Quarter pro

I wasn't playing for a long time so I went immediately on the tables. Of course everything went against me including myself. I lost 5BI which was 1/6 of my br in less than 2 hours At that time I didn't realize my actions were worse and worse every minute. "Bad beats" just wouldn't stop so I took a timeout and decided to watch some videos instead.

I started with Professional Attitude

It's only 5 min long video but I found it perfect for me.

That's why I listened it more than once and made few notes to read it from time to time.

What I need mentally in order to turn from ambitious beginner to a player that can beat at least mid stakes?
TALENT is definitely one thing and time will show if I have it enough. More important thing is a WILL - will to reach my goal.

At this point I don't have clearly defined goal I want to reach in poker. I'll have to think about it and find one by the end of this month. I have to find one which will give me motivation to make me work hard and push me further on. At the same time it should be simple, easy to write or think about it. This is my first homework - FIND A GOAL you want to reach and it must give me big satisfaction when I reach it.

Continuation of summary...

There are two thing that stand between me and my successful poker career. This is so true for me - MY ENEMIES:

1) COMPLACENCY - I'm quickly satisfied with my game. When I felt I was beating the limit in the past I stopped working on my game and opened more tables to increase $$/hour. That's not ok, especially when micro player thinks this way.
I won't let this happen to me again - WORK ON YOURSELF! If you stop you'll become losing player in the long run. WORK ON YOUR GAME!

2) EXCUSES - THERE ARE NO DOWNSWINGS, ONLY POORLY PLAYED HANDS!
How often you make bad bets, calls or raises? Think how much a good player would lose if he was in the same situation?

After watching it several times I smiled and realized what I have to do and I did it. Played tighter, waited for better spots and value betted big. Also hit sick amount of sets but all in all I deserved it I think.

BR: $143,50.

My blog is too serious it's all about this, this, this and after all this, that has to be done... I should write about fun things and not like someone is forcing me to play poker. I'll try to include some interesting things too

Ok, one thing I enjoy doing is drawing. It relaxes me and at the same time it helps me keeping the concentration for a longer period of time. Unfortunately I'm selfish and I don't have sympathy for all the paper I ruin so I'll keep doing it in the future. Sure, there could be some better way to use it but hey at least I enjoy it.
In 2009 friend of mine told me there is beginners course for drawing and graphics so I applied immediately. Mentor is a bit eccentric (like most artists) but he's a nice guy and I had lots of fun there. At the end of it we even had an exhibition so most of out "works" could be seen.

Here are my favorite three:

Drawing - Reading woman

Drypoint - Lighthouse

Linocut - Sunset

I'm too tense lately I should find some time and draw something. ♦

Back to poker...
I've been working on my game very much and I think improvement can be seen from session to session. Today I downloaded Holdem Manager (15 day trial version). I opened it for the first time and wow, that's like the best program ever! So many things (most of it I don't have a clue how useful they really are) and I intend to use it in a good way.

After reviewing hands and other stats I decided it's time to go up.

Bankroll isn't quite there yet but I hope it will be enough for NL10.

Goals for March:

Hands played: 22k
Read articles: 10
Video viewed: 20h
Hands posted to hand evaluation forum: 20

I will be playing as much as possible but I won't overdo it. Quality > Quantity so adapting to NL10 is more important than grinding big.

BR: $226,99.

I will follow this blog! I've always wanted to start drawing but I just don't start, probably this blog will give me some motivation!
GL! Post some more drawings.

nice start to blog really like that sunset drawing, awesome.

Gl with drawing and poker

Thank you guys for your kind reply:)
Since I was big fan of anime I also drew some of my favourite characters. One by one they ended on my wall and today almost every part of wall is covered by this drawings...

Hamyuts Meseta (from anime Tatakau Shisho - The Book of Bantorra)

About poker related things...

Friend gave me a licence for Holdem Manager! I think this is definitely a good thing for my further development. I will have to get use to it and get to know most of program features but I hope it will give some advantage.

Been playing for few hours and was already 5 stacks up but then tilted 3 stacks to one guy who was constantly 4 betting me and when I finally made a move he called me with AQs and won. After that I lost TT to KK, I took it personally - big mistake I know but that guy was so fishy. Today I'm taking day off and probably will do something non-poker related.

DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY IT ONLY COST YOU MONEY! BE PATIENT! Wait for better spots and stay out of marginal ones!

BR: $267,20.

