From the Fishbowl to the Sharktank

Welcome to blogging mrd!

A nice introduction there, seems like you've got a sensible head on you too which is ideal for making yourself a productive poker player

Don't worry so much about not understanding stats/terms or anything alike, people will help you understand areas you're not completely sure about.
Everyone's here to learn and knows we're not all at the same level.

I'm sure you'll be swimming around eating them sharks in no time!

Thanks Matt, I probably wouldn't have started this yet if it wasn't for the push from you.

Not a great first day, lost 1 buy in. Been tryin to post a graph, but can't get it sorted for some reason, there's a thread about what you need to do which I followed, but still doesn't work, probably me bein stupid, I'll figure it out at some stage.

I reviewed my session for the 1st time, found it very helpful, hands that I felt I was unlucky in at the time, when I went back, I was able to see I could've prevented what happened. So I'll definately continue with that.

There was nothing I could do about this hand tho

PokerStars - $0.02 NL (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: $1.49 (VPIP: 20.38, PFR: 16.61, 3Bet Preflop: 3.03, Hands: 335)
Hero (BTN): $2.31
SB: $2.05 (VPIP: 11.69, PFR: 5.19, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 78)
BB: $1.60 (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: -, Hands: 2)
UTG: $0.60 (VPIP: 38.46, PFR: 19.23, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 27)

SB posts SB $0.01, BB posts BB $0.02

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.03) Hero has A♣ A♦

UTG raises to $0.04, fold, Hero raises to $0.12, fold, BB raises to $1.60 and is all-in, fold, Hero calls $1.48

Flop: ($3.25, 2 players) Q♦ T♣ 3♠

Turn: ($3.25, 2 players) 2♥

River: ($3.25, 2 players) 5♠

Needless to say, the guy who did that lasted another 10 hands or so before he got cleaned out. Unfortunately it wasn't by me.

I won't get a chance to play at all today, I'll be playin a live game tonight with my brother and some friends tho, so I'll let you know how that goes.

Hopefully get a session in tomorrow tho, and start to get things moving in the right direction.

Heh, hopefully you'll keep with it!

What software are you using? If it's HM2 then I should be able to give you a hand.

A lot of players often underestimate the value of session reviews, it's amazing how many hands you watch back and think "What the hell did I do that for? Stupid Fish I am!" ♦ Well, for myself at least...

I hope you tagged the fish, I'd be following him to every table

It's a regular live game you play or just a one off? Either way, hope you ship some nice pots

Originally posted by ThatGuyMatt
Heh, hopefully you'll keep with it!

What software are you using? If it's HM2 then I should be able to give you a hand.

A lot of players often underestimate the value of session reviews, it's amazing how many hands you watch back and think "What the hell did I do that for? Stupid Fish I am!" ♦ Well, for myself at least...

I hope you tagged the fish, I'd be following him to every table

It's a regular live game you play or just a one off? Either way, hope you ship some nice pots

I'm on pokertracker 4, I can get the graph on to imageshack but I can't seem to format it correctly when I'm trying to post it.

Yea it's crazy how effective a session review is, that's probably the biggest thing I've learnt.

Yes, he has made it on to my naughty list, I'll get him in the long grass.

We try and play once a month, SNG format, £15 buy in, I won last night, so made a profit of £55, not bad for a nights work

Had a much better online session today than last time

Lost 1 of the buyins on a zoom table doing Pokerstars daily challenge and won 70 cents in a freeroll. Balance is now at $38.90, so definately moving in the right direction. Can anyone tell me what importance the yellow line in the graph has?

I'm back to work tomorrow, so the next few days I will be mainly focussing on strategy, I think mainly ranges and equity, two things I should definately think more about while I'm playing. I still hope to get a session in in the evening after I finish, but will probably only be for around an hour or so each time.

Either way, that's me for the minute, I'll be back in the next few days with another update

Hey mrd213,

I have fixed your graph up for you.

When posting image, you need to use the 'Insert Image' function rather than 'Insert Link'

Cheers

Laz

I knew it was something simple I was doing wrong.

Cheers for sorting it Lazza, much appreciated!

Haven't been able to dedicate too much time to the world of poker over the last few days due to work and the likes. Off for a few days now tho, so lookin forward to makin up for that.

Here's my graph from 05/01/13 to 08/01/13

I would've liked more volume, but I was so tired after work that I felt my concentration goin after about an hour or so each night, so had to stop. Couldn't play on Tuesday at all because I was so tired. Happy with the direction I'm movin in tho, still think I could be movin faster, but best not to try and force it, I'll just keep doin what I'm doin and should hopefully have $125 bankroll to move to NL5 by the end of the month (currently $50.04).

Regarding learning, I'm still trying to implement thinking about ranges and equity into my play, but to be honest, I face so many new players every session on NL2, I don't have huge amounts of data on anyone to put them on a range with any great accuracy. I mainly just note how they play and adjust accordingly which seems to be working. I know ranges are important but should I not worry too much about them until I'm higher up the limits?

Anyway, that's it for now, back to the tables, will keep you updated tho.

Right, time for an update. Not a great few days, here's my graph from 09/01/13 to today

Some serious downswings, mainly down to continuing playing when my head wasn't in it and doin stupid things like tryin to bluff the unbluffable and anything else you can think of. Need to make sure I stop that or it could become an expensive habit. Not going to play any more today as I need a break, I'm back to work tonight too, so I'll probably focus more on study and review over the next few days with shorter playing sessions and try and get things back on track.

Hopefully things will be looking better at my next update.

GL

Thanks Pitabread, I checked out your blog, very interesting, I'll be following your progress, hope it goes well.

Looks like you're doing ok so far What particular articles/videos are using to study atm?

Hope your progress goes well too

Originally posted by ThatGuyMatt
Looks like you're doing ok so far What particular articles/videos are using to study atm?

Yea I suppose I'm doing ok, should be doing alot better tho, I've been making silly mistakes over the last few days, raising people who I know have hit their draw in some strange attempt to get them to fold, and then callin when they reraise me

I've been reading the articles about ranges and equity, as I said in a previous post, I struggle to put anyone on a range with any accuracy because of the limited data I have on them, but I would like to think in terms of ranges more while playing. Is there any particular articles you would recommend reading?

Not a great week again, can't really seem to get out of this downswing

Might look in to getting some coaching and see if there's any leaks that I'm not picking up on (probably loads). Also going to invest in some poker books, does anyone have any recommendations?

Other than that, all I can do is keep tryin to think in ranges and keep reviewing my sessions (something that I haven't been doing as much as I should have) and hopefully turn things round this week. I might cut back to 4 tables from 6 for a while to see if that makes any difference aswell. Pretty much willing to try anything to get back to winning ways.

If anyone has any advice in these troubling times I would love to hear it.

Time for an overdue update, here's my graph from 21/01/14 to today;

Things are goin a bit better than what they were, still could be doin better tho, but slow and steady wins the race I suppose. I'm alot happier with my decisions and am getting more and more accurate with putting people on hands, don't think I'll be reachin my goal of NL5 by the end of the month tho, but I'll get there (i think). Won't be able to play too much over the next week or so due to some personal stuff, but will hopefully still be able to get plenty of study in (that's the plan anyway).

On a side note, I've been playing twister poker on William Hill as I'm tracked there and need to get my strategy points up to remain silver (i've left it a bit later than what I should have). I don't mind it, I wouldn't fancy playin it all the time, but it's good for a bit of a change. Anyone else have any thoughts on it?

Here's a hand from earlier;

iPoker - $0.67+$0.07+$0.26|<> NL (6 max) - Holdem - 3 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (SB): 765
BB: 603 (VPIP: 66.67, PFR: 6.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 17)
BTN: 132 (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 8.82, 3Bet Preflop: 8.33, Hands: 37)

3 players post ante of 8, Hero posts SB 40, BB posts BB 80

Pre Flop: (pot: 144) Hero has K♠ Q♠

BTN raises to 124, Hero calls 84, BB calls 44

Flop: (396, 3 players) 3♠ J♠ T♠
Hero bets 278, BB calls 278

Turn: (952, 3 players) 8♦
Hero bets 355, BB calls 193

River: (1,338, 3 players) A♠

In all my years of playin poker, that is the very first time I ever hit a royal flush. Since I probably won't see one again for another 10 years or so, I felt it only right that I share this beautiful moment with you all. Just a pity it only won me $6, but it's better than a kick in the balls I suppose ♦

Just a quick post with my graph for January

Could've been better, could've been worse, I know what I have to do to improve, let's see how February goes.