Poker and history...WHAAAAT... Going to Vienna.

By the way one of the good things that came out of all my mindless grinding in the last months was my dimond status here Even if it is tottaly undeserved considering my fishy limits it still got me invitation for the PS.com Party in Munster, Germany in February. Really feel like going although I was having some second thought on whether or not I belong there in the first place. On the other hand there is nothing to lose, right. Still have to give it some thoughts. I give myself untill 5 of January to decide

Cool intro. Well done for SN status. I don't understand why you shouldn't get the bonus though!

matel17: Thanks As for the bonuses I'm still going to keep playing the way I do and I try to get all I'm entitled to but will have to figure out how big of a reduction there would be from the total amount under the previous system. I mean if it is now 5000$ for the whole next year compared to posible 15000$ before it does not make much sense to keep going instead of focusing on less tables which is what I should do anyway Time will tell...

Beside that there isn't much poker related stuff to report because after getting my SN I decided to take a break untill January. Funny thing is that yesterday I logged on Pokerstars and the tables were very good (it was friday night after all :f_love:) So I loaded tables up but before any blinds got to me I remebered my plan and shuted it down - disciplined laydown
Today I read the article Neuropsychology of Poker (1) - Under the Hood by Somnius and watched the related video - some good stuff there and I completely lack any knowledge in that area to begin with so deffinately useful.

Tonight there is going to be NY Eve so no poker as well. Me and my friends are going to one of the central squares in Sofia for a big celebration Hope to survive, wish me luck. We were actually supposed to spend NY in Belgrade but that failed, maybe next year. So I wish to all of you great celebration tonight and good luck in 2012

Happy New Year, fellows

Good night that last night. We went out on the streets, discovered discounted Jonnie Walker and... well... you get the picture, I'm sure. A lot of dances, some singing as well... good stuff I planned to go home after but stayed with some friends instead and wasted pretty much all of today over there. Didn't really felt like grinding tonight but went for it anyway and after 5 hours the result was decent: about 3 BIs up, running a bit over EV. Ton of fish at the tables tonight, sundays are the best

I don't feel like sleeping now so will read some articles. As for the Pokerstars rake changes it looks like after implementing WC method of distribution of FPPs I will be getting about 30% less of them so that sucks big time.

Very short session yesterday 24 tabling NL25FR - donked away 2 BIs pretty quickly and decided to call it a day. After an hour or so played another sesion on NL5 SH to try and get the feel for it (already crushing NL2 SH after a huge sanple of 700 hands :f_biggrin:) Lost almost 4 BIs that felt pretty lame. Had a funny hand:

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.05(BB) Replayer
SB ($5)
BB ($6.30)
UTG ($7.85)
UTG+1 ($6.70)
Hero ($5)
BTN ($1.14)

Dealt to Hero 8♦ A♦

UTG calls $0.05, fold, Hero raises to $0.20, fold, fold, fold, UTG calls $0.15

FLOP ($0.47) 9♦ 3♦ 6♣

UTG bets $0.20, Hero raises to $1.05, UTG raises to $4.80, Hero calls $3.75 (AI)

TURN ($10.07) 9♦ 3♦ 6♣ T♥

RIVER ($10.07) 9♦ 3♦ 6♣ T♥ 2♥

UTG shows Q♥ A♠
(Pre 69%, Flop 51.1%, Turn 65.9%)

Hero shows 8♦ A♦
(Pre 31%, Flop 48.9%, Turn 34.1%)

UTG wins $9.57

WTF SH should be fun

Shortly after that the same player pwned me again:

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.05(BB) Replayer
SB ($6.51)
Hero ($5)
UTG ($5)
UTG+1 ($6.47)
CO ($5.98)
BTN ($12.78)

Dealt to Hero 3♠ 3♣

fold, fold, CO raises to $0.20, BTN calls $0.20, fold, Hero calls $0.15

FLOP ($0.62) A♣ 3♥ A♦

Hero checks, CO checks, BTN checks

TURN ($0.62) A♣ 3♥ A♦ 5♣

Hero bets $0.40, CO calls $0.40, BTN calls $0.40

RIVER ($1.82) A♣ 3♥ A♦ 5♣ J♥

Hero bets $1.14, CO calls $1.14, BTN raises to $2.30, Hero raises to $4.40 (AI), CO folds, BTN calls $2.10

BTN shows 5♠ A♠
(Pre 49%, Flop 22.9%, Turn 97.7%)

Hero shows 3♠ 3♣
(Pre 51%, Flop 77.1%, Turn 2.3%)

BTN wins $11.18

I convinced myself that he will raise river with any A, not just with the boat After that hand I stoped playing.

