Patience & Discipline - Rebuilding from (almost) nothing.

Welcome to blogging mate.

Seems like you've hit a really rough patch..

Good luck with the STTs and getting back to $150, I'm sure once you are back and crushing NL10 your selfconfidence will be back at top and you'll be back crushing NL25 in no time at all.

Will be following and cheering you on for sure!

Regards,
Richard

Originally posted by fruktpuff
Welcome to blogging mate.

Seems like you've hit a really rough patch..

Good luck with the STTs and getting back to $150, I'm sure once you are back and crushing NL10 your selfconfidence will be back at top and you'll be back crushing NL25 in no time at all.

Will be following and cheering you on for sure!

Regards,
Richard

Cheers for the enthusiasm mate and thanks for reading.

OK, first step is complete, roll now stands at $102.13

+ $12.17 playing the $1.50 6 max turbos.
+ $11 from playing sats with FPPs.
+ $50 from reaching my VPP milestone.
- $0.12c from splashing around in NL2 zoom

Time to start playing the $3.50s. Am playing the turbo versions and these are pretty swingy. Think they're easily beatable for anyone that knows how to push fold semi well though. I averaged an ROI of 11% over 74 of the $1 ones. Don't know how good or bad this is and probably pretty meaningless given the sample size anyway! If I include a set of these I played last week my ROI is 27% so obviously a little out haha.

One thing I've noticed is people will let you steal constantly. So many fish limp/fold so I've just been shoving any ace, broadways, pairs and decent suited hands. There are a few regs playing them but the majority play way too tight near the bubble and heads up and will only shove or call Ax and decent pairs so they just bleed chips with the quick blinds.

Anyway, back to the grind. Might start playing a bit of NL5 to break up the sngs a bit if I start getting bored.

Cheers

Millsy

Had some good and some bad over the last couple of days.

Played two sets of twelve of the $3.50 turbos and got absolutely crushed. Didn't win a single one mainly just due to losing so many all ins. Out of the fourteen times I got it in with between 40 - 60% equity I won twice haha. Also lost the majority of my 70% plus hands. To be honest I don't think $100 is anywhere near enough to play these unless you really hit the ground running but they're definately very beatable. Anyway, graph below, at least this stuff doesn't tilt me anymore.

The good news is I've been fairly crushing NL5. Been playing a very loose game - around 38/30 - but its working very well. Beating the games at around 33bb/100 over the 3.5k hands I've played and didn't play well at all for some parts. Graph and session stats below.

Was trying to nine table (I usually play six) for the first 1600 or so hands and it really isn't profitable when playing so wide. I can't keep track of different hands and lines on so many tables and end up forgetting whats happenined on previous streets. So definately will be sticking to six tables from now on.

Both of the biggest pots I lost were my KK running into AA. Another fairly biggish loss was this one from today;

Villain is playing 52/11/1.6, WTSD43 W$SD35 3B11

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.05(BB) Replayer
SB ($5.92)
BB ($3.85)
UTG ($8.75)
CO ($5.51)
Hero ($7.39)

Dealt to Hero 7♥ 9♥

fold, fold, Hero raises to $0.15, fold, BB calls $0.10

FLOP ($0.32) T♥ K♥ Q♥

BB checks, Hero bets $0.25, BB calls $0.25

TURN ($0.82) T♥ K♥ Q♥ 5♦

BB checks, Hero bets $1.15, BB calls $1.15

RIVER ($3.12) T♥ K♥ Q♥ 5♦ 5♠

BB bets $2.30 (AI), Hero calls $2.30

BB shows 5♥ K♠
(Pre 54%, Flop 2.9%, Turn 9.1%)

Hero shows 7♥ 9♥
(Pre 46%, Flop 97.1%, Turn 90.9%)

BB wins $7.40

Still not sure what to make of my call here. So hard to put him on a full house though given he probably 3bets KK/QQ leaving only TT and how often does anyone show up with K5o here haha. I just called and hoped he had a random two pair, I was wrong :f_frown:.

Also won a few T$ playing some FPP sats, roll is now at $111.62.

Anyway, time to hit the pubs, will be back to the grind again tomorrow.

Cheers

Millsy

Like your blog, Love your path

What are your plans now ? Zooming nl2 - nl5 or keep grinding stt's ?

Where you think you have more edge over the players ?

Goodluck with your come back

Originally posted by SneakyhanD
Like your blog, Love your path

What are your plans now ? Zooming nl2 - nl5 or keep grinding stt's ?

Where you think you have more edge over the players ?

Goodluck with your come back

Thanks for the comments.

