My Ranting blog

Originally posted by la55i
I know how you feel man
Last month my on my worst session I lost 800bb in about 2k hands. It destroys you from the inside and it doesn't help at all when someone says it is just variance.
Have you tried to go back to crushing NL5 for a while? There is no shame in going lower and building back your confidence

Meh, I don't see much value in going back to nl5. I still have roll for nl20 and I'm over rolled for nl10 (I have well over 100 bin). + I'm a winner on nl10 for over 200k hands. I guess that I will drop nl20 for a while though and grind nl10 only.

I might play a few sessions on nl5 now that you said it. I have not played that stake at all this year so I could just try out the games for fun, see how the players are there!

I have been busy and I have not had time to play a lot of poker.

Hours: [24/50]

I'm kinda sick of 6max cash so I decided to play some HUSNG + spins. It has been ok.

I think that I'm going to keep playing them for a while as I enjoy them for now more than 6max. I would like to learn more about HU but I guess that the HU is dying so I don't know if I want to put much time in it. I do enjoy it a lot more though than 6max. I guess that I won't get the 50hours this month as I can't play at all next week

Hours: [35/50]

Soo I failed my hourly goal, but I was not home for 9 days this month so I was no able to play. Made about 50 eur profit. cash games about -50 eur and sng;s about +100. I don't feel happy about my game or about my results.

I just had a week break from poker and I felt good about opening the tables. Guess what, nothing is new. I got 4 times KK into AA all in pre ( me having the kings..) in the last 600 hands. - 4 bin. I feel really desperate about poker, I don't know what to do, its not fun to play the game anymore. I feel like deleting the poker softwares from my pc now.

2016 has been really though poker wise. My goal was to get to nl50 by December and I'm now back to grinding only nl10 after several failed nl20 shots. Running almost 100 bin under ev has not helped the journey + constantly getting coolered in the last ~8 months (~200k hands). I don't want to blame variance though on all of this because I know that the run has made me spew a lot and tilt. I could have played a lot better. I have made about 900 eur profit this year though. If I would be running at EV I would have made almost 2k.

I'm not sure what I will do in December. Maybe I will take the month off from poker and re-think about what I want from this game. I might start to practice forex trading and whitdraw most of my roll to do that, not sure yet. It seems easier to "scale up" because the opponent is always the same, unlike in poker when you get to higher stakes the opponent gets harder.

Maybe I should get a poker coach to help me on my game, I don't know. They seem too expensive when playing nl10-20.

Even though I was thinking about not playing anymore this month, I decided to put in a small session. I don't know anymore.

Hello marsa08,

Sorry to read that you are having a really bad downswing at the moment. I hope you don't give up and that you get back all the bad beats in the next few rounds. Something that helped me when I had my last bad swing was to just play until I double up then Quit! If I lose a buy in then I quick for the day. Ultimately it helped me rebuild my BR to a standard I was happy with.

Regards

Matt

Thank you for the encouraging words Metalmonkey! Maybe I should try playing shorter sessions.

I have been reading a lot about mental game and variance and I will write a post about that later today or tomorrow. This game is really not desinged for the human mind.

Some fun hands that I played the last few days, exploiting the fish to the max part1.;

Easy value otr, he is never letting any Kx go. I think that these are spots where most nl10 regs lose value because they xb when the possible flush hits which is like super small % of his range. If I would be playing against regs here I would prob. bet a little bit smaller flop and turn and x back river. vs this fish just bet bet bet.
$0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

SB: $1.15 (11.5 bb)
BB: $10.77 (107.7 bb)
Hero (UTG): $10 (100 bb)
MP: $10.90 (109 bb)
CO: $20.85 (208.5 bb)
BTN: $7.95 (79.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Q♠: K♦:
Hero raises to $0.30, 2 folds, BTN calls $0.30, SB calls $0.25, BB folds

Flop: ($1) K♣: 2♥: 5♥: (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.80, BTN calls $0.80, SB folds

Turn: ($2.60) T♦: (2 players)
Hero bets $2.08, BTN calls $2.08

River: ($6.76) 6♥: (2 players)
Hero bets $5.40, BTN calls $4.77

$16.30 pot ($1.35 rake)
Final Board: K♣: 2♥: 5♥: T♦: 6♥:
Hero mucked Q♠: K♦: and won $14.95 ($7 net)
BTN showed 3♣: K♠: and lost (-$7.95 net)