Some additional things:

The Sit-out strike at Pokerstars went bad for those that participated. I was not one of them even though I intended to and now that I read some more arguments of both sides I think Stars are right to do what they please and players are free to decide there they want to play. After all there is more to poker that just exploiting some VIP system and if Stars will win more money despite loosing some of the high volumers it seems reasonable from their standpont to do so. As for myself I decided to try and clear the 1500$ bonus (I'm at 3/4 now) untill end of January and reevaluate if I want to stay at Stars or try playing somewhere else. Anyway I don't want to continue with the mass multy tabling so new plan is needed.

Btw I still can't get the link in my signature right so any help will be appreciated

What a day was today. Woke up at 12.30 like a pro and felt like doing nothing useful so played some computer games. Wasted most of the day, then went to see friend of mine from Netherlands that came to Sofia yesterday. After I went back home started grinding - short 4 hour session - went pretty well 4 BIs up. I don't feel like playing now which is really a shame - so much fish on the FR tables in the middle of the week ♠_cool: Will read some articles though. Here are some hands:

Very fishy of me vs fish

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($47.27)
BB ($25)
UTG ($23.13)
UTG+1 ($25.95)
Hero ($25)
MP1 ($25)
CO ($13.43)
BTN ($25)

CO posts $0.25
CO posts $0.10

Dealt to Hero K♥ Q♦

fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.75, fold, CO calls $0.50, fold, SB raises to $1.56, fold, Hero calls $0.81, CO calls $0.81

FLOP ($5.03) Q♥ 7♦ J♥

SB checks, Hero bets $3.15, CO folds, SB calls $3.15

TURN ($11.33) Q♥ 7♦ J♥ K♣

SB checks, Hero bets $7.11, SB raises to $21, Hero calls $13.18 (AI)

RIVER ($51.91) Q♥ 7♦ J♥ K♣ 7♠

SB shows T♣ A♣
(Pre 62%, Flop 23.7%, Turn 90.9%)

Hero shows K♥ Q♦
(Pre 38%, Flop 76.3%, Turn 9.1%)

SB wins $49.91

So my thought process here is...absent. Preflop it is standart call if headsup, but with the 3rd player behind me I'm not sure. On the flop I bet because I have TP and preflop raiser have nothing. On the turn I'm thinking he could be bad enough to check/call on the previous street with AK and he is now totally overplaying his TPTK+gutshot. Or maybe KJ. When he turned ATs it resulted in However I'm glad with my reaction because it didn't trew me off too much. Winning KK vs AA several minutes later helped a lot obviously and after that it was such a rungood... set over set, hitted 3 flushes with payoff, got paid for overpair and TPTK. Plus this...

Found myself a limp/calling maniac

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($25.99)
BB ($20.44)
UTG ($25.92)
UTG+1 ($26.35)
UTG+2 ($11.28)
MP1 ($26.71)
MP2 ($26.25)
CO ($40.98)
Hero ($27.45)

Dealt to Hero J♣ A♣

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold, CO calls $0.25, Hero raises to $1, fold, fold, CO calls $0.75

FLOP ($2.35) J♥ 6♦ J♠

CO bets $4, Hero calls $4 really?

TURN ($10.35) J♥ 6♦ J♠ 7♠

CO bets $7.50, Hero calls $7.50

RIVER ($25.35) J♥ 6♦ J♠ 7♠ 8♣

CO bets $28.48 (AI), Hero calls $14.95 (AI)

Hero shows J♣ A♣
(Pre 73%, Flop 99.9%, Turn 100.0%)

CO shows A♥ 4♣
(Pre 27%, Flop 0.1%, Turn 0.0%)

Hero wins $53.25 ♠_evil:

and against 3 bullets:

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($27.99)
BB ($26.01)
UTG ($8.85)
UTG+1 ($25)
UTG+2 ($25.35)
MP1 ($29.40)
CO ($25)
Hero ($51.64)

Dealt to Hero T♦ T♠

fold, fold, UTG+2 raises to $0.75, fold, fold, Hero calls $0.75, fold, fold

FLOP ($1.85) 6♦ 3♠ J♣

UTG+2 bets $1, Hero calls $1

TURN ($3.85) 6♦ 3♠ J♣ J♠

UTG+2 bets $1.75, Hero calls $1.75

RIVER ($7.35) 6♦ 3♠ J♣ J♠ 4♦

UTG+2 bets $4.50, Hero calls $4.50

Hero shows T♦ T♠
(Pre 65%, Flop 81.2%, Turn 93.2%)

UTG+2 shows A♣ T♣
(Pre 35%, Flop 18.8%, Turn 6.8%)

Hero wins $15.55

No read here except for the flop betsizing or in other words - cheap C-bet turned into multy street spew We raise our air or float and call down with showdown value - I wish other poker stuff was that clear to me as this.

i enjoyed your story here....and will be following....i'd be interested to know if you may do better with a decent rakeback at another site with the amount of volume you put in if stars is starting to cheapen up.....i guess you'd have to run the numbers...good luck and i'll be checking in from time to time

Thanks harvbucks, you are more than wellcome As for the rakeback my guess is probably but since I'm a big math fish can't give definite answer yet. Anyway my goal will be to drasticly decrease the number of tables and increase the number of hands I can play profitably, plus transition from FR to SH so overall studying > playing for a while.