So it came - super bad session. I wasn't in a mood for playing but I did it anyhow. And since my C game radar was switched on I also opened 9 tables so everything was prepared for big downer. With every hand I was loosing more and outcome of every lost flip tilted me more and more until I said I have enough and got down from the tables.

I was shocked when I saw how much I lost. I guess every bad thing is good for something...we'll see.

I was quite devastated. Not so because of lost $$$ but more because of bad self-control and my C-game. I should really have a plan for future outbursts like or my weak BR won't hold it for much longer.

What I have to do in next few days is:

1) Create a plan for stupid plays and when to quit.

2) Think about alternative to poker when I feel I'm not in the mood but I want to play anyway.

3) Define poker goals for your short and long-term poker career.

BR: $201,23.

Before I answered the questions above I decided to play and it happened again. I have no choice but to step down and play NL4 and try to get confidence and br back. I'm very disappointed about my indiscipline - I'm mean it can happen once or twice but happening day after day is really sad (stupid would be more suitable).

What I have to do in next few days is:

1) Create a plan for stupid plays and when to quit.
I will play 4 tables and will quit the session when I lose 2 BI. I thought that makes me more focused but in reality I open my game and start to gamble. I get into many ugly spot I shouldn't play in the first place.

2) Think about alternative to poker when I feel I'm not in the mood but I want to play anyway.
I'll try to watch videos or analyze hands. This will be very hard to do in reality but I'll do my best not to play when not feeling ok for poker.

3) Define poker goals for your short and long-term poker career.
Thought about it but didn't come to any conclusions...

In the next days I'll watch some videos and think about my poker goals. Analyzing hands from this month became priority number one so I'll do that first.

Ginko (anime Mushishi)

BR: $178,50.

1) HM is my friend
Can't say I know HM very well but I can say HM is my friend ♦ Took some time and went through all HM videos for using this program. I created my own HUD and using stats really helps me a lot. I think it will be even more important for higher limits.

2) Videos
Found some very good videos for microplayers. And I don't only watch them but also make notes about important points of particular parts of game - going through notes over and over makes me understand things.

My biggest problem was definitely preflop range which was too loose for micros and now I understand better why my dominated hands performed so poorly. Playing tighter was a problem for me which kept me bringing into tough spots and loosing unnecessary $$$. When you hear an explanation why is something not so good and you think about it, you can really understand it. Now I understand how useful coaches are - they find your leaks very fast and you can immediately work on your weaknesses.

3) Analyzing my hands
...helped a lot! Going through hands is helpful but that's not it - making notes about opponents and at the same time seeing which hands were overplayed and where I missed some value is super important.

Recently I find fold button easier than I used to. Although I see I play more passively and loose much value when oop. I try to play in position as much as possible and in those spots my decisions are good. However playing oop even with overpairs I tend to give free cards and play very weak. I should work on improving this segment.

Posting my hands in evaluating forum is helpful and I'll keep analyzing hands after every day and posting it there. Also I should analyze more hands from other players and think how would I play in certain positions.

When everything went against me and I started tilting friend of mine told me to write 3 sentences that would keep me in the zone.

3 sentences that help me play my A game:

1) Are you playing on GOOD TABLES (do you have position on bad/loose players)?

2) BE ACTIVE - think about ranges, odds, positions. Don't auto pilot.

3) DON'T TILT (If you are, finish the session and go out on fresh air).

This is first version I will probably upgrade it. For now it should be enough.

Short-term goal:
- Grind NL4 until you reach 30BI for NL10

I'm sure one big goal should be set as an ultimate motivator. For now I'll go step by step and be thinking about "the goal". Until then I'll be setting short-term goals.

L and Yagami Light (Death Note)

BR: $221,77.

I've been working on my game and that's really good. Understanding positions and exploiting them don't necessarily mean the same thing. I think I was quite successful in the previous week.

What I suck at - is psychological stability
Suckouts take too much of my energy and I can't easily go over it. Today for instance I lost 3 times set over set... in all three situations we flopped it and rationally I can understand and even accept it. I say to myself:"Bad luck, it happens and even worse things are going to happen. Forget it and play your game."
But back in my mind I just couldn't put it aside, my thoughts were like:"it happens one, ok, two times, but three times? Cmon, why?"
Unfortunately I couldn't stop on time so I lost more than I should. It's not so much about concentration - I really focus on the tables and don't do anything else while playing. I should go over it and forget it.

Samurai 7

You're a fighter don't give up!
1. YOU CAN BEAT THEM!
2. BE PATIENT!!
3. DON'T OVERESTIMATE YOURSELF!!!

BR: $251,57.

This month was really something else! ♠_cool:

It started extremely well - I was 7BI up on new limit (NL10) and my confidence was super high. Every poker player knows that is good and bad. Confidence is definitely important "tool" of every player. Most of us don't think deeply what gives us confidence. Usually we look at our graph and when line goes up we're the best and when so called downswing comes then all donkeys are suckouting us.

This is pretty dangerous - from many aspects:
1) We're looking for excuses when we should work on out game
2) We're a bit stubborn because "we have to show to all people and especially ourself that we have what we need"
3) Instead of working on our game we play more.

Bad side of confidence is being overconfident! Line between two sides is very thin and every player must know himself really well to be able to realize that.

I think that happened to me. I was confident and things were going well and I was playing really good. Then all of the sudden I began loosing. One, two, three BI and I continued to play and play. One day I realized I went 16BI down Sure, I was 4BI under EV line but what about other 12?

So there were 2 choices before me:

a) to continue and gamble with 18 BI BR

b) go down on NL4 and grind it back

Answer should be quite obvious but ego wouldn't let it. That's why I took two days off...and in the end the rational arguments prevailed. After that my view and the decision wasn't easy but I said to myself it's not worth it to gamble it away. This was the first time ever that I returned back on lower limit (I did it few times for day or two just to clear my thoughts but never completely shifted to lower limit and play that one).

I started working with HM and looking for leaks and found lots of them. My aggression was working against me - calling too many 3bets, overplaying solid hands, stealing blinds and not letting go, making hero calls which weren't, loosing over and over with bad hands in bad positions, ...

Also I found very interesting series about microstakes and that helped me a lot! It's useful when you see something. It's even more useful to make notes about it (takes more time but it's worth it). Making notes is super important because you have to think what you write and in many situations you have to write with your own words so deeper thinking process is needed. Repeating it until going through over and over becomes a habit.

1) The biggest pot lost

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.10(BB) Replayer
SB ($22)
BB ($17.54)
Hero ($14.16)

Dealt to Hero Q♦ K♠

Hero raises to $0.30, fold, BB raises to $0.95, Hero calls $0.65

FLOP ($1.95) Q♠ 3♠ K♦

BB bets $1.95, Hero calls $1.95

TURN ($5.85) Q♠ 3♠ K♦ 5♦

BB bets $4.38, Hero raises to $11.26 (AI), BB calls $6.88

RIVER ($28.37) Q♠ 3♠ K♦ 5♦ 5♥

BB shows A♣ A♥
(Pre 87%, Flop 26.1%, Turn 18.2%)

Hero shows Q♦ K♠
(Pre 13%, Flop 73.9%, Turn 81.8%)

BB wins $26.48

2) The biggest pot won

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.10(BB) Replayer
SB ($10)
BB ($17.51)
UTG ($10.20)
UTG+1 ($13.79)
CO ($12.77)
Hero ($12.87)

Dealt to Hero K♣ K♠

fold, UTG+1 calls $0.10, CO calls $0.10, Hero raises to $0.55, SB calls $0.50, fold, UTG+1 calls $0.45, CO calls $0.45

FLOP ($2.30) K♦ 8♦ 6♦

SB checks, UTG+1 bets $0.80, CO folds, Hero raises to $2.60, SB raises to $9.45 (AI), UTG+1 raises to $13.24 (AI), Hero calls $9.72 (AI)

TURN ($36.39) K♦ 8♦ 6♦ 4♣

RIVER ($36.39) K♦ 8♦ 6♦ 4♣ 9♥

UTG+1 shows Q♣ A♦
(Pre 23%, Flop 31.0%, Turn 19.0%)

Hero shows K♣ K♠
(Pre 56%, Flop 64.5%, Turn 78.6%)

SB shows 6♥ 6♠
(Pre 20%, Flop 4.5%, Turn 2.4%)

Hero wins $34.39

3) The sickest one outer :f_eek:... I saw many things but it never happened to me ♠_cool:

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.05(BB) Replayer
SB ($4.76)
BB ($4.75)
UTG ($6.30)
UTG+1 ($5)
Hero ($14.88)
BTN ($0.93)

Dealt to Hero 9♥ 9♦

fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.15, Hero calls $0.15, fold, SB raises to $0.60, fold, UTG+1 calls $0.45, Hero calls $0.45

