Verre's Very Terrible Poker Blog

hello Verre

good luck with your challenge - im sure it is doable i will be following this.

Lewis.

Gl to you.

I'm sure you'll get to NL10 in much less than 100k hands, as this would need you to only be winning a BI every 5000 hands.

The good thing is 100k Zoom hands won't take too long at all, especially if you multitable.

Are you multitabling or single tabling it for now?

Thanks for the reply dr.

I played a quick session after my post. Since I have basically never played at the super micros I had a lot of poor views on the limit. It seems my edge does not come from a post flop edge in the sense of getting better hands to fold. People will just not fold pairs. My edge comes from extracting value from worse hands.

I made some pretty bad mistakes in my first session before I realized what was going in. 3 bet bluffing does not exist on this limit. Rarely does a cbet happen without at least some part of the flop. Check calling or c/c/c lines are common with the nuts or close to nuts. It's just a whole different environment than "traditional poker". The biggest threat is myself in this limit. Only I can outplay and our level myself. It should be interesting at the very least.

Ps. Note to self. Watch no vids for anything other than micro stakes because it will screw me.

good luck, this blog has potential

Hey Verre, good luck man This is quite similar to what I'm doing, so I'll be watching intently. The biggest drawback to the micros like NL2 in terms of learning is that the players there don't actually know how to play. So they'll call your raises and 3bets with just about anything, from just about any position. Normally this results in horrendous bad beats ♦ Although I'm not so pro at it myself, so that might be just my experience. A tip I got from Spungeh is to treat every player as if he is the best player out there, and just play strict poker against him. If he gets lucky with crap cards, then that's just poker.

What learning materials are you using? I could use some links I'm currently reading through the Poker Listings series and the articles on this site. Emanuel also has a pretty good NL2 Zoom video, and NL5, NL10, and NL25 ones.

I'm only playing at NL2 but NL5 is nearly identical from what I've heard and seen. Anyways. Good luck man

Thanks for the replys guys, its very appreciated.

@Metza
I'm 4 tabling so getting in volume SHOULDN'T be that big of an issue.

@Mirceam94
In the past I've used the higher limit videos to study but obviously the game is way different this low. My plan is to watch a few videos a week for the micros and avoid anything NL25 and up. Basically the only learning tools I use are reviewing some of my bigger hands each session and using the videos here. PS is a very useful tool for me, although I've never properly taken advantage of it.

Of to play another session. I'll probubly be posting updates every few thousand hands.

So I played my session for about an hour. Started off really strong and ended up losing 1.4 BIs in the last 50 hands or so.

It was a day of fives for my good hands. Heres 2 notable.

This first hand villians agg frequency was super high, over 4. His 3 bet was 9%. I just got a feeling he wouldn't be playing this way with a massive hand.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.02/$0.05 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Known players:
[tg]BU (Hero)$8.00:///////;SB$2.11:///////;BB$15.75:///////;MP2$14.48:///////;MP3$6.10:///////;CO$6.40:///////;[/tg]
Preflop: Hero is BU with 5:h, 5:c.
3 folds, Hero raises to $0.15, SB folds, BB raises to $0.40, Hero calls $0.25.

Flop: ($0.82) 4:d, 7:h, T:s (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.40, BB raises to $1.20, Hero raises to $2.00, BB raises to $15.35, Hero calls $5.60.

Turn: ($23.77) 9:s (2 players)

River: ($23.77) Q:h (2 players)

Final Pot: $23.77.

Results follow:

Hero shows a pair of fives(5h 5c).

BB shows high card ace(Jh As).

Hero wins with a pair of fives(5h 5c).

BB wins with high card ace(Jh As).

Second hand. 3 better was SUPER tight. My call pre was questionable for a few reasons. 1)He had a low WTSD stat. 2) Villian behind could 4 bet and I would have put in 16bbs with a weak hand and saw no flop.

Anyways once I saw the flop I knew it was a perfect board to bluff any turn that was a Q/8/T/Heart and obviously value check raise on a 5. I put villians range very small. He was a 10/7/1 preflop. Probubly AA/KK/AK will all fold to my turn play because of his low WTSD.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.02/$0.05 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BU$10.32:///////;SB$5.14:///////;BB$7.27:///////;MP2$11.16:///////;MP3 (Hero)$15.65:///////;CO$5.00:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is MP3 with 5:h, 5:c.
MP2 folds, Hero raises to $0.15, 2 folds, SB calls $0.13, BB raises to $0.50, Hero calls $0.35, SB calls $0.35.

Flop: ($1.5) 9:d, Q:h, 9:h (3 players)
SB checks, BB bets $0.80, Hero calls $0.80, SB folds.

Turn: ($3.1) 8:h (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.50, BB folds, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $3.1.

