[Closed] Delete's Journey

Hey delete461,

nice write up. I really like the fact that you are very determined. If you stick to your plan and don't set yourself unreachable goals you will be successful for sure. I wish you all the best.

Best regards,
TribunCaesar

Originally posted by delete461
I can even recall trying to win a hand with a 3-high straight (QKA23).

Good luck with your goals but first i have to say there is no such thing as you mentioned up ♦ Lowest straight is A2345

I have spent the last two months playing SSS on NL10 and NL25, 19,000 hands for a profit of $1.12. I have been getting more and more frustrated with SSS, mostly not being able to bail out postflop when I know I am behind - so I have ditched it and started learning BSS. Here is my graph for the last two months playing SSS.

Luckily I have cleared $125 of the $50 + $100 bonus during that time, that is one good thing about SSS - earning lots of points. I could also play 9 tables at once since play was so tight.

Now learning BSS I am playing only 2 - 3 tables, and having the SHC open in another window while playing.

Nice blog,good luck

I like the approach you're taking.

Maybe I can help you here:

Originally posted by delete461
I have been getting more and more frustrated with SSS, mostly not being able to bail out postflop when I know I am behind

making profitable postflop all-ins isn't about whether you're behind or not, it's about whether you have enough pot equity to call and whether you have enough pot-equity + fold equity to push

GREAT post - but you will learn nothing playing SSS - its NOT poker. I would say IF you want to take this to the next limit - go FR BSS and watch as many vids as you can and then re watch them over and over again.

I went from SSS to shorthand as I wanted to play poker. I still spend 3/4 of my time watching vids and reading and only playing 1/4 - the improvement in my play has been good - not GREAT, but I seem to be a winning player at the micros - SO FAR

The very best of luck - you will need luck and skill in this game. STUDY STUDY, STUDY and this time next year YOU never know.

hey delete,

A great post with well thought out learning plans and a great attitude to education before profit. I will definately be following this blog to see how you do as i am too starting to get frustrated playing SSS as well.

May all the good luck on the felt be yours.

Thanks for the encouragement guys. As I said, I have completely ditched the SSS and am now studying BSS FR. While I found SSS frustrating, that isnt the main reason I abandoned it. I am sure that if I studied hard enough I could play SSS successfully. The major reason I switched to BSS though, is that I looked at my long term goals and asked myself "how am I going to get there?" And it was clear to me that if I want to become a successful high stakes player, I have to switch to BSS sometime. The sooner the better, and since I could already feel the learning curve start to flatten out I decided to switch now.

Hi Delete.

Sorry to hear sss isn't working out for you. Just remember to use proper br management when using bss. What level are you playing bss at? Sss is easier than bss because you have fewer decisions to make. Good luck to you.

hey delete,

it was interesting to read your views in your last post as you have similar goals to mine. Withinin a couple of years i would like to be making a steady income from poker, either as a second income, or ultimately playing full-time poker. Like you say you need to at the high stakes level to have a chance of making the accomplishment work.

Have been studying BSS for about a week now, while I have lost money with it I am pleased with my learning progress so far. In 2,747 hands I have lost $16 (winrate -14.62bb/hh) but yesterday I was down $20 at winrate of about -30bb/hh. I spent some time going through my entire handhistory playing BSS and found I was losing the most money with hands like TPTK and overpairs, putting my entire stack at risk which I guess is a hangover from playing SSS. Once I addressed that I started making steady progress - the main thing I have learned is that big hands win big pots, small hands win small pots. I already knew that, but still I was trying to win big pots with small hands and getting burned.

While it is a little annoying not even being able to beat the lowest limit NL5 I am not at all disheartened - every day I study articles, videos, hand evaluations and review my hands, and I am confident that if I keep doing this one day things will just click into place and I will be on my way.

As for my short term goals, very much on track. I still play with the SHC open in another window but I am referring to it less and less - I played 1k hands today and hardly looked at it at all, in another week I should have the thing memorised. Towards the end of October I expect to be automatically playing the exact preflop game laid out in the article, and then I can focus 100% on my postflop game.

Got rather busy at work this month, working late and weekends etc so I havent had as much time as I would like to study. I have however achieved the goals I set for myself for October - I have memorised the preflop play article and have learned a lot. In November I should have time for regular study and play.

The lack of regular poker time in the last month I think afffected my discipline more than anything else, despite knowing better I still find myself doing stupid things like this:

0.05/0.1 No-Limit Hold'em (8 handed)
Hand recorder used for this poker hand: PokerStrategy Elephant 0.60 by www.pokerstrategy.com.

Preflop: Hero is CO with A♠, K♦
3 folds, MP3 raises to $0.40, Hero raises to $1.40, 3 folds, MP3 calls $1.00.

Flop: ($2.95) A♦, 4♣, 7♦ (2 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets $2.10, MP3 raises to $4.20, Hero calls $2.10.

Turn: ($11.35) Q♣ (2 players)
MP3 bets $4.00, Hero calls $4.00.

River: ($19.35) 6♥ (2 players)
MP3 raises $7.61 (All-In), Hero raises to $6.21 (All-In).

Final Pot: $33.17

Results follow (highlight to see):
Hero shows a pair of aces (As Kd)
MP3 shows three of a kind, fours (4s 4d)

MP3 wins with three of a kind, fours (4s 4d)

and this:

0.05/0.1 No-Limit Hold'em (7 handed)
Hand recorder used for this poker hand: PokerStrategy Elephant 0.60 by www.pokerstrategy.com.

Preflop: Hero is CO with T♦, T♣
2 folds, MP3 raises to $0.40, Hero calls $0.40, BU calls $0.40, 2 folds.

Flop: ($1.35) J♦, T♥, A♣ (3 players)
MP3 checks, Hero bets $0.96, BU calls $0.96, MP3 folds.

Turn: ($3.27) 7♠ (2 players)
Hero bets $3.11, BU calls $3.11.

River: ($9.49) Q♠ (2 players)
Hero raises $7.50 (All-In), BU raises to $5.53 (All-In).

Final Pot: $22.52

Results follow (highlight to see):
Hero shows three of a kind, tens (Td Tc)
BU shows a straight, ace high (Kh As)

BU wins with a straight, ace high (Kh As)

Doing stupid things like this has seen my bankroll fall in the last two days from $230 to $195. I dont even bother posting these hands in the forum, I know they are dumb mistakes on this limit.

My main goal for November is to play with complete discipline, and eliminate these silly decisions from my game. I will also spend half an hour to an hour each day studying the bronze and silver BSS articles, and hopefully be playing the ideal ABC poker game by the end of November.

October 2008 stats:

Hands Played: 7700 nl5 & nl10
Profit: $49.36
Other earnings: $25 bonus @ Party
Winrate: 4.51 bb/hh

Current bankroll: $195

My goals for November 2008: (month 2)

> To study, memorise and master all bronze and silver BSS articles
> To play with consistency and discipline
> To review handhistory after every session and search for leaks
> To make mathematically correct decisions every time
> To play 10k hands for the month

Until now it has been study, study, study - and it still didnt feel like I was getting anywhere. A few days ago though I started playing 6 speed tables and just going hell for leather, playing 1k+ hands per day - and suddenly I felt things click into place. At some point you learn more by just doing it rather than re-reading and re-re-reading things over and over, when I found myself with no time to think and analyse every situation it turned out I already knew the material.

My bankroll doesnt reflect the comfort I now feel at nl10 - although it had dropped to about $160, I steadily built it up playing 1k hands/day for the last 5 days to about $215. A few minutes ago it went back to $195 when I shoved $20 in on trips in a 3-way pot and got sucked out by a flush.

For the next week or two I am going to try to play at least 1k hands per day, occasionally browsing articles and videos to make sure I am still on the right path. If I keep it up I should be gold status by the end of the month.

Originally posted by delete461
- I place a curse on the person who gave this thread a thumbs down rating. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your arsehole -

I just gave you a thumbs up for this bit alone, thanks for bringing a smile to my day & good luck. ♦

For the last week or so I have kept playing around 1k hands per day, and have already passed my goal of 10k hands for November. I should easily make gold status in the coming week, so I will try to internalize all the silver articles (havent really started on them yet) then study the gold ones in December.

