Week 1
Starting date: 19/11/2016
Starting BR: $45.81 (Had been $30 but did a further deposit of $15.81 for the beat the clock bonus tickets.)
Current BR: $59.46
Change : +$13.65 ($5.12 from the beat the clock tickets, $8.53 from ZNL2)
Hands this week: 11,250
Hands total: 11,250
Goals & plans
In the first post of the blog I outlined a very woolly version of goals and plans. This could be whittled down to; study 70%/30% and not really much else of any really substance. So before continuing I thought I would outline some more hard and measurable goals.
Poker goals
- Study 20 mins for every 60 mins played. This is study of articles/videos/books.
- Review 20 mins for every 60 mins played. This is reviewing previous sessions, posting hands on the forum, looking over hands posted by others.
- For now I am not setting a volume goal as I don't think I want to be tired down to anything.
Not poker goals
- Maintain a streak on the language learning app duo lingo. I am studying Spanish on it and have it set for a goal of 20 mins a day.
- Play one sport a week. I play 5 a side football and also go rock climbing.
- Only drink a max of 6 units when I go out.
Bankroll management
I am still considering my bankroll management. I want to move up pretty quickly but at the same time I would hate to move up and destroy and confidence by having to move down straight away. With that in mind I am going to be doing the bankroll management on more of a consistency basis rather than just on the number of buy-ins I have. For now I am happy playing in the ZNL2 as I still have a lot of areas that need working on, and this is a much cheaper area to find and fix them in. As mentioned previously I have also set limits on my PokerStars account so even when I do want to move up I'll have to wait 24 hours for the restrictions to be increased.
Reviewing my game
HEM
I have now created some more tags within Hold'em manager for when I am playing. The tags are;
Unsure - When I really don't know what the best move is.
Too agrro - When I feel I have lost value by playing to aggressive.
Too passive - I have just been calling and either missed value or got myself into difficulty as I haven't been actively involved in the hand.
I thought have them separate would make it easier when reviewing as I would know why I had marked the hands.
SnowieApp
I have read mixed reviews on the use of Snowie, but I am currently trying out the SnowieApp free trail in Hold'em Manager. So far I think I will probably help improve my game as long as I don't try to be a slave to it, and also take it's suggestions with a pinch of salt. Currently it has Snowie's EV at $20 above my actual Net won. This Is where I think I need to not really take it at face value. However what I am finding useful is where it is showing that I make the most mistakes.
Looking at the colour graph on the far right showing how well Snowie think's I played, the river is by far the worse. And I would have to agree with that. A lot of the time I have gotten to the river convinced I am ahead only to be blind sided by a set, or at other times just not trust my instinct. For instance in a 3 bet pot on the flop I put villain on AK which hadn't hit the flop so I bet my pocket pair and got called, then the turn completed a flush. Even though my instinct was that I was now beat I called his massive over bet to be looking at AKs. I think I still have trouble accepting that fact that every now and then I'll be bluffed and I can't always catch it and should trust my instincts more.
I still have 10 days left of Snowie and am going to see if it helps, so far it has mainly only pointed out hands that I had already marked, but there has been a few which I thought were fine but Snowie disagreed.
Thoughts & discussions
My blue and red line have sorted themselves out a bit since the last graph. It does then get a little messy after the 9k to 11k hand mark. But this was more to my concentration rather then anything else really. I was playing stupid calling wide and bluffing in bad spots. This is mainly at the river and for large amounts, my better playing stages I would describe as low variance. I didn't go all in, never really over bet the pot but was slowly chipping up. At one point had 6x buy in without a single all in. I think this might be a preferred way of playing for me, but then it relies a lot on others staying in the pot when they shouldn't so probably can't be relied on, I am also probably losing value on the hands I am in front with.
Edit: Adding Sunday
So just to add to the blog (didn't it first in case didn't get a chance). I had a busy day but managed to squeeze in 2,200 hands. Was pretty decent, kept my cool after the first hand was all in QQ into 77 only to lose, but kept on playing on knowing that over the long term it would be positive. So a more constant end of the week graph.