Value shove, he will call with any Jx and he should have a bunch of gutters like AT AQ. Sure he has any Kx too but we still have over 50%.
$0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

SB: $26.01 (260.1 bb)
Hero (BB): $10 (100 bb)
UTG: $14 (140 bb)
MP: $16.27 (162.7 bb)
CO: $13.13 (131.3 bb)
BTN: $2.85 (28.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q♣: Q♥:
UTG raises to $0.40, MP folds, CO calls $0.40, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.60, UTG folds, CO calls $1.20

Flop: ($3.65) 6♥: K♦: J♠: (2 players)
Hero bets $1.70, CO calls $1.70

Turn: ($7.05) 9♥: (2 players)
Hero bets $6.70 and is all-in, CO calls $6.70

River: ($20.45) 2♥: (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $20.45 pot ($1.70 rake)
Final Board: 6♥: K♦: J♠: 9♥: 2♥:
Hero mucked Q♣: Q♥: and won $18.75 ($8.75 net)
CO showed J♣: 8♠: and lost (-$10 net)

Understanding randomness , variance and mind part 1.

1.1 Randomness

If someone would ask you to draw dots randomly on a paper, you would probably draw something like this:

This is actually the opposite of random. As you can see the dots are ~evenly spread around the paper and not much random at all.

Really the randomness would look something like this (paint skill level 9000):

The dots are not evenly around, they are now random.

The same effect can be demonstrated by trying to draw a serie of 40 coin flips. Lets say that 1 is heads and 0 is tails. If someone would ask you to "draw" it you would probably draw/write something like this:

1010111010010101011001010110010101101001

In reality it does not look like that. It would be something like this(sure it can look like the above too, but not often):

1111011100000100000111011110000101000001

So, in conclusion we can say that the human mind expects that the variance/randomness is actually the opposite of random. Once you understand that your mind thinks wrongly, this will help to understand the frustration caused by the variance in poker. Your mind is expecting you to "evenly" win flips or hands when in reality it does not go like that. Then you get mad because the results do not go like you expect/ your mind expects and you are not even realizing it.

1.2 Human mind

I have one term for you: Loss aversion.

Quoting Wikipedia:
"Loss aversion refers to people's tendency to prefer avoiding losses to acquiring equivalent gains: it's better to not lose $5 than to find $5. Some studies have suggested that losses are twice as powerful, psychologically, as gains. This leads to risk aversion when people evaluate an outcome comprising similar gains and losses; since people prefer avoiding losses to making gains."

This is bad for pokerplayers. Again your mind is doing bad for your game as in the randomness example. Losing in poker is unavoidable, but your mind tries to not to lose. Also losing feels about twice as bad as winning so no doubt it can be tilting to lose.

Once you understand that your mind has a lot of faulty thinking patterns regarding the variance and losing, you might be able to understand better the reasons why you tilt and thus not tilt so much anymore.

One example regarding the Loss aversion. Imagine that you are playing poker and you just lost $100 in the beginning of the session. At the end of the session you win $110 making the session end at +$10. You feel good because you just got up from the loss.

Now, imagine that you start the session again. Now you first win $110 and then at the end of the session you lose $100. End result is the same +$10. Now you might not feel so great about your session because you just "lost" $100 and you were up a lot more before. You might even feel a little bit frustrated.

This is silly, the end result is the same, you won the same amount but we just reversed the happening order of the losing and winning hands. On the other example you feel good and on the other example you feel bad. That is the power of loss aversion. Once you understand the affect of loss aversion you will feel the same in both cases.

Part 2. to come someday, if I have time or willingness to write it. Sorry if there is spelling errors etc. as English is not my mother tongue.

Had 2nd session for December. It was ok.