And in the spirit of the above statement I haven't played at all last 2 days Yesterday I played football in the evening during poker prime time and after it I was tired and today was movie night so now I'm tired again and won't play. Did some studying though and I totaly recomend the gold content of the psychology and didactics section. Its really interesting to read about the processes that are going on in your head during poker play and to look at your brain as something that needs to be optimized through your daily routine, diet etc. Really inspiring stuff.

In the last several days I just keep evaluating and reevalueting goals and attitudes to poker. I started mixing up some shorthanded games 4 tables between NL5-NL25 but overall I'm seriously falling back with my volume. Many days I don't feel like playing and I don't play, breaking my routine from last year. No good. Looking for something really inspirational.

Here is a hand I laughed a lot about. That was my honest reaction after villains call and I wondered if that's the right attitude. Laughter probably > frustration but still...

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($29.25)
Hero ($37.12)
UTG ($22.51)
UTG+1 ($52.37)
CO ($22.91)
BTN ($24.30)

Dealt to Hero A♦ T♦

UTG calls $0.25, UTG+1 raises to $0.75, fold, BTN calls $0.75, SB calls $0.65, Hero raises to $3.75, UTG calls $3.50, fold, fold, fold

FLOP ($9.75) K♦ 4♠ 2♦

Hero bets $6.11, UTG calls $6.11

TURN ($21.97) K♦ 4♠ 2♦ 8♣

Hero bets $27.26 (AI), UTG calls $12.65 (AI)

RIVER ($47.27) K♦ 4♠ 2♦ 8♣ 2♠

Hero shows A♦ T♦
(Pre 31%, Flop 48.7%, Turn 27.3%)

UTG shows A♥ J♠
(Pre 69%, Flop 51.3%, Turn 72.7%)

UTG wins $45.27 ♠_confused:

I'll try to play much more in the following days, still hoping to clear my 1500 bonus but probably won't happen before mid February. After that complete transition to SH.

Side note - I'm thinking about buying Kindle for university. If anyone have expirience or recomendations about prices, models, shipping and so on I'd appreciate it.

Really lame session today... ended up about 7 BIs down but conservative BRM is the nuts so I'm not that worried. Getting closer to my bonus so hopefully in 1-2 weeks I'll clear it.

To be honest I don't really enjoy playing right now. Too many distractions for me theese days so I can't get my head in the game 100% and play long sessions. Will try to fix this in the following days.

Bought me a Kindle today So I'm going to play around with it before sleep.

Last few days (except for saturday) I managed to put in some volume - still a bit small for my standarts but better than beginning of the month so hopefully by the start of February I will be able to set myself in grinding mode again. Few things will inevitably happen when January ends.

1. I will have to kiss goodbye to my diamond status and will drop a lot in ranks here. It felt good being VIP and all but the truth is its just too soon for me and I still don't belong there. To take some moral out of this here is my recomendation to mass-multitablers at the micro stakes out there (20+): think about what you are doing and... stop doing it

2. As a logical consequence of N1 from February I'm officially transitioning to NL25 SH. I played it for a little bit and I think I'll be comfortable there. If things start of really bad I'll drop to NL10.

Beside that so far January doesn't look very promising. I'm down some BIs but handling it well so far. No tilt sessions and crap like that. When I feel bad I just quit, having the understanding that it is no longer about what I think but rather about how my brain and body physically react to me losing.

I also started reading The Blueprint of Poker. It was funny for me to be reading something from the most trashed coach out there but many people recomend his books nevetheless. I'm halfway through and I find it interesting although I wonder if some of his standart actions are still relevant. And there are many standart plays he recommend with different types of hands which is what beggining players are looking for anyway but it looks like poker is much more complicated than "you can go broke with TPTK". It's ok because after all reading poker books is about getting ideas and comparing them to your own thinking process and experience. I'll see how it goes.

