BOOM or BUST!?!

Good luck Rakyno!

Writing this blog to journal my progress in a peer reviewed environment.

Played poker for a couple years now, and though I judge myself as a good player, I haven't made much progress in terms of moving up limits.

My biggest concern is tilt control, I can play well for days, weeks even months and then one day I lose it, usually due to much partying and not enough sleep.

At the moment, I'm making sure that I am only playing when I want to and also quitting after losing a couple BI to protect my bankroll.

Turned $10 into $50 at NL2 Zoom recently, dropped back to $20, grinded back to $50 then spewed it into $5.

On a more positive note, I've gained a lot of insight into my own mental game and am more motivated than ever to succeed.

With a $100 in my account, I've decided to shoot NL5 cause I'm confident I can beat it as long as I stay focused on playing when I'm in the correct mental state.

Originally posted by HollyMichelle
Good luck Rakyno!

Good luck to you too, unless your in a hand against me, then I wish you bad luck!

Review of today:

• Managed to practice stop-loss tactic and quit after losing a BI.
• After losing a couple BI, dropped back down to a single table whilst on new limit.
• Started to have a structured warm-up and cool down, allowing my mind to rest in between sessions.
• Started concentrating more on certain focus points such as the relative strength of my own and my opponent's holdings.
• Made sure to spend some time posting a hand for review, reading some of my poker books and generally being curious about the game.

Tomorrow I hope to continue practicing the process model and hopefully have a profitable day at NL5.

Hi Raknyo,

Everytime your session graph looks like that (red line steady while blue is downward), the best thing you can do is filter the top losing hands and figure it out if you played them wrong(or post them for hand evaluation). Personally, I end up having that kind of graph when playing looser than I used to.

Regarding tilt, I was able to resolve this by having an activity to channel the negative energy. For me, I instantly log off from pokerstas and play online games like dota "Defence of the Ancients". This helps me forget about poker for a while and effectively protects my BR. I only play again after a few hours or sometimes the next day.

Also, I recommend that you use some kind of session timer like Pomodoro (I use it). This is to make sure that you are having enough breaks to monitor your mindset and see how your doing on all tables.

Goodluck

Originally posted by spreeboy
Hi Raknyo,

Everytime your session graph looks like that (red line steady while blue is downward), the best thing you can do is filter the top losing hands and figure it out if you played them wrong(or post them for hand evaluation). Personally, I end up having that kind of graph when playing looser than I used to.

Regarding tilt, I was able to resolve this by having an activity to channel the negative energy. For me, I instantly log off from pokerstas and play online games like dota "Defence of the Ancients". This helps me forget about poker for a while and effectively protects my BR. I only play again after a few hours or sometimes the next day.

Also, I recommend that you use some kind of session timer like Pomodoro (I use it). This is to make sure that you are having enough breaks to monitor your mindset and see how your doing on all tables.

Goodluck

I find I turn into an aggro. monkey when my graph is as you have described. If I can start monitoring my aggression then it can be another sign that I'm tilting.

Lost a couple BI from my highest point today and didn't stop session since I felt I was playing OK, however, I noticed I did turn too aggro.

I like your idea about the Pomodoro timer, I have used the technique before but using it to make sure I am in a good mindset is a great idea. Will be sure to use it tomorrow.

Daily Review

Managed to keep on practicing the process model, preparing for my sessions and also evaluating them. Been putting in a lot more work away from the tables and have gained a lot more confidence in my plays.

Going to make sure that I perform a total session review on today as I want to see if I was just unlucky in second half of today's hands or if I played unsolid.

Was definitely more tired in second half but still managing to put in volume. Hoping to play 3000 hands a day but hopefully all before midnight so that I'm at least more awake and conscious of my decisions.

Seems like I can't win at the moment, obviously this is something I can only control to a certain extent.

I've been working a lot on the mental game and each session, I'm basically just trying to grind and forgot about my bankroll.

However, this is getting kind of hard now since I've only got $60 left so if I lose a few more BIs, I'm back down to NL2. Alas, I'm not at that point yet!

This is slightly frustrating because I feel like my play has improved ten-fold over the past week, I've been studying, focusing more during sessions and actually reviewing my played hands.