I don't know if I can handle the swings of the turbos STTs given my bankroll isn't huge and think its actually much more profitable for me to be playing cash games anyway. Don't think I'll be playing zoom because basically I'm awful at it haha, so just 6 max cash for now and I'll keep using my FPPs to play the sunday sats.

As for having an edge. I think in cash games up to at least NL25 most of the regulars tend to just play way too nitty and/or passive and most of them take so long to adjust if they ever do. A lot of them are playing 10+ tables so the lines they take are often very straightforward - if you concentrate on what makes sense and can hand read semi well they're very face up. You can also just 3bet and squeeze a ton and pick up pots very easily without them really adjusting. Against fish I think we just value bet them down when we have something and give up most of the time when they get aggressive unless we have a very strong hand.

GL at the tables.

Millsy

I have said this sort of thing in other posts, but it bears repetition: the swings in all varieties of poker are terrifying. I played SNGs a few years ago and thought I knew what I was doing.

However, when I decided to start playing through this site, I took my $50, and ran it all the way up to $8 [ho ho].

Your Kings WILL run into aces; the donk caller WILL hit that three-outer; YOUR Aces v Kings WILL get smacked up by the other guy's third K on the river, and so on ad infinitum.

This makes BRM and keeping your head straight vital - easier said than done, of course.

I am back up over the $50 mark, and hanging in there - for the moment.....

funn

Originally posted by qwerty1234567
funn

Gotta say I love him saying anything as long as he includes the word ' FUCK ' to the sentence ♦

Had a decent day yesterday and its now time to hit the dizzy heights of NL10 again :f_cool:. Played about 3.5k hands at NL5 yesterday and ended up $43.15 by the end of it, which mean my roll now stands at $154.72, I've also now got plenty of FPPs to play some sats with. Here's the graph with session stats:

I actually stopped playing at around 2300 hands but decided to start up again as I was so close to reaching the $150 I wanted. I then went through 8 stacks in the next 400 hands which was pretty brutal - including getting it in with zero (!) equity twice :f_mad:. Of course though, being NL5 on a Sunday, the fish were feeling generous and over the next 800 hands I had it all back and more.

(PS - Does anybody know how to add more stats in the sessions tab in HEM1? I'm sure its possible but can't work it out, cheers.)

So, a few hands from yesterday.

Heres the two where I got it in drawing completely dead. Both villains were very passive fish with large VPIPs and WTSDs, any thoughts?

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.05(BB) Replayer
SB ($9.46)
BB ($1.33)
UTG ($0.82)
Hero ($16.64)
CO ($5.23)
BTN ($6.16)

Dealt to Hero K♥ Q♣

fold, Hero raises to $0.15, CO calls $0.15, fold, fold, fold

FLOP ($0.37) 9♣ A♣ 5♣

Hero bets $0.25, CO raises to $0.55, Hero calls $0.30

TURN ($1.47) 9♣ A♣ 5♣ 3♣

Hero checks, CO bets $0.95, Hero raises to $15.94 (AI), CO calls $3.58 (AI)

RIVER ($10.53) 9♣ A♣ 5♣ 3♣ 8♦

CO shows K♣ 7♣
(Pre 30%, Flop 100.0%, Turn 100.0%)

Hero shows K♥ Q♣
(Pre 70%, Flop 0.0%, Turn 0.0%)

CO wins $10.09

I don't think this one is actually too bad at all. I'm going to fold to a turn bet if the flush doesn't come and I think he can stack off worse flushes and sets on the turn.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.05(BB) Replayer
SB ($9.46)
BB ($1.33)
UTG ($0.82)
Hero ($16.64)
CO ($5.23)
BTN ($6.16)

Dealt to Hero K♥ Q♣

fold, Hero raises to $0.15, CO calls $0.15, fold, fold, fold

FLOP ($0.37) 9♣ A♣ 5♣

Hero bets $0.25, CO raises to $0.55, Hero calls $0.30

TURN ($1.47) 9♣ A♣ 5♣ 3♣

Hero checks, CO bets $0.95, Hero raises to $15.94 (AI), CO calls $3.58 (AI)

RIVER ($10.53) 9♣ A♣ 5♣ 3♣ 8♦

CO shows K♣ 7♣
(Pre 30%, Flop 100.0%, Turn 100.0%)

Hero shows K♥ Q♣
(Pre 70%, Flop 0.0%, Turn 0.0%)

CO wins $10.09

Didn't expect such a strong hand here, thought he was just trying to get to showdown cheaply with his weak hands so piling the pressure on seemed a decent plan. When he shoves I still have pot odds of 12% so an easy call as long as he doesn't have a full house, which of course he does have LOL. Not sure about this one...

