Bigdog’s non-bankroll diary challenge

    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      Hi everybody. I am starting a new challenge, which will NOT be results oriented. One can probably just call it a blog, but I still want to set some goals.
      I am a recreational player with several failed bankroll challenges under my belt. I play mainly 6-max NLH, with occasional MTTs and sometimes PLO H/L or stud for distraction.
      Currently I am playing NL10, typically a volume of ~ 5-7000 hands per week. I have rebuilt my bankroll to the level that I could easily start playing NL25 again, but I am lacking the confidence and skills.
      Also my bankroll is distributed over PS, ipoker and 888. PS has the best traffic and software, but I hate it due to shitty rewards system.
      I have been working with our PS coach w34z3l which definitively gave me a boost in my game. Theory-wise I may be ready for the next step, but I have some huge leaks, which cost me dearly:
      1) Auto-piloting. Playing without focus, just clicking buttons
      2) Playing too fast
      3) Playing without a poker plan for the session
      4) Playing while distracted (TV, Internet)

      So, the idea is to get some structure into my poker by:

      a) Keeping a diary (minimum 2 x per week, ideally after each day with more than 500 hands)
      b) No NLH on Mondays and Tuesday (reason is, that I think I am overplayed after the weekend and end up playing relatively unmotivated or saturated against mostly serious regulars.)
      c) Weekly goals (poker or otherwise)
      d) Weekly review (not results oriented)

      Goals for this week:
      - Just get started
      - post at least 1 hand
  • 15 replies
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      [b]Last weeks review (ending November 12th):

      Way too loose from EP and MP. Plan for immediate future to tighten up, maybe even slightly more than necessary, unless I have reads on villain behind me.

      Calling 3bets also too wide. Should consider 4betting more vs regs and folding more vs unknown or recs. Similarly, expect opponent without lots of stats to deviate.

      Below is a hand which may have ended differently, had I taken into account that villain may be calling wider than expected from his stats.

      Poker Stars, $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players
      Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

      SB: $10.05 (100.5 bb)
      BB: $10 (100 bb)
      UTG: $11.05 (110.5 bb)
      MP: $10.15 (101.5 bb) - VPIP: 13, PFR: 11, 3B: 0, AF: 0,3, Hands: 54
      Hero (CO): $15.86 (158.6 bb)
      BTN: $10.73 (107.3 bb)

      Preflop: Hero is CO with :Qd: :Ad:
      UTG folds, MP raises to $0.25, Hero raises to $0.75, 3 folds, MP calls $0.50

      Flop: ($1.65) :Ac: :2h: :3d: (2 players)
      MP checks, Hero bets $1.05, MP calls $1.05



      Turn: ($3.75) :Qc: (2 players)
      MP checks, Hero bets $3.60, MP calls $3.60

      River: ($10.95) :Ts: (2 players)
      MP bets $4.75 and is all-in,

      Monday + Tuesday
      Played about 700 hands of PLO L/H. 2-3 tabling, but 2 tables is more than enough atm. It is interesting how often one can end up with the second best hand. Letting theses hands go early enough is so much more important than in NLH.
      Anyhow, going to the lowest stakes and playing a new game variant, can be quite fun.

      Today NLH again.
      Tighten up in EP and MP,
      Tighten up vs 3bets or 4bet, especially OOP
      Respect aggression from, unknown. Unknown is everybody with < 200 hand in DB
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      Yesterday played about 700 hands over 2 sessions. I was quite card dead and stopped playing when I got bored. Red line was quite flat, so that was ok.

      But, I think I missed some barreling spots and also overplayed some PP's out of frustration.
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      Yesterday played about 700 hands over 2 sessions. I was quite card dead and stopped playing when I got bored.

      Red line was quite flat, so that was ok. I wasn't just passively clicking buttons, but staying sufficiently aggressive.

      Still, I think I missed some barreling spots and also overplayed some PP's. POssibly, because there were not enough opportunities to make something happen? I Don't know....
      Will have to keep an eye on it
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      Weekly review

      I played about 5k hands which is about 2k less than average.
      Resultswise (I am not results oriented lol) I broke even.
      The plan was to tighen up somewhat from EP and MP and also treat 3bets more carefully.
      On a first glance I kept to my plan.
      But I think that I played just a little tighter and more passive preflop even from BTN or CO.
      So will have to continue working on that.

      I had a handfull of hands where I really made my decisions based on opponents range and not on my own hand strength alone.
      I still do not know how to optimize learning this.
      Also I need to streamline my gameplan based on position and range and not on my hand.

      So plan for this week is:
      1) use Flopzilla to create some cbetting ranges IP and OOP on some generic board.
      2) attempt to create Turn and R plans
      3) analyze some hands I have played which fall into this category
      4) Monday + Tuesday - if I feel like playing, do it for fun playing some PLO 8 or better
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      Week has been not bad so far. I really try to tighten up in EP and MP and be more aggressive in later positions.
      So far so good. Had a really lucky hand early in the week, where I got it AI on the flop with set vs two opponents which were drawing to the same flush.

