[Closed] neelton's blog: Following FTP + Stars Grind

Well after that bad swing 2 days ago it continued going down - yesterday was bad as well, tried to limit the fall as much as I could. Today was going terribly again. I do a set -> i get crushed by setups and whatnot -> I feel like I wanna cry -> I vent by watching some TV shows/series/playing the music loud for a couple of songs. After 30m-1h my mind is clear and mindsetwise ready to give it another go -> go back to step one.

Fortunately the last set of tables I did surprisingly well even though I started off with that:

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $40(BB) Replayer
SB ($1,470)
BB ($1,410)
Hero ($1,410)
UTG+1 ($2,280)
UTG+2 ($1,545)
MP1 ($2,535)
CO ($1,455)
BTN ($1,395)

Dealt to Hero Q♣ A♣

Hero raises to $120, fold, fold, fold, CO calls $120, fold, fold, fold

FLOP ($300) A♦ J♣ T♥

Hero bets $160, CO calls $160

TURN ($620) A♦ J♣ T♥ K♣

Hero checks, CO bets $1,175 (AI), Hero calls $1,130 (AI)

RIVER ($2,880) A♦ J♣ T♥ K♣ Q♥

CO shows 9♦ K♦
(Pre 39%, Flop 17.0%, Turn 3.4%)

Hero shows Q♣ A♣
(Pre 61%, Flop 83.0%, Turn 96.6%)

CO wins $1,440
Hero wins $1,440

The guy is a megafish, I felt like going thru the monitor at his home and biting his head off ♠_biggrin: but the second after I was like "Meh.. just part of the fun-run i`m having, go along with it"

So anyway, I`m in the green for the day after being 12 bi-s down before the last set, but have a huge hole to dig before I`m back on track. Hoping the hell is over for now. Can I schedule the next one for when I help a friend on the $2 STTs? KTHXBAI

Oh yeh: Most epic poker song is epic:

Have funzorz!

My last 5 days in one hand:

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $400(BB) Replayer
SB ($2,970)
Hero ($2,680)
UTG ($2,340)
CO ($2,700)
BTN ($2,810)

Dealt to Hero A♥ A♠

fold, fold, BTN raises to $2,810 (AI), fold, Hero calls $2,280 (AI)

FLOP ($5,560) 6♣ 3♦ 6♦

TURN ($5,560) 6♣ 3♦ 6♦ 7♥

RIVER ($5,560) 6♣ 3♦ 6♦ 7♥ T♦

BTN shows T♥ T♣
(Pre 20%, Flop 8.4%, Turn 4.5%)

Hero shows A♥ A♠
(Pre 80%, Flop 91.6%, Turn 95.5%)

BTN wins $5,560

I`m feeling confident about my game. Sometimes I realize that I make small mistakes when I lose concentration for a moment, but it's not that cruical and I`m obviously working on fixing that.

The past 5 days, except for today at one point or another I had somewhat of tilt problems, but today I was really focused on the game (haven't actually been that focused since before I stopped playing in April) and didn't feel a thing even though over the 30-40 tourneys I played I literally lost 80/20 hands AIPF or better more than 50% of the time. I just hope variance would be more generous to me so that I don't play breakeven poker.

Peace!

Gahh I`m so frustrated right now. Didn't play any STTs today, decided to play some MTTs. Was doing so darn well in the afternoon and then lost a crucial flip and then got sucked out only to finish 10th in some $5 MTT for the wow prize of $84.

Since I was feeling pretty confident with my game today and the cards were generally running well for me, started some brand new MTTs. Busted badly in a $26 before the money, finished 80th in a $10 Freezout for $25 or something and went very deep in 2 more:
$3 MET $2K GTD - busted 12th for $57 with 3bet shove w AJo vs CO open who turned JJ and won.

$5 MET $5,5K GTD - busted 7th but was really sad about this one. Was 2nd in chips when the FT started and 2nd hand or so the 3rd biggest stack raised from CO and I 3bet him big with JJ (had to shove directly but I was kinda trying to trap him I guess, only after the showdown i realized i should've played for max FE and shove - he should fold everything but QQ+ given that there were 5-6 players with 4 times smaller stacks) and he 4bet shoved over my raise and I thought a bit and called to see AK. And the most important flip I lost... After that I shoved 99 and another dude overshoved JJ and won. Last hand BvB, had 33 and called the shove for the remainder of my stack (5bbs) 7th for $275 or smth.

I`m happy with my game in general, had a couple of bad decisions, but got lucky and sucked out. However I was really feeling I was gonna ship some nice moniez this time, so I`m kinda disappointed now. With just a wee bit more luck I could've shipped like $4-5K today.

Here's the hand that decided my faith:

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $24,000(BB) Replayer
SB ($78,163)
BB ($396,558)
UTG ($222,389)
UTG+1 ($1,794,266)
UTG+2 ($575,934)
MP1 ($1,027,867)
MP2 ($766,746)
Hero ($1,556,268)
BTN ($454,809)

Dealt to Hero J♥ J♦

fold, fold, fold, MP1 raises to $49,990, fold, Hero raises to $167,000, fold, fold, fold, MP1 raises to $1,024,867 (AI), Hero calls $857,867

FLOP ($2,112,734) 9♥ Q♥ A♥

TURN ($2,112,734) 9♥ Q♥ A♥ A♦

RIVER ($2,112,734) 9♥ Q♥ A♥ A♦ K♦

MP1 shows A♠ K♣
(Pre 43%, Flop 56.2%, Turn 77.3%)

Hero shows J♥ J♦
(Pre 57%, Flop 43.8%, Turn 22.7%)

MP1 wins $2,112,734

Blah

Today was all about not winning a single all-in.

Nice week for me:

Oh btw, I would love to find some people for a sweat session or something, if anyone's interested, please contact me here or via the community page. Preferably someone playing $22+ turbo STTs.

PS. FTOPS MAIN EVENT has over $8.2M prize pool now and late reg continues

ouch... what a horrible week.

Yeah horrible indeed. This one I've barely played - first week of the new semester so trying to attend as many lectures as possible n whatnot. Had a couple of SNG sessions which ended up again with EVROI of +20% but actual ROI of -10%, so no change there. Played MTTs a couple of days - not many just 5-6 per day or so. Managed to cash in $42KGTD twice but just barely, finishing around 90th(out of 2300ish) - both times I was carddead for ~50hands and due to table dynamics weren't even able to steal loose.

Tonight I had a pretty good run on a $14,5K GTD but again got slaughtered in the essential part of the tournament. Here's the last hand

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $30,000(BB) Replayer
SB ($227,399)
BB ($716,940)
UTG ($1,233,454)
Hero ($509,171)
UTG+2 ($785,000)
MP1 ($1,257,086)
MP2 ($1,908,948)
CO ($2,017,973)
BTN ($428,529)

Dealt to Hero K♥ K♦

UTG calls $30,000, Hero raises to $89,999, UTG+2 raises to $781,000 (AI), fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero calls $415,172 (AI)

FLOP ($1,121,342) A♣ T♠ J♣

TURN ($1,121,342) A♣ T♠ J♣ A♦

RIVER ($1,121,342) A♣ T♠ J♣ A♦ 4♥

Hero shows K♥ K♦
(Pre 72%, Flop 22.7%, Turn 0.0%)

UTG+2 shows J♦ A♠
(Pre 28%, Flop 77.3%, Turn 100.0%)

UTG+2 wins $1,121,342

This is the final table so the 'glorious' 9th place brought me $205 - thanks a lot. I lost a huge pot the hand before we went to the FT - lost half of my stack in BVB.
I just need a little push from Ladyluck to nail my first 'big' MTT cash and open up and start kicking some actual butt for a change. Enough with losing the important hands, plix KKTHXBAI!

The darned STTs are soooo reg infested, I get disgusted by just looking at them.

Watch some TV series now, I will!

are u still playing the 22$? btw that must be one of the worst under ev graph 300sample i have ever seen.

Yeah, still at the $22s. That last graph has $33s too but after that swong I'll be staying away from them until i recover a bit. It sucks, because $33s are actually softer if you table select properly, but I just cannot afford them right now.

Today I played some MTTs, mincashed in a few and then played some SNGs - was going bad but with the last bunch managed to go just above the $0 for the first time since Feb 16th. Just hoping its not an exception.

Oh ... and I think a thread saver is overdue:

I`m open for thread savers battle, if anyone feels like it ♠_cool:

Hiho!

Today up until 2hours ago I had a great day - finally opened the ski season - night skiing on Vitosha mountain(<1hr with car from Sofia). It was pretty great - snow was decent, no ice, not very many people and all in all very enjoyable skiing. But God, will my muscles ache tomorrow..
Then after the skiing we went to a nice pub and had a very decent meal with friends. When I got back, I decided to give it a go at the tables and I received a kind welcome with a -$250 session. Anyway..

-------- February Review ---

Lets do a recap.