Going to a do a hand review session in this post where I'll go over my evaluated hands and look for my evidence of skills and flaws.

99 SB - Overpair + weak flush draw on monochrome board vs. pre-flop aggressor

Flaw: Under betting the turn, should be looking to bet at least 1/2 pot on dry boards and 2/3 pot on wet boards when I have a medium-strength hand (top pair or better).

AJs - Wet board OOP vs. unknown - to c-bet or not to c-bet

Skill: C-bet bluff on a wet board, using K as scare card but also having at least some backdoor equity.

AKo - Dealing with a 3-bet from BB

Flaw: Not betting enough with TPTK in 3-bet pot, should bet at least 60%.

Summary
Seems already that my bet-sizing was quite flawed, however, since having these hands evaluated, I've greatly improved my bet-sizing.

It's nice to seem improvement in my play, even if I am still losing at NL5.

Will finish re-evaluating my past hands later.

FUCK!

I suck at this game...

Bankroll: $47.69

Time to move back to NL2

Managed to lose $100 at NL5 this week, such a degenerate!

This took me off life tilt:

Still feel the need to punch something, so I think I'm going to meditate before I plan my next line of action.

Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB with Q A
2 folds, CO calls $0.02, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, CO calls $0.06

Flop: ($0.17) J Q T (2 players)
Hero bets $0.12, CO calls $0.12

Turn: ($0.41) A (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($0.41) K (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $1.79, Hero calls $1.79

Plan was to check/call the turn since I couldn't find much reason to bet.

Not everyday the board comes out like this though!

Got back down to basics today, really studying the reasons behind betting and my last session went well!

Sticking to a single table at the moment until I've played at least a few hundred hands making use of all my focus points and revised information.

Watched the first 4 videos in SF's learning to learn series, was very beneficial and can already see progression in my game.

Also made use of the Pomodoro technique once again and started keeping a time log.

Today started rather badly but it's funny how things seem to work out as long as you stick at it!

Hope I can continue feeling this motivated tomorrow and also that the postman will bring me David Sklanksy's first Hold'em book, was a bargain at roughly $3.75 including shipping.

Life has been going good the past few days, I've played a minimal amount of poker but have been bringing my A-game to every session.

Also been getting stuck into the job search, and I'm confident I'll have a job within a couple of weeks.

I wonder if my lack of job-searching in the previous weeks is linked to my massive tilts. I think maybe I thought poker was the only chance I had at make some small change so after I'd lose a bit, I was losing just a 100BB but my chance at making more money into the future.

It'll be interesting to see how I handle the grind once I do get a job.

♠_cool:

Updated blog.

Going to start editing first post with each update.

Good wishes!

Today is dedicated to getting my life back on track.

Most importantly, I want to start getting up earlier. Why you may ask?

It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.
- Aristotle

Also, without structure, my life deteriorates until I'm left in the fetal position on the floor of my bedroom.

How will I achieve this?

• Don’t nap through the day - if tired then go for a short walk.
• Read relevant articles.
• Practice the habit.

Also, I will look to update my vision statement.

EDIT:

Update: 16/04/2013

I come with good news, and also with bad.

Good news!
Good news is that after being unemployed for over 21 months, I have a job! I start next Monday and will be providing technical support to Mac users over the phone.

Crippling fear
The problem is that I am so scared! Over these past few years, I've become lazy and unproductive and I'm worried that I am setting myself up to fail before I have even started.

Also, my unhealthy lifestyle is starting to catch up to me and I'm so stressed because of it. I've moved away from self-development this year when really I should have been focusing more on it.

Hope for the future!
However, I have managed to get a job, that's definitely improvement. Also, by updating this blog and re-joining the Learning To Win group on Skype, it's showing signs that I'm looking to develop myself further.

I really need to add some structure to my life, so first I'm going to complete SchnitzelFisch's productivity guide. I've tried so many times before but failed. This time it's different, I don't just want to do this, I NEED to do it!

Goals

• Re-write my vision statement.

Empires are created with small victories.

Edit:
Just came across this article on fear of failure.
Was exactly what I needed to hear in order to help tackle this crippling fear of mine.

