[Closed] fryandspicy's blog of blood, sweat and tears [SH BSS currently NL10]

If you can sign in to Skype even though offline let me know. Or PM me some MSN or Yahoo ID so we can keep in touch. Good luck!

its been the revolving face thing since i restarted my computer. will just have another go tomorrow. email PM'd

Both in job searching and in Poker, short-term results don't matter. You just have to work on your skills and let luck sort itself out.

Originally posted by Salivanth
Both in job searching and in Poker, short-term results don't matter. You just have to work on your skills and let luck sort itself out.

Exactly what I need to hear right now. Thank you

Yesterday I got my stake with an old friend which is great. For those of you out there who have never played with a staker's money before let me warn you; it feels different. I feel under more pressure to perform which isn't helping me think long term. I played 800 hands yesterday and fluctuated from 2BI up all the way to 2BI down, which is unfortunately roughly where I finished. However I was finding my feet and it was only 800 hands so I'm not going to worry unduly. I've decided to use a starting hands chart today as my somewhat holistic approach of raising whenever it 'feels' plus EV didn't work out towards the latter part of the session yesterday. Obviously I will still adjust my ranges on the BU and CO quite considerably but should get rid of some strange folds and raises I was making in the earlier positions. Also have to remind myself never to bluff an unknown. This guy was a 24/15 over 46 hands:

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.05/$0.1 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]CO$3.25:///////;BU (Hero)$10.50:///////;SB$8.10:///////;BB$3.50:///////;MP2$10.43:///////;MP3$22.05:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BU with Q:h, K:d.
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.30, SB calls $0.25, BB folds.

Flop: ($0.7) 6:s, 7:s, 4:s (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.70, SB calls $0.70.

Turn: ($2.1) 6:h (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2.10, SB calls $2.10.

River: ($6.3) J:s (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $6.30, SB calls $5.00.

Final Pot: $17.6.
Results follow:

SB shows a flush, jack high(8:c 8:s).
Hero shows a pair of sixes(Q:h K:d).

SB wins with a flush, jack high(8:c 8:s).

(and that was the hand that turned off my beginner's luck)

To be honest I still think it was a plus EV bluff against a reg-ish looking unknown. What does everyone else think? Anyway, today I'll be focussing on value betting to get some money off these chumps and leave the bluffing to them.

I'm not too sure about that hand. Firstly you can probably get away with c/folding that flop instead of Cbetting such a horrible soaking wet board. When he calls the flop I think it's best to just give up.

Good luck anyway ♦

I would probably just give up on that flop without any equity or SD value. SB is definitely not reg since he has 80bb stack, therefore he is more likely a calling station. If the pot would be small to medium I would stab the 4 to a flush river sometimes but definitely not for pot. Something like 1/2-2/3 pot works even better since it looks more like a vbet. We can talk about some opening ranges in the evening...

I feel much more comfortable with my play yesterday. Still a long way from perfect but less spewy than day 1 I feel. That said, I think I ended up down the roughly same amount thanks to a few big hands going the wrong way for me (set over set, QQ vs AA pre, etc). I'm going to stop doing silly things like checking my winrate after every hand and stuff. Also today I'll be recording a session of me playing for later analysis, which should be fun.

A hand I played badly yesterday:

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.05/$0.1 No-Limit Hold'em (4 handed)

Known players:
[tg]SB$2.90:///////;BB$10.00:///////;CO (Hero)$10.35:///////;BU$11.01:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is CO with A:s, 4:s.
Hero raises to $0.30, 2 folds, BB calls $0.20.

Flop: ($0.65) J:s, 8:c, 4:c (2 players)
BB bets $0.32, Hero raises to $0.90, BB calls $0.58.

Turn: ($2.45) 8:s (2 players)
BB bets $0.70, Hero calls $0.70.

River: ($3.85) 8:h (2 players)
BB bets $2.00, Hero calls $2.00.

Final Pot: $7.85.
[
At the time I was thinking 'oh, well only a jack or any pocket pair beats me here. How likely is that?!' but looking over it i'm thinking WHY WOULD HE BLUFF THAT RIVER FRYANDSPICY YOU FOOL!!!!!

Here's a hand I think I played fine, but I'm not sure so some input would be much appreciated. Opponent is 90/20 after just ten hands and i have 'LAP' in his notes, which means loose passive:

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.05/$0.1 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9:h, T:d.
CO posts deadblind, MP2 folds, MP3 calls $0.10, CO checks, BU calls $0.10, SB calls $0.05, Hero checks.