Uninstalled Elephant and installed Poker Tracker 3 today, still have to figure out how to use it properly.

bankroll: $235
November progress: 10,388 hands
$32.05 winnings at 3.08bb/hh

When the points are updated tomorrow I will be gold staus - not that it makes a lot of difference but still happy to see another milestone tick by.

My bankroll isnt doing too well - back below $200 yet again playing 6 tables 1k hands per day isnt really helping, it got me to gold status but I am struggling to break even at nl10 so I have dropped back to 4 tables and returning my focus to studying. For the rest of this month I will read one article at the beginning of every session, play 4 tables for an hour or two then read the article again.

Next month I may see how many strategypoints I need to maintain my gold status, 6table the bare minimum needed then return to studying once again.

I am playing with much more discipline now than I was at the beginning of the month, not making stupid mistakes such as the ones I pointed out in a previous post. Sticking to 4 tables and getting through silver articles, although having uninstalled Elephant and using PokerTracker now means I cant as easily review each session to search for leaks or post hands in the forum so I am thinking about reinstalling elephant.

Have played 15,500 hands this month and my bankroll has been all over the place but my winrate for the month currently stands at 0.68PTBB (1.36bb)/HH. I keep running into the same players on nl10 over and over, I am starting to think some of them have a lot of solid reads on me.

I have noticed a big difference on PartyPoker between playing on saturday evening and any other time of the week, although it is harder to get onto tables on saturday nights it seems much more profitable than any other day. This week I think I will spend the weeknights focussing on studying and improving then play as many hands as I can on saturday.

Currently dont have a handconverter but a couple of interesting hands today: flopped the nut straight with K10o and shoved my whole stack in to be sucked out by trips turning into a full house. Also hit my first royal flush on the flop, to win 19c.

Hands played : 18,636 @ nl10
winnings: $26.95
winrate: 1.44bb/hh
bonuses/rakeback: $0
Bankroll: $226

education: - I have studied all bronze and silver material, although I dont feel I have yet mastered it. I am however playing with much more discipline and feel like a winning player at nl10. During the month I switched from elephant to PT3 trial version and as such I havent been reviewing my hands played to find leaks as I would like to do. I am now running both PT3 and elephant, elephant to review handhistories and post hands and PT3 for the tables and graphs.

As for my November goals, 3 1/2 out of 5. Have some catching up to do in December, so I am going to give a big push in the study area.

My goals for December 2008: (month 3)

> To review all bronze and silver articles and consolidate what I have learned
> To read gold articles
> To study handhistory of every session and post hands in forum
> To drag my ass out of bed at 4am to attend coachings before work
> To study every NL10 BSS video on this site
> To play an entire month without asking "why the hell did I do that?"
> To purchase Sklansky's Theory of Poker and start reading it
> To organise my accounts so I can shift money between platforms
> To develop a thorough study plan for the year 2009, with a different study theme for each month of the year.

.

I have played about 2k hands this week, with a healthy winrate of ~7bb/hh. Bankroll is now at its highest point yet of $250. I am taking my time trying to think deeply about every move I make, and it is paying off. This approach means I will lose my gold status at the end of the month, but that isnt my greatest concern - I will get it back in January.

I am also making myself stop playing a little earlier and taking the time to look through handhistory at the end of every session, and am finding less and less marginal hands to post in the forum.

Also practicing better table selection, picking tables with the highest number of players/flop instead of taking whatever seats are available at the time.

I have a new approach to studying - I now have a notebook and pen beside me and am going to write notes as I read each article. Then as I play I will keep the notebook open and keep reviewing what I have written as I play. Hopefully this will help me internalise the material more thoroughly. With this method I am going to go right back to the start, go through every bronze and silver BSS article again to make sure I master each little detail.

I have ordered The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky through a local bookshop, will take a few weeks to arrive though so I am aiming to read it in January.