A neat song for a not so neat end of February (putting it on top, so you can listen and read :P)

Horrorpic for SNGs for the month:

Played SNGs: 803(756x $24s + 46x $36s)
ROI: -3.3%
ITM: 34.6%
EV adj. ROI: 3%

I`m not really happy with the end results in general - obviously because they are negative. I really felt like I had a HUGE edge over the first half of the month, I was literally destroying the opponents, soulreading and mindfucking everyone across the tables - just as I am used to do. However you can all see the turning point. I would be pushing into nuts half the time, the other half they would simply either dominate me or suck me out in the important hands and then I`ll 'get even', sucking out in a 2BB effstack situation.

This bad run definitely got to me more or less. After yet another losing session I just felt like I have no edge at all. I was expecting to get sucked out every time, to push into KK etc.

I used to have a bit different approach to the push/fold phase, this month I focused on playing as much as possible a perfect Nash against the regs. I`m not happy with the results. Although this is probably, because since most of them call Nash or looser the variance in these spots increases dramatically. Hope it would change in March.

I do have some leaks that need to be taken care of, but I still know it in my heart that I beat that limit and honestly, I think I beat it hard enough to have a decent ROI. Really hoping that the next months would be better.

Goals for February:
--------------------

• Work on my game and try to play flawlessly on the $22s [ + ] Worked on it, but obviously not just there yet.
• Focus on studying the regs [ - ] I wouldn't say I took much time outside the sngs to study them in detail
• Possibly do some sweat sessions [ - ] Couldn't find a partner.
• Play at least 750 SNGs (hoping for 1Kish) [ + ]
• Try to get Iron Ironman (worst case Gold) [ + ]
• Reach Platinum status on PS [ + ]

------------------

Besides the SNGs, when the bad run started I spent time playing MTTs +MT SNGs. Didn't focus on them specifically or anything but they definitely were more enjoyable compared to yet another couple of sets of coolers. This was my most successful MTT month ever. (if having a breakeven month counts!)
I had a total of 76 MTTs or so and even though I`m BE $-wise, I`m ~50BIs ahead.

I had about 10 very deep runs in various tourneys - 3-4 in the top4%, another 4-5 in last 2tables and 4-5 final tables. Unfortunately neither of these FT were good to me and I couldn't go past 7th even though on most occasions I was one of the top stacks. Still, these bust outs were not due to bad play by me - just variance being a biatch as usual.

------------------

I think I`ll spend some more time on MTTs + MT SNGs in March, or at least thats what I'd like to do, but definitely will continue grinding the SNGs too.
More detailed info on March goals and other stuff coming tomorrow or so.

Lo!

So for March:

I`ll be gone from 7th until 14th - going on my annual Ski week with friends. We are prepping for some hardcore skiing and relaxing in the evenings by the fireplace in the house, cooking some nice meals and enjoying them while having Jack Daniels + baller music running. So I`m kinda looking forward to that. There was teh problem with the lack of snow, but it seems this has been solved by the snow Gods (bow). Just hope I`ll be alright and healthy.

As far as my poker plans, lets put some down:

-------- Goals for March ---
--------------------

• Work on my game and try to play flawlessly on the $22s
• Focus on studying the regs
• Possibly do some sweat sessions! (Looking for partners)
• Play at least 600 SNGs (hoping for 800+)
• Try to get Iron Ironman again(worst case Gold, cause it might be tough with being away for a week)
• Try to maintain platinum status on PS
• Play at least 80 MTTs

The F-bomb for the win! Other than that, decent winners.

wow that is a rough month, gl 4 this 1

Yeah, it was a pretty bad month, especially considering how it started ♦

Blog Revival ver3.0

Well, title says it all - I will try once again to revive my blog even though I seem to have been failing miserably every time i do that. But meh, If I may quote Rocky here:

"Success has been and continues to be defined as getting up one more time than you've been knocked down."

Something groovy for a jovial mood:

So, here goes a short recap of the past 3 months:

March and April were very tough - I was feeling really down because of that terrible downswing - I kept playing but I barely put like 200-300 sngs/month and I had the time for three times that. I was taking it slow and easy, trying to build up my mindset once again. The bad run on the $36 kept going ,even though I played like 1-2 of them for every 10 $24 sngs.

I also kept running bad on the MTTs and they continuously drained the little the $36 couldn't soak up from my winnings from the $24s. I think I basically broke even both months cause of the MTTs. The one good thing I did during these two months was to maintain the Iron Man status (silver + bronze obviously)

When May kicked in slowly, I had already managed to regain most of my confidence and mindset and was feeling much better while playing. Obviously I wasn't running as bad as the previous 3 months so I quickly gained momentum and started playing more and more. I was crushing the $24s with an ROI of 11%. The $36 were still looking pretty bad - resulting in being more than 50 BIs < EV at one point and thats over 200 or so SNGs so it was ugly.

