Beginner to Pro? Attempting a cautious comeback

- OK, my girlfriend has left - time to play some poker.

- Getting into waiting lists, setting a plan for the day: Play safe, win 1 BI, wrap it up and go do something else. Stop-loss limit 2 BIs - 50 EUR.

- 150 games played, up 14 EUR, average count of shorstacks at the table - 2. Everything going fine, one more pot and of we go to town.

- 170 gp. Down 2 EUR, 3 shorties at each table. "Shit, not again! I dont want another losing day!"

- 350 gp. Up 14 again, at least 6 shorties at each table. "This is just ridiculous! Dont they know that it is not profitable to play against other shorstacks!?" Time to leave.

- 200 games of NL5 at Poker770. Down 1 BI. "FFS, I was supposed to crush this limit. Oh, stuff it! I cant take this anymore! Let's go back and play some real poker!"

- 400 gp. Up 19.92 EUR "Oh, come on! Just 8 eurocents more and I am done for today! Yippeee!"

- 650 gp. Down 57 EUR "F, F, S!!!! Why the feck I did not stop at 19.92!??? What difference does those fecking 8 cents would make? What an idiot! I will NEVER EVER do it again!!! Now what? can I get it back? I should stop at minus 50, I promised to myself! Oh dammit, its only few euros over... lets get it back, there is NO WAY I will lose this much after being up almost 20!"

- 900gp. Down 58 EUR "Why, oh why, I had to do it? I must be stupid! How can I ever be good at poker without self discipline?"

- 950gp. Down 20 EUR "Come on, come on! Just a few more! Just one allin! (winning one, ofc)"

- 1100 gp. Up 2 EUR. "Yessssss! Back in the green! Should I just quit now? No, gotta be disciplined, lets rotate out nicely from all tables like a real pro."

- 1250 gp. Down 79 EUR "F* fish! Brainless retards! Why the feck I did not quit straight away!? This is not happening for the second time in one day ffs!!!"

- 1500 gp. Down 50 EUR. "Ok, ok, its much better than minus 80, right? And there is this maniac just on the right on all 4 tables. I have to be patient. He will pay, he will pay, he MUST pay ffs! I cant lose 50 EUR!"

- 1600 gp. Down 53 EUR "I got QQ. Good, good... one limper, two limpers... this is promising... just no KK pls and no AA ofc! Just stupid fish with medium pairs and suited As... pls... pls... oh, fishy shortie behind me shoves... not bad, not bad... at least some pay... dammit, midstack on BB shoves as well! whats his stats! total fish... ok, not the worst scenario... damn, first limper shoves as well.... thats 4-way pot... with just QQ... no good, no good... feck, feck, feck! maniac on my right shoves all his 45 EUR too... now this is 5-way... wait! forget about shorties, we have split pot and I am definitely ahead of maniacs range.... press AI and close eyes... no let's have a peek, there is GOD! flop is Qxx rainbow!!!! omg I so needed that! No, I deserved that!"

- 1601 gp. Up 1.90 EUR. "No, I AM NOT playing to get my planned 20 EUR! No WAY! I am up! Quit!, QUIT! NOW! Dammit... AK suited... I cant fold that! lets see what happens...

- 1638 gp. Up 7.28 EUR. " F the winrate, F the planning, F the variance! I am up! Lets get out of here... We can always win some more tomorrw... right?

lol mate that was funny reading

Lol nice one am remembering myself with this post

Nice blog man, very fun to read this sort of live happenings xD.Good too see that after all that crap that happened to you , you managed to be up almost half a buy-in.

"Playing it safe" my ass! ♠_evil: LOL @ my blog's title! Day started bad and ended even worse...

BBC iPlayer didnt work, so I could not watch Formula 1 :f_frown:, there was no action in NL25 until something like 5 pm and when it started, it was horrible ♠_evil:

I was down 2 BI for most of the day and about 11 pm, when fish started to show up and things looked promising...

- my steal with 99 run into AA exactly at the moment when I decided to 4bet looser and hope for a flip with AK-AJ sort of hand
- set vs. higher set
- fullhouse into higher fullhouse

result: 128 EUR down in about 50 hands! ♠_evil: ♠_evil: ♠_evil: Here goes my "play safe" strategy... ♠_evil: ♠_evil: ♠_evil:

I think I will just have to return to my usual playing style of playing around 1000 hands per day...