Hand 3 is just a very very bad play by me. I'll post it to show my weakness. Villian is a 36/27/0 after a small sample. I think this is either a 5 bet shove or a fold pre. Flatting is the WORST case scenario and that is of course what I did.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.02/$0.05 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BU$20.66:///////;SB$2.40:///////;BB$6.19:///////;MP2$6.52:///////;MP3$10.76:///////;CO (Hero)$5.19:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is CO with 9:h, 9:s.
MP2 folds, MP3 raises to $0.20, Hero raises to $0.50, 3 folds, MP3 raises to $1.90, Hero calls $1.40.

Flop: ($3.87) T:h, 6:d, K:d (2 players)
MP3 bets $3.05, Hero folds, MP3 gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $3.87.

With that said I made a small profit over about 1k hands today. Most of today was a learning experience. I might play one more session later but for now I am planning on watching a video and relaxing since today is my Sunday (Work Sat-Wed at the railroad).

Goodnight Everyone.

Video Review: Freebie: No-Limit $10 Zoom with Pleno1

I decided I'd do some video review for vids I liked. This is one I have watched previously but figured it would make a great base for a new micro stakes challenge for myself. I'll go over some good things in the video and then give an overview of my thoughts at the end.

1) 3 Bet folding
Pleno1 teaches us that 3 bet folding at the micros is a great play. This has helped me better my game because I can easily fold to 4 bets as they are heavily weighted to value hands in the micros. When we are called it is usually by a weak hand and we can outplay our opponent in position

2) 4 Betting against 3 bets from the blinds
Pleno doesn't really give a description of this in his video but he actually does it in a failed attempt. Since I first watched this video I have implimented this tactic from the button when I'm 3 bet from the big blind. It works remarkably well and it gives you an easy fold if your 5 bet.

3)Notes
Pleno gives us a good description of how he uses notes. Its simple and too the point and is easy to impliment. For anyone having troubles with implimenting notes (like myself) this is a good video.

Overview.
I enjoyed this video. The only reason I watched it the first time was because I like to follow Pleno1's blog. I was happily surprised by the value I recieved from it and it helped plant the seed for a micro stakes start for me.

I just had a great session. Almost 5 BI in just under 1k hands. I made some pretty effective adjustments that worked wonders.

1. Tighten up significantly in EP and MP. I was losing a lots of money from EP with big hands, but losing to monsters. Mostly because once it gets postflop I have no position and I'm forced to play blindly and end up running into hands I could have avoided in position.

2. Loosen up massively in CO and BU in unopened pots. I'm opening nearly 100% here and I won a ton of pots by outplaying my blind opponents postflop and just made a lot collecting uncontested blinds.

3. Start calling minbets from late position in the buttons with a wide range. I may not have position but I have skill and I can get nice value with lots of flopped hands against players with high aggro tendencies.

Hand of the day.

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.02/$0.05 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BU$11.74:///////;SB (Hero)$8.06:///////;BB$14.69:///////;MP2$9.87:///////;MP3$5.77:///////;CO$1.57:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is SB with A:d, T:c.
2 folds, CO raises to $0.10, BU raises to $0.35, Hero raises to $1.10, 3 folds, 2 folds, BU folds, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $0.5.

CO is a 53/29/0. BU is a 22/22/50. Decent samples on both. I literally could have had 27o here and I would have made this play. It was great seeing thier stats before they even made a play and almost knowing what would happen and what I would do.

Anyways, might study and watch a vid. I'll play a session later.

Decided I'd make some new rules.

1. No checking profits during sessions. I had already implimented it but I'm making it a rule.

2. Dont check results until the END of the DAY. Yesterday I had a great first session. It ended up being my last as well. I liked my daily profits and subconciously wanted to lock them in. This is a long term losers mentality.

So I've played my first session today. I dont know the results as I'm planning on playing at least 1 more session today. It started off BAAAAAD. I made a lot of high percentage plays that just worked out worth a crap. Also I ran into some monsters. Example on a TT5 board that I 3 bet pre from the button I held ATs and I got it in against 55. Another hand I 3 bet AA against an EP raiser. He called and the flop was 532. We got it in and he showed with 53s.

I'm not exactly sure how the session ended as I have obviously not checked.

One last thing. Since traffic on my blog is low and I get few responses, I'm going to let you know that I'm posting graphs and updates every 5k hands. Graphs and progression seem to drive blog performance afterall

Originally posted by Verre
One last thing. Since traffic on my blog is low and I get few responses, I'm going to let you know that I'm posting graphs and updates every 5k hands. Graphs and progression seem to drive blog performance afterall
obv

As promised this is my first update at 5k hands. How has it gone? You be the judge.

So yeah, gone very good. Its kind of unprecidented as I'm a career cash game loser online. I'm a big believer that its all about mindset for me. I have good/great raw poker potential with poor/horrible tilt control/mindset. I read in the Ask Jared learn to win forum that for someone like me mindset is 90%, and I full agree with that. Its the main reason I implimented the not looking at results. In the past I've looked at them and tilted like crazy.

So obviously I'm less than 3 BI away from having 20 BI for NL10, but I decided long ago I wouldn't be moving up asap in the historical sense. My plan is to get to NL200 by the end of 2013, but not to get there with 20 BI. I want to progressively move up the limits with more BIs for each limit. Herees the plan...