FLOP ($1.85) 5♦ 7♣ 9♠

SB bets $1.50, UTG+1 folds, Hero raises to $3, SB calls $1.50

TURN ($7.85) 5♦ 7♣ 9♠ K♦

SB bets $1.16 (AI), Hero calls $1.16

RIVER ($10.17) 5♦ 7♣ 9♠ K♦ 9♣

SB shows K♣ K♠
(Pre 81%, Flop 9.4%, Turn 97.7%)

Hero shows 9♥ 9♦
(Pre 19%, Flop 90.6%, Turn 2.3%)

Hero wins $9.50

To sum it up:

All together = $152,59
(87,96 (few hands weren't imported = $0,63) + $39 bonus cleared + $25 cash bonus)

And that's not all... I have birthday in March so I got ton of gifts ♠_biggrin: ...and spring came...let's see what April brings...

BR: $379,58.

In April I will make an exception so there won't be exact goals to be reached.
Instead, emphasis will be on something else. First of all I want to play comfortably NL10. At the same time I'll have in mind this is not the highest limit for me is also important. That should give me a push to play fewer tables and work on my game and finding my leaks because today I know that every blind is important.

Goals for this month:

1) Deeper hands analysing (writting down potential lines, different plays, bets sizes, my weaknesses, ...)

2) Since I'll have more time while playing I'll open new document and write into hands that give me trouble. Also my thinking process while playing is probably different so I'll compare it with the one after analysis to see how differently I react when playing. I don't expect so many hands to play this month since I'm going on a travel in second half of the month so I'll be able to do most of things I wrote above.

3) To finish the video series I started.

Tetsunosuke Ichimura (Peacemaker Kurogane)

April started in very unexpected way. I could fell into "trap" again and be in "I'm unbeatable" mood but this time I will do everything to avoid it. In order to do so I have to be aware that:

1) LUCK is not something that can be "deserved". You can't even "earn" your luck nobody can. Don't fool yourself that you're something special just because you're on a heater. Luck is something that comes along from time to time and makes your poker life less miserable. Depending and relying on luck is something only stupid people do. Skill is the thing that separates successful poker players from everyone else. Keep working on your game and you'll be surprised how often "luck" comes.

2) The best things are usually the most inaccessible. That means you just have to work harder to get there and not quit because it's freaking hard. Quitting is the easiest way out but definitely not the best option.

3) Friend of mine told me to "anchor yourself at NL10 before thinking of other things". I said yeah yeah and it went by me. Then he wrote it again - anchor yourself! Only when he explicitly put it out for the second time I was starting to understand what he meant. He didn't just mean to play this limit comfortably. I should make it as a foundation. My true journey probably starts here. From this moment on I'm meeting players who are thinking about this game and are somewhat good at it. That's why I should be motivated! Be even more competitive. Be focused and calm.

Crazy stuff in graph:

Here are two interesting hands I really like:

1. hand:
Villain is 22/13/3,5 agg.
Since he called my 3bet after taking few seconds I was aware his range was quite narrow.
Since flop comes the nicest ever I decide to bet small from several reasons: My bet looks like block bet and I'm representing JJ+. At the same time he just has to call me and I'm hoping he's making the move after my check on turn. Turn comes really friendly but at the same time I don't see it as a dangerous card (despite FD) since I'm putting him on some pocket pair (TT+). That's why I'm giving him free card to hit his set or some blank comes to make him more comfortable calling my river bet.
It's easy to be loud with nuts against 2nd nuts ♦
Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.10(BB) Replayer
SB ($20.67)
Hero ($22.89)
UTG ($6.40)
UTG+1 ($13.56)
CO ($10.15)
BTN ($10.54)

Dealt to Hero A♦ A♠

fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.40, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.30, UTG+1 calls $0.90

FLOP ($2.65) 3♠ 8♥ A♣

Hero bets $1.50, UTG+1 calls $1.50

TURN ($5.65) 3♠ 8♥ A♣ 9♣

Hero checks, UTG+1 checks

RIVER ($5.65) 3♠ 8♥ A♣ 9♣ 4♥

Hero bets $3.60, UTG+1 raises to $10.76 (AI), Hero calls $7.16

UTG+1 shows 9♥ 9♦
(Pre 19%, Flop 0.1%, Turn 2.3%)

Hero shows A♦ A♠
(Pre 81%, Flop 99.9%, Turn 97.7%)

