There is no tomorrow. DO IT NOW! (2016 starts on page 10)

I am sorry for the loss of your mother.

Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate.

Good luck, sir.

I'm really sorry for your mother! Be strong and beleive me that it's possible to get back on track with your life, even after such an awful moment. I'm on chemotherapy and I realised one important thing after learning about my diagnosis: that life goes on, you are the only one that can turn things around. I would recommend you to listen to Steve Jobs' Stanford Speech from 2005. You can find it on Youtube.

I will follow your blog, best wishes! ♠_biggrin:

@ steesteestee... thank you. I'm showing and sharing my passion through this blog, so I agree with you.

@ kidzoltan... thank you. In moments like this people around you are very important so I wish you to have the closest friends that will give you needed strength. Be positive! I'm keeping my fingers crossed everything goes well.

Here's my plan for August:

Studying:

Goals:

It seems a bit too much but most of this stuff I already read/ watched so I have my own notes. Working on my game will be more important than reading everything so I will adjust along the way.

Have good August everyone.

How you approach studying matters gave me an idea for improving my own. Thank you!

Sorry for your loss.

GL with the journey, go hard!!

Originally posted by steesteestee
How you approach studying matters gave me an idea for improving my own. Thank you!

First of all you have to understand there are a lot of stuff to learn so first step should be to pick your priorities. I read your blog and I can feel your enthusiasm which is always nice but I've got a feeling you want everything at once. Learning process takes time and you should be thinking in the long run.

Suggestion:
1. make weekly goal:
a) Example -> opening range from positions
open equilab and insert your own opening range (since you're playing NL2 you probably have it in your head and it's not quite defined).
Write it down. Don't worry if it's wrong or incorrect or whatever. That's not important what's important is that you're thinking about it.
When you put your range in equilab go to video section and find all videos from OR section.
Choose 1 or 2 you think will be the best.
Find articles about the topic and do the same.
Whole week think only about this one topic and work on it. Next week choose new one and do it again.

here are few more suggestions I'm going to work in the future:
- 3b (OOP, IP, flatting -> scenarios)
- 4b
- cold calling
- stealing
- cbetting
- barreling (odds, lines, examples)
- donking
- bet sizing
- squeezing
- mental preparation (pre-, during, post- game)

@leshkopoker...thank you. I'm all in

I started my challenge in the second week of July. After that I went on a one week vacation so I was kind of on and off with poker. That's also the reason why I started this blog - to constantly remind myself I need to work harder!

Short summary of July in numbers:

1.8.2014
BR: $733,09

Time to work!

After playing 17,6k hands at NL10 with winrate of 13,5bb/100 I reached 30BI for the next limit. So yesterday was my first NL25 session after a while. Since I played it quite a lot several months ago I'm still feeling comfortable and not intimidated.

My first stack on NL25 was won through the following hand:

Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: $24.40 (97.6 bb)
BB: $55.01 (220 bb)
UTG: $39.12 (156.5 bb)
MP: $25 (100 bb)
CO: $25 (100 bb)
Hero (BTN): $26.69 (106.8 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BTN with 3 3
UTG raises to $0.75, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.75, 2 folds

Flop: ($1.85) 2 3 4 (2 players)
UTG bets $1.25, Hero raises to $2.95, UTG raises to $6.50, Hero raises to $14, UTG raises to $38.37, Hero calls $11.94

Turn: ($53.73) 3 (2 players)
River: ($53.73) 9 (2 players)

Results:

I played 5h yesterday and I must say it's much harder than I thought. With this pace I won't be able to do so much of my planned tasks which is not good. Back to grinding.

I'm really not used having such long sessions. Today I started really well, I prepared myself before starting and set a goal for today - recognizing player types and think actively how to play vs them. 3h later I was visibly tired because I couldn't play "just" 4 tables and then I got two aggro players which made me play like they wanted.

Tomorrow I will read 2 articles about tilt and will set a goal linked with that topic.

Here is the hand of the day... He was 3b me quite a lot and I did 4b him once or twice but mostly I folded. I called this hand preflop with intention of making move postflop. Floating OOP is really bad idea but I called with intention of donking good T and then shoving R. T is really good and when he almost used his timebank I was almost sure to shove R. He was thinking and thinking and in the end 5 seconds before timebank he called.

236 hands 26/23/29 wtsd/ 9,9 3b (20bb vs SB, mostly me)/ 3,8 af (5/4/2)

Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

Hero (SB): $27.36 (109.4 bb)
BB: $31.12 (124.5 bb)
UTG: $26.20 (104.8 bb)
MP: $25.15 (100.6 bb)
CO: $28.08 (112.3 bb)
BTN: $22.03 (88.1 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q T
4 folds, Hero raises to $0.60, BB raises to $2.25, Hero calls $1.65

Flop: ($4.50) 9 K 4 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $3, Hero calls $3

Turn: ($10.50) K (2 players)
Hero bets $6, BB calls $6

River: ($22.50) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $16.11 and is all-in, BB calls $16.11

Results:

Tomorrow is new day

Just dropping by to say You have my full support as always!
You are the first person who came up and offered to help me when I started my blog here on PS, and only due to my non poker issues are we still on rain checks, but never the less I will be following Your progress and hopefully (meh, certainly ♠_cool: ) will see You on higher stakes soon!!!

GL @ the tables

It seems to me that you can get very far in poker!

I'm not a 6max player so maybe you should listen to me but the QTss hand I don't think it makes too much sense to donk ott. In general I don't think you can get better hands fold and worse won't call, check calling again looks like a fine option to me w/o reads because you beat most bluffs and opponent is probably going to bet all his kings on the river anyways if spade comes and spade might look like a good bluffing card for him also if he happens to be on a bluff.

To my knowledge you should only donk when your range improves more than your opponents but I think here he has way more kings than you will.

hi yaxkukmian,

Nice progress, and nice short and long term goals,

I'm in for the journey,

Best of luck,
Fran

Originally posted by yaxkukmian
@ steesteestee... thank you. I'm showing and sharing my passion through this blog, so I agree with you.

@ kidzoltan... thank you. In moments like this people around you are very important so I wish you to have the closest friends that will give you needed strength. Be positive! I'm keeping my fingers crossed everything goes well.

Here's my plan for August:

Studying:

Goals:

It seems a bit too much but most of this stuff I already read/ watched so I have my own notes. Working on my game will be more important than reading everything so I will adjust along the way.

Have good August everyone.

Very good, self-discipline and an organized plan is very productive !

Where does one downloads such beautiful charts and stuff ?

Good luck in your journey

@nmilan84...tnx for your support. I've seen you're also back in the game so sooner or later we will have to have that sweat session.

Originally posted by muumionu
It seems to me that you can get very far in poker!

I'm not a 6max player so maybe you should listen to me but the QTss hand I don't think it makes too much sense to donk ott. In general I don't think you can get better hands fold and worse won't call, check calling again looks like a fine option to me w/o reads because you beat most bluffs and opponent is probably going to bet all his kings on the river anyways if spade comes and spade might look like a good bluffing card for him also if he happens to be on a bluff.

To my knowledge you should only donk when your range improves more than your opponents but I think here he has way more kings than you will.

Like I mentioned my justification for choosing this line. He was 3b me a lot so I thought his cbet after that doesn't mean much. I was trying to be creative and I didn't want to xc T and xf R. Thanks for your comment will have that in mind. I'm building my br so in the future I'm might contact you for hu

@Frankie... thanks for dropping by and the positive input.

@SneakyhanD... I created this myself in excel file. It's best to create something yourself, although it might be not so practical you at least know what you put in and what you can expect. Thanks for kind words.

Playing vs 50% open range -> SB vs BTN play

50% range = #662 combos

3B value range = #56 (4,2%)

3B bluff range = #102 (10,3%)

Cold Call range = #72 (5,4%)

Maybe I could widen up my range a bit but since SB is the worse position postflop it's better to start from solid foundation.

Let's see how it works in practice! Good luck everyone

Was playing my session where fish lost his BI on one of my tables and the winner of the hand started this conversation:

W: stop calling when its obvious ur beat
W: it makes me money
Fish: im in tilt
W: stop playing then

Fish left soon after that and I was like where is candid camera??

Question I have for you:

a) should I turn chat off and make sure this kind of thing won't happen to me in the future?

b) leave chat on and train my mental strength?

c) Mark winner of the hand and bum hunt him?

I still can't believe this just happened

Finished first session, will play one shorter soon and then I will enjoy the rest of the evening.

Originally posted by yaxkukmian
Was playing my session where fish lost his BI on one of my tables and the winner of the hand started this conversation:

W: stop calling when its obvious ur beat
W: it makes me money
Fish: im in tilt
W: stop playing then

Question I have for you:

a) should I turn chat off and make sure this kind of thing won't happen to me in the future?

b) leave chat on and train my mental strength?

c) Mark winner of the hand and bum hunt him?

I am trying to ask myself the "why" question. Why is the winner engaging in this discussion? Seems to me that the winner is somewhat tilting as well (even if it is a winner's tilt). I would suggest that the player is somewhat emotional. I would use it as my advantage.

Although switching off the chat is sometimes a tempting thing to do ("I can concentrate on a pure poker game") but this way you may miss out some important qualitative info, e.g. how some players behave.

Originally posted by faronel
I am trying to ask myself the "why" question. Why is the winner engaging in this discussion? Seems to me that the winner is somewhat tilting as well (even if it is a winner's tilt). I would suggest that the player is somewhat emotional. I would use it as my advantage.

I would think he has some kind of complex or some frustration which he is trying to overcome through "teaching" worse players than him. This way he was able to show his "knowledge" and prove to himself that it's only the question of time when he crushes higher limits. Although table broke quite fast after that and I wasn't able to confirm my "theory"

Originally posted by faronelAlthough switching off the chat is sometimes a tempting thing to do ("I can concentrate on a pure poker game") but this way you may miss out some important qualitative info, e.g. how some players behave.

For now I still left it on. As you mentioned we can benefit some basic info through comments and in some situations they can be useful.

COMBOS

I've been reading about combos and I'm surprised again and again how much I suck at it. This is super important for hand reading so I'm just digging in and starting from the scratch.

PP = $6
Suited hand = #4
Offsuited hand = #12

Card removal => NOT AVAILABLE FOR COMBOS (community cards + our cards)

Basically I'm still on that level "he might have AJo or KJs" and in my mind while playing this are almost equal ranges. In practice this are totally different ranges and although I know it's #12 vs #4 I don't include card removals which is like one of the most important things when hand reading.

Homework for today:
do 5 basic calculations - preflop + flop + turn + your hand vs villain's range

Hi,

i am sorry for your loss and wishing you good luck with your goals and will be follow this

Thanks ropas

Homework:
1. I've done TP vs 2 overcards

It's good to know this equity especially when facing donks. We have less than 30% equity. But in case we suited flop our equity goes to 54% so this means we should play it much more aggressive. Have in mind even if we miss T we still have 34% equity in second case.

2. TPTK vs FD (with undercards)

It's useful to have this in mind. Bet big on flop and then 1/2 T is enough since opponent's equity falls to 20% if blank T comes. I've been betting big F and T although big bet is not a must on the T. We should always have in mind who're we facing so if it's a calling fish our bet sizes should be different than against bad reg.

3. TPTK vs OESD

It is something similar to FD.

4. 2nd pair vs FD

This is practical example since we do hit our 2nd pair and we tend to play them passively. In chosen example we are in tricky spot but if we think most of his range are FD then his equity drops to 20% on blank T.

5. Overpair vs FD+OESD

I'm going broke all the time vs unknowns but I was surpised how much equity villain has with this monster draws.

All this exercises were done just for feeling because when we play we don't give our opp just hand or two but hand range and that's why equity is more dynamic. But with time we should have more info about villain so we should know if he plays his pair hands slowly and his drawing hands more aggressive or vice versa.

Will have to work on particular lines. Constructing ranges while playing.

Homework:
- analyze 3 hands where you have 300+ hands on opponent

It's been a while since I posted here. Don't worry my journey hasn't finished, today was my first whole day back and thanks to Aleen86's excel file and his hints I was able to finally construct my preflop ranges and was able to play by my chart. I must say it's much easier but I should play 4 tables instead of 6-8 because I feel I'm being exploited by regs when I play more tables since I fold too much.

On Thursday family members came so I spent the weekeng with my close ones - we honoured mother's one year. It was touching and hard talking with her father and her sister... They say life goes but not for parents. I won't go into details since primary goal of this blog is to concentrate on poker related stuff. However I will use this moment to remind everyone not to worry about everything and think only about problems and what you don't have. Think positive and share good things with people around you. Write down things you're grateful for, what makes you laugh and gives you that good feeling. That way you'll be able to share it with others.

"Children will not remember you for the material things you provided but for the feeling that you cherished them."
Richard Evans

Keep your head high