Ohhh Dude:)

Good Luck:)

Hi awesomeo,

good luck with the transition. Definitely a good choice. No fun in massmultitabling. At least I think so, because I 'm a total fish at it ♦

I play NL25 myself atm at Everest so will be following your progress

Oh, I 'm also a PhD student (in bio-engineering). Don't know how it is in Bulgaria but here it's quite a lot of work so not much grinding time for me

So what's your PhD about? A guy I know is also doing a PhD in history and it 's super specific. Don't even remember what about (something in middle ages :f_biggrin:).

Hi derStud1986 and lpdlamei, welcome to the blog,

As for the PhD in Bulgaria I'd say it is probably a bit more liberal than people would imagine (for history at least). I'm pretty sure I could squeze in quite some time for poker in the next 3 years while not having to depend on poker money. There will be some deadlines and stuff but it'd deffinately be managable and I'm actually looking forward to giving it a shot since I'm kind of fishy at time management. I see it as a golden chance for me to try and get the most of both history and poker. So if in 2015 I'm still donking around in the micros that would be

As for my thesis it is not yet 100% clear but it would be about the financial system in USA, late 19, first half of 20 century, comparison between the different depressions and recessions in that period and the historiography concepts about it, stuff like that. I'm still a big fish at economy and finances but I have time to sort it out

lpdlamei, where are you from and what about your friend? I know some history students here and there, he might be one of them, who knows

Played a session today, nothing spectacular, droped 1 BI. Standart stuff. Also watched 4th part of Pink Performance video series. Like, like... I actually listened to them before while playing but now I wanted to go trough them more thoroughly so that's something to do in the next several days. Really want to go back to NL50 as soon as possible - it looked so fishy at the video So much good content here, Pokerstrategy.com rocks ♠_cool:

And finally some sad news for me. Looks like I'll miss the diamond parties untill end of February which is really a shame - could have been real confidence boost for me and probably a lot of fun. It would be something for the future, going in my "to do" list.

Sounds like an interesting thesis subject! Some knowledge of economics might come in handy though

I 'm belgian and so is the guy I know, both working at Ghent University atm. Another history PhD I know works in Firenze now. His topic: Fur World: The Transformation of the Fur Industry between 1880 and 1950.

I 'm also planning on watching the pink performance series. Watched first a while back and watched half of the 2nd already (not capable of watching a 1h-vid at once ) and definitely useful wisdom in there!

Then I don't know your friend, however I know another history PhD student in Ghent so at least I have the location covered Ghent is a hell of a city by the way, even though I got my wallet stolen/lost there last year

From what I heard about Belgium PhD programs it is pretty much like full time job with requirements for producing articles in respected science periodicals in order to retain your status, right? Well it doesn't reaaally work like that in Bulgaria, the control is practicaly absent and you don't have to be working at specific place or hour frame so it is up to you mostly. Which means there will definately be time for 6-7+ hours of poker if I finally go back in the zone

Originally posted by awesomeo
Then I don't know your friend, however I know another history PhD student in Ghent so at least I have the location covered Ghent is a hell of a city by the way, even though I got my wallet stolen/lost there last year
Jep, great city!

From what I heard about Belgium PhD programs it is pretty much like full time job with requirements for producing articles in respected science periodicals in order to retain your status, right? Well it doesn't reaaally work like that in Bulgaria, the control is practicaly absent and you don't have to be working at specific place or hour frame so it is up to you mostly. Which means there will definately be time for 6-7+ hours of poker if I finally go back in the zone
Jep, it's like that exactly. I work more then fulltime. You have some more slacking ahead of you it seems

Amen to that, brother ♦

Anyway, just finished playing for this weekend. Last few days before it went pretty bad, but didn't wanted to write about it in order not to turn this into a whining blog. However now I will just as an introduction to the bragging post that follows.

I just recorded my biggest winning day so far on NL25 - almost 11 BIs up (9.5 BIs in EV) over 8600 hands in about 7 hours. On some tables my opponents were folding every time unless I have a monster so my 3bet% was >20 and nobody was doing anything about it, except for calling pre and fold to C-bet Combined with yesterday's 7 BIs it makes up for a nice bankroll boost at a time when it was very much needed. Plus the bonus should be coming sooner than I thought so life is good right now. The bad thing this weekend is that I forgot about Pokerstars 100k monthly freeroll that I could've played and my only consolation for this is that I suck at tournies

Now to the important matter. As I stated I seriously consider leaving Stars and FR and moving part of my roll somewhere else. The funny thing is that apparently Pokerstars will be giving higher VPP multiplier for full ring games + keeping SN status will also be a bit easier for 2012 and deffinately achievable by me with a bit over 100k hands/month. So that is another thing for me to consider in the next few days - to stay and grind the VIP system or to go to fishy euro sites and donate my money to some bots

Going to bed now