Hero wins $25.36

2. hand:
Villain is 22/19 reg who doesn't folds 3bets against me.
Preflop action is funny but nothing new. When he checks flop he has monster or AK. With betting turn I wasn't sure what is he doing since his bet is perfect for river bet-shove but at the same time he can fold it if I shove over him. Why I didn't do it? I gave him range of 99+, AQs+, AKo (that's 4,2% - probably too narrow since we know each other). If I shove turn he folds only AQs and with everything else he's calling me (having history is great - leveling here I come). With calling turn I was confident I got many outs (when I analyzed it I realized his range has many blockers any many of my outs are dead). Despite everything I decided when calling turn that I'm betting (not shoving as you can see ;)) every J or smaller if he checks. I'm representing 88, 99 or even some monster like 66, TT.
It worked and I was very happy.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.10(BB) Replayer
SB ($13.79)
BB ($10)
UTG ($10.01)
UTG+1 ($10)
CO ($3.90)
Hero ($15.65)

Dealt to Hero 9♦ J♦

fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.35, fold, Hero raises to $1.20, fold, fold, UTG+1 raises to $2.50, Hero calls $1.30

FLOP ($5.15) 6♣ 5♦ 7♠

UTG+1 checks, Hero checks

TURN ($5.15) 6♣ 5♦ 7♠ T♦

UTG+1 bets $2.50, Hero calls $2.50

RIVER ($10.15) 6♣ 5♦ 7♠ T♦ 7♥

UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $5.10, UTG+1 folds

Hero shows 9♦ J♦

Hero wins $9.48

The Diary of Tortov Ridle

BR: $532,72.

Cool blog, favorited

Ive been reading some things here, but honestly what do you do when you move up a limit (NL10) and you play for 4 hrs, get AA 8 times and 3 times of all ins you lose to 2 outters and the rest of the time you win tiny pots... so freaking frustrating... I think I'll take a break for a few days. 2 days played and 4 n half buy-ins down

I kept analysing hands and I may be up one more buy in (but still down 3 n half buy ins) if I hadnt made mistakes, however, when you keep losing with AA all the time or just winning 3 BB lol... its like someone pressed the doom button

maybe I play at the wrong tables, maybe the players are just too tight... yet Ive seen donks losing to AA with QQ and AQ to AK (all in preflop) yet when I had monsters I wasnt lucky enough for there to be all ins preflop and when there were they hit their 2 outters :/ - once today I had quads and of course nobody but 1 was even in the hand lol...

I usually dont vent and I know downswings are part of the game, I will just have to take a break now, get a clear head and wait for luck to come back to me.

JazBenz you need to do one thing, that is get more volume. In the long run you will win. This is very easy for me to see when I play 5000 hands per day like nothing. I have periods where I run bad with AA and KK over 10000 hands. But in the long run you will always win, and win a lot! My BB/100 with these hands are extremly high so dont discurage and keep fighting!

Originally posted by tryhardnoob
JazBenz you need to do one thing, that is get more volume. In the long run you will win. This is very easy for me to see when I play 5000 hands per day like nothing. I have periods where I run bad with AA and KK over 10000 hands. But in the long run you will always win, and win a lot! My BB/100 with these hands are extremly high so dont discurage and keep fighting!

ah thank you yes I just got over myself 2min ago but I appreciate your comment very much! I have been thinking about playing more tables, problem is, right now I got a small monitor, so I can barely fit 6 tables and I dont have the money right now to buy a bigger one, so I first need to win to buy one lol - but yeah Ill just stay away from the tables for a while until I have a clear head again, I must admit my frame of mind yesterday and today probably wasnt the most peaceful/positive - gotta get back to being zen

@tryhardnoob...
Tnx. I'll do my best to keep the momentum and my writing inspiration.

@Jazbenz...
When you go up the limit it's very important to play there comfortable as you did on lower. You need time to adapt to it but be patient and it will come. Try not to think in terms of $$$. Sometimes it's very frustrating to see your AA being crushed by some random shit but those are the times I know I have to keep the composure and continue to play my best game.

Table selection is probably the most important thing. You don't want to have regulars on your table and if they are any they should be as far from you as possible. It's important to have position on loose players and to have nits behind you. Usually when I open many tables I don't track all of this but I should because players dictate the course of action.

Originally posted by JazBenz
I usually dont vent and I know downswings are part of the game, I will just have to take a break now, get a clear head and wait for luck to come back to me.

Like I wrote above...don't wait for luck. Play your best game and you won't need it (so much)

Originally posted by JazBenz
Ill just stay away from the tables for a while until I have a clear head again, I must admit my frame of mind yesterday and today probably wasnt the most peaceful/positive - gotta get back to being zen ♠_thumbsup: