Ok ladies and gentlemen, I've got a task for you to do:
You have 3 days and some hours, to suggest my goals for next month. I'll try to fulfill 3 most interesting/rewarding tasks 
so, any ideas?
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Ok, time for some news from my poker life. As promised, I went to that free live tournament on saturday. I saw a field of 60 players including me, 10k starting stack and a new experience ahead of me. For the first three levels i had only two playable hands: 55 and Ac8c, folded 55 after I saw very high flop, and story with A8 suited was different. flop was 5h As 2s, I checked, and two other guys checked. Turn came 3s. ( Then I have decided to bluff at it and take the pot). So one guy folds, another guy thinks and calls. And the river was a blank. So I made a bet again. 600 into a pot of 1500 (tried to show a straight or flush, with value bet) he sat for some time thinking and called with 22 so I have lost about a quarter of my stack.
But I was moved to another table. My image was a complete idiot fish at my first table, so I decided, that the next few hands will be decisive for my tournament, and I have decided to play aggressively. First hand; QTo. I call, two opponents get into pot, and I see a Ten high flop with no straight/flush draws. I have like 7500k. Blinds were 300/150 ante 25. pot was about 1,4k. I raised 800 hundred, one guy called. turn was a blank, still Ten high. And I shoved All in. he folded and showed one card 5, which was a small pair on the flop. So I had ~starting stack again. the very next hand I see AQ of spades in the small blind. UTG1 raises, UTG2 calls, and everybody folds to me and i call to. flop comes 2,8,T no flush draws. Everybody checks. turn comes an ACE Utg 1 raises to ~ 1,2 k, utg 2 calls, and the pot is around 6k. I see that UTG 1 has only around 5k more, ant UTG 2 has me covered. I raised to put UTG1 all in, he shoved instantly, UTG 2 started to think.... And he called Side pot was around 1,5 k and there were more than 20k in the pot. river comes another T. I shoved my last 4,smth K and UTG2 started thinking... He looked to his buddy who was on the rail, showed him his hand, and he said the words of the day:
You know, I think you are getting a good price here to call. got to admit I love the guy He called. Utg1 shown A8 and started to curse the dealer for the river, UTG2 shown AJ and cursed his chips, and I was up to around 30K+
And the very next hand I have pocket AA!!! in the SB. Somebody called and cuttoff raised to 2,2K. when it came to me I was checking my hand for the second time, you know, aces for the first time in my life 
tried to play some hollywood, when "I don't know what should I do - call or fold" and raised to 5,5K. everybody folded, I was up again.
Just before the break our table was broken, and I went to table of regs. No hands for I don't know how long, blinds and antes were eating me bit by bit, and then in the BB i see KJo. Cutoff raised, I called and we see a flop K3J. checked(this was a really poor move) he checked. turn 8 I raised half the pot and got a call. turn was a Q. checked again. ( 3 hearts on the board) and he was thinking and checked. Shown my two pair. He sat for a while and shown AT. Slowrolled me a bit, and that was painful after some time I see ACES AGAIN it was MP2-3 maybe, and shortstack from UTG raises. Which was weird for him, because few hands earlier he just showed. well, I thought it this way — if I have AA, then he should have JJ-KK and he is raising for some action, he doesn't want to scare everybody. So I just minraised him, because of his stack (He couldn't just call this raise, he had to either push of fold all ~7K) but then guy from BB decided to call too. That was something unexpected. Shortstack pushed. And in this spot I decided to push my all in too, because I wanted to isolate him. BB was thinking what to do. He had me covered, but i pushed ~22K when average stack was ~13K. So he folded. Shortstack shown pocket KK, and really wasn't happy when I opened my hand So I was up to ~32K again.
Then I made first of two mistakes in my tournament. raised with A9s, and Sb shoved. And I am an idiot who called. (it was like some temporary brain blackout) He shown QQ. Caught a set on the flop and crippled me. I was left with~20BB and moved to another table. (there were less then 20 of us left)
No hands again for some time, I was becoming a shortstack, blinds were 1K/2K with antes, when I pushed for the first time from UTg with AQ. everybody folded. then again no hands, blinds increased 1,5/3K till I pushed with 78s my last 3,5BB from the button. And everybody folded, i added 1/3 of my stack, and after few hands I pushed with AJ from UTG, button decided to check me opened T8o. we didn't get anything, so I doubled up to ~20k.
Then 3 or 4 shortstacks went out in the next three hands. and we entered the final table bubble phase. there were six players on one table and 5 players on our table. And guy raises ~7,5K. (I see A8s) in the BB. Everybody folds to me and I make an instashove I look straight into his eyes, he has me covered, but if he calls and losses he would have ~2-3 BB left. He asks for the chip count. I pushed 19,8k. And he looks at me, then at his cards, I look at him, without blinking, sweating or whatever, and he is so unhappy, when he lays down his cards
And we reached final table
And second mistake comes. Huge chip leader raises from UTG2, once again black out for me, I shove with AT (it was an easy fold, when I think now), he calls with QQ. set on the flop and a tenth place finish for me.
