Let's become better poker players

This is my graph of November. It's not bad, but I choose my tables carefully.

I would like to post my stats too, but I am trying to change my style recently, so they are not accurate. They are something like 19/16/7.

I would like to openraise something like this:

EP 12,5%
66+, ATs+, A5s-A2s, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, T9s, 98s, AJo+, KQo

MP 16,4%
66+, A2s+, KTs+, QTs+, JTs, T9s, 98s, ATo+, KJo+, JTo

CO 26,4%
22+, A2s+, K2s+, Q8s+, J8s+, T8s+, 98s, 87s, 76s, A9o+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo

BU 56,2%
22+, A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J2s+, T2s+, 96s+, 86s+, 75s+, 64s+, 54s, A2o+, K5o+, Q7o+, J7o+, T7o+, 97o+, 87o

or

BU ver2 45,7%
22+, A2s+, K2s+, Q6s+, J6s+, T6s+, 96s+, 86s+, 75s+, 64s+, 54s, A2o+, K7o+, Q8o+, J8o+, T8o+, 98o

SB 30,9%
66+, A2s+, K7s+, Q7s+, J7s+, T7s+, 96s+, 85s+, 75s+, 64s+, 54s, A9o+, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o, 98o

What do you think? Maybe I should play tighter at BU and SB.

Think you're opening too much offsuited hands, and you should add more suited and connected hands, because they give you an opportunity to bluff with more equity postflop. E.g. 74s>J3s>J7o.
And you need to steel more from SB, CO - at this level noone is defending enough.

Thank you for your advice. This is my long-term plan:

EP 13,3%
55+, ATs+, KTs+, QTs+, J9s+, T8s+, 97s+, 87s, 76s, AJo+, KQo

MP 17,0%
22+, ATs+, A2s-A5s, KTs+, QTs+, 65s+, J9s, T8s, 97s, AJo+, KJo+

CO 32,4%
22+, A2s+, K7s+, Q8s+, J7s+, T7s+, 96s+, 85s+, 75s+, 64s+, 54s, A9o+, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o,98o

BU 62,3%
22+, A2s+, K2s+, Q2s+, J3s+, T3s+, 94s+, 84s+, 73s+, 63s+, 53s+, 43s, A2o+, K5o+, Q7o+, J7o+, T6o+, 96o+, 86o+, 76o, 65o

SB 30,9%
66+, A2s+, K7s+, Q7s+, J7s+, T7s+, 96s+, 85s+, 75s+, 64s+, 54s, A9o+, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+, T9o, 98o

But I am not good at postflop, and I find myself in unpleasant situations, when I play lose. I feel like my opponents do not like to fold, and I am burning money with bluffes.

Originally posted by GrimTheCat
My mental side is weak too. I feel invincible after a good day, but I am lethargic during bad-series. Sadly, I am a tilt minden too.

Huh, it's hard to be a good poker player.

Hey GrimTheCat!

Welcome to the Bootcamp! Yeah it's really hard to be a good player!

I'll be on the coaching staff working on mindset, tilt, and a-game related issues. But also to set solid good goals for 2014.

Could you tell me some more about you tilt and mindset issues? What do you feel is you r biggest leak and what do you think you should be focusing on improving the most?

Cheers!

Hi GrimTheCat,

I'll be helping you out in this Boot Camp with topics like procrastination, motivation, laziness, productivity, focus while playing, putting in more volume/studying, creating habits that stick, etc.

Could you please tell me:

1) What is your #1 issue in those areas
2) What did you try so far to resolve it?
3) What worked and what didn't?

Thank you,

-Primoz

Hey,

My last results:

to introduce my problems I'll tell you my story of my last Friday. I'm sorry, it's long, and maybe its boring and irritating. but I wrote honestly what went through my head. Oh and sorry, my english isn't so good.

one day before the session:

I was pretty frustrated. I lost ~20 bi in the past few days. I felt that I could not win a single big pot. I was talking with my friends from poker in our skype group, they advised to me to play a lot and do not see the result, just do my best. sounds simple enough, but for me It was not. poker provides my living, and I feel, my life is very stressed and depressed now.

