dadude is ZOOOOOOMING NL50!

I like your blog so far, good read.

Might I suggest however, once you clear your bonus on Full Tilt, be a bonus whore, and sign
up for another site through PokerStrategy. Cake poker has %33 rakeback, and also has a
hefty first deposit. You can make a decent amount of cash clearing the bonuses consecutively.

Good Luck!

Originally posted by 8979687
I like your blog so far, good read.

Glad you enjoyed it, hope you visit to see my progress later on!

Originally posted by 8979687
Might I suggest however, once you clear your bonus on Full Tilt, be a bonus whore, and sign
up for another site through PokerStrategy!

But cake poker doesn't have many players/tables does it? I just saw on their site once around 3,000 people. And I have heard once you get to the NL100-200 area if you play enough to be able to reach supernova it is essentially the same as rakeback. I was using a BRM article from flopturnriver which mentions switching to full tilt for the $600 bonus/rakeback. Also I will be going to America this summer for university, so I will not be able to play at so many sites, although i will still have my moneybookers account and european bank account so maybe i could make something work.

Also a reason I'm playing Sit and Go's now is because I have a mac so no poker tracking software or elephant. BUT I have bootcamp on my mac, and ordered a copy of windows xp that should be here later this week or next. So might play some SSS to help me get to the $150 mark, we'll see!

Just played a little while watching a comedian with a friend. He went to sleep and had to keep myself up while finishing my set of SnG's so instead of chill relaxing music i usually listen to while playing, had to tone it up a notch.

"Gave Bill Gates some binoculars and said LOOK OUT FOR ME!"

haha i thought it was quite suiting!

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em, $1.00+$0.20 Tournament, 25/50 Blinds (7 handed) - Poker-Stars Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Hero (Button) (t2020)
SB (t1440)
BB (t1415)
UTG (t1350)
MP1 (t3660)
MP2 (t2685)
CO (t930)

Hero's M: 26.93

Preflop: Hero is Button with A, J
1 fold, MP1 raises to t150, MP2 calls t150, 1 fold, Hero raises to t450, 2 folds, MP1 calls t300, MP2 calls t300

Flop: (t1425) 4, J, 6 (3 players)
MP1 checks, MP2 bets t350, Hero raises to t1570 (All-In), 1 fold, MP2 calls t1220

Turn: (t4565) 8 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t4565) K (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: t4565

Results:
Hero had A, J (one pair, Jacks).
MP2 had 4, 2 (one pair, fours).
Outcome: Hero won t4565

Well good thing he went to sleep first.
From what I read in your first post, falling asleep with your friend in the room is -EV.

ouch about your friend....

good luck in the SnG s

Today I had the flu, so not much to do but lay in bed, soup and poker :).. I slept alot last night so wasn't tired and couldn't sleep, so basically what I did today.

I'm up about $20 today, and in one of my sets I had the most ridiculous dealing too me. I wrote it down just so I could put it in this blog ♦... within prob the first 100-150 hands on all the tables I had

AA-4
QQ-2
JJ-5
TT-2
other low PP-9
AK-3
AQ-1
AJ-4

I flopped sets 6 times. It was ridiculous!
It was kinda disgusting how good of cards i was getting!
With this though I was getting a little cocky and overconfident, feeling i couldnt lose, and stuck with some easy laydowns which was too bad. Trips to flush things like this. So unfortunately only made about $2 off this set, but was still amazing :)..

This was the song that when it started i put on repeat ♦ I think i'll put the "song of the session" with each post, everyone can see my diverse taste in music!

I was going to go to bed after this one but after those cards I decided to stick around and see if the luck continued, started out nice but didnt last, nothing like last time. But, after realizing how stupid I was to lose so much when I was doubled or tripled up on almost all my tables by the end of the 2nd level, I played some of the best poker I think I ever have, not the cards the people, I was really in the zone and it felt good :), It was best set ive ever had, made the money in all but one Table, and +$10, which sounds better as +10 BI ;).

Other sets were fairly uneventful, say on average +2-3 and only had one negative set for $-2 so not too shabby!

So heres an update on my goals from my last time, with an added one!

1) Get to $150 Playing Sit and Go's -In progress $57.98 (+20.8)
a) Try $3 Turbo's at $75
b) Read all Pokerstrategy Articles on Sit and Go's*
2) Grind NL5 SH until I get to $300

3) Grind NL10 SH until I get to $600

4) Clear $50 Bonus at pokerstars- In Progress (179/500 FPP)(+48)

5) Move to Fulltilt, for rakeback and $600 Bonus. Grind NL25-NL100.

6) Clear $600 Bonus, and move back to Pokerstars!

* I had never planned on playing Sit and Go's regularly, would sometimes do it for a break from bad cashgame, could play for an hour only lose $1. But I seem to have a natural knack for it, or just be on great upswing. We'll see, the articles can't do anything but help I would think!

Won't be much poker for awhile, except for maybe a set tomorrow, prob won't play until Saturday night. Tomorrow in the afternoon 3 on 3 basketball tournament, then a Party. Friday and Saturday morning I am coaching Basketball, staying at the girlfriends Friday, so will be home Saturday night, and will hopefully be able to put some hours in!

Nice way to start out. I think you should definately read the sit and go articles.
The first hand you posted was a nice take down, however, AJos is a fold preflop with a raise
in front of you.

The sit and go articles combined with the no limit BSS articles is alot of studying, but
if you can take them all in, and IDK what your timezone is but if you can attend the beginners
SNG coachings on Sat mornings, you will be well on your way to kicking ass and taking names
consistantly.

Also post hands in the evaluation section, I think by far it has helped my game the most.
You will have a few diff people picking your play apart, and eventually the law will get
laid down by the judge.

It can be a real eye opener not just with how you may have played the hand wrong, but
why the play was not the best play to make in the situation.

GL with your goals.

So progress has been slowing down and actually had big negative weekend, (big for my BR at least ♦). Had one bad set after there'd been a death in the family. It was hard being across the ocean and not being able to do anything, and I wanted to take my mind off of it so I decided against my better judgement and went to play poker. For some reason I decided to play $2 HU SnG, and lost about $8 doing this. Other than that I've been playing the same, yet don't seem to be winning. Alot of bad early preflop suck outs. Last one fresh on my mind was when someone pushed, i had AA, and one other guy called, the 2 of them with T4s and QJo, T4 hit a flush game over. These $1 limits are really horrible and I CAN'T wait to get out of here.

But other news, i have gotten the trial of Poker Co Pilot, which i can post graphs with, so that's pretty good. and I'll show you my progress from the beginning to today!

So as you can see, in about the last 30 games that I've played since the last post, this has really started to go downhill and I'm not sure why. The next few days I will look through for whether it was mostly because of big leaks, or just some good ol' variance!

Song of the weekend was probably...

Thanks to the few of you who have been reading (897 and bart :)) All feedback is welcome!

897 I think this range should be changed a bit depending on the level and based on the opponent, especially at this level theres unimaginable things going on :), alot of times the chip leaders early on think that its better to just try to boss people around to get chips at the beginning, while I personally see it as time to wait for good cards. I should still read the articles maybe my thinking is wrong, but this it made sense to me and I had been winning. This guy however had been raising consistently for the last 15 hands or so, so I found AJ more than adequate to challenge him with. My argument, but i would love to hear your thoughts!

So heres the update on my goals from last post!

1) Get to $150 Playing Sit and Go's -In progress $50.72 ($-7.26)
a) Try $3 Turbo's at $75
b) Read all Pokerstrategy Articles on Sit and Go's*
2) Grind NL5 SH until I get to $300

3) Grind NL10 SH until I get to $600

4) Clear $50 Bonus at pokerstars- In Progress (252/500 FPP) (+73)

5) Move to Fulltilt, for rakeback and $600 Bonus. Grind NL25-NL100.

6) Clear $600 Bonus, and move back to Pokerstars!

note I also tried some NL10 SSS and NL2 SH to try out the HUD on pokercopilot so that also added to my change in BR, 63 hands of NL2SH for a loss of $-.36 and 155 hands of NL10SSS for a gain of $4.

