VipKen

Joined: 07.03.2009

22.08.2011, 19:25 0

Hi, I'm Ken and I currently live in Belgium together with my wife (not married though) en 2 kids.

I've been playing online poker for 2 years now. I always liked playing card games and strategic board games (like Catan, Risk, ...), so for me it was kind of my destiny to start playing poker online ♠_cool:. But, at the start of my online poker life, I had the wrong mindset, thinking to make a lot of money easily. I started with playing SSS which I managed to play break even. After some months I've quit playing online poker because I was to tilty. Just losing one time with AA in a session could cause a tilt session with only bad moves. Luckily I was able to notice this, and decided to have a little pause ...

That pause took a little longer than planned. Getting a second $50 from PS, got me back to the online tables. Because SSS wasn't anymore playable at many sites, I decided to play MSS. I first started on the micro's to exercise. When I thought to understand the strategy well enough I made a deposit (from my early bankroll) on William Hill and started playing MSS on NL10. The first month (july 2011) went quite good, and together with the bonus I already played free, I was confident enough to take some shots on NL20. Currently I'm playing NL20 and NL10 together, mostly to find enough traffic.

I'm also using HEM for the stats and last weeks I was studying the articles about playing with stats and playing against different types of opponents. Sometimes I post some hands in dutch Hand Judging Forum. I also like to watch the vids from Gerv and Subar.

My aim for this course is to switch to BSS, because sometimes I really feel to have an edge on some opponents, but I have to leave the table because of the strategy (MSS). I know you can also stay at the table, but I don't feel confident enough for doing that. My postflop game still is too bad to take some risks with BSS. So mostly I want to improve my postflop game now, but also want to learn how you can notice and take advantage of the leaks of your opponents.

So far my intro ... let's go to school again :f_grin:

:club: Playing: MSS SH NL20 :club:

:heart: Skype: vippken :heart:

:diamond: MSS Skype Studiegroep :diamond:

3 replies

UPAY4DINNER

Joined: 28.09.2009

Posts: 22,746

22.08.2011, 19:56 0

Hi VIPKen,

Thanks for your wonderful introduction!

Welcome to the NL Beginners Course.

I think most players have suffered mindset issues from time to time, but once we acknowledge this, we can only improve with hard work.

I really hope you enjoy the course and become a very successful and happy player. I am sure with plenty of hard work and dedication that you will become very successful

Kind regards,
Gary

VipKen

Joined: 07.03.2009

Posts: 249

26.08.2011, 23:12 0

Question 1: What is your motivation for playing poker? (Be as vague or specific as you want with this one, but try to think of all the reasons and elaborate on them.)
As already told in my introduction I like to play card games. So when you can play card games and earn some money with it, why not try it. My biggest motivations are getting better in poker and earning money.

Question 2: What are your weaknesses when playing poker? (What are the mistakes you know you are doing during your games? Are you playing while tired? Are you tilting easily? Want to see the showdown too much? Write as many as you think are affecting you.)
My biggest weakness still is my postflop game. I think I sometimes fold the best hand, while in other cases I call down a bet from an opponent thinking he's bluffing.
I also really need to study and practice mathematical approaches of poker, like odds and outs, EV, equity ...
Finally I think I can improve my game by using the stats in a correct way for guessing hand ranges, for making the correct decisions of what to do in certain spots.

Question 3: What does it mean to play tight-aggressive? (Describe in your own words what playing tight aggressive is, and why does it work.)
Tight Aggressive means that you only play a quite small range of hands. And the hands we play, we play aggressive by betting and raising.

:club: Playing: MSS SH NL20 :club:

:heart: Skype: vippken :heart:

:diamond: MSS Skype Studiegroep :diamond:

veriz

Joined: 20.07.2008

Posts: 64,009

28.08.2011, 21:40 0

Hello VipKen,

Most of the weakness you wrote can easily be fixed with you posting hands. We will start writing feedback to your play. And usually negative feedback will put you into thinking phase and trying to fix all those leaks. It's almost the same as you loose money, you will remember it more than winning part.

About the math part wait for 3rd week. We will have a great coaching there and you will definitely enjoy it, it's something for you. Also there will be a lot of math-related homeworks: odds, equity, implied odds, etc...

Welcome to the Course and Best of luck! First points earned.

[Closed] VipKen