session 1:

it was pretty boring eventless session. I wanted to concentrate on my game. play a lot, play well. I won some bi, I lose some bi. At the end, I was +4, but i lost a big KK v AA pot, and many small pot. I reached the 0, and that point I quickly finished the session. Maaaan, I had $200, but now I have 0. if I continue this, it will only be a minus again. but it was not so bad, I didnt lost anything, and I played a lot. I rested a 1-2 hour, played video games and chated with my friends.

session 2:

the beggining wasn't that good, but I started to win pots. I played very tight, but they paid my good hands. I was very happy. I only lost in the past few days, and now I have +8bi, and more then the half of my loses come back. my friends were right. I should just play more and the results will come. It was late. I had a private workout in the next morging. I knowed I need to sleep, so I went to bed, but I was very excited and I couldn't sleep. half hour passed in my bed, I got up, and I started to play again.

session 3:

I started to play loser. I felt that I play good. There wasn't any big pot at the beggining, but then I lost a 60-40 flop allin vs an anoying reg. At least I was in the good side, and I was glad it.

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$0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players

Hero (SB): $57.73 (115.5 bb)
CO: $61.41 (122.8 bb) some fish
BB: $74.38 (148.8 bb)
MP: $43.95 (87.9 bb)
BTN: $50 (100 bb) some tight reg

Preflop: Hero is SB with J 3
MP calls $0.50, CO calls $0.50, BTN raises to $2.50, Hero raises to $9, 2 folds, CO calls $8.50, BTN folds

Oh god, I shoudn't skype during the session. And I'm tired too. I hit the wrong buttin in the wrong time, and Tableninja raised a big... I'm such a dupe...

Flop: ($21.50) 6 9 9 (2 players)
Hero bets $11, CO raises to $52.41 and is all-in, Hero folds

of course he had nuts, he called ~20bb preflop. duuuuummmmb....

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then I lost 20bb with a 0 eq bluff on a XXYr doubled board vs a fish. I shouldn't reraise with air, but maybe its ok. I saw this in a video too. nevertheless, I started to feel bad. I shouldn't to stat play. I should sleep. but I wanted to win my money back. okay, no silly bluffs, just let's play tight and win our money back.

half hour passed and I didn't get any good situation. I was breakeven. then... coup de grace

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$0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players

SB: $36.01 (72 bb)
MP: $53.37 (106.7 bb)
Hero (BTN): $50.44 (100.9 bb)
BB: $67.69 (135.4 bb)
CO: $50.75 (101.5 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with 9 9
MP raises to $1.50, CO folds, Hero calls $1.50, 2 folds

Flop: ($3.75) K Q K (2 players)
MP bets $2.67, Hero calls $2.67

Turn: ($9.09) 4 (2 players)
MP checks, Hero bets $5, MP raises to $15.50,

okaaaay, lets see line analyezer of notecaddy. at the turn he raised 6 times with draws and 0 times with value... oh, cool, he must bluff this time too. he shouldnt raise with Qx or better PP here, and there is only a few Kx in his range. Lets reraise! I'm so clever.

Hero raises to $46.27, MP calls $30.77 what? noooooooooo

River: ($101.63) 4 (2 players)

Results: $101.63 pot ($3.00 rake)
MP showed Q Q and won $98.63 ($48.19 net)
Hero mucked 9 9 and lost (-$50.44 net)

fuuuuuuuuuuuu, fu****, what??? QQ, fu** this s**t. aaaaarrrggg. why QQ? he is so lucky... easy for you, u had the nuts... meh.

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because of this something broke in me. I started to tilt mentally. I cursed myself... Why did I start to play? I said I'll not wp out my money... Why should I bluff there... How can I be this stupid. I should sleep, but I have to win back my money... It was a good day, why did I do this...

relatively breakeven series... really tight game and selfhate. :'D
I feel tired. I feel depressed. Then....

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$0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 5 Players

Hero (SB): $61.78 (123.6 bb)
MP: $66.41 (132.8 bb)
BB: $114.47 (228.9 bb)
CO: $50 (100 bb)
BTN: $106.03 (212.1 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with K K
2 folds, BTN raises to $1.50, Hero raises to $5, BB folds, BTN calls $3.50

Flop: ($10.50) 8 J A (2 players)
Hero bets $5, BTN calls $5

of course Ace on the flop... why not?

Turn: ($20.50) 2 (2 players)

oh man... I should bet bigger at the flop. okay, he must have a weak Ace, or a draw, or maybe AQ. Or did he float me with something weaker? oh yes, he likes to float in 3bpots ip. I'm stupid, why didnt check his fold to cbet stats in time. doesn't matter, lets bet big.

Hero bets $14, BTN calls $14

River: ($48.50) T (2 players)

did he called? he should have AQ. Yes, he should have AQ or some AdXd, and he will fold it if i go allin now. AJ,JJ,88 would reraise me at turn (didnt check his raise turn cbet frequency, I just had tunnel vision), he is capped, he is weak.

Hero bets $37.78 and is all-in, BTN calls $37.78

Results: $124.06 pot ($3 rake)
Hero showed K K and lost (-$61.78 net)
BTN showed Q A and won $121.06 ($59.28 net)

AQ???? did you call with that? we were deep? how could you do that? why did I do this? of course he called, my line looked like bluff. He could have 88,JJ,AJ,KQ,AdTd too. my whole concept was stupid. I should xf at flop...

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I am an idiot... I lost nearly the whole. I've had enough. I "alt+f4" out from poker client and holdem manager. I was crushed and I cursed myself.

After the session:
I tried for hours but I slept nothing. I was depressed, angry for myself, and disappointed. I got up from the bed and play some rpg game for 4-5 hour until the morning.

After that I went to work out. I was tired, I ate only a little breakfast. I strained myself(i fu**ed up poker, now I have to work out hard at least) , and I fell down pretty quickly. my coach was furious. He said that, I shouldn't train If I feel tired. He asked what is wrong with me. I said it's my work (he didn't know I play poker). He said that, I look like an alcoholic, and I shouldn't overworked myself. He was right.

This wasn't my best day of my life, but well... it was not nearly the worst. I want to learn from it. but I always feel that I do the same mistakes over and over again.

I ll post again soon... And I'll answer the questions too.

Awesome job on giving such a detailed description of the session.

What are the most important key points you learned or new insights that you feel you should learn from this experience?

lack of control

I feel this is a major cause of the problems. I often lose my temper when things do not go as I planned. especially when I uptight because of things outside of poker.

because of, this poker is quite difficult for me. there are many unpredictable factors, variance, injustice. I used to feel bad if worse player(in my opinion) performing much better than me.

of course, they say long term. but what is long term? 500k hand? that's a very long road with many pitfall. despite of I feel that I'm playing well, maybe I'll lose for months.

sometimes I feel that, in these cases, there is no reward for good game.

other things:

compulsion to conform

compulsion to fulfillment

tendency for depression

Originally posted by ErikStenqvist
Awesome job on giving such a detailed description of the session.

What are the most important key points you learned or new insights that you feel you should learn from this experience?

I think the biggest lesson is that if you do not feel right you should not force yourself to play. especially when there isn't any reason to do it.

because poker is still pretty big impact on my emotional state I shouldn't play poker just before going to bed or important events.

I have to pay more attention to my lifestyle too. I have to eat regularly and I need to rest too.

in long term I shouldn't overworked myself because that greatly reduces the my efficiency too. I have to find the correct balance.

In a coaching few days ago a coach mentioned that every football pro is keeping a journal/diary nowadays recording feelings, own thoughts and self reflection about training progress. This just helps optimizing procedures, methods, mindset and so on.

He noted that maybe it would be useful for poker players too.

Youre detailed description of the session goes into that direction. Perhaps you should try this out for a longer period of time.

Ok I like all your insights from the session and you also see the correlation between what you bring from outside poker onto the tables. So can you give me some specific things you feel you should be adding into your daily or poker routine to assist you in dealing with these issues?

Thanks for the suggestions.

I started a diary to record and analyze my thoughts, mental and efficiency performance.

I noticed that when I play on more tables than I can comfortably handle, then
my performance is drastically reduced. I start to missclick and I dont examine situations quite well. this leads to nervousness, which worsen the situation even more.

the effects of fatigue and anxiety of the real-world are similar.

if I feel utterly lose control, I have to have a few minutes break to clear my mind... deep breath, face wash, eating a banana or some candy...

I'm thinking of that I should drink green tea regularly to help focus during longer sessions. I should increase my dose of b6 and magnesium too.

I would like to try ginseng extract too.

What do you recommend, what should I do?

I started reading this:

I'll start watching the Psychology videos from here too. What do you recommend for me? There are a lots of them.