Swimming out of Venezuelan Hell

Another bad session zzz

Everything was going smooth until:

Guess I should have known.
Then again recovered and this slaps me

After that I didn't hit shit, shit! No draws no sets no pairs nothing.
Got a couple of AA/KK but always to steal the blinds zzz. Didn't tilt in the entire month but after this one happened:

fuck off


BR: $170

Originally posted by lkdr9494
I feel like having the second best hand every fucking time and when I do have the nuts my opponents fold no matter what betting line I use (they have shit).
If I hit and cbet they fold. If I don't hit and cbet they call.

Yeah, that sums up most of my current sessions as well, including today's.

Though I feel like I'm sometimes overplaying my second best hands a bit, especially overpairs. Looks like I just don't give my opponents enough credit. Not sure if you're having the same problem.

And don't worry about those sessions where you start off losing and have too chase your losses. I know it can have a big psychological impact when Pokertracker keeps reminding you of your current losses (or winnings, for that matter), but in the end, the optimal way to play a hand doesn't change just because your down for the session.

I'm sure you're familiar with the old poker mantra "it's one big session".

Originally posted by Harrier88

Yeah, that sums up most of my current sessions as well, including today's.

Though I feel like I'm sometimes overplaying my second best hands a bit, especially overpairs. Looks like I just don't give my opponents enough credit. Not sure if you're having the same problem.

And don't worry about those sessions where you start off losing and have too chase your losses. I know it can have a big psychological impact when Pokertracker keeps reminding you of your current losses (or winnings, for that matter), but in the end, the optimal way to play a hand doesn't change just because your down for the session.

I'm sure you're familiar with the old poker mantra "it's one big session".

I think it's because we wait and wait for that good hand and when we finally have it it's so hard to let it go when even you know you are beaten.
About playing chasing my losses I don't know I feel like I have to go positive in every session, but it doesn't alter my game much. I had one session where I was like 3 BI down and got desperate and ended up 6 BI down zz so there I learned the lesson.

I also played another session that was going quite well, was 1 BI up and this happens:

Hello mates, hope you are all having a good day like me so far.
After a bit of a downswing playing bad sessions since sunday I finally catch a break today. Yesterday night I decided to skip my night session and rest instead. I wasn't feeling like playing and I was a bit stressed cause I was stucked doubting myself and my skills and luck and all that shit. So I slept about 10 hours and this are the results:

What I like to call : Flawless session!! (insert mortal kombat voice here)

No (big) loser hands and the 2 big winners:

Yes a bit lucky the guy hitting the set on the turn and me the full house and the other hits the river for a straight and I flush
The hands played themselves but I'd like to say I made no "mistakes" in the rest of the session which is quite hard on Zoom as I guess you all know.

BR: $195 and going up. Good luck

Hello mates, not many updates in my grinding, bankroll's currently at $215.
Going slow but steady. As you can see:

However I'm very excited because tomorrow I'm playing Micromillion's Sunday Storm and Main Event in pokerstars tomorrow. Got the buy-in for the sunday storm for 700 fpp at VIP store and won a ticket to the main event in the vip bash satellite.

So I'll be updating on Monday about what happens tomorrow.
Wish me luck

Hello mates hope you doing well cause I'm very sad.
My BR is diving and apparently there's not much I can do about it. Yesterday I had $215 and today after 3 sessions is down to $180. I could post the rain of bad beats I've been getting but it wouldn't help. Don't even know how to play now.. I find myself folding kings preflop often to 4-bets cause every time I shove my kings I find pretty aces looking at me.. If I manage to get my aces called all-in pre-flop the guy hits a set (3 times today now..)

My post-flop is depressing .. I never hit people call cbets, 2 barrels, 3 barrels when I do hit either I shove on the flop for protection or get sucked up at the river against villain's magical 2 outer.

The most depressing part is my A-game is getting crushed in NL5.
I mean what am I supposed to expect of the later limits if I can't even beat this. Don't know if I should quit zoom or quit poker. Thing is poker is my last chance of anything.

I'll update with news when there are any..

Hello bro! I'm from venezuela too im in nl2 playing BSS FR, from the spanish comunity, i think that you can doit bro, i live on falcon, this month since the dolar situation is kinda of creepy i decided to play a lot to move along, and trying to go to another country, but in venezuela with 200$ we can live GOOD im thinking a lot!

Keep you play to the optimun level and the winnings will come!

Originally posted by lkdr9494
The most depressing part is my A-game is getting crushed in NL5.
I mean what am I supposed to expect of the later limits if I can't even beat this. Don't know if I should quit zoom or quit poker. Thing is poker is my last chance of anything.

I'll update with news when there are any..

Oh man, I know that feeling!

Slow and steady.
Remember to play each hand by itself.

You cannot "try to win".
Winning just happens. However it happens more often when you play considering ONLY the information you have about:
♦  Your hand, the board texture, your odds and outs etc
♦  You opponents likely range and his playing style.

Tell yourself -- I have done it before, so plainly, I can do it again.

If you have not yet read "The 8 Player Types - How to Get Their Money" have a look -- it is worthwhile.

Best of luck,
--VS

Your A-game is NOT getting crushed in NL5.

I certainly know how you feel and I've been there before, but words like "crushing" and "beating" only make sense if they are applied to long-term performance. Remember the graph you posted a week ago?

You started with $20 and turned them into $180, even after that downswing. There is no reason to believe that you're getting crushed, and certainly no reason to quit after all that effort.