Originally posted by dadude77
lol I'd love to talk to ya sometime, got some questions, I've gotten from about $18-$70 as of today in about the last week give or take from $1 SnG. You can check out my blog.

But im trying to decide what the next step I take should be, to the $3 turbo's or $5 normal. I think I can outplay people so longer time would be better, but also I think compared to the opponents (from what I've seen at the $1 stage, i dunno if $3 and $5 are much better?) My biggest edge over them is the endgame, so Turbo's might help because get to that sooner. So not sure what you think?

Found it here!

Pokerstars have $2.2. SNG's. Try those on when you feel ready to move up from the $1.2's. I play regulars, because there is more time for skill. They are slow the first blind levels, and you fold most cards. But patience is something you need, so its good discipline practice. You also get paid for it when you win. Your edge is also bigger when you have more time on your hands.

I highly recommend reading the basic SNG articles, atleast up to finishing the ICM light trainer. Actually you have too! If you have trouble reading just do it slowly, and piece by piece.

I dont recommend chasing bonuses. Focus on being a winning player first.

Originally posted by Vargan

Originally posted by dadude77
lol I'd love to talk to ya sometime, got some questions, I've gotten from about $18-$70 as of today in about the last week give or take from $1 SnG. You can check out my blog.

But im trying to decide what the next step I take should be, to the $3 turbo's or $5 normal. I think I can outplay people so longer time would be better, but also I think compared to the opponents (from what I've seen at the $1 stage, i dunno if $3 and $5 are much better?) My biggest edge over them is the endgame, so Turbo's might help because get to that sooner. So not sure what you think?

Found it here!

Pokerstars have $2.2. SNG's. Try those on when you feel ready to move up from the $1.2's. I play regulars, because there is more time for skill. They are slow the first blind levels, and you fold most cards. But patience is something you need, so its good discipline practice. You also get paid for it when you win. Your edge is also bigger when you have more time on your hands.

I highly recommend reading the basic SNG articles, atleast up to finishing the ICM light trainer. Actually you have too! If you have trouble reading just do it slowly, and piece by piece.

I dont recommend chasing bonuses. Focus on being a winning player first.

Actually Pokerstars doesn't have 2.2, next is 3.4, just double checked. So thats too bad. Problem is I have a mac, so none of these programs work, but my windows should be here in the next couple days and then I will download ICM light trainer.

So today my BR had gotten a bit above $70 and I first decided to just check out the competition by trying out one set of 6 $3.40 SnG's. I played a little scared at first and ended up losing about $6. I also had the new HUD on this mac program so I decided to take a shot at NL10 SSS. I lost a couple buy ins immediately and decided I would play 1k or so hands to decide if i liked it or not, without looking at results until the end. I played simple, straightforward SSS, nothing tricky, and lost about 11 BI in 1.2k hands. Every flip I could have gotten went wrong. lost AKo vs AKo twice. Lost AA vs 99 and QQ. Everytime I flopped top pair top kicker people seemed to have sets. So it was frustrating to say the least. My BR is now back down to $45. So I have decided that I will stay with the $1 SnG until $120. Then move to $3.40. At $150 I will decide if I will stay with SnG's awhile longer or move to NL5SH

So heres the update on my goals from last post!

1) Get to $150 Playing Sit and Go's -In progress $45.47
a) Try $3 Turbo's at $75
b) Read all Pokerstrategy Articles on Sit and Go's*
2) Grind NL5 SH until I get to $300

3) Grind NL10 SH until I get to $600

4) Clear $50 Bonus at pokerstars- In Progress (332/500 FPP)

5) Move to Fulltilt, for rakeback and $600 Bonus. Grind NL25-NL100.

6) Clear $600 Bonus, and move back to Pokerstars!

Hi,
I would strongly recommend to focus on one game. Cancel the Cashgame goals and try to build up your BR (or the other way around)! When your BR is about 300-500$ you can try other games (NL cashgame, PLO, ....) because you don't have to be scared to go broke!