One of the more important things I did during the second part of May is I vowed to not play MTTs with a buy-in bigger than $10 for at least until I was steamrolling through the SNGs again and until I had made some more adequate preparations for entering the MTT field more actively. Therefore my transition to MTTs is on hold for now.

During May I managed to get Gold Iron Man (2 days short of Iron but didn't feel like pushing it this time). Gained back platinum status here. Played about 640 sngs with some profit. Obviously behind from MTTs again but at least after I drew the line I was like $500-600 ahead for the month, which is more than $0

Sadly, the Black Friday didn't help me much - traffic for SNGs has been much worse since. Sometimes I really struggle to put in the volume I need + my hourly is hurt due to the longer time needed to load a full set of reasonable tables. I just hope Full Tilt keeps running as I am so used to the software and everything, that I`m afraid I might find it difficult to play elsewhere.

I really feel like playing a lot of poker right now, but June is a month for university - so far had quite a few projects I had to deal with so I barely had time to play. Nonetheless, the games have been going good, especially the last couple of days.

Today I managed to finally catch up to my $ peak on SNGs during February - wow I just realize that's a 4 month break-even stretch.. (1700 sngs) and I only managed it because I`m in a heater the past 2 days..

Let's put up some goals for until the end of the month:

-------- Goals for June 2011 ---
--------------------

• Do some sweat sessions!(If I find the time)
• Play ~ 450 SNGs
• Get Ironman status again (Gold, seems reasonable - no time for Iron this month)
• Try to maintain platinum status on PS, although that's going to be hard.
• Do NOT play MTTs with a buy-in > $10.

I feel a thread saver is in order:

Thank you for reading.

Toruk over n out!

Managed to squeeze in one set of tables today - still running hot, so I can't complain. What bothered me was a spot where I was hurrying through a table and did not see a raise before me and I thought I was open shoving BvB, so that almost tilted me a bit :/. I guess I should get a second monitor or at least fix my HUD positioning by splitting the stats and whatnot.

Been watching this video like 20 times today.. There's just something about that girl in the red n white swimsuit..

Hiho!

Had an exam today at uni, which I did good at. Also had to present a project, again for uni, which also went well - \e/ yey for me.

When I got back, I finally managed to force myself to fix my HUD as it was almost like the default one you start with. Now I implemented some more coloring and a couple more stats as well as I broke it into panels as I`m playing on a 19" 1280x1024 standard single screen and 9 tiled tables are kinda small and had trouble seeing some of the blinds/bets sometimes. No more of that! That should burst my soulreading skills even more now ♠_cool:.

- Anyone else?

Just a few days ago I went to McD like a std poker-playing lowlife to get me some junk food and I always ask for my drink to have no ice. This time the convo went on something like:
- Hi.
= Hello
- I'd like a big Mediterraneo Menu (some new seasonal thing) and 2 cheeseburgers. I'd like the coke to be with no ice please.
= Ok, Big Menu, with Coke, Fanta or Sprite?
- Coke. And please no ice.
= Ok. Any sauce for the fries?
- No, thanks. Just to make sure, I want the Coke with no ice.
= Yes, sir, I heard you.
... (At this point I am happy and relieved that I wont have ice in my drink)
They pack my food to go and 5 minutes later, when I get home, unwrap the bags, guess what I find - friggin Coke in my cup of ice fml

Gonna go hit the tables now, see how it goes.

Lol std McD employees....they dont give a fuck lol.

Anyways will b following ur blog since i am a SNG player as well.
Technically a 12$ player but if you want to sweat i am up for it, steve.gold87 on skype , if not thats fine as well.

Take care

@steve, I`ll add you in a bit. I wouldn't mind at all, just not in the immediate future, as I still got a couple of exams and actually have a couple of guys I've promised to sweat with, but we can definitely arrange something.

Today I was running well for the first 3/4ths, then 12 otms and ended up losing some bucks, but meh - variance. I am quite happy with my play.

Sorry, only just found this. Doh! Esp. after all ur comments on mine. Hope u get back to crushing the tabs soon. Up for a sweat sometime for sure if u r still interested?

Haha ♦. It is kinda surprising, given what an annoying spammer I am! Nah - I've been on and off with this blog for a year and a half so.. nothing worth it, that you've missed out on.

Yes, I am always up for a sweat. I got your skype, will drop a note a later!

Didn't play yesterday. There was a meeting with some of the folks from our local pokerstrategy community and we hit a couple of restaurants - surprisingly to most the subject of our talks was primarily po.. wait for it.. ker! I enjoyed the whole thing - it was fun and entertaining.

I`ll play some poker today, not just yet though - still pretty a dead hour traffic-wise.

Recently I rewatched George Carlin's shows - that guy was pretty epic:

RIP