gigeniek's journey at crushing micro-stakes by Harrington

good luck with your poker journey

but I think you really should reconsider your bankroll management, playing NL10 with 17$ is suicide in my opinion, you'll end up broke most of the times.

and saying there's too much luck in NL2 and NL4 is absurd, nl2 or nl5000 it is the same game it is like if you're saying that players are so bad that you can't beat them ♦ sure at nl2 you'll get to spots where people are calling/shoving with random hands and taking wierd betting lines, but that's what micro limits are about, people not caring much about money and having fun. you can exploit that (and you should) by playing a solid, TAG style, instead of putting your whole bankroll on a single table.

from my own experience, I'd really advice you to start playing NL2 FR (since SH means more variance/luck) and work on your game before thinking about results or how much you will cashout.

good luck and most important thing, have fun

Update: My issue with hand histories & PT4 is solved, which was ridiculous! I forgot, that ~2 months ago I was playing at Poker770.

So all I needed was to merge my Poker770 username with Party Poker's username [alias]. 2 mouse cliks and done.

It took me about 3 days. hehe

Next:
From June 1 to June 4 I played ~1750 hands. I did some experimenting by trying to exploit my opponent mistakes via looking at their HUD statistics. I'm quite sure I also didn't avoid tilting. Also, of course, lost some $ in the process.

My bankroll: 9.76 EUR ( -7.89 EUR)

Anyway, I will focus on the bright side, I figured out how to see hand histories via PT4 & have quite the amount of data to analyse!

For now, IMO, there is absolutely no point in playing now, because I need to find out what happened, figure out my leaks and where did I make bad decisions, also I will make notes can on opponent play.

Btw, can anyone help me with this ?

See you later! ♠_cool:

First of all, a slightly delayed Welcome to our blogging section!

I gave an initial response in your thread on General Poker Discussion and moved it to Beginner's Questions as well.

When it comes to analyze/study vs playtime, I usually suggest 50/50 timesplit to make sure you get lots of both done.

Will be dropping by checking for updates here on occasion for sure!

Regards,
Richard

Your BR is a recipe for disaster - an inexperienced player playing with less than 20 buy-ins is already suicidal, but less than 2?

What's more, I strongly disagree (and I suspect a lot of players will echo me in this), with your remark that the lowest stakes "involve too much luck" while NL10 is supposedly easier because "there's logic in how players play". I think this is completely and utterly wrong!

First of all luck is the same at all stakes - be it NL2 or NL1k - it's the same deck of cards and the same randomisation process.

Secondly, I am convinced that NL2 and NL4 is a lot easier than NL10. That people have "some logic" in how they play is not good for you, quite the contrary - it makes it more difficult to win money - since people will be able to make sense of your betting, raises, and be able to read you a lot better. In short - usually the higher the limit, the more experienced and therefore tougher the opponents get.

I noticed one of your goals is monetary - there's no point in setting those goals, since poker is subjected to a fair amount of variance. However horrific this may sound, you may very well play perfect poker for a month and not earn a cent.

You need to have a radical turnaround in your poker attitudes or else you'll quickly land face down!

Ask more experienced players about how they progressed through the micros (for example I recommend Verneer's book on micro stakes available free in pdf - just google it) and apply their advice. Read articles, watch videos that are available on Poker Strategy. Going off on that journey with your uneducated assumptions (e.g. on BR) is a recipe for failure.

Nevertheless best of luck, can definitely see good poker player material in you, you seem very motivated!

Matt

You need to have a radical turnaround in your poker attitudes or else you'll quickly land face down!

You sound angry. ♠_cry:

Ask more experienced players about how they progressed through the micros (for example I recommend Verneer's book on micro stakes available free in pdf - just google it) and apply their advice. Read articles, watch videos that are available on Poker Strategy.

Did you read my first post? If so - it seems you did it briefly.

I'm applying Harrington's advices. That will form my base on online poker.

Guys! Yes, I know - I'm not the most active blogger here. My reason is: I don't want post too much "chit-chat" stuff ♠_biggrin:

Anyway, in short I switched back to NL2 for now (see BRM picture). Because I had only left 2.70 EUR. Now I have more than 10.00 EUR.

The thing which helped me greatly to improve (avoid losing $ unnecessary) my game was concept of Pot Control:
Small hand, small pot.
Big hand, big pot.

I noticed that I was gready.
Not in the sence that I wanted to crush fast all limits like NL50, NL100 and so on; I just didn't want to play with those "fish" at NL2 or NL4, but in NL10 I felt fine. I can stay here (NL10), but not in lower NL's.

And in hands when I was aggressor or had something (2 pairs for example) I just kept betting and, of course, sometimes lost greatly because of straights, flushes, sets or something along those lines.
Now I don't do it (mostly). I keep reminding myself: be patient!