Also I have to think about something to do when there is no action on Boss Media ( I think that network is dying slowly). I have something like 20$ on PokerStars... maybe I should start a mini-challenge and grid it up from NL2?

I turn 10$ into 100$ when I first started on pokerstars within 3 weeks

And am a fish so for you it should be better.

Pokerstars = heaven for table selection

Looks like Gods of Poker just like to make things difficult for me... grrrr... ♠_evil: ♠_evil: ♠_evil: There is very little action on NL25 tables for some reason (like for example now - it's 14:32 and there are no tables open), so I have no choice but to play NL50. Been doing that for 5 days now with varying success.

Variance is hitting me under the belt all the time and luck those fish have is just unbelievable! I have been sucked out from all possible combinations...

I am still up around 80 EUR, but it is very, very tough to play and realise that only 2 lost all-ins is what separates me from not being able to pay my bills at the end of the month...

Yesterday I was down 300 EUR (!!!) at one point, but managed to fight back and lost only 130 EUR. It is almost funny, how relative everything is... few days ago I was losing 120 EUR and was almost crying. Yesterday I was almost relieved that I did not lose 300... funny...

This is my NL50 graph so far... not a funny picture I don't ask to be lucky. All I ask for is to be more or less fair... but running 20 BI under EV is not even close to fair...

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I am playing and hoping for the day when thing sfinally will start going my way...

Oh dear, sick, sick graph :x

Just gotta grind through it /stereotypical, cliche poker advice

How can you grind through it if this shit happens over, over and over again!???? ♠_evil: ♠_evil: ♠_evil: And EV graph doesn't show other things that keep happening, like:

- if I have KK then flop definitely has A.
- If I flop set, then board is monochrome.
- if I decide to go all in with QQ then board has A, K, and 2 Jacks (just in case someone called with AJ or JJ)
- if I bet with set, everyone folds
- if I slowplay set, someone gets flush

I have AA and I 3bet a guy with 13% "fold to 3bet" percentage. Guess what? He folds.

I am at the stage where I start to think of folding KK preflop as soon as I have reraise.... it's just ridiculous!

OK, I won 40 EUR today on NL50 after a very hard fight and decided to play a bit of NL25. After all I know the limit, what bad can happen, right? WRONG!!!!! ♠_evil: ♠_evil: ♠_evil:

Just one example. I was so happy the complete retard with 65/32 stats sat with me HU with full stack. What else can you wish for? And then, just a few hands later a wonderful thing happens - I hit 2 pair and and they turn into fullhouse on turn. And fish keeps attacking... Dream scenario, right? WRONG AGAIN!!!! ♠_evil: ♠_evil: ♠_evil:

$0.12/$0.25 No Limit Holdem
HoldemManager
2 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by weaktight.com

Stacks:
BTN ($23.24)
SilverSag (BB) ($26.48)

Pre-Flop: ($0.37, 2 players) SilverSag is BB 5♦ A♠
BTN raises to $0.75, SilverSag calls $0.50

Flop: 5♣ A♥ 10:diamond: ($1.50, 2 players)
SilverSag bets $1.12, BTN raises to $2.99, SilverSag calls $1.87

Turn: A♦ ($7.48, 2 players)
SilverSag checks, BTN bets $3.75, SilverSag calls $3.75

River: J♦ ($14.98, 2 players)
SilverSag bets $14.98, BTN goes all-in $15.75, SilverSag calls $0.77

Final Pot: $46.48
SilverSag shows
5♦ A♠
BTN shows
A♣ 10:club:

BTN wins $44.18 (net +$20.94)

SilverSag lost $23.24

One good thought - If I will manage to grind through this, I will be invincible... I am actually amazed I am still more or less even. At the moment it looks like somebody at Boss Media is taking a piss...