Started with 20 BI for NL5. Play 100k hands
If I reach 40 BI for NL10 before I finish 100k hands at NL5 I move up. Play 100k hands of NL10
If at any point during the 100k hands of Nl10 I have 50 BI for NL25, I move up.

I'll leave that as the long term goal there because I dont plan on being in the NL25 zone until Marchish 2013.

So updates atm:
5,050/100,000 Hands at NL5 Played
Bankroll $186.16
550 FPPs and Goldstar (Probubly not sustainable)

I was tempted to let this blog fall into oblivion after yesterday.

I knew my first session was bad and I ran bad but didn't know the results. I played my second session and it went even worse. This time with some bad plays and more coolers. I decided 2 sessions was enough and went and checked my results.

Well... -21 BI.... 13 BI under ev. KK<AA 3 times pre. AKs<AA 2 times pre. QQ<KK 2 times pre. Lots of suckouts, lots of coolers. And at the end some bad play. I knew it was a bad session but I didn't realize how bad. I promptly tilted off another 60 bucks playing games I should never have played.

This left me with a 17 dollar roll. Yeah. I regged 4 2.5 180 mans and 1 5 hyper turbo. In the 180s I had a 3rd place, 4th place, and 7th place. In the 5 hyper I finished 4th. Easy 260 profit. So I decided I'd play one more 180 man. 2nd place for 85 bucks. Roll is at 375.

I don't know what my next step is. Clearly I have deep seeded issues that are mental inhibitors. My game itself is solid. I know I ran bad and that happens, but that knowledge didn't keep me from tilting.

wow nice tilt ♦ Maybe you should switch your game to SNGs with those results ♠_biggrin: If you still want to play cashgames my advice is - play some NL5 and when you feel confident enough switch to NL10. And about tilting the best thing to do if you feel that you are not playing your optimal game is to take a break (short or long doesnt matter) and forgett about your losses .Every session you start from 0 .
Hope this helps and GL!

grind 180 mans, obv.

21 BI down in a couple of sessions is not running bad, its terrible emotional control. Besides, if you had more experience in zoom you would know where to find the fold button. Althought KKvAA is a cooler, sometimes I easily find the fold button. Yesterday I had KK in EP, I opened and a 9/8 nit 3bets me. I look at his 3bet% at 2% and from that moment that was an easy snap fold, I didnt even hesitate. Call me a nit for doing that but some coolers are too easy to avoid. On other hand vs a passive reg I setmined in positition, I flopped bottom set, he cbets, I reraise and he shoves. I look at his 20% flop aggressive and I insta fold bottom set. Call me a nit again. Stacking off with AKs in zoom, whats on your mind to do that? Is he an aggroretard like 30/28 with 9% 3bet? If he is you played well and good for him that he woke up with aces, but was he an unkown? Was he a reg with a polarized 2% 3bet range? In this case, just muck AKs and move to the next hand. Same applies to your QQ hands.

In zoom you play so many hands per hour that its easy to collect decent data on your opponents, so play the opponent and not the cards. If you dont have that data and he is an unknow just play ABC. Its zoom NL5, even fish tend to play tighter, this is not NL200 where ppl 5bet shove 97s, play for value, period.

About your good run in MTTs its just a good run. If I were you I would insta cash out to save that money, because you just run hot, nothing more than that. Save that variance-blessed money and go play NL2 until you have more control on your emotions. Until you dont have a proper mindset you will keep having bad days and loosing 20 BI, of course you can blame variance and donks but if you arent prepared to cope with that at NL5 you will never do that at higher limits.

Thanks for the kind... Err.... Not so kind words.

Needless to say I agree with some points and disagree with others. I'm never folding bottom set at nl5 and unless my opponent is a total rock I'm never folding KK. As for your example that's a very extreme example. Against a 15/13/4 do you fold then too? Because of so I think you have a massive leak.

Anyways as for your diss on my tournament play, I'm a 30% roi winner over a large sample mtts. I just don't have the time to play them. I have a family, a good job, and lots of friends. All of these take time. I won't sacrifice that to play mtts full time.

I think everything ProlinePoker said was true. His words were harsh but I think you needed to hear them.

QQ and AK certainly are not hands to stack off pre on zoom unless you have 300+ hands saying the opp are crazy agro preflop and even an example of them stacking off with QQ/AK or worse. Otherwise ur always just donating money.

I think you should stop being defensive of your ego and take his advice. I hope I didn't upset you, truly.

This ^^

And this! ^^

I don't think Proline was dissing your tournament skills at all. Even if you're the most awesome tournament player ever, then cashing in 5 180s in a row is still running hot! If I'm not mistaken, the advised BRM for those things is 75-100 BI! You could very easily have been left with the massive sum of $0.

Anyways, I wish you luck at the tables and will stop by the blog again soon to hopefully see you on the way to achieving your goals!