Some funny and some crazy hands:

Vs fish. I assume that he raises most 2p+ hands otf. AK 4b most of the time. Also I expect him to x back most flushdraws on the turn and not bet (population read..) So his range otr is basically some flushes, worse Kx and some wierd hands.
$0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

SB: $2.12 (21.2 bb)
Hero (BB): $10.79 (107.9 bb)
UTG: $4.33 (43.3 bb)
MP: $11.40 (114 bb)
CO: $10 (100 bb)
BTN: $12.56 (125.6 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K♦: J♣:
3 folds, BTN raises to $0.30, SB folds, Hero raises to $1, BTN calls $0.70

Flop: ($2.05) 3♠: K♥: Q♠: (2 players)
Hero bets $1.23, BTN calls $1.23

Turn: ($4.51) 5♥: (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $2.25, Hero calls $2.25

River: ($9.01) K♠: (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $4.50, Hero calls $4.50

Results:

"He must have only bluffs in his range when he check/raises... yeah"
$0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 4 Players

Hero (SB): $13.25 (132.5 bb)
BB: $10 (100 bb)
CO: $3.45 (34.5 bb)
BTN: $10.25 (102.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 6♦: 6♥:
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.60) 6♠: 5♥: 8♦: (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $0.30, Hero raises to $1.20, BB calls $0.90

Turn: ($3) A♦: (2 players)
Hero bets $2.40, BB calls $2.40

River: ($7.80) 5♠: (2 players)
Hero bets $6.40, BB calls $6.10 and is all-in

Results:

Miss click by me on the turn
$0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

Hero (SB): $21.36 (213.6 bb)
BB: $10.15 (101.5 bb)
UTG: $3.68 (36.8 bb)
MP: $10.45 (104.5 bb)
CO: $9.85 (98.5 bb)
BTN: $12.73 (127.3 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with J♠: J♣:
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.60) 2♥: K♣: 4♦: (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $0.40, Hero calls $0.40

Turn: ($1.40) 5♣: (2 players)
Hero bets $0.10, BB calls $0.10

River: ($1.60) 7♦: (2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks

Results:

Perfect river vs bad reg:

$0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

SB: $3.98 (39.8 bb)
Hero (BB): $12.77 (127.7 bb)
UTG: $12.36 (123.6 bb)
MP: $10.05 (100.5 bb)
CO: $3.22 (32.2 bb)
BTN: $3.29 (32.9 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with T♣: Q♣:
MP posts BB OOP, UTG folds, MP checks, 2 folds, SB completes, Hero checks

Flop: ($0.30) J♣: 7♦: 8♣: (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.21, MP calls $0.21, SB calls $0.21

Turn: ($0.93) 3♦: (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.65, MP calls $0.65, SB folds

River: ($2.23) K♦: (2 players)
Hero bets $1.70, MP folds

Played short session about break-even(+15bb). One interesting hand:

I rarely triple barrel bluff in 3b pots in nl10, but this was just perfect spot. I have 1.8k hands on villain. Fold to flop/turn/river cbets: 60/25/100. WTSD only 23!. We have nut blocker + he understands that he must overfold vs the population 3 barrels. We can fold almost his whole range with the river shove. I would not shove river without the reads here, but we have 1.8k hands on villain so the sample sizes are big enough. Also we are risking 6 to win 4 so the risk:reward ratio is good enough for this bluff.

$0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players

SB: $18.76 (187.6 bb)
Hero (BB): $10 (100 bb)
MP: $15.47 (154.7 bb)
CO: $10 (100 bb)
BTN: $15.32 (153.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A♦: Q♣:
MP folds, CO raises to $0.25, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1, CO calls $0.75

Flop: ($2.05) J♦: 2♥: 6♦: (2 players)
Hero bets $1, CO calls $1

Turn: ($4.05) 7♦: (2 players)
Hero bets $2, CO calls $2

River: ($8.05) 2♠: (2 players)
Hero bets $6 and is all-in, CO folds

$0.10/$0.20 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players

SB: $9.73 (48.7 bb)
BB: $9.38 (46.9 bb)
Hero (MP): $20.63 (103.2 bb)
CO: $18.51 (92.6 bb)
BTN: $13.51 (67.6 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP with A♦: K♥:
Hero raises to $0.60, CO folds, BTN raises to $1, 2 folds, Hero raises to $20.63, BTN calls $12.51 and is all-in

Flop: ($27.32) 3♦: 5♠: K♠: (2 players, 1 is all-in)
Turn: ($27.32) 8♥: (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: ($27.32) 2♠: (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results: $27.32 pot ($1.36 rake)
Final Board: 3♦: 5♠: K♠: 8♥: 2♠:
Hero mucked A♦: K♥: and won $25.96 ($12.45 net)
BTN showed 3♣: J♣: and lost (-$13.51 net)