I think I will quit playing poker... I just cannot stand this anymore... Suckout after suckout, cooler after cooler... these are just a few hands from half an hour of 6-tabling:

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Replayer
Hero ($58.20)
($25)
UTG ($56.10)
UTG+1 ($50)
UTG+2 ($22.20)
MP1 ($8.63)
MP2 ($25.89)
MP3 ($86.50)
Dealt to ($51.80)
CO ($24.83)

Hero posts (SB) $0.25

Dealt to Hero T♥ T♦

fold, fold, fold, fold, MP2 calls $0.50, MP3 raises to $2.25, fold, fold, Hero calls $2, fold, MP2 calls $1.75

FLOP ($7.25) 5♣ 7♥ 3♣

Hero checks, MP2 bets $4, MP3 folds, Hero calls $4

TURN ($15.25) 5♣ 7♥ 3♣ 9♠

Hero checks, MP2 bets $19.64 (AI), Hero calls $19.64

RIVER ($54.53) 5♣ 7♥ 3♣ 9♠ 6♣

Hero shows T♥ T♦
(Pre 69%, Flop 53.3%, Turn 72.7%)

MP2 shows 2♣ J♣
(Pre 31%, Flop 46.7%, Turn 27.3%)

MP2 wins $51.83

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Replayer
BB ($19.15)
($50.40)
UTG ($22.43)
UTG+1 ($16.70)
UTG+2 ($31.85)
Hero ($50)
MP2 ($10)
MP3 ($9.50)
CO ($24)

BB posts (SB) $0.25
MP3 posts $0.25

Dealt to Hero K♣ A♦

fold, UTG+1 calls $0.50, fold, Hero raises to $2.50, fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, UTG+1 calls $2

FLOP ($6) T♣ Q♣ 6♣

UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $3, UTG+1 calls $3

TURN ($12) T♣ Q♣ 6♣ K♦

UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $6, UTG+1 raises to $11.20 (AI), Hero calls $5.20

RIVER ($34.40) T♣ Q♣ 6♣ K♦ 9♦

UTG+1 shows T♥ J♣
(Pre 37%, Flop 44.5%, Turn 15.9%)

Hero shows K♣ A♦
(Pre 63%, Flop 55.5%, Turn 84.1%)

UTG+1 wins $32.70

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Replayer
Hero ($53.60)
BB ($58.24)
BTN ($54.85)

Dealt to Hero Q♦ Q♣

fold, Hero raises to $1.50, BB calls $1

FLOP ($3) 6♥ T♥ A♥

Hero checks, BB checks

TURN ($3) 6♥ T♥ A♥ 9♣

Hero checks, BB bets $2.25, Hero calls $2.25

RIVER ($7.50) 6♥ T♥ A♥ 9♣ J♦

Hero checks, BB bets $3.75, Hero calls $3.75

BB shows J♣ 9♦
(Pre 13%, Flop 6.6%, Turn 11.4%)

Hero shows Q♦ Q♣
(Pre 87%, Flop 93.4%, Turn 88.6%)

BB wins $14.25

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Replayer
Hero ($49.50)
BB ($50.70)
CO ($64.74)
BTN ($54.85)

Dealt to Hero K♠ 9♠

fold, fold, Hero calls $0.25, BB raises to $1, Hero calls $0.50

FLOP ($2) Q♠ 9♦ 8♥

Hero checks, BB checks

TURN ($2) Q♠ 9♦ 8♥ 2♦

Hero bets $1, BB raises to $2, Hero calls $1

RIVER ($6) Q♠ 9♦ 8♥ 2♦ 4♦

Hero checks, BB bets $2.50, Hero calls $2.50

Hero shows K♠ 9♠
(Pre 59%, Flop 8.2%, Turn 0.0%)

BB shows J♥ T♣
(Pre 41%, Flop 91.8%, Turn 100.0%)

BB wins $10.45

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Replayer
BB ($48.75)
Hero ($55.38)
UTG ($46.28)
UTG+1 ($53.02)
UTG+2 ($24.38)
MP1 ($52.75)
MP2 ($50.50)
MP3 ($51.10)
CO ($49.75)

BB posts (SB) $0.25

Dealt to Hero 7♣ 9♣

UTG calls $0.50, UTG+1 calls $0.50, fold, MP1 calls $0.50, fold, fold, CO calls $0.50, fold, Hero checks

FLOP ($2.75) 8♠ 3♥ T♦

Hero bets $2.06, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls $2.06, MP1 folds, CO folds

TURN ($6.87) 8♠ 3♥ T♦ J♣

Hero bets $5.15, UTG+1 calls $5.15

RIVER ($17.17) 8♠ 3♥ T♦ J♣ T♣

Hero bets $12.87, UTG+1 raises to $34.32, Hero calls $21.45

UTG+1 shows 3♣ 3♦
(Pre 48%, Flop 74.1%, Turn 22.7%)

Hero shows 7♣ 9♣
(Pre 52%, Flop 25.9%, Turn 77.3%)

UTG+1 wins $82.81

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I cannot just fold a hand every time I dont have absolute nuts... or maybe I should!?