About your c-bets being called all the time, could it be that you're trying to take down too many pots after you miss the board? I was running into heavy postflop resistance as well recently, and forced myself to give up earlier in marginal spots. I've had better results since then. Especially on these limits, you need to be careful with tricky aggressive moves after the flop, and a bluff 3-barrel is rarely the right choice, I think.

Do you perhaps want to post a graph that includes showdown and non-showdown winnings?

Also, have you ever thought about giving shorthanded games a try? They might require some studying if you're not familiar with them yet, and I'm not sure if they're the right game for you right now, since they feature more action and therefore more variance, but at least you can shove your preflop kings with confidence.

Thanks for your support mates I was just feeling sooo down after sunday, so much loss, so much tilt. Yesterday night I played couple of regular cash games in pokerstars playing in 40%> VPIP FR tables most of them with the same 2-3 nits and about 2-3 very fishy players. I only made 7$ because I played some stupid hands in a stupid way and well got stacked twice.

Today I haven't played yet, been "busy" all day I bought Tri Nguyen poker books the blueprint one and the regular exploting one since they have the best reviews around here decided to invest 16$ there, I'll let you know if they are worth it.

I'll play in a couple hours same time as yesterday, same plan, fishing see the results, I'll give zoom a second chance when I forget my black sunday-monday. Maybe try some 6-handed but I'd have to learn some stuff first and then give it a shot. Is 6-handed easier than FR?

Good luck everybody.

Originally posted by lkdr9494
Is 6-handed easier than FR?

Eh, not really. They are played more loosely than full ring games, so they're more opponent and situation specific. There is also a greater focus on postflop play. One advantage of the loose playing style is that strong hands are worth more, since your opponent's average range increases. That also means that there is more variance involved, though.

If you plan to go all the way in your poker career, you should probably become acquainted with them at some point, since higher stakes games are more commonly played in this format, and the really high stakes are pretty much exclusively 6-max.

For the moment, though, you might be better off focusing on full ring games for a while.

Originally posted by Harrier88

Originally posted by lkdr9494
Is 6-handed easier than FR?

Eh, not really. They are played more loosely than full ring games, so they're more opponent and situation specific. There is also a greater focus on postflop play. One advantage of the loose playing style is that strong hands are worth more, since your opponent's average range increases. That also means that there is more variance involved, though.

If you plan to go all the way in your poker career, you should probably become acquainted with them at some point, since higher stakes games are more commonly played in this format, and the really high stakes are pretty much exclusively 6-max.

For the moment, though, you might be better off focusing on full ring games for a while.

Yeah that my plan was to play FR until I couldn't anymore and then I'd focus on 6-handed as stakes go up. But I was also thinking if I'm going to learn it later why not learn it now? So I'll read some 6-handed strategy and give it a try when I'm a feeling confident some day.

Hello mates, hope you are doing alright. Today I returned to zoom games because I can't stand playing regular cash tables. I can only play 4 tables in an organized way and is slooooow. Not to mention the whole process of table selection going thru the waiting list and when you are finally seated fish are dead and the table is full of regs. So I went back to zoom had quite a profitable session a little over 2 BI. Good enough to get my confidence back little by little.

The hand I should've won and lost:

The hand I should've lost and won:

My BR is up to 205$ and tomorrow I'll be playing my regular 3 daily sessions as usual again.

Good luck all

Hello mates, seems like my upswing is coming back made 4 BI today, my confidence is peaking. I'm more careful with cbets now and calling after the turn.

subirimagenes

My BR right now is $225 and I'm planning to give NL10 a try when I reach $240, if I drop under $200 I go back to NL5 and rebuild. I seem to start college on wednesday (after 6 weeks of no activites they've decided to restart the term). Right now I'm headed to poker, planning on skipping 6 months of college (for several reasons, Venezuela's still very unstable and I don't believe the situation is good enough to restart the activites, and I believe is better to practice and study poker because it fits in every scenario).
1. Things are already normal in september and I resume college, making some money playing poker about 2 hours a day. (not likely to happen things going normal, but let's be optimistic since I really want my degree :f_biggrin:)
2. Things stay the same, no college, but I stay in the country because situation is not so bad, poker makes me money.
3. Things go wrong and I have to leave the country, poker + minimun wage in some country I can go will do at least for starters.

Made myself a little goal for this wednesday, reach $300.

Good luck all.

Hey mates, good news I'm up to $245 and I'll be giving it a try in NL10 tomorrow. I believe I have improved my game this few days cutting a bit on cbets, added some check-raise to my game in certain spots. Maybe I'm just being lucky. I'll let you know tomorrow how do I do in the NL10 tables.

Hey, lkdr9494

Good news indeed!

Best of luck!
--VS

Who likes bad news? Just when I'm trying NL10 I lose a BI AA v KK at the beginning of the session, and at the end lost another one KK v AA which was pretty obvius but since I was hitting nothing I shoved it.

So I'm down to $210, and back to NL5 to rebuild, I'll try again NL10 when I reach $250.

Take care and good luck

Originally posted by lkdr9494
Who likes bad news? Just when I'm trying NL10 I lose a BI AA v KK at the beginning of the session, and at the end lost another one KK v AA which was pretty obvius but since I was hitting nothing I shoved it.

So I'm down to $210, and back to NL5 to rebuild, I'll try again NL10 when I reach $250.

Take care and good luck

Ohh, that's ugly.

Well today didn't go as bad, I played 2 more NL10 sessions today got 2 BI in the first, even in the second. So I'm back at $230 and I'll have my second round with NL10 tomorrow.

I'll let you know how it goes.