Beginner to Pro? Attempting a cautious comeback

Last few days have been very good for me Yesterday my BR broke $700 mark for the first time and I was about to have record winnings for the day ($107), but things went tits up - one of the opponents really winded me up with his remarks and I went AI when I should not have Result? lost huge pot and ended the day "only" $30 up. That will teach me the lesson

Today I was struggling all day - up, down, up, down... until this villain came up and sat to the right of me He must be new, because I don't think he has found the FOLD button yet (His stats were 80/12/1.5). So I just patiently waited for my payout and I did not have to wait long Thats another pot and net win record!

$0.15/$0.25 No Limit Holdem
Everest Poker
10 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
UTG ($23.55)
UTG+1 ($46.23)
Hero ($49.30)
MP1 ($30.20)
MP2 ($27.85)
MP3 ($23.95)
CO ($31.47)
BTN ($6.60)
SB ($7.55)
BB ($26.75)

Pre-Flop: ($0.40, 10 players) Hero is UTG+2 K♥ K♠
1 fold, UTG+1 calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1.20, 7 folds, UTG+1 calls $0.95

Flop: J♣ Q♠ K♣ ($2.80, 2 players)
UTG+1 bets $2.80, Hero calls $2.80

Turn: 8♦ ($8.40, 2 players)
UTG+1 bets $8.40, Hero raises to $16.80, UTG+1 goes all-in $42.23, Hero calls $25.43

River: 5♣ ($92.86, 2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: $92.86
UTG+1 shows
10:club: Q♥
Hero shows
K♥ K♠

Hero wins $89.86 (net +$43.63)

UTG+1 lost $46.23
.

well done, sir!

Have not been writing here a while and below you can see the reason why:

It was like a rollercoaster ride, nothing like the sleek upward line of previous months NL10... ♠_evil:

The worst thing (or maybe the best thing, depends how you look at it) is the fact that it is not downswing, bad luck, tilt or something else. It is just my bad plays ♠_evil:

Not being able to fold overpairs, bluffing at wrong times, all-ins with QQ and AK against wrong opponents, not being able to fold obviously losing hands, slowplaying when not supposed to and being too aggressive when I could slowplay... ♠_evil:

As a result of all this my bankroll is down to 330$ and I will have to return to NL10 to build it up again.

Obviously, I have learned a lot, I have watched videos, read strategies and posted hands for evaluation I feel comfortable at NL25 and I know that I can beat that limit, just that I need bigger bankroll, which would allow me to play my A-game without worrying about losses.

Taking all this into account, here is my game plan for November:

- post at least 10 hands for evaluation
- finish studying Silver startegy articles
- play NL10 to build bankroll for NL25
- improve the 3.30 BB/100h winrate of NL10
- try to return to NL25 asap

In order to return to NL25 I have devised a following BR management scheme - I will play NL10 till I get to 400$, then I will switch to NL25. If my BR will drop to 350$, then I will return to NL10 and play till I get 450$ and then try NL25 again, and so on. Basically for every 100$ won at NL10 I will allow only 50$ loss at NL25. This should get me through November withoutsuffering any more losses

Well, that was fairly easy - it took me 2500 hands of NL10 over 4 days to win 70$ and get my bankroll over 400$ mark So, I am getting back into NL25, but will get out as soon as my BR drops to 350$. Fingers crossed...

Hmmm... this was fairly easy as well - 600 games of NL25 and I am down to 350$ and back to NL10...

In the meantime I have to figure out why is this happening. I am basically crushing NL10 but totally hopeless in NL25... there can't be such a big difference between these limits. Half the players are the same anyways...

OK, next time I am getting into NL25 when my BR will be at 450$

I think I am experiencing my first serious downswing... Lost 13 BI in 4 days... BR is down to 240$ (cashed in some points, otherwise it would be 200$), confidence is down to below zero...

It is incredible in how many ways you can loose with something what appears to be winning hand... ♠_evil:

I really hope this will end soon... it is no fun anymore... I don't mind losing now and then, but this... I might just throw money away...

Don't lose heart! Just be sure that you are doing this:

Originally posted by SilverSag
- post at least 10 hands for evaluation
- finish studying Silver startegy articles

Maybe take a day off from playing, and just watch some videos or something to help you re-focus.

Just be careful not to tilt your money away!
Remember to move down a limit if you lose much more, as your roll drops each BI becomes a greater %, and this will start to play on your mind and affect your play.

GL, I'm sure it will all turn round and you'll be heading in the right direction soon!

I agree. It's a really interesting blog and I really like that you switch between limits and have the discipline to move up and back down when necessary. Having that experience of regularly moving back down and not lose confidence when the BR is tight is invaluable for higher limits to come.

Thanks for comments, guys I actually think that my main problem was too much reading of too advanced strategies At NL10 you just need your basic ABC poker - if you see someone 3-betting preflop, then he is NOT bluffing but has KK or AA

Anyways, I am slowly fighting my way back and BR is back to 300$ and:

I have reached a milestone - 100 000 hands played!
.
.
.

This is a some kind of nightmare... I don't mind losing, but losing this way... without even having a chance... Lost 60$ today in less than 1000 hands... thats 6 BI BR is down to 230$ again and even that is only because of 40$ rakeback.

And the worst thing is that I am NOT having bad beats - I seem to be always behind. If I have KK, villain has AA. If I have set, villain has higher set. If I am stacking up for A-high flush draw, villain is sitting with quads and having a laugh... ♠_evil: Every time I try to bluff or semi-bluff I got called. If I stay in hand, I lose. If I give up, villain shows air...

It is supposed to be fun, but I am not having fun anymore... and I am starting to be afraid to go AI with KK, because I think that villain has AA and that is definitely not a good sign...

Ordered "Poker Mindset" few days ago, waiting to read that, maybe it will help. This is going nowhere atm...

Thinking about switching to diffrent poker room...

Originally posted by SilverSag

Ordered "Poker Mindset" few days ago, waiting to read that, maybe it will help. This is going nowhere atm...
.

hey, mate! this is +EV step

Have you read all pokerstrategy.com psichology section' s articles? - They HELP A LOT!

I' m currently reading "Poker Mindset", it mentions few very usefull points to take into action, so this book is recommended for sure.

imo you should take a break to get off of your mindset ghosts you' re facing (all you mentioned about negative expectations and thoughts like that)

good luck friend!

miljon.

My November update is coming late for multiple reasons - I am losing again, I had a vacation and after all that I caught really bad cold and did not want to do anything at all.

Anyways, those are my excuses, but I think that real reason is that it's no fun writing about your losses and downswings...

This month I lost everywhere - I was losing NL25, so Ihad to move to NL10 and I continued losing there as well. I did not cash out my bonus points, like I usually do, but my BR is down to 280$ anyways... ♠_evil:

There are few good bits in this sad picture, though. One of them is fact that there was no major mistakes in any of the hands I posted for evaluation. That makes me think that my losses are just a variance. Overall winrate for 80,000 hands is 3.30 bb/100h, so actually I am not doing that bad I guess.

Another good thing is "Poker Mindset". That book has kept me alive for last 3 weeks. It opened my eyes on some things and helped to better understand things I had vague idea about. By the looks of the things, that book should be kept at bedside at all times and re-read often.

That is all I want to say about the November. Now about my December plans:

- post at least 10 hands for evaluation (try to post at least one after each session)
- start studying Gold startegy articles and re-read Silver ones from time to time
- play NL10 to build bankroll for NL25
- improve the 3.30 BB/100h winrate of NL10
- try to return to NL25 asap
- finish reading Poker Mindset

I will try to stick to my "return to NL25" plan, so my next attempt at NL25 will be when my BR will reach 450$

I finally got fed up with Everest Poker and decided to move to another poker room. Main reason for that is first deposit bonus, which should help me to rebuild my BR quicker so I can get back to NL25

I moved my BR to Titan Poker. So I am basically starting from a clean sheet in iPoker Network. I deposited 300$ yesterday, December 12.

First impressions so far:

- Graphics were better, cleaner and easier to understand on Everest
- love the auto re-buy option (Everest didn't have one)
- option of stacking and tiling tables is useful too

Overall, Titan is a little better, but not as good as I expected it to be. The main thing, however, is that players seem to be much much more fishy on Titan I had few tables with 3 or more loose players. On Everest you are lucky if you manage to find one

Lets see how it goes from here...

More notes on Titan Poker:

Even though they do claim that they have most rewarding VIP system of all, it looks like actual rakeback you can get by cashing in FPPs is way lower than that on Everest Poker Also the boost for higher VIP levels is much smaller than that on Everest (20/30/40% compared with 100/200/300%). That said, I do get points for every raked hand whereas on Everest I had to participiate in the actual pot.

I guess I will have to wait and see how it compares in a longer run.

I do love the amount of fish, though. I expect my winrate to be much higher on Titan if this continues

Struggling again... ♠_evil: First week was OK, was winning 6 days in a row (up 77$), but then lost it all and more in just 3 days, so now I am -28$ on Titan Poker...

I keep thinking all the time why I did so well in the beginning ( I climbed to 800$ in 2 months), but then it is slowly going downwards and I think I got an answer to that

The downward slope started appoximately at the same time when I got out of basic strategy articles and started reading about bluffs, 2nd and 3rd barrels, 3-bets, 4-bets and balancing I think I have read too much too fast for my own good. As a result I dont trust people anymore and think that they are bluffing when they are not and that costs me money. Also, they do not seem to respect my bluffs ♠_evil: They just keep on calling with gutshot draws and underpairs ♠_evil:

From now on I will try to get back to the basics and try to play solid ABC poker:

- will tighten my opening range
- will limp instead of openraise with very low pairs and low suited connectors
- tighten my stealing range
- try refrain from pure bluffs and stick mostly to semi-bluffs

and most important of all will try to trust people, when they raise and reraise

Will try that at least till the end of the month and see if we can get any results. I am getting frustrated from being stuck in NL10 for so long ♠_evil:

I am starting to think that I am just not good enough for this game. How long a bad streak can last? Month? Two? A year?

have you actually thought that you are playing a level to high for your opponents?

there is no EV in cbetting against a 50/8... or thinking their bluffing when they actually caught something with their crappy hands.

if your playing level 3 poker and your opponents are playing lvl 1 (which is what happens in most cases in micros) then you will be LOSING money.

This was the case for some downswings/breakeven stretches I had.

Also find and fix the major leaks before adding new stuff into your game.
You will have some major leaks there for sure. Take a look @ blind stealing/blind defending/your mid and low pocket pairs profitability and way you play them.

Last, table selection is king.

Thanks for your input, alex

Yes, I am almost sure I am playing too high a level, because my highest winrate and most stable climb of the green graph was when I have just finished Bronze strategy articles. But it is very difficult to forget all the stuff I have read and learned in last three months. I am trying though and last few days were quite good actually.

Few words about table selection...

In theory everything is fine, but in reality it is different... In last few days I am actually trying different tactic - I am picking the tightest tables possible, because there are shorter queues. On lose tables you have 4-5 ppl in the waiting list and by the time I get to the table, there are only TAGs there.

I understand your pain in NL25, i'm currently playing and after 50,000 hands i've never seen a graph so swingy :x I seem to be constantly swinging massively up and down, and I don't know why. It's not a nice, steady climb up sort of graph like you want to see, it's literally just swings that go up and down each and every 5,000 hands. I am however making profit due to the fact my downswings aren't quite as bad as my upswings are good ♦

I find there are a lot more fish at NL25 than NL10, but the regs are quite a bit better and it's obvious the majority of them use a HUD. But on my Stars table today I was playing against a fish with stats of 98/22 with a WTS of 49. This was over 60 hands or so. Needless to say I took about $40 off him haha!

Anyway, good luck with your rise through the limits, if you're anything like me then you will need it

Yes, there are a lot of fish in NL25 (NL20 on iPoker), but in order to get to them, I need to get out of NL10 and for that I need a bit of good luck as well. On my last session of NL20 I went AI preflop against Q8o(!!!) and lost to two pair (Queens and Eights)

I will post my NL25 and NL20 graphs when I will do the end of the year summary. They are horrible

I think I will stop reading more strategy articles at least untill I get out of NL10 for good. I will focus more on pshychology stuff like reading Poker Mindset, practice calculating odds&outs, finding leaks and evaluating hands.