Originally posted by Raknyo
Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB with Q A
2 folds, CO calls $0.02, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, CO calls $0.06

Flop: ($0.17) J Q T (2 players)
Hero bets $0.12, CO calls $0.12

Turn: ($0.41) A (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($0.41) K (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $1.79, Hero calls $1.79

pretty sick runout

c/c turn is the worst option here imo, c/f on this turn is def the best option vs a player like this

gotta love these jackasses who jam here on the river just creating rake

Originally posted by zumpar

Originally posted by Raknyo
Pre Flop: ($0.03) Hero is BB with Q A
2 folds, CO calls $0.02, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.08, CO calls $0.06

Flop: ($0.17) J Q T (2 players)
Hero bets $0.12, CO calls $0.12

Turn: ($0.41) A (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks

River: ($0.41) K (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $1.79, Hero calls $1.79

pretty sick runout

c/c turn is the worst option here imo, c/f on this turn is def the best option vs a player like this

gotta love these jackasses who jam here on the river just creating rake

They have the nuts, so obviously they have to bet huge

Spoiler

Good luck

Thanks for support guys.

Had first day at work today. Seems like a very relaxed company full of very friendly people.

Discovered Text-to-Speech function on my Kindle and have made good progress on reading/listening to Getting Things Done.

Finally re-installed Evernote onto my computer and will finally start getting all these repeatable thoughts/ideas out of my head so that I don't have to waste my mental energy trying to remember them.

Hope everyone is doing good.

Either way, watch this guys rants. Haven't laughed this hard in a while!

Beat
Up
Mary
Poppins!

Update in first post!
30/04/2013

Going to start reviewing all good hands.

PartyGaming - $0.04 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 125 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 3)
SB: 88.75 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 1)
Hero (BB): 50 BB
UTG: 128.25 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 2)
MP: 69.5 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 2)
CO: 125 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 2)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A♦ Q♠
OOP w/ 2 high cards == post-flop equity.

fold, fold, fold, BTN raises to 2 BB, fold, Hero raises to 6 BB, BTN calls 4 BB
BU's min-bet == weak range.
Reasons to bet:

• Value (broadway hands + weak aces + pairs + connectors)
• Collect dead money

Flop: (12.5 BB, 2 players) 3♠ A♠ 4♥
Hero bets 10 BB, BTN calls 10 BB
Reasons to bet:

• Value (weaker aces, weaker pairs and draws)
• Collect dead money

Turn: (32.5 BB, 2 players) 8♥
Hero bets 20 BB, BTN raises to 60.5 BB, Hero calls 14 BB and is all-in
Blank card.
Reasons to bet:

• Value (weaker aces, weaker pairs and draws)
• Collect dead money

NEW POST AT TOP OF PAGE 1!

New job is going sweet! Also finding a little time for side projects.

Started using:
http://www.thesecretweapon.org/

If you ain't using it, I don't know what you are doing with your life!
Lol, JK! If you aren't using it though, I recommend looking into it.
Vastly improved my time management skills and reduced stress significantly.

Starting to make progress on making a trading bot.
By that, I mean I might start on it tomorrow! ♦

Hope everyone is well, and good luck in life!

Hey Jack!

Only just found your blog! tbf I didn't really search too much ;).

How long have you been using the secret weapon? what benefits have you noticed?

EDIT: The secret weapon is great, I stopped using it previously but got back into it a few weeks ago. The greatest benefit for me personally was that it freed my mind so much after I got all the things I wanted to do out of my head.

I was shocked when I heard a book mention you should have at least 50 things, but I ended up getting > 150 notes. I would never experience this creativeness without this system.

http://www.thesecretweapon.org/

Update: 12/05/2013

Life is going pretty well. Had 3 weeks training at new job and I'm finally qualified enough to do my job!

Still found a nice bit of time to play and improve my poker game. Went to local casino last week to play NL100 but didn't work out too well. Going to go back this week and crush!

Finished reading The Millionaire Fastlane and it's probably the best book I've ever read. I feel like such a businessman with all these ideas which I've thought up. Can't speak about many of them yet but hopefully will have something to show in the near future.

Hope everyone else is doing well!

PS. This weeks goals:
Get up at 6:00AM (x5)
Go for a 20 minute jog (x3)
Spend an hour each day working on side-projects. (x7)

EDIT: Wow, I set these goals and forget about them like 5 minutes after. WOOPS!