I dont recommend chasing bonuses. Focus on being a winning player first. smile

I agree with Vargan!!!

GL at the tables!

Originally posted by Flows

I dont recommend chasing bonuses. Focus on being a winning player first. smile

I agree with Vargan!!!

GL at the tables!

If you look at my blog before, and if its not apparent, we'll i'll assure you its true ♦. I had a very money based approach to the game. My short term winnings was all that I really cared about. Not to worried about learning and improving my game too much.

A couple days off, some thinking, and a great article on FTR made me realize this. As long as I was winning I was happy. If i lost, it was obviously because the guy sucked out or got lucky (which was true alot at micro limits, but not 100% of the time) but if I lost, it was never anything I did wrong. I just played, rarely looking at hand histories, usually just if it was a huge pot I wanted to brag about, see what someone mucked, or bitch about a bad beat.

I realize this is a completely noob'ish approach to the game, and not for someone who loves it, and wants to pursue it 100%. I am basically starting from scratch with a $46 BR on Stars, and $40 on mansion.

I WILL NOT be going straight to SH like I was going to before just because theres more action. I will first be taking the time to learn basic strategy like its the back of my hand.

I WILL NOT be moving up limits just becuase my BR allows it.

I WILL be moving up limits when I have CRUSHED the limit I am on, over a long period of time, and I am confident with my play.

I WILL NOT be freaking out after I lose a couple BI if it has been well played. Losing BI will not affect my play and make me feel "I have to win them back

I WILL take a break and examine these hands.

I WILL NOT PLAY OUT OF BRM, PLAY SSS, OR OTHER POKER VARIANTS UNTIL I AM READY

I WILL NOT play more tables than I am ready for.

I will be starting on NL 2 FR. I will start with only 2 tables and have a new game plan.

-Play session of around an hour, or at least 100 hands (with only 2 tables FR its slow)

-I will go through any hands with action and physically write in a notebook about my mistakes/things i could have done better. This is not as much for me to look through later. But to really get the information into my head, I believe physically writing it down does this alot better than typing.

-Post questionable hands here and FTR for advice.

-Read at least an article, or watch a video every 2-3 days.

My Goals will not longer be money based, although I will post my progress.

First goal TO RIP NL2 A NEW ONE ♦

So with a clear mind, I set out very optimistically!

Hm so first day was interesting to say the least :)..

Almost immediately after planning my new approach to poker, I decided to take a quick 100 hand session.

I was quite eager, a little too eager the first hand which I'll post as my

DONKEY MOMENT OF THE DAY

iPoker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (8 handed) - iPoker Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG+1 ($4.87)
MP1 ($0.98)
MP2 ($3.97)
CO ($3.31)
Button ($0.91)
SB ($0.67)
Hero (BB) ($2)
UTG ($4.36)

Preflop: Hero is BB with Q, A
UTG calls $0.02, 5 folds, SB calls $0.01, Hero raises to $0.10, UTG calls $0.08, 1 fold

Flop: ($0.22) Q, 9, 5 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.16, UTG calls $0.16

Turn: ($0.54) 8 (2 players)
Hero bets $0.54, UTG raises to $1.30, Hero calls $1.20 (All-In), UTG calls $0.44

River: ($4.02) 10 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $4.02 | Rake: $0.20

Results:
Hero mucked Q, A (one pair, Queens).
UTG had 7, 6 (straight, ten high).
Outcome: UTG won $3.82

I was more than ready to play and very positive about my new start to poker, so first hand AQs, it was meant to be!! yeah..

This is one of the main leaks I've realized throughout looking through my play today. There was 3 main ones.

1) Falling in love with TPTK or Overpair when a flush/straight draw completes. I have a real problem with this, and I think will be the leak I will have the most problems with.

