Hands: 83)
Hero (UTG): $50.25
MP: $70.48 (VPIP: 22.28, PFR: 17.10, 3Bet Preflop: 8.45, Hands: 199)
CO: $63.50 (VPIP: 7.69, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 13)

SB posts SB $0.25, BB posts BB $0.50

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.75) Hero has A♠ A♥

Hero raises to $1.50, fold, fold, fold, fold, BB raises to $4.75, Hero calls $3.25

Flop: ($9.75, 2 players) 3♣ 7♥ J♥
BB bets $5.50, Hero calls $5.50

Turn: ($20.75, 2 players) 6♦
BB bets $19.25 and is all-in, Hero calls $19.25

River: ($59.25, 2 players) 8♠
Players agreed to run it twice.

River #2: ($59.25, 2 players) 2♥

First hand w 33 how come you donk $3 into $6 rather than a little bigger $3.5-4.25? Would have thought you'd want to try build a pot or are you expecting it to induce against overpairs?

Originally posted by peche025
First hand w 33 how come you donk $3 into $6 rather than a little bigger $3.5-4.25? Would have thought you'd want to try build a pot or are you expecting it to induce against overpairs?

The flop is extremely dry , I want to get called by the widest range possible. There are also no bad turns. I would bet bigger on a draw heavy texture. I'm also betting this size with my entire range on this board.

Originally posted by Ganimator

Originally posted by peche025
First hand w 33 how come you donk $3 into $6 rather than a little bigger $3.5-4.25? Would have thought you'd want to try build a pot or are you expecting it to induce against overpairs?

The flop is extremely dry , I want to get called by the widest range possible. There are also no bad turns. I would bet bigger on a draw heavy texture. I'm also betting this size with my entire range on this board.

You say: I want to get called by the widest range possible

When the pot gets minraised twice with following shove have you ever thought of folding? Multiway, callers preflop. And you have only a bottom set.

I would never fold a set to two fish on this board. He could have some slow played AA,KK. He can also have Aq, 34,56 and some random spew hands that shove "just because I minraise" . I'm happy getting in here 100% of the time. If it was against a nitty reg, I would need some really strong reads to ever fold a set on this board.

Cheers