Glad to be back in the grind!

Good luck with it!

ahaa BUM, GOGOGO i'm seeing more of your commitment to poker already! ♦

Good luck mate
another SH blog to follow

Gogogogo Jeremy ♠_cool: ♠_cool:

Thanks for the love guys!

The poker gods must be loving me this month. I am running so hot and playing so well I am speeding ahead in BR building. Which also gives me the chance to experiment with weird lines to see if it works (as someone had ask me to try Thanks).

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]MP3 (Hero)$24.40:///////;CO$25.60:///////;BU$15.00:///////;SB$25.40:///////;BB$26.36:///////;MP2$27.58:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with J:s, K:h.
MP2 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, CO calls $0.75, 3 folds, 2 folds, BB folds.

Flop: ($1.85) 5:s, T:s, 3:h (2 players)
Hero bets $1.00, CO calls $1.00.

Turn: ($3.85) 4:d (2 players)
Hero bets $2.25, CO calls $2.25.

River: ($8.35) 3:d (2 players)
Hero bets $5.25, CO calls $5.25.

Final Pot: $18.85.

Results follow:

Hero shows a pair of threes(Js Kh).
CO shows three of a kind, threes(3s As).

CO wins with three of a kind, threes(3s As).

He had the only hand that would call the river bet.

run goood gogo, nice blog will be following

Here I am in school, trying to grind when the internet is being a bitch. Connecting and disconnecting. Decided to stop my session halfway and cut my small losses before it expand due to tilt. Today's session was a lesson on folding. Made a few weak folds but thought they were good ones which my old spewy self would had snap/crying call.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (5 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BU$13.86:///////;SB (Hero)$24.70:///////;BB$25.00:///////;MP3$44.26:///////;CO$37.13:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is SB with 6:s, K:s.
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, BB calls $0.50.

Flop: ($1.5) 7:c, 5:s, 4:c (2 players)
Hero bets $1.00, BB raises to $3.00, Hero calls $2.00.

Turn: ($7.5) A:h (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $5.25, Hero calls $5.25.

River: ($18) K:h (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $10.25, Hero folds, BB gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $18.

Was thinking of bluffing the turn or river. Overall not planned out passive play I guess.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]CO$26.85:///////;BU (Hero)$24.75:///////;SB$44.97:///////;BB$25.35:///////;MP2$24.65:///////;MP3$27.40:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BU with T:h, J:h.
MP2 calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.00, 2 folds, MP2 calls $0.75.

Flop: ($2.35) T:c, 5:h, 5:c (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets $1.68, MP2 calls $1.68.

Turn: ($5.71) 6:c (2 players)
MP2 bets $3.00, Hero calls $3.00.

River: ($11.71) 6:s (2 players)
MP2 bets $6.00, Hero folds, MP2 gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $11.71.

Everything hits! I called the turn thinking he would try repping the flush. With tt 6 on the river, I guess everything hits and so no call down.

Other then problem spots, also got into 2 hands back to back with a reg and I just had to see how loose he was playing.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BU$25.25:///////;SB$54.37:///////;BB$35.44:///////;MP2$39.04:///////;MP3$21.65:///////;CO (Hero)$30.45:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is CO with Q:s, Q:c.
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, BU calls $0.75, SB raises to $2.50, BB folds, Hero raises to $6.50, BU folds, SB raises to $54.47, Hero calls $23.95.

Flop: ($85.82) J:s, 4:c, K:s (2 players)

Turn: ($85.82) T:s (2 players)

River: ($85.82) A:d (2 players)

Final Pot: $85.82.

Results follow:

Hero shows a straight, ace high(Qs Qc).
SB shows a straight, ace high(Ac Qd).

Hero wins with a straight, ace high(Qs Qc).
SB wins with a straight, ace high(Ac Qd).

Pity it wasnt the A :spade:.

and right after that hand,

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.1/$0.25 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]MP3$26.10:///////;CO$53.87:///////;BU$35.09:///////;SB$38.79:///////;BB$21.65:///////;MP2 (Hero)$29.20:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with A:s, Q:s.
Hero raises to $0.75, MP3 folds, CO raises to $2.25, 3 folds, Hero raises to $5.25, CO raises to $16.00, Hero raises to $29.95, CO calls $13.20.

Flop: ($58.75) A:h, 7:s, 8:h (2 players)

Turn: ($58.75) 7:d (2 players)

River: ($58.75) K:c (2 players)

Final Pot: $58.75.

Results follow:

Hero shows two pairs, aces and sevens(As Qs).
CO shows two pairs, jacks and sevens(Jc Js).