I am down 235 EUR and I have played only for 2 hours... I am down also for the whole month and I really don't see how and where I can get any winnings if it continues like this...

Well, I basically said f to common sense, f to BRM, f*** to variance and I am staying in NL50 until I go busto... ♠_evil: My luck is still terrible. At the beginning of the day Boss Media presents me with my usual share of bad beats and coolers, so I normally am 1-2 BI down before I even have sat down comfortably at the screen. ♠_evil: Then it's up to me to get it back. Or not. ♠_evil: ♠_evil: ♠_evil:

Games in NL25 are almost nonexistent and if there are tables open then there are average 5-6 shortstacks at one table, so it's not even profitable to sit down. And I need rakeback too.

I am currently down about 400 EUR and my only chance is to play break-even until the end of the month and hope that rake back will cover losses. ♠_evil:

I don't know who will pay my bills, though...

u can do it man, im having the same thing, just 1 winning day in september in about 50k hands and im down 400$ playing NL10 eur/$$.
just keep faith in u and u will grind it back

Originally posted by TilTmuch
u can do it man, im having the same thing, just 1 winning day in september in about 50k hands and im down 400$ playing NL10 eur/$$.
just keep faith in u and u will grind it back

I really hope you are right... otherwise I it will be the end of this blog...

I am down 100 EUR for today again... and still have the evening session waiting... ♠_evil:

Originally posted by SilverSag
Well, I basically said f to common sense, f to BRM, f*** to variance and I am staying in NL50 until I go busto... ♠_evil: My luck is still terrible. At the beginning of the day Boss Media presents me with my usual share of bad beats and coolers, so I normally am 1-2 BI down before I even have sat down comfortably at the screen. ♠_evil: Then it's up to me to get it back. Or not. ♠_evil: ♠_evil: ♠_evil:

Games in NL25 are almost nonexistent and if there are tables open then there are average 5-6 shortstacks at one table, so it's not even profitable to sit down. And I need rakeback too.

I am currently down about 400 EUR and my only chance is to play break-even until the end of the month and hope that rake back will cover losses. ♠_evil:

I don't know who will pay my bills, though...

Please ask someone to slap some sense into you on my part.

I guess this is it for now... yesterday I suffered another 200 EUR loss, which makes a total of minus 500 EUR for this month. Even my rakeback will not make up for it and I will end the month down at least 250 EUR... And this time it was not only bad luck, but also my mistakes...

I misread a set for a fullhouse and stacked against obvious flush, didnt bet with set and lost to bluff on river and few hands later stacked with set when same guy was not bluffing anymore... I was outplayed fair and square... He must be proud of it... and deservedly so...

So... for now I am taking a break, otherwise I will be completely destroyed, financially and mentally. I probably will not play my usual limits until the end of the month.

I will enjoy myself, relax, watch disturbing Japanese anime with naked pink-haired teenage girls ripping limbs of armed men (yes, I have just dicovered Elfen Lied, GenoCyber, etc.) and just generally take time off.

I will definitely play poker, but it will be my two nanostakes bankrolls on PokerStars and Poker770. I will just play for fun and enjoyment. Like I did before...

After that I will think what to do next. One is clear - no more NL50 at least for some time! I have enough bankroll for NL25, so I will play that and also NL20 until I get my game sorted and get a stable winrate. At least that is what I think now. Maybe it will change later, but I will try not even think about that for a while.

P.S. Tnx, Emanuel! I hope this is something you meant by slapping sense into myself, no?

Yeah, but with an actual slap, not just metaphorically. It works better that way!

I think I have recovered a more or less stable mental state, so I am starting to play again. I will be following "1 BI a day" plan which means that I will stop playing when I am up 25 EUR or when I lose 50 EUR. Last time this strategy brought me a record-braking 17 day long winning streak. Lets see what happens now...

This time I decided to do something different. I want to share with you some of my experiences from playing on Boss Media and this is my first try. I figured that it would be good to get you guys involved too so I made this little quiz. After all, interactive things are all the rage today, aren't they? So, here we go:

CAN YOU TELL WHAT DO THESE TWO PICTURES HAVE IN COMMON?