Last one is a fairly interesting hand. This laydown might be awful, but I was so sure I was beat at the time. This guy was actually a good aggressive reg playing 25/21/3.3 ST50 WTSD 29 W$SD 50.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.05(BB) Replayer
Hero ($7)
BB ($12.50)
UTG ($5.59)
UTG+1 ($4.49)
CO ($0.52)
BTN ($5.24)

Dealt to Hero 7♣ 7♠

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to $0.17, Hero calls $0.15, BB calls $0.12

FLOP ($0.51) T♥ 2♦ 7♦

Hero checks, BB checks, BTN bets $0.24, Hero raises to $0.80, BB folds, BTN calls $0.56

TURN ($2.11) T♥ 2♦ 7♦ 8♦

Hero checks, BTN bets $1.01, Hero calls $1.01

RIVER ($4.13) T♥ 2♦ 7♦ 8♦ Q♠

Hero checks, BTN bets $2.70, Hero folds

BTN wins $3.96

He asked me afterwards if I just folded a set and said that he had 9 high, which makes zero sense unless hes planning on calling a reraise with 96 and repping the flush when it comes, which would be pretty sick for a NL5 reg. But then hes is good enough to realise I've folded a set haha. Just ship this in next time?

Here's my full graph of NL5 since I started playing it on Friday.

Was a lot less painful than I thought, and was definitely a better option for me than playing sit and gos as I had originally planned. Over the 7k hands I played ended up with a winrate of over 28bb/100 which is always nice. ♠_biggrin:

So, stage 1 complete, reached my target and time to play some NL10, got to head out and look at some sites for work now though so will have to wait until tonight. Will post up my new plans and goals before I start. Thanks for reading, comments and criticism welcome!

Cheers

Millsy

Going to start playing NL10 tonight, want to get together $500 before I move back up to NL25 this time. My goals for the rest of this month.

- Be back at NL25
- Keep Platinum Status (Need 1458 more points)
- Update this blog regularly
- Post at least ten hands per week in the forums

THis blog looks really nice, I will deffo follow it.
Gl at grinding man and keep us updated.
Cheers

Well once again I run disgustingly bad. I moved up to NL10, in two days I am $74 under all in ev - equating to 20bb/100 over the 3701 hands I've played. Even this wouldn't be so bad if I didn't get destroyed in every other pot. This hand is my favourite.

This guy is a huge fish that likes to bet down big with absolute trash, so I just let him barrel away as usual.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.10(BB) Replayer
SB ($7.90)
BB ($10)
UTG ($21.04)
CO ($3.38)
Hero ($18.01)

Dealt to Hero T♦ J♠

UTG raises to $0.20, CO calls $0.20, Hero calls $0.20, SB raises to $0.50, fold, UTG calls $0.30, CO calls $0.30, Hero calls $0.30

FLOP ($2.10) J♣ 5♠ J♥

SB checks, UTG bets $0.50, CO folds, Hero raises to $1.50, SB folds, UTG raises to $3, Hero calls $1.50

TURN ($8.10) J♣ 5♠ J♥ 8♠

UTG bets $2.20, Hero calls $2.20

RIVER ($12.50) J♣ 5♠ J♥ 8♠ 6♦

UTG bets $6.70, Hero calls $6.70

UTG shows 9♦ 7♥
(Pre 33%, Flop 1.6%, Turn 9.1%)

Hero shows T♦ J♠
(Pre 67%, Flop 98.4%, Turn 90.9%)

UTG wins $24.73

97o, 1.6% on flop, VNH sir. At least I didn't shove river. Obviously this could have been avoided by raising flop or possibly turn but then I miss so much value in the long run when he doesn't hit his 9% on the turn.

On top of losing most of my 70% and 80% hands every other large losing hand has been a cooler - KK v AA twice, flush over flush twice, set over set twice, AK on A high flop v whales set, two pair on flop v set in 3bet pot v an aggro reg as well as a host of turn and river two pairs and sets.

The only good news is I made T$33 playing the 235fpp sats which I converted to $42.20 playing HUSNGs.

My roll has been absolutely crushed by this and I should have moved back down to NL5 way sooner, I'd decided I was going to move back down if I went under $100 which was fine but ended up stacking off seven stacks whilst getting it in well today. I now have only $61.79 in my account, going to play NL5 again. If I go under $50 I'm going to have to think of a new plan.

Cheers

Millsy

About time for an update. Didn't really play on Wednesday due to work and had had a few beers the night before for the England game. So decided it wasn't a bad day to have a bit of a break given I'd been having a rough time at the tables.