Creative lines (how to get the most money out of villain). Cbet and he folds his air. x/r turn and let him bluff turns and fold to raises, YES. Well, here he called turn, otr I bet small because he is never going to fold Ax so I just want him to fold worse draws that missed and maybe some possible Qx that he stationed ott. Big bet should have worse EV than smaller bet here as a bluff:

$0.10/$0.20 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 4 Players

SB: $23.71 (118.6 bb)
BB: $33.69 (168.5 bb)
CO: $36.75 (183.8 bb)
Hero (BTN): $20.00 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with J♣: 7♣:
CO folds, Hero raises to $0.40, SB folds, BB calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.90) 8♣: A♣: A♥: (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

Turn: ($0.90) Q♥: (2 players)
BB bets $0.63, Hero raises to $1.85, BB calls $1.22

River: ($4.60) K♦: (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $2.76, BB folds

That second hand is nice ♦ I wouldn't personally use that line but it looks fun

LemOn is looking for fancy play hands for his next session so maybe you could post it there?
https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=2536543

Originally posted by la55i
That second hand is nice ♦ I wouldn't personally use that line but it looks fun

LemOn is looking for fancy play hands for his next session so maybe you could post it there?
https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=2536543/blockquote >

Did that Thanks for the suggestion! I would not have noticed that thread. Now waiting till next monday..

No problem I'll see you in the coaching Will be nice to see what lemon says ♦

Played some nl2 just for fun I forgot how it was like. +2 bin in 20 mins.

He is not repping anything really.. would fold river though vs bet.
$0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

Hero (SB): $2.26 (113 bb)
BB: $2.04 (102 bb)
UTG: $2.06 (103 bb)
MP: $0.93 (46.5 bb)
CO: $4.31 (215.5 bb)
BTN: $2.26 (113 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A♠: K♣:
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.06, BB calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.12) 4♦: J♠: A♣: (2 players)
Hero bets $0.09, BB raises to $0.18, Hero calls $0.09

Turn: ($0.48) T♥: (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $0.22, Hero calls $0.22

River: ($0.92) 7♦: (2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks

Results:$0.92 pot ($0.03 rake)
Final Board: 4♦: J♠: A♣: T♥: 7♦:
Hero showed A♠: K♣: and won $0.89 ($0.43 net)
BB mucked T♦: 8♣: and lost (-$0.46 net)
???:megusta:

$0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

SB: $2 (100 bb)
BB: $1.86 (93 bb)
UTG: $2.38 (119 bb)
Hero (MP): $2 (100 bb)
CO: $2.13 (106.5 bb)
BTN: $5.18 (259 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 2♠: A♠:
UTG folds, Hero raises to $0.06, CO folds, BTN raises to $0.16, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.40, BTN calls $0.24

Flop: ($0.83) K♦: 2♥: 7♠: (2 players)
Hero bets $0.26, BTN folds

Results: $0.83 pot ($0.03 rake)
Final Board: K♦: 2♥: 7♠:
Hero mucked 2♠: A♠: and won $0.80 ($0.40 net)
BTN mucked and lost (-$0.40 net)

I don't see many Jx that plays flop like that expect JQ but I lose to it anyways. Flop 2x re raise is just trying to make him go mad

$0.01/$0.02 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

SB: $1.97 (98.5 bb)
BB: $2.12 (106 bb)
UTG: $0.52 (26 bb)
MP: $5.10 (255 bb)
CO: $2.23 (111.5 bb)
Hero (BTN): $2 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with 7♣: 6♣:
2 folds, CO raises to $0.06, Hero calls $0.06, 2 folds

Flop: ($0.15) 8♠: 9♦: T♣: (2 players)
CO bets $0.06, Hero raises to $0.18, CO raises to $0.30, Hero raises to $0.62, CO calls $0.32

Turn: ($1.39) Q♠: (2 players)
CO bets $1.55 and is all-in, Hero calls $1.32 and is all-in

River: ($4.03) K♥: (2 players, 2 are all-in)

Results: $4.03 pot ($0.14 rake)
Final Board: 8♠: 9♦: T♣: Q♠: K♥:
CO showed A♣: A♦: and won $0.00 (-$2 net)
Hero showed 7♣: 6♣: and won $3.89 ($1.89 net)

I have not been playing a lot this month. It has been good for me as my brain feels a lot clearer now. On 5.12 I made some big changes to my game plan/strategy and it has been working out well. I will post results and goals on 31.12 or 1.1.

I have been playing nl5 only for the last few days as I have to play on my small 13" laptop and no mouse atm as I'm travelling so I have been playing a lot of B and C game + not concentrating. Volume for the last days of 2016 will probably be something like 3k hands. Total for the month then will be only something like 13k hands.

Session last night on nl5, only 500 hands +4 bin. I was playing 200bb deep on some spots vs villains and I think that I have an edge the deeper I play. Also the nl5 players seem to be super spewwy.

2016 ended. Happy new year all!

So, ended December with +50eur profit again and that puts total profit for 2016 just under 1k eur.

Funny hand, reg tilting :
$0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

SB: $19.52 (195.2 bb)
Hero (BB): $10.57 (105.7 bb)
UTG: $19.11 (191.1 bb)
MP: $12.64 (126.4 bb)
CO: $10 (100 bb)
BTN: $24.25 (242.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K♥: K♦:
UTG folds, MP calls $0.10, CO calls $0.10, BTN raises to $24.25 and is all-in, SB folds, Hero calls $10.47 and is all-in, 2 folds

Flop: ($21.39) 6♦: 4♦: Q♥: (2 players, 2 are all-in)
Turn: ($21.39) J♠: (2 players, 2 are all-in)
River: ($21.39) A♦: (2 players, 2 are all-in)

Results: $21.39 pot ($1.78 rake)
Final Board: 6♦: 4♦: Q♥: J♠: A♦:
Hero mucked K♥: K♦: and won $19.61 ($9.04 net)
BTN showed 9♥: J♥: and lost (-$10.57 net)

Hated this hand. SB is super super calling station and I would get it in 200bb deep vs any pair or almost even Ahigh here by just bet/bet/bet line but ofc. co got lucky and had to deny my profits.
$0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

SB: $21.23 (212.3 bb)
BB: $26.47 (264.7 bb)
UTG: $10 (100 bb)
MP: $12.58 (125.8 bb)
CO: $10 (100 bb)
Hero (BTN): $21.67 (216.7 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with A♦: A♥:
UTG folds, MP raises to $0.40, CO calls $0.40, Hero raises to $1.50, SB calls $1.45, 2 folds, CO calls $1.10

Flop: ($5) 5♥: 8♠: 4♣: (3 players)
SB checks, CO checks, Hero bets $2.60, SB calls $2.60, CO raises to $8.50 and is all-in, Hero folds, SB calls $5.90

Turn: ($24.60) A♣: (2 players, 1 is all-in)
River: ($24.60) 3♥: (2 players, 1 is all-in)

Results:

I think that the biggest leaks in my game at the moment are fancy play and overestimating the goodness of regs at nl10-nl20. Also tilt caused a lot of bad play in 2016 even though I managed to control it better in the last quarter. Therefore my golas for 2017 are:

-Stick to super simple ABC poker all the time!
-Handle tilt, excercise etc. more to release possible frustration.
-stop leveling yourself vs the regs, 90% of them are bad.

No volume goals as I don't know yet how much school will take my time.

GL all!

This pic describes poker in 2017 for me - nothing new. I have improved a lot my game though in the last months but the results are just not coming.

Meanwhile:

Cmoon guys tell me how to run good in this game for once in 8 months?? any tips welcome! prob. 100 bin under ev broken now.

Can I get out of this hole in 2017?

Todays session was short. Once again. Maybe I need a break again from this game. Again. last 1.4k hands 600 bb under ev.. ugh.

Now that I know about how much school takes my time, I'm setting a goal of 50h playing and studying combined per month. if I feel too tilted or bad mooded to play I will do off-table work. So prob. will be around 20h of study and 30h play, we will see.

atm:
study: [3h]
play:[21h]

Originally posted by marsa08

Cmoon guys tell me how to run good in this game for once in 8 months??

Trying to figure out that as well.. I'll let you know if I manage to fix bad luck