2) Pushing PF when I'm fairly sure I'm beat. I'm 90% sure he has A's, but I have K's or Q's. And after SSS I'm used to just pushing, its only 20 bb's. Things are different now and I definately need to adapt to this and QUICKLY

3) Continuation bets GONE BAD! I often find myself chasing after being called on a c-bet. It rarely works after that, but for some reason I find myself not being able to get away from a bad one. I think for awhile I might almost completely stop or greatly reduce my amount of c-bets, especially on NL2 it doesnt work too well, people will call with anything, and if they have something, I can't get myself away from the hand.

I think these are fairly common beginner mistakes and if anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated and welcomed!

I think I will put my "donkey moment of the day" every day. I think just the idea that everyone here will see it, although not many people are reading, but still ♦ I think it will psychologically help me.

So heres the first session's graph.

Was quite uneventful. Hard to start down 1 BI and the other BI was from AA vs JJ PF all in, he caught a J on the turn. Other than my first hand I was quite happy with my play. But I realized that 100 hands on 2 tables is,

a) too few, not enough hands to analyze after
b) 2 tables FR on Ipoker is WAY to slow. Most are around 40 h/hour. So I upgraded to 4 tables and can still keep track on stats and reads, have time to think clearly etc.

So I played a 2nd session later on 4 tables for about 2 hours and heres the graph.

First lost a BI with A lower kicker. and 2nd was JJ vs slowplayed AA on low rainbow flop. Again I was fairly pleased with how I played even if the results don't show it. But that's poker and I'm sure it will come along to show my progress as a player!

Current BR iPoker- $34.60

If you havent allready got the ICM trainer do it now and dont play SnGs until you get atleast 90% over 100 hands and then play the same way when playing the real SnGs. You might think it is crazy to push with 10 8 off suit on the bubble but trust me if you follow ICM SnGs become alot easier and you should find your ROI around 20% at the micro levels

@bkbart I've stopped playing SnG's for the moment, at least on mansion. Still playing some on stars, but I hate mansion and just trying to clear the 2nd starting capital there, maybe some of the bonus and get the FUCK outa there!

Buuut I've had my first positive sessions today! Which i was quite happy about! Last night after my last post I decided to play a quick 45 min session before crashing. Was +1.75 BI, lost about .75 BI in this morning, and then made almost 3 BI tonight, so I think I'm starting to get a little better at this BSS stuff. I'm alot more confident personally, although still along ways to go. So heres my graph so far since I've changed my approach to poker.

Its just a start no where near perfect, i've got alot of work to do, but I'm building up confidence and such, maybe its only NL2, but everyone has to start somewhere!

Also I'm not quite sure what stats should look like, I only have 1k hands or so so maybe not perfect, but people can hopefully give me some comments on them?

1.1k hands
vpip-14.72
pfr-8.49
AF-2.74
AFq-44.77
3bet-4.62
fold 3b-65
ATT steal-20.69
Fold BB steal-83.33
Fold SB steal-75.00

Any feedback is welcomed

Mansion BR- $41.84

Last couple days, not sure why, but haven't really been in a sit down and grind mood. So have played about 4 or 5 hour sessions, about 200 hands/session.. (I HATE IPOKER SOOOOOO SLOOWWWWW). Also went out last 2 nights, so lose the night when i usually play, and waking up late, being at gf's etc. Just haven't played that much.

Its been going fairly well though, heres the graph since last time i posted.

Here's a Nice hand, tripled up.

iPoker No-Limit Hold'em, $0.02 BB (9 handed) - iPoker Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

UTG ($4.21)
UTG+1 ($5.03)
MP1 ($5.07)
Hero (MP2) ($2.03)
MP3 ($5.73)
CO ($3)
Button ($2.10)
SB ($5.60)
BB ($5.92)

Preflop: Hero is MP2 with 2, 2
UTG raises to $0.20, UTG+1 calls $0.20, 1 fold, Hero calls $0.20, 5 folds

Flop: ($0.65) 2, 4, 9 (3 players)
UTG bets $0.92, UTG+1 calls $0.92, Hero raises to $1.83 (All-In), UTG calls $0.91, UTG+1 calls $0.91

Turn: ($6.14) 8 (3 players, 1 all-in)
UTG checks, UTG+1 bets $3 (All-In