[Closed] My NLH blog

some bad beats definately!

but I think you somewhat misplayed the third hand. You open-limped with pocket nines, I'd never do that if I were you infact I'd avoid open-limping in early position entirely. What you are essentially doing is giving everybody a good price to see the flop and many people will percieve you as a passive fish and raise you with marginal hands (just like your oponnent did there)--- obviusly this was not a problem this time because you flopped a set... but that will only happen one in 8 times.

Ask yourself- what are you achieving by limping there? (if you're playing pocket nines just for set value then I think that's a leak in itself)
Anyways by raising preflop you would've probably made the villian lay his QJo down before the flop. After the flop it was simply variance, nothing you can do there. (although for the future I'd reccomend not letting people set their own price for drawing like the BB did the... I mean sure you raised him 20c on the flop when he bet 5c but that's still a third of the pot and he's getting the right price to call with a flush draw if the other guy wouldn't have reraised)

keep on grinding

Sapiente, thanks for your comment about the third hand. I limped in because I was at MP1 position and if you look at the PokerStrategy BSS chart it says to limp in middle position if everybody folded before you. I see your point and I agree with it, because I was playing for set value and I allowed the villain to see the cheep flop. Everything else was then just a variance, as you said.

I was checking the "Crushing NL50" video no. 1 and 2 and they say the same as you did. I'll try to implement this in my game to become a better player

Regards

yup I saw the chart when I joined PS... What can I say about it.. hmm. Well as good as the rest of PS material and articles are I think that chart promotes some quite bad habits (probably so beginners would avoid some hard decisions)

Open-limping is standard according to that chart which is in direct conflict with just about all the poker traininig I've gone through, including as you mention PS's own videos. (videos by cardrunners, bluefire poker, dueces cracked say the same thing )
I think Chris Ferguson also presents quite an intresting concept of preflop play in a FTP academy video. (so if you're a full-tilt player maybe you could check it out)

this is ofcourse not to say limping is always bad... I just wouldn't open-limp. (while just limping behind another player is entirely exceptable with certain hands in certain postions againts certain oponnents )

Good luck in your play!

January has ended and this is a time for monthly review. I'll try to keep posting the monthly reviews just to remind myself about the goals I have set.

Short term goals for January:
- learn to use HM HUD (I normally totaly forget to check oponent's stats): I started to use the stats and I find them helpful, especially the basic stats (hands played, VP$IP, PFR, AF and Fold to CBet). I have also added the WSD and W$SD stats, because I think they tell you a lot about player's strenght at showdown and his behavior on later streets. I'm wondering should I add any other stats.
- play at least 200 hands per day: I played over 17.000 hands which comes to more than 550 hands per day. This was also because of 2 weeks of leave I had. Not bad at all.
- keep at least 20 BB/100 rate: only in my dream ♦. This was at the beginning of the NL2 play. Probably I was hit by positive variance. Anyway, I have to change this goal to a more reasonable figure. At the moment it is 8.25 bb/100 overall and 4.52 bb/100 in January specifically. I will try to target the 5 bb/100 in February.
- do a short review of my play after each session: more or less I do this and it helps. Many times you see things you were not aware of during the play.
- do a deeper review of my play at least once per week: I have to devote more time to this topic. I have to focus more on problematic hands and put them into hands review forum.
- study all the accessible articles related to BSS and psychology: I haven't finished this task, so it will be postponed to next month.
- watch at least 10 BSS NL2 or NL5 videos: I watched one video and I wasn't amazed actually. As I've mentioned already in one of my posts, I think they should have been focused on one table, explaining situations and moves more in depth. I searched other videos and stumbled upon "Crushing NL50" series - this is a totaly different story. I watched first 2 videos and was amazed with the details and strategy depth they go into. I would recommend those to any serious NL player. I'm planning to watch them few more times and to start implementing strategy moves they are explainning.
- post a blog update at the end of each week (Sunday): I do this regularly.

I can say that January was great for me as far as poker is concerned, not to mention other "real life" things ♦. I had 2 weeks of leave and I was able to play more poker. I was hit by negative variance last week of January, but I'm recovering at the moment.

My stats as of 31. 1. 2011:
- hands played so far: 20097
- winnings: $57.89
- bb/100: 8.25
- VPIP%: 11.5
- PFR%: 7.0

My stats for January 2011:
- hands played: 17297
- winnings: $40.38
- bb/100: 4.52
- VPIP%: 11.3
- PFR%: 7.0

And here is my current NLHE overall graph:

What about February? Let's set some goals:
- learn more about the stats from HM HUD
- play at least 200 hands per day
- keep at least 5 bb/100 rate
- do a short review of my play after each session
- do a deeper review of my play at least once per week
- finalize studying all the accessible articles related to BSS and psychology
- watch and re-watch videos from "Crushing NL50" series
- post a blog update at the end of each week (Sunday)

See you arround