Hero wins with two pairs, aces and sevens(As Qs).

Nice flip.

All in all, while I am think nl25 is crushable and I might move up sooner then I think, there are still significant leaks in various aspects of my game. Got to work on them slowly and enjoy pawning the fishies.

Confidence to climp up soon. ♠_cool:

Hand 1 (K6s vs BB) - I'll chuck in my 5 cents, curious what you'll think.

I don't think that a normal, REG-type of player (I guess he's a REG by looking at his bet sizing) is ever bluffing that Flop (readless assumption obv).

When you open-raise LP your range consists of loads of drawing, suited or connected hands, so this board hits your range hard. A REG would realise that and wouldn't bluff the Flop as you're likely to at least call the raise.

I guess his range consists of some pockets, suited and unsuited high broadway, and A7s type of hands. On this flop, with this raise size, I can only see a raise for value with a set, two pair, top pair, 88s (overpair+gs) and some semi-bluffing FD+gs combos. You're behind vs all of these and imho he's not going to shut down. I'd give up after the raise.
What was your thought process there mate?

And one more thing - you use HE Manager, right?
To post hands on forums you just need to put the hand replayer on and while in there press the HAND HISTORY button (should be on the top left). There you just press "2+2" and all you have to do is right-click and "Paste" when you're posting - you've got a hand converted and ready to be viewed.
To me that's much easier than having to convert it on PokerStrategy. I did it at the start too, but found an easier way to do it thanks to Veriz.

following your blog with interest.
Cheers,
Matt

k6 i'll call the river when i call the turn. if not i'll chuck my hand on the turn.

@inlovewithamsterdam : Thanks for the advice! You have saved me a couple of mins/hand I want to post!

My thought process in that hand was on the flop when raised, I still had 8 outs + BD FD. Decided to peel one. At that point, I already thought of myself as behind (Obviously.).

On the turn, I was thinking of c/r but decided to be a weak tight player playing c/c instead(Mistake :f_o:)

On the river, fold to prevent a bigger error(thus the good fold. I think.).

@ Supey : Yeah. I should had just folded on the turn rather then chase my draw. Looking back, mistake since turn. OOP nitty fold would be a better option.

As it's month end, its time to reflect on the past month and everything that happened.

This summer holiday has been one of realization. So many things happened which impacted me in more way then one. This might just turn out to be a super long post so I'm sorry if it does drag on.

First and foremost, I did an internship with a friend's company and while the whole experience was rather enjoyable meeting new people and seeing how the business work, it only served to show me in one direction - I do not want to work office hours. I cannot stand having to wake up at 9am to reach work by 10am, only to go home after 7pm. The fact that I am tied up for the entire day is just so suffocating. Doing something for the sake of only money ain't any fun. While I did find an hour on most days at work to grind (When you are determined, there are always ways to get what you want. ), I felt so drained at the end of the day I did not feel like doing anything else. That was when the importance of freedom or having my own time hit me.

When I was nearing the end of my internship, an opportunity arose and I knew I just had to take it! At the start of the month, my school dive team was organising a trip to Maldives. After much discussion and persuasion by my girl, her mom relented and gave the green light to go. That meant:

Maldives babeh! ♠_cool: ♠_cool: :f_cool:

Having only dived in Dayang and Tioman before, this trip was considered for me, BEST DIVE TRIP EVER. Saw many many ( I mean MANY) sharks, rode a turtle (Obviously not supposed to but the dive master was way ahead. ♠_biggrin: ), string rays, stonefishies, boxfishies, etc. Can go on and on but this much will do for now. But the once in a lifetime sighting was this:

and in the same day:

BEST DAY EVER. The trip really reminded me how much I love diving and hope it would be something I would be doing for the rest of my life.

After that awesome getaway, it was back to reality. School started mid month August and this sem, as with the past 3 sems, I packed my term with the max of 5 mods. This is mainly due to the fact that I wanted to graduate in 3.5 years to give all avenues a go before I face the horror prospect of having to find a job.

All this while, I was still doing a bit of grinding, playing when I feel like it. A leisure player as supey would put it. All these changed when I was dragged by my girl to the CITI recruitment talk. Before this, my thinking was always, I would give poker a shot. If it fails, I would go to a bank and work like a donkey. That talk turned out to be the rudest wake up call I ever had. After listening to the top management's "convincing" speech for fresh grads to join them, emphasizing how if u work long enough(think 20 years) Citi will take care of you, I think I am the only one in that room thinking "What the fish? 20 years of slogging like a donkhead?!"

