Season1 #Grinding#Goal10K#Zoompokerstars

Season 1. Day 1. Winning more, earning less

Start: $194,40
END: $195,93
Result: +$1,53
Played hands: 3256

This is indeed the best name of my session yesterday. I feel like a big company with huge turnover but less profit.
I checked all big hands I played and 85% of them I won. But in the end I only made $1,53. So the most money I lost are probably the small-mid pot I played and lost. Because it is a zoom, they all add up very quick. To avoid this tomorrow I have to make some changes:
- Don't overcall 3bets oop, more 4betting or folding pre
- Don't overcall midpairs in MP and HJ/CO pos. Add more 3bettin to protect me from squeezing
- Add more calling range with JJ+ on MP and HJ/CO pos to punish the squeezers
- Anything else?

I also checked what I can buy with my profit, haha. See:
https://toughnickel.com/frugal-living/100-Things-You-Can-Buy-for-A-Dollar

Waht would you buy?

Originally posted by pokerboy198229
Waht would you buy?

Definitely Not:
7. Playboy Passion Shot Libido Enhancing Drink

Most likely, but not on the list...
Postage stamp

That list looked really old.
Prices for candy haven't been that low in Canada for ages, and even in the States they seem low...

Speaking of lists...

Originally posted by pokerboy198229
- Don't overcall 3bets oop, more 4betting or folding pre
- Don't overcall midpairs in MP and HJ/CO pos. Add more 3bettin to protect me from squeezing
- Add more calling range with JJ+ on MP and HJ/CO pos to punish the squeezers
- Anything else?

That looks like a good starting point.
Have you used LeakTracker to find additional spots?

Cheers,
VS

That looks like a good starting point.
Have you used LeakTracker to find additional spots?

No, but I was making notes of my actions> So this way I found the made "mistakes".

Season 1. Day 2. Playing less, shipping more

Start: $195,93
END: $203,18
Result: +$7,25
Played hands: 702
Result since day 1: +$8,78

I played less today because I was tired due to a lot of work I had this week. But still stayed concentrated and this way I was able to catch a bluff attempt.

The action was:
Pre 3-bet
C-bet flop
Call a big donk turn from villain
Call ship river from villain

His play didnt make a lot of sense, with a Q he has to x/call most of the time. I had no blocker for spades. So I decided to call down.

Season 1. Day 3. Staying away of losing medium pots

Start: $203,18
END: $213,36
Result: +$10,18
Played hands: 1674
Result since day 1: +$18,96

Like the title says I tried to stay away of losing medium pots. And this did work. I won more than I lost.
One the most ridicolous hands I played was:

The action was:
Flop: I bet, villain 1 calls,
V2 3bet, I 4bet , both calls
Turn: I check/V1 bets/I call
River: I bet/V1 raises I cal

I bet river half pot, 70% of my remaining stack, he still managed to push all in with air. I would have less fold equity.
I have to say I did think a little bit, it wasn't a snap call, because he would never raised with straights. But he could still have some smaller flushes and for some reasons bluffing range. Would you rate his play on river high? And how would you rate my play the whole hand?

I need another $27 dollar and I can play 10NL. It is about 5.5 stakes on 5NL.
There is another challenge as well. I can redeem $200 if I earn 2500 redeem points in 10 days. I have already 561,13 points. Let's do it.

That's a zoom table, so anything can happen -- and it usually does.

OTR the only way for opponent to take this pot is to rep a flush and get you to fold.
Amazing since he's only playing for the side pot.

Nice hand!

I don't get those redeem point things...

I only see starcoins and chests at pokerstars. Is there another way of getting some rakeback?

Originally posted by KoningAlbert
I don't get those redeem point things...

I only see starcoins and chests at pokerstars. Is there another way of getting some rakeback?

In PokerStars points store, if you examine the prices, you'll see that you get about $0.01 per point.

If you play "The Deal" you can achieve about $0.07 per coin
If you read through the thread I just linked there are some strategies for improving your $/coin.

I (usually) only play when the jackpot is > $150,000 but I forgot last time, and missed out on a $9 payout.
"The Deal" isn't available in all countries though...

Originally posted by KoningAlbert
I don't get those redeem point things...

I only see starcoins and chests at pokerstars. Is there another way of getting some rakeback?

You can find it under challenges on Stars:

I got those for a while, then I didn't have time to play for most of April, and I don't get them any more.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
I got those for a while, then I didn't have time to play for most of April, and I don't get them any more.

i never got any

Season 1. Day 4. Falling down

Start: $213,36
END: $191,45
Result: -$21,91
Played hands: 3674
Result since day 1: -$2,95

It was a disaster this day 4. I lost ca 5 stacks and I realize the variance is huge in this game, but still it was painfull. There were a lot of spots I didn't know ho to deal it, such as:
I open TT UTG, SB or BTN 3bet me I call, huge c-bets flop and turn on low boards. I folded most times because I considered my position (utg), so they have to know my range is tight, expecially when I called them down twice . This 4th day epsiode was already couple of days earlier.

So I added more research as preparation. It is possible to observe played big pots in zoom, so I do this daily to make more notes. This was I would be more prepared knowing tendencies of good and bad regs or some recreational players who playing more regular. Last days I made about 50 more notes this way, and I discovered a lot of 3bets with small and medium pairs which are barreling in to 2-3 players postflop. Way more agression I expected. Let' s see if this preparation works in long term. Anyone with experience?

Nice blog. Keep up the good work, like your spirit.

Originally posted by Itsnevereasy
Nice blog. Keep up the good work, like your spirit.

Thank you, I just sharing my journey and have a lot of fun, but it is challenging as well.

Season 1. Day 5 and 6. On right path again

Start: $191,45
END: $225,35
Result: +$33,90
Played hands: 2933
Result since day 1: +$30,95

Last 2 days I had better run but I feel I played better as well. Having more notes on villains by observing played big pots zoom helping, because I x/raised loose players a lot and got more value by thin value betting whales.
So even by loosing some big pots I still managed booking winning sessions or loosing less.

I added reading books such as "Easy game" and "Applications of NLH" to my preparation and I found some good concepts which helped me a lot in medium pots.

Also I try to read and comment more on hands which other players put in this forum. Try to learn and find the difficult spots I'm daily.

Last challenge failed: "Earning 2500 redeem points to get $200". Now I do another one: "Earning 1000 redeem points to get $80". Already earned 21 points and I have another 26 days to earn rest of the points. This might succeed. I will try it.

Season 1. Day 7. Fighting the variance

Start: $225,35
END: $237,25
Result: +$11,90
Played hands: 6557
Result since day 1: +$42,85

Wel again good session, but long one. I can take now a shot to 10Nl. I don't know how this will go, but I will try to do my best. I have $37 to take my shot, If I lose them, I go back to 5 NL.

I changed my game a lot last week, I was reading more books and the last one was about exploiting the regulars. I realised that I cannot escape playing a lot in zoom games vs regs, so I have to know how to exploit them more. Actually it is more not to let then to exploit me. For example I surrended to many pots before when the board contained smal cards and paired boards which are good to exploit.

This knowledge change my winrates a lot. I pick up more small-medium pots and even when I was losing all big pots, I still was a winner or small loser. So zoom poker is really about small-med pots, more preflop-flop game. I'm happy I eliminated now one of my biggest leaks.