      Doing some range analysis now and then.
    • metalmonkey80
      metalmonkey80
      Moderator
      Moderator
      Joined: 15.08.2013 Posts: 2,163
      Hi Bigdog63

      Nice start to your non bankroll challenge blog and I look forward to reading future posts :f_drink:
      Subbed :f_thumbsup:
      Regards

      Matt
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      Review Week Nov 20th-26th
      Results-wise bad week. Played again about 5-6k hands and interestingly observed, that I ALWAYS start the week with a downswing.
      Cashing high in several freerolls kept my bankroll from taking too much of a hit. I think, if I had no other life, I might consider playing more MTTs, but the long sessions do not really fit me. Anyhow, I feel that 1h sessions are my optimum and I should probably take longer breakes as well.

      The plan for last week was to play more tightly from EP and MP, which I can say that I did not really obey. I thought I did, but looking at the number now I see that they are basically the same, and the hand distributions very similar
      - Coming week: I will have to make a more conscious effort to tighten up, until I feel that I am either being exploited or leaving money on the table.

      Looking at the win/lose maps for each positions I find that I am systematically losing money with 87s, 98s, T9s,…I am actually winning more with 23s-45s. So I will have to look into it, why. I would guess that I am either chasing draws or playing them more aggressively and building pots which I end up losing or just having to give up
      - Coming week: At least keep an eye on mid-SC play

      I did some range analysis study, looking at some pre and postflop situations trying to define my own optimum ranges. I have the feeling that I start indeed to think more about opponent ranges during real play, and take decisions according to a plan and less by chance, but it is only the beginning.
      I feel relatively insecure on by c-betting play, especially OOP. My percentage has increased to about 57% (68% IP) which starts getting too high
      - Coming week: Do some range analysis with cbet OOP and try to develop a plan vs unknown opponents
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      Review Week Nov 27th-Dec 4th
      Did not start with a downswing, it came later running well below EV, but its ok
      Did not really tighten up
      Did not really look out for the SC
      Kept sessions shorter though
      Did a lot of range analysis and also some population analysis. Compared to winning players I cbet Turn way too much.

      I still lack a good postflop plan.
      On the other hand, I am really busy, so I will take it just easy
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      Review Week Dec 4th-Dec 10th
      Results ok, but extremely lucky, ran about 5BI above EV over 10k hands.
      From that figure you can also see, that I actually increased volume. Mainly due to playing only fastfold poker on Stars and Party.

      I tightened up from EP and MP, which is good, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.
      My cbet stats are way too high, also T-cbet is running high as well. Having been lucky, it does not appear to have hurt, but:

      Next week: drop cbetting freq, especially on the turn but flop OOP as well
      -could be because of my wrong opening ranges in early positions

      I did some hand analysis this week, but not did much studying otherwise:

      Next week: watch some video on frequencies, and exploiting them
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      Review Week Dec 10th-Dec 17th
      Played for the first time 10k+ hands. Mostly because I started to play more on PP fastforward.
      Currently I am playing NL16 @ PS and NL 10 at ipoker and PP
      Results were great, until yesterday, when I had a button-clicking session, which cost me most of my weekly profit.

      I look like I am getting overconfident and building pots and betting way way too many turns
      Plan for next week is to really think more about this, review T cbetting hands, and stop clicking
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      Wow,
      I have not made any entry in quite a while. Long story short: I am threading water. I regularly work myself up to NL16 or NL25 where I blow my roll in a short time. I have to admit that I usually take shots with 10-15 BI's and normally (!) step back when I fail. Normally, sometime I don't and I end up starting over at NL5. I need to change something. So for starters plan to play 4 weeks exclusively at NL5Zoom and NL10 reg tables and not move up (assuming I am winning). This should result in about 40k hands. It is hard not to be rrsults oriented, but I need to play as well as I can regardless of results.
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      Ok,
      so last week was actually quite good - not results-wise, but poker-wise.
      Results were:
      7000 hands at NL10 with -5.8 BB/100
      2600 hands at NL5 Zoom with -2.6 BB/100
      I ran heavily under EV, and it feel like I played many sessions without getting many good opportunities. Under "normal circumstance" I would have lost much more I think.
      Although bankroll would allow me to play NL16 I will stay put and keep grinding NL5 Zoom and NL10
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      So far running along smoothly. It is sometimes hard to stick with the plan.
      But it pays. I am actually most proud that I did not play when tired or drunk.

      but mainly, I spend quite some time reviewing hands, taking Snowie to get a better feeling were I make most mistakes.
      A lot of problems stem from too much aggression on flop and turn. Need to check/call more strong (especially medium strong) hands.
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      Results for last week were:
      NL10 7000 hands with 9.8BB/100 (overall since starting the challenge: 13.8k with 2.1BB/100)
      NL5 Zoom 1100 hands with -24BB/100 (overall : 3.7k with -9/100)

      I feel much more comfortable playing 4 regular speed table than 2 Zoom. especially when playing longer sessions and when I stat to autopilot. I have the tendency to get overly confident, starting to build big pots with mediocre hands. When this happens while playing Zoom, it is really costly.
      Of course it should not happen at all. And actually this week I cut sessions short or even did not start playing becaus I felt unfocused. Should do this more often I guess.
    • bigdog63
      bigdog63
      Gold
      Joined: 24.10.2011 Posts: 292
      Last week results:
      NL10 8.6k hands with -7.2 BB/100 (overall 22k with -1.5)
      NL5 Zoom 1.3k hands with 17BB/100 (overall 5k with -0.2)

      The week was very unspectacular. I mostly boring sessions, small swings, but steadily losing. No big fish to capitalize on, only myself to feed the other sharks.
      need to change something. don't know what yet