That was when I said "NO. That is NOT THE LIFE I WANT TO LIVE."

A week later, while I was talking and discussing this Citi thing with another friend, he told me how he currently is subscribing to a self-help programme and say it really helped him a lot. To summarise, he said " In life, all that matters is mindset. In everything you do. Mindset."

To train up my mindset, I started on a book, which I am faithfully reading 1 chapter a day, named "Think and grow rich" by Napoleon Hill. Have learnt so much from it and so much more to come, I see so many things that can be transferred to both RL and to poker. I am thinking whether it would be a good idea to blog about each day's lesson as I do already write it down in my own journal. Should I? The first step was easy. Formation of a plan and having a goal to reach. And BELIEVING THAT IT CAN BE REACHED.

While I would not word out my plan, the end goal is to be a winning player at nl100 by 16 November 2011. Having run at 23BB/100 at nl25 and 4.5BB at nl10this month did no harm not only to my confidence but also to my BR. (shameless brag there. ♠_cool: ♠_cool: muahahahaha)

While I wun credit this months good run just down to this improvement in mindset, it certainly helped me to start this race as a sprint. Next month would be a crucial month as I know myself to falter after having a bright start.

Hopefully, I have changed my mindset enough to MAKE THIS HAPPEN. No. That is the wrong thing to say. I KNOW I have changed my mindset enough to make it happen.

To end off, I guess I need to put up my goals for September.

1. Grind out 52k FPPs. (Volume goal)
2. Starve off procrastination. (Self improvement)
3. Continuously find spots of improvement and watch at least 2 videos every week.

Running good, feeling good, playing good, I know I will reach my goal.

tl;dr cliffnotes: Improving your mindset affects EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE. It is this that puts as at an edge over the person beside you. Use it to your advantage in all things you do.

Originally posted by summermonkey

The trip really reminded me how much I love diving and hope it would be something I would be doing for the rest of my life.

i kinda feel sorry for the fishes, they will probably get molested again... as if raping them on the nl25tables for 23bb/100 is not enough.....

anyjews, you do sound so different, is this fok???
kidding!
i hope you achieve your goals this time

Originally posted by summermonkey
2. Starve off procrastination. (Self improvement)

I know this feeling! Always wasting valuable time doing absolutely nothing and putting things off, this is a goal I really should steal for myself

Nice monthly round up mate and loving the blog already, will be following ♦

@Supey : The fishies come to me to get raped!!! ♠_cool: ♠_cool: Hope this continues for some time.

@Danny: Thanks bro! I am trying my best to make every hour productive! You should get a post it and put it where u procrastinate the most! Hahahaha

Wow mate, love the graph. That is some heater you are on at the moment! All engines are firing

I know the mantra of PS.com is BRM, BRM, BRM, but geez. When you are burning that hot... I don't think I could resist a limit stab. Of course, a limit stab might be what it takes to turn a great bankroll boosting streak into an overload detonation

I like the hand where you get all-in with the Queens vs the squeezer. I am guilty myself of not attacking squeeze bets hard enough, and you made a perfect play there. Pity it didn't come off, you were way in front. The squeezer really should have given up after you 4bet him rather than bluff-shoving AQs.

Be careful with volume goals, and playing more hands to meet them. If there is anything my previous failures have taught me it is that bonuses are not worth chasing at the expense of improving your game in general. For me, I went from profitable poker to poker loser, rakeback+bonus BE chasing bonuses. All I got out of it was lost profits and a headache

52,000 FPP's is a fair huge chunk of gaming time for guys like us down in the NL10-50 games. Don't burn yourself out chasing it

@Jai : Thanks for the advice! I totally agree with your point of view. Now thinking about it, it might be a tad too high a target. But its okay, I will just press on! Who knows, might just hit it.

The point of that goal is just for me to put in more time then just 2 hours a day.
If I want to improve fast, I got to be more committed and I want to put in more hours. Thus, the volume goal.

Play 2 sessions so far(just ended the 2nd), made 3 stacks in the first, but spewed it away in the second. A few interesting hands:

Hand 1
Best misclick ever. Thank you fish!

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($12.60)
Hero ($24.75)
UTG ($19.65)
CO ($18.63)
BTN ($25.13)

Dealt to Hero 6♣ 5♥

fold, CO raises to $0.75, fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.25, CO calls $0.50

FLOP ($2.60) 4♠ 3♦ 5♠

Hero bets $1.50, CO calls $1.50

TURN ($5.60) 4♠ 3♦ 5♠ K♦

Hero checks, CO bets $0.75, Hero calls $0.75

RIVER ($7.10) 4♠ 3♦ 5♠ K♦ 7♥

Hero checks, CO bets $2, Hero raises to $21.25 (AI), CO calls $13.13 (AI)

Hero shows 6♣ 5♥
(Pre 47%, Flop 27.1%, Turn 18.2%)

CO shows 4♥ 4♦
(Pre 53%, Flop 72.9%, Turn 81.8%)

Hero wins $35.51

Hand 2

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($25.45)
BB ($110)
UTG ($25.66)
UTG+1 ($26.17)
Hero ($38.87)
BTN ($25)

Dealt to Hero K♦ J♠

fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.75, fold, fold, BB raises to $2.90, Hero calls $2.15

FLOP ($5.90) K♣ 8♣ 8♥

BB bets $3.30, Hero calls $3.30

TURN ($12.50) K♣ 8♣ 8♥ 7♥

BB bets $5.94, Hero calls $5.94

RIVER ($24.38) K♣ 8♣ 8♥ 7♥ 2♠

BB checks, Hero checks

BB shows K♥ A♠
(Pre 75%, Flop 82.6%, Turn 89.8%)

Hero shows K♦ J♠
(Pre 25%, Flop 17.4%, Turn 10.2%)

BB wins $23.20

No point betting river. Maybe should not had flatted even?

Hand 3:
Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($11.10)
BB ($31.83)
UTG ($50.80)
UTG+1 ($25)
Hero ($32.86)
BTN ($25)

Dealt to Hero 5♣ 5♥

fold, UTG+1 raises to $0.75, Hero calls $0.75, fold, fold, fold

FLOP ($1.85) K♥ 8♠ 6♣

UTG+1 bets $1.03, Hero raises to $3, UTG+1 calls $1.97

TURN ($7.85) K♥ 8♠ 6♣ 7♣

UTG+1 checks, Hero bets $6.25, UTG+1 calls $6.25

RIVER ($20.35) K♥ 8♠ 6♣ 7♣ 9♥

UTG+1 bets $12.75, Hero raises to $22.86 (AI), UTG+1 calls $2.25 (AI)

UTG+1 shows T♣ T♠
(Pre 81%, Flop 90.0%, Turn 86.4%)

Hero shows 5♣ 5♥
(Pre 19%, Flop 10.0%, Turn 13.6%)

UTG+1 wins $48.35

:f_o: ♠_mad:
This was the most WTF hand I ever had. I put him on Kx and maybe sets slowplaying and totally did not expect this hand. Totally read his hand WRONG.

Tried to be super aggro this session to try it out, only served to point me in 1 direction. Aimless aggression = Throwing money away. Not good going back to my old self. Need to rein my aggression and use it sensibly. I can see at least FIVE hands in my biggest loss being due to senseless triple barrel. such a fish I was. :f_frown: Need to get flamed to learn the lesson. So decided to put this up.

well the last hand was really ok. but once u got the read that he plays TT like that, then ofc u adjust

The problem with paying for reads on players like that one at micro limits is you often don't get many chances to collect. You might not play with this guy again for some time.

If you do ever get to play him again, remember he is a sheriff. Take 3 streets off him with TPGK or better

Thanks all. Month started like July. SHITTY.

First thing that happened, HEM screws up on me and only popped up on some tables.

Still did not get me down. Went on ahead and grind after using table selector to select the unselected tables. Then pokerstars went on to play me. Played 3 hours today and I lost about 10stacks. Did spew a little, but that was not the reason for the huge losses.

With hands like these:

Hand 1

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($56.96)
BB ($20)
UTG ($27.19)
CO ($16.17)
Hero ($31.50)

Dealt to Hero K♣ K♦

fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.75, SB raises to $2.25, fold, Hero raises to $6, SB calls $3.75

FLOP ($12.25) 5♥ 2♥ T♥

SB bets $3, Hero raises to $10, SB calls $7

TURN ($32.25) 5♥ 2♥ T♥ 3♣

SB bets $5, Hero calls $5

RIVER ($42.25) 5♥ 2♥ T♥ 3♣ 3♦

SB bets $11, Hero calls $10.50 (AI)

Hero shows K♣ K♦
(Pre 82%, Flop 2.8%, Turn 0.0%)

SB shows J♥ Q♥
(Pre 18%, Flop 97.2%, Turn 100.0%)

SB wins $61.25

Hand 2

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
Hero ($27.09)
BB ($25)
BTN ($24.81)

Dealt to Hero T♦ T♠

fold, Hero raises to $0.75, BB raises to $2.20, Hero raises to $5.25, BB calls $3.05

FLOP ($10.50) 6♠ J♦ K♠

Hero bets $6.75, BB calls $6.75

TURN ($24) 6♠ J♦ K♠ T♥

Hero bets $7, BB raises to $13 (AI), Hero calls $6

RIVER ($50) 6♠ J♦ K♠ T♥ Q♣

Hero shows T♦ T♠
(Pre 19%, Flop 6.8%, Turn 2.3%)

BB shows J♥ J♣
(Pre 81%, Flop 93.2%, Turn 97.7%)

BB wins $49

Hand 3

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($20.43)
BB ($21.16)
Hero ($24.53)
CO ($20)
BTN ($11.67)

Dealt to Hero 6♣ 7♣

Hero raises to $0.75, fold, fold, SB calls $0.65, fold

FLOP ($1.75) 3♥ K♣ 9♣

SB checks, Hero bets $1.25, SB calls $1.25

TURN ($4.25) 3♥ K♣ 9♣ 2♣

SB checks, Hero bets $3.50, SB raises to $7, Hero calls $3.50

RIVER ($18.25) 3♥ K♣ 9♣ 2♣ A♥

SB bets $5.75, Hero raises to $13, SB calls $5.68 (AI)

SB shows Q♣ A♣
(Pre 65%, Flop 79.8%, Turn 100.0%)

Hero shows 6♣ 7♣
(Pre 35%, Flop 20.2%, Turn 0.0%)

SB wins $39.11

Hand 4
Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($20.32)
BB ($44.83)
UTG ($10.99)
UTG+1 ($10.90)
Hero ($24.89)
BTN ($47.66)

Dealt to Hero 5♦ 4♦

fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.75, fold, SB calls $0.65, fold

FLOP ($1.75) 4♠ Q♦ 7♦

SB checks, Hero bets $1.25, SB calls $1.25

TURN ($4.25) 4♠ Q♦ 7♦ T♦

SB checks, Hero bets $3.50, SB calls $3.50

RIVER ($11.25) 4♠ Q♦ 7♦ T♦ K♠

SB bets $4, Hero raises to $10, SB raises to $14.82 (AI), Hero calls $4.82

SB shows K♦ J♦
(Pre 64%, Flop 49.4%, Turn 100.0%)

Hero shows 5♦ 4♦
(Pre 36%, Flop 50.6%, Turn 0.0%)

SB wins $38.89

Hand 5
Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($34.43)
BB ($12.50)
UTG ($9.80)
Hero ($25.45)
CO ($24.72)
BTN ($54.84)

Dealt to Hero A♦ A♥

fold, Hero raises to $1, fold, fold, SB calls $0.90, BB calls $0.75

FLOP ($3) 2♠ T♥ 9♠

SB bets $2.13, BB calls $2.13, Hero raises to $9.50, SB raises to $33.43 (AI), BB calls $9.37 (AI), Hero calls $14.95 (AI)

TURN ($63.40) 2♠ T♥ 9♠ T♠

RIVER ($63.40) 2♠ T♥ 9♠ T♠ 8♥

BB shows Q♠ A♠
(Pre 12%, Flop 27.2%, Turn 0.0%)

Hero shows A♦ A♥
(Pre 68%, Flop 4.0%, Turn 7.1%)

SB shows 9♣ 9♥
(Pre 20%, Flop 68.8%, Turn 92.9%)

SB wins $61.40

Hand 6
Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.25(BB) Replayer
SB ($50.74)
BB ($25)
UTG ($25.75)
Hero ($25.45)
CO ($25.43)
BTN ($14.09)

Dealt to Hero A♥ A♦

fold, Hero raises to $0.75, CO raises to $2.25, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $5.25, CO calls $3

FLOP ($10.85) K♠ Q♣ 7♥

Hero bets $7.50, CO raises to $20.18 (AI), Hero calls $12.68

TURN ($51.21) K♠ Q♣ 7♥ 3♥

RIVER ($51.21) K♠ Q♣ 7♥ 3♥ 5♠

Hero shows A♥ A♦
(Pre 81%, Flop 10.5%, Turn 4.5%)

CO shows Q♦ Q♠
(Pre 19%, Flop 89.5%, Turn 95.5%)

CO wins $49.21

Okay. I was thinking of posting them all. But decided no point doing something shitty like tt. So I shall just stop here. But you should get the idea. Just needed to get all these out of my system. Maybe I played them wrongly. I do not know already. Shall take a break for today.

I will come back stronger tmr.

EVERY FAILURE BRINGS WITH IT THE SEED OF AN EQUIVALENT ADVANTAGE.