Flop: ($0.5) 6:d, K:s, K:h (5 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, MP3 checks, CO checks, BU checks.

Turn: ($0.5) 9:d (5 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.25, MP3 folds, CO folds, BU calls $0.25, SB folds.

River: ($1) 9:s (2 players)
Hero bets $0.60, BU raises to $8.52(All-In), Hero folds, BU gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $1.6.

On the turn I decide to lead out because any king would bet the flop (surely!) but 6s and worse pocket pairs could call a turn bet.

The river I obviously bet for value but when he shoves I don't think he's bluffing very often. But maybe I'm putting too much emphasis on a vague read made after just 10 hands? I think he shoved with either a king or a nine. A nine's more likely because of the way the play went but a king's more likely because it has more combinations. I decided he's definately the kind of player who could cunningly check a king on the flop and folded my split pot. Opinions?

Hand 1: You just got FPS by the looks of it ♦. I'm not even sure about raising that flop because you're hand is more than decent vs his donking range. But when he b/c flop and donks turn he has at least Jx there always. Had you just call flop, I would also call another turn donkbet becaue you've picked up the NFD so 4, A and X would probably give you the best hand.

Hand 2: Looks fine. Massive overbet on the river by villain, it's correct to fold vs 9x and Kx.

Board: 6♦K♠K♣ 9♦ 9♥
       Equity     Win     Tie
MP2    16.41%   0.00%  16.41% { T9o }
MP3    83.59%  67.19%  16.41% { AKs, A9s, K2s+, Q9s, J9s, T9s, 92s+, AKo, A9o, K2o+, Q9o, J9o, T9o, 92o+ }

Btw, noticed this:

For those of you out there who have never played with a staker's money before let me warn you; it feels different. I feel under more pressure to perform which isn't helping me think long term.

Don't worry about it... we can talk about this on Skype if it actually bothers you and think it makes you play scared money or smth...

Another bad day today. Hands to follow when I'm calmer.

Stage 1 - Loose Passive
The first time you play poker you're excited to play every hand, but you're scared of investing money with what might not be the best hand. You play alot of pots without the initiative, and generally you lose alot of money. But you have a good time.

Stage 2 - Aggro Tard
You've played poker a few times, maybe caught some on the TV, heard your friends talk about how important aggression is in the game. So you start raising where before you would have limped or called. Post flop you like to bet until your opponents raise with your entire range, if by some querk of fate you just called preflop and you're out of position you'll check raise as this is clearly much stronger than a donk and looks much more fun and fancy.

Stage 3 - Weak Tight
You read some books, maybe join an online learning site or watch some of the Full Tilt tips videos. You know the profitable way to play is to only open a very very tight range preflop but because you're so patient preflop you don't have all that much experience post flop. You go too far with top pair type hands, cbet every single flop ever and give up on every turn when you miss. You only get into hands not as the preflop aggressor when set mining.

Stage 4 - Fancy Play Syndrome
You start to read more advanced poker articles and all the 2+2 posts on 3betting. You see poker superstars like Tom Dwan and Phil Galfond on high stakes poker and notice they never fold on the flop with any kind of equity. You're scared of making such a basic mistake as folding with the best hand so go for loose call downs, floats and check behinds where they make no sense to show your skill as a poker player.

Stage 5 - Solid Style
You notice you were actually making more money with your weak tight style, but have learnt through hard study the weaknesses of that game. You embrace a solid bet/fold strategy with top pair type hands against most of your opponents and, most importantly, you know it's a bigger mistake to call with a worse hand than to fold with a better hand.

Stage 6 - ????
I'll let you know when I get there...

My Progression Through the Stages
When I first started playing poker I trogged through the stages up to stage five over a period of months of studying the game. Over the last three days I feel like I've rocketed through them again, from stage 1 all the way back to where I left poker at the start of this year at stage five. When I first started playing again just a few short days ago I was making huge mistakes, as you can see if you read my posts from then. I must have known I was making them, because I've played before, but it's almost as if I had to travel through the stages again by ritual before getting back to where I am now. Last night I played an intensive three hour session because I couldn't sleep and thanks to some excellent table selection (if I do say so myself) and the first $15 of my first deposit bonus being released, my bankroll is back to where it started. Now let the grinding begin. ♠_cool:

Just reread post above and realise it seems awfully results oriented. But it is true so pah! Also I'm going to post hands in the hand evaluation page from today's session and link them here so if you guys could help a brother out and give them a once over it'd be much obliged.