Anyway, put in a pretty big session yesterday, around 4.4k hands 6 tabling Nl5 and then NL10. I also made another $25 playing sats and then converting the tourney dollars to cash through HU SNGs. I managed to turn a great day into good day however by deciding to start another session at about 11.30PM. I started well and was up about 2 stacks, but I knew that I wasn't playing well though and wasn't concentrating and should have stopped there. However I kept playing and managed to lose about 4 stacks in a few hundred hands and was down for the session. I then decided that I wasn't going to stop until I eneded up at least positive for the session even though I was tired and playing my C game, so eventually ended up $58 dollars below where I was when I was up $17 at the start and knew I was playing bad. Nice move.

So, new rule - not starting any new sessions after 11PM, and finish any that I'm playing at 12, unless I know I'm actually playing well. I can always tell when I'm not playing well or am too tired to play, and it's just a matter of being disclipined enough to take notice and concentrate properly or end the session;

- I stop focusing and lose concentration.
- I start to browse websites as I'm obviously getting bored.
- I tilt, something which never happens when I'm playing well and only when tired.

The biggest problem with these things is I just play on autopilot (which seems to be the problem with most of regs up to NL25). Given that I average a VPIP of around 35% at the moment, playing on autopilot is just burning money. Basically;

- Opening way too many hands without thinking about the players left to act.
- Barreling down on decent boards without thinking about ranges and what I represent.
- Squeeze/3betting light too much against people that aren't folding enough pre/postflop.
- Calling down semi strong hands when its clear that I'm behind 95% of the time (prime example below)

What ends up happening then is that my showdown winnings level out and my redline goes from fairly level to nosediving.

Villain is a hige fish playing 55/35, he's playing one table.

Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.10(BB) Replayer
SB ($15)
BB ($17.16)
UTG ($10)
Hero ($10)
BTN ($7.97)

Dealt to Hero K♦ A♦

fold, Hero raises to $0.30, fold, SB calls $0.25, fold

FLOP ($0.70) 2♣ 2♦ A♥

SB checks, Hero bets $0.50, SB raises to $1, Hero calls $0.50

TURN ($2.70) 2♣ 2♦ A♥ 9♣

SB checks, Hero bets $2.10, SB raises to $5.10, Hero calls $3

RIVER ($12.90) 2♣ 2♦ A♥ 9♣ 7♦

SB bets $3.60, Hero calls $3.60 (AI)

Hero shows K♦ A♦
(Pre 75%, Flop 13.2%, Turn 4.5%)

SB shows 2♠ K♠
(Pre 25%, Flop 86.8%, Turn 95.5%)

SB wins $19.20

There are so many signs here that I'm never good, the infamous min raise (TwiceT ♠_biggrin: ) on the flop, with zero draws bar a gutshot, something which fish tend to do for value anyway. The check raise on the turn when he realises I have an ace, and the bet sizing on the river (I think I'm committed here anyway.) Also given that he is playing one table only its pretty likely that he has a lot of his roll on the tables, is he ever stacking off with something that is behind AK? I don't think so...

So, graph from yesterday, late night session started at about 3200 hands - notice the huge redline tank.

My graph including my downswing, I started NL10 at about 3500 hands. No coincidence that the hands starting about 3770 to 6700 were played late at night as well.

I've also made $55.56 from playing sats and using the T$'s to play turbo HU games, so am actually up slightly, just annoying that I screwed myself over playing last night, but it is what it is.

So, plan for today - crush NL10.

Cheers,

Millsy

I love your way to handle the br so agressive, i used to do the same ♦

But may i suggest on such a big field as pokerstars, instead of take advantage of moving up and down the limits, so noone really knows you that well, instead keep grinding nl5 till you reach 250$, then play nl10 until you reach 1500-2250$. Then you get the opposite advantage:

Over and under ev doesnt affect you AT ALL
You get to know some other grinders on you lvl, so you can exploit their leaks
And the empowered feeling: Doesnt matter if i win this 55/45 flip or not, i still need to play 20k hands more on this limits, just to get CLOSE to my goal for the next limit.

That way you have something to look forward to, plus if you really wanna step this up, you start play more than 6 tables, and getting to feel comfortable with more and more tables on the given limit.

You have 1 very good advantage you know that right? YOU PLAY ON POKERSTARS, SO BIG TRAFFIC NEVER IS A PROBLEM, which leads to 24 tabling 24/7 on all limits which might come handy if you try go through that road.

I have myself been beating nl10 with a winrate of 137,5bb/100 over 7k hands, until i went beserk and whent all in on realmadrid vs levante, (levante scored to 1-1 last 24 sec)