Evolution of a poker player

This is my graph since Nov 27th when I first got HEM2 set up and tracking me. Not that great.

6 of these were $7 buy ins which I shouldn't be playing in yet so from now on I am going to stick to the 3.50s and 1.50s until I build up more bankroll. I know this is a very small sample and I was running a little bad but even luck adjusted line is below 0. There was definitely some lets say sub-optimal play that is attributing as well.

Still sorting out some issues with holdem manager but once they are sorted out I will post some hands.

My goals for this month are:
Play 30 SnGs a day
Make enough to buy the full verson of SnGwiz 2 instead of using the free trial (which will last me the rest of this month)
Work on heads up game ( I feel this is probably where I need the most work)
Work on mastering push/fold ranges for middle/late stages of SnG

I know it has been awhile since my last post. I am not much of a blogger. Also I felt like I needed a little bigger of a sample size of games before starting to post. My graph has continued to drop since my last post but for now it seems to have bottomed out and is on the way back up. I am still feeling positive despite my graph and not focusing purely on my results. I am still running about $60 below EV (EV isn't spectacular either) I need to try and get my money in better, although I think a certain percentage of my EV being below 0 is making profitable shoves but running into the top of peoples ranges but for the time being I am at least headed in the right direction.

My 30 SnGs a day goal has failed. I decided to play much smaller volume to minimize any losses due to poor play while I am still getting used to the different software and learning about SnG strategies. I.E. quality>quantity. I think this is the most effective (and least costly) way of doing things right now so I am sticking to only playing 4 tables at a time which is very comfortable for me to do and still make optimal decisions. I will add tables as my game improves.

I have however made enough money this month (from live poker) to purchase the full version of SnG wiz which I plan to do in about a week when the free trial runs out. I also have been doing well at the live cash tables so I decided to get a little frivolous and buy a nice Christmas present for myself... after everyone else's were bought of course

I have been spending quite a bit of time reviewing marked hands. Most of these hands are push/fold situations and I can tell I have made some improvement in this area becoming more familiar with NASH. As a result this has improved my heads up game a little and I have been getting a few more 1st places recently. I have also had a few sessions with a SnG coach and we have spent a little time on heads up but not much as of yet. Obviously there is some mistakes I am making but for the most part he says I am making good decisions and can see improvement in my mid to late stage game. I am going to continue with coaching after Christmas.

Unfortunately my hands can not be tracked by pokerstrategy and I have made my way through all the sit n go learning material for bronze members. Once I start to move up stakes I am going to consider just buying silver status. I have been using sng wiz to review marked hands and exporting them from there to see what the nash ranges are, I have been using equilab for this as well and using ICM trainer to practice further. I think that marking hands while playing then using SnG wiz to review and export to NASH to further review is very important and useful but I am wanting to do more. Besides the material I don't yet have access to on this site I am curious to hear recommendations about things I can do to help improve as a SnG player including different software that could help. What I really need is a person and or group to do some regular or at least semi regular sweat sessions and/or just to review hands with over skype so if anyone who is reading this is interested in such an arrangement please don't hesitate to let me know.

Also there was a couple hands from today that I wasn't sure if I played them correctly so if anyone wants to comment on them and tell me what I did wrong/right that'd be awesome. Don't worry (I am sure you aren't anyways) I am open to "constructive criticism"

Poker Stars, $3.16 Buy-in (75/150 blinds) No Limit Hold'em Tournament, 7 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: 2,007 (13.4 bb)
BB: 1,365 (9.1 bb)
MP1: 1,266 (8.4 bb)
Hero (MP2): 2,425 (16.2 bb)
MP3: 1,945 (13 bb)
CO: 2,201 (14.7 bb)
BTN: 2,291 (15.3 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 8 8
MP1 folds, Hero raises to 300, MP3 raises to 1,945 and is all-in, 5 folds

Results: 825 pot
MP3 mucked and won 825 (525 net)

What do you think is the best way to play this kind of hand in this kind of spot? Should I have just folded this hand? or called the all in? Any insight appreciated! Had 104 hands in the DB for this player. 19/17 (vpip/pfr) 3 bets 6% of hands, is passive in the blinds and folds to 3 bet 100% of the time. I think he would play AK maybe AQ this way or MAYBE 66 or 77 but any non paired hand weaker than AQ I thought that he might just flat with which only left bigger pairs which is why I folded. I am not happy with the way I played this at all. I think I should have called the all in or folded pre.

If you read this far than you might as well leave some comments ♦

Oh yeah and merry Christmas!

Hi sooley,

Glad to see you started a blog. (I'm always happy to see another SnG player and especially one from Canada!)

The first hand with 88 - I don't mind the min-raise depending on the players left to act. I don't think it is quite strong enough to shove... (probably TT+,ATs+,AQo+ is as wide as I'm pushing there). I would probably call with TT+,AK given the info you provided on him.

For the KJs hand - The CO should be shoving reasonably wide here (like 25%), so it's hard to know what a min-raise really means without more history - either a bad player or trapping. If this player has been a bit loose, a flat-call would be a good option with your hand. If they've been a bit tighter I'd probably fold since you will be playing out-of-position and any hand that you hit also hits your opponents range and it will be hard to know where you stand.

Merry Christmas to you too - and good luck at the tables.