In other news, a room in my house in London is up for grabs so if any of you lovely lot fancy a stay over the summer and don't mind paying extortionate amounts of rent and bills then drop me a message.

Got a hand reviewing session tonight with the coach which should be a laugh and a half. Glad I managed to get some respectable poker in to balance out my epic spewness of days one and two.

Also I feel i should share what brought on my 'ah ha' moment when i remembered how to play poker last night. One half of the realisation was a message from coach Emanuel letting me know it's cool if I donk away all his money but the second half was this truly inspiring motivational video:

Edit: Hands:
TPGK on Double Paired Board
Flopped Two Pair, Folded River
QQ Preflop Wars
Thin Value Bet
Folded Flush
TPTK vs Turn Overbet Shove
AA call from SB
TPGK vs Donks
TPNK BvB
Folded Set
TPGK and OESD vs Turn Ch/R
Paired Board Headaches

I commented on some of your hands but I do hope they're not from the session you had after our talk...

So yesterday I had a hand review with Emanuel. He had alot of interesting things to say. Some of the best advice was to do with flatting 3bet pots IP which was really interesting, although I'm not sure I remember all his pearls of wisdom. Next time we do something like that I'm going to ask if we can record it so I can watch over it. Too much information for my little brain to handle otherwise.

Originally posted by EmanuelC16
I commented on some of your hands but I do hope they're not from the session you had after our talk...

Great to have such a supportive and nurturing coach Nah they were from my epic 5BI session.

IRL got a bunch of job interviews. More interestingly, I'm in the process of setting up a placement teaching English in a Chinese university from September. The China thing will be great because it'll give me plenty of time to grind Basically if I get a year to just teach in a country where I don't know how to speak (or even read) the native language I'll probably have lots of free time, and my parents won't be there to hassle me about getting a career. Master plan is to go to China, get loads of inspiration to write a novel, have a fucking amazing time, and play like 5 hours of poker a day + studying the whole time I'm out there. By the time I'm back in England I'll be earning enough from poker to tell my parents I work in shipping or something else from that 2+2 thread.

So yesterday I didn't play any poker because I had an awwwwwwwwwful headache all day and was worried I had a brain tumor or something but today I am cured! And ready to grind! Actually got alot on today but must remember to play patiently even though there are time constraints. Focus on making +EV decisions rather than just trying to double up quickly.

Also I'm now gold! Which is a joke because I've been playing for like a week. Watched a gold video last night which was cool but obviously aimed at a much higher level of play than what I'll be facing today. I'll keep that in mind.

Also, got a sweat this evening hopefully and meeting with potential housemates throughout the day beforehand which should be fun. Although I haven't bothered to tidy my room so they may judge me (it's a mess.)

Now time to grind!!!!!!!!!!!

Gah, some friends of mine are going through a somewhat tough time so could only find the time to play a couple of hundred hands yesterday. Hopefully I'll get lots in today to catch up to where I want to be. I missed my sweat as well which is a huge shame. Feels like I'm wasting my coaching. Will catch up with Emanuel asap and hopefully we can sort something out fairly soon.

So I have the choice between the following two candidates for the spare room:

Australian Guy
Is the drummer in a band trying to take a shot at breaking into the UK music industry, or something. He seems pretty relaxed for an Australian, funny, not too loud, got some interesting stories. However, he might have loud Australian friends and he might have them round all the time, which would be really shit for my housemates who live just above the lounge. Probably wouldn't really bother me.

Swedish Guy
Swedish guy works for pokerstars as a 'poker expert'. Apparently he basically finds cheaters and gets rid of them, but he must be pretty useful at poker although apparently he doesn't play that much any more. But apart from poker things he's quite unremarkable and my French housemate didn't get good vibes from him apparently.

Some poker news: Haven't played enough in the last couple of days. Will play loads today and then sweat this evening on top of that to redeem myself. Played a few hundred hands today and stacked the same guy two hands in a row which was nice (set over overpair, set over tiltshoved turn flushdraw). Also my WTS line was breakeven which is pretty cool

Hey man!

Could you update me on total hands so far? And lemme know if you want us to review some at the beginning of next week or sweat or whatever.

Hey only got about 9k hands total so far i'm afraid. Will grind some out tomorrow to try and get me back on target. Some more hand reviewing would be awesome but got a job working in a bar so i'll be busy some evenings.