Played like a fish in key moments, but went quite deep
Had some fun for real.
So anybody with any ideas for November?
Great, November is here, and I had zero suggestions from my readers
Ok. Then my goals for November:
[ ] Read all BSS and Psychology Bronze articles
[ ] Play 10 k hands in November
[ ] Lift my BR up to 200 USD.
Won't be easy, because of my studies...
Btw, my brother also joined the community of PS, so watch out NL2 
Anybody missed me?
I have been studying a lot, but material was not related with poker at all.
Till now I have played 2K hands only, but I finally ended up my breakeven period and the graph is going up lovely view.
My BR is almost 160 usd now, so 40 more to go. I feel like a baby, who is big enough, but still not ready to go into NL4 ♦
Don't know why. but I am pretty sure, I will do this soon
Today, I have decided to sum up my progress so far. Since October 16, when I have deposited 109 USD into PartyPoker acc, I have played ~20K hands and lifted my BR up to 173.5 playing NL2 only. What do you think this is a lot or not?
But now I see that dark times lies ahead of me in terms of poker. Two weeks from today will be very hard for me in terms of my studies, and after that on December my I will be taking my exams. My poker career will be paused on January, as I will take internship in Lithuanian Parliament and will be living without Internet connection.
But I am planning to study poker theory during January and start playing NL4 on February. More over, I have decided to try myself up in "1000 USD summer challenge“. I am planning to play poker all summer for 90 days and earn 1K.
Why 1K?
Last summer I was working at a store all summer long and they payed me ~1K usd for all summer. Sometimes I had to work for 14 hours a day.
This summer I am planning to get my 1K different way.
So my goal will be to grow my BR till summer and improve improve improve!
What do you think about my plans?
It's been a while since the last time I've posted. Had hardest week of the semester so far, so was completely out of poker for a full week.
Good news: Full tilt might give me back some money not sure what to do, play there, or pay a fine and cash out if it comes back.
Had a downswing for ~4,5 BB during last 4 sessions, but yesterday played really well, covered that up, and I am back on track baby!
Made a schedule for next semester: free fridays! less disciplines to study, I can't wait!
Bought Christmas presents for my family and girlfriend
Bad news: month without poker is coming really fast.
Had absolutely no time to read any articles, and I will have time for this only in January I guess.
BTW. Anybody knows, what should I do if I wont pay any rake to party poker for month, will they take my bankroll?
Should I cash out to moneybookers? How much they take for keeping money in account for one month?
My BR is 178,02, that's almost 70 usd since deposit
And here's the graph:
Excellent blog... I'm a fellow micros grinder that's trying to balance poker, social life and studies... I think I'm finding a decent way of coping. But I guess next semester will be the test!
Best of luck man!
what do you mean ""wont pay any rake"".. ??
Rake is taking from each hand on cash on sng or mtt from evry byin.
And i dont think party take money for keeping accounts alive.
By saying I won't pay any rake I mean I won't play a single hand for month. Because I won't have internet connection. I have heard before about party taking 20-30 usd after some inactive period so I am asking how long I can be inactive without suffering a damage to my br.
Originally posted by ryciaga
By saying I won't pay any rake I mean I won't play a single hand for month. Because I won't have internet connection. I have heard before about party taking 20-30 usd after some inactive period so I am asking how long I can be inactive without suffering a damage to my br.
If you're worried about that, even if the worry is not justified in the slightest, then just take the money out on the last day you have internet. And then as soon as you get it back, put it back in there? Although you would have to pay the withdraw fees. It would be cheaper than 20 USD. But I don't think party do take money from your account for non-usage, but I'm not an expert on this.
I don't think there is a withdraw fee if you withdraw to e-wallet. Still, problematic issue.
Congratulations on a great start. I would put the books on hold and read the articles and watch the videos here. Also try and sit in on a coaching session when you can. The hand evaluation forum is priceless. Instead of just posting graphs of your bankroll try and post other graphs and info like EV graph and your stats. You'll get more helpful advice that way.
Good luck
I don't know if there's EV graphs on PS Elephant program, I would love to post them, but I just don't have proper software yet
The EV graphs aren't as important as your stats anyway. You should post up stats like VPIP, PFR, AF, WTS, etc. the advice you'll get based on your play will help you improve greatly.
Good Luck
ok, my stats over 20697 hands:
VPIP is 16.2
PFR 7.7
AF 1.2
WTS 28.7/56.9/37.6
And I have no idea this is good or bad
hi, gap between VPIP and PFR is too high, you are caling too much. for full ring it should be something like 13 10, for the begining, and AF is too low, you should play fewer hands but more agressively.
I agree w/ dooleslovs, you need to be a little more selective about which hands to play. Then be much more aggressive when you have a hand worth playing. "tight is right" especially at the micro full ring tables.
I think I am calling for set with small pocket pairs too often. Although I am following call20 rule. But should I stop doing that, play even less hands and risk getting nitty image on nl2, so people would just fold to my raises with premium hands? what options do I have here..?
do you folow SHC? if yes then u should be something like 12/10 and do not worry in NL2 nobody will ever exploit your nitiness