In coming days I will post some graph or something from PT4. Wait for it. ♠_tongue:

Now here is my updated BRM --->

My paint skill! So how do you like my BRM 2.0a? ♠_cool:

you shouldnt really play nl10 without at least 200$ which is still not too good

3BI brm for NL10? I don't even like playing NL10 with less than 25-30 personally.

3BI for NL10?

Exactly! If I lose 1 BI then, no problem, I move back to NL4.

As for NL25, haven't really thought about it, but there will be much bigger BRM requirements, like 400-500$.

OK, guys I'm back. I know this blog isn't as active as others. hehe

Anyway short story: played many hands -> tilted -> calm down -> played some more -> tilted again = lost almost all money.

The bright side is:

a. Experience! (And some things one learns by making mistakes first)
b. I'm very used to my HUD setting.
c. Quite a database for NL10

2 days ago my bankroll was: 4.55 EUR.

Play only NL2. 3-5 tables. Hand range will be extremely tight:

• TT+
• AK suited / unsuited
• AQs

That is about 4%. ABC poker, no bluffing. Be patient!

That being said my bankroll now is:
15.97 EUR

Guys, how can I insert graph here, if I have picture on my desktop??

Let's see what this day will bring to me! ♠_love:

OK 3 days passed, here is update:

I don't have much to say. So let's graph and stats speak for themselves.

Also like to post this hand:

PartyGaming - $0.02 NL - Holdem - 7 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: $2.25
BTN: $2.00
SB: $0.72
BB: $2.57
Hero (UTG): $1.98
UTG+1: $0.52
MP: $1.99

SB posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.03) Hero has K♣ A♦

Hero raises to $0.08, fold, fold, fold, fold, SB calls $0.07, fold

Flop: ($0.18, 2 players) T♥ K♥ K♠
SB checks, Hero bets $0.09, SB raises to $0.45, Hero calls $0.36

Turn: ($1.08, 2 players) A♥
SB bets $0.19 and is all-in, Hero calls $0.19

River: ($1.46, 2 players) Q♥

How can I post resized image here? What BB code syntax do you use??

That's all for now. See you later! ♠_cool:

September 2 Summary

This was wierd day. I started to play early in morning, and didn't get much of action. Played 4 tables and mostly what I saw was fold festival - everyone just folds. People played careful. No wierd preflop all-ins with A6o, no huge bluffs in postflop. ♠_p:

Then I took a break for 5-6 hours and situation changed a little. I guess fishes were sleeping in morning... ♠_biggrin:

Anyway this is how it went:

I decided to go up NL4 when I reach 20 EUR

Also played $5000 Bankroll Booster freeroll tournament.
This is how it went --->

PartyGaming - $5000 Bankroll Booster

UTG: 1,665.00
UTG+1: 5,190.00
UTG+2: 2,820.00
MP: 2,065.00
MP+1: 9,970.00
Hero (MP+2): 2,750.00
CO: 2,880.00
BTN: 2,730.00
SB: 2,750.00
BB: 2,570.00

SB posts SB 50.00, BB posts BB 100.00

Pre Flop: (pot: 150.00) Hero has Q♠ A♠

fold, fold, fold, MP calls 100.00, MP+1 calls 100.00, Hero raises to 300.00, fold, fold, fold, fold, MP calls 200.00, MP+1 calls 200.00

Flop: (1050.00, 3 players) J♠ 4♠ 4♣
MP checks, MP+1 checks, Hero checks

Turn: (1050.00, 3 players) K♣
MP checks, MP+1 bets 100.00, Hero calls 100.00, fold

River: (1250.00, 2 players) Q♦
MP+1 bets 300.00, fold

MP+1 wins 1,250.00

PartyGaming - $5000 Bankroll Booster

UTG: 9,345.00
UTG+1: 2,630.00
UTG+2: 2,415.00
MP: 3,500.00
MP+1: 13,740.00
Hero (MP+2): 1,945.00
CO: 5,745.00
BTN: 2,280.00
SB: 2,325.00
BB: 2,195.00

SB posts SB 75.00, BB posts BB 150.00

Pre Flop: (pot: 225.00) Hero has Q♠ Q♦

UTG raises to 900.00, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 1,945.00 and is all-in, fold, fold, fold, fold, UTG calls 1,045.00

Flop: (4115.00, 2 players) A♠ J♦ T♣

Turn: (4115.00, 2 players) 7♠

River: (4115.00, 2 players) 9♣

UTG shows J♣ A♦ (Two Pair, Aces and Jacks) (Pre 29%, Flop 76%, Turn 86%)
Hero shows Q♠ Q♦ (One Pair, Queens) (Pre 71%, Flop 24%, Turn 14%)
UTG wins 4,115.00

It's a shame. ♠_cry: Really looked forward to play this a bit further. For fun.

P.S. Later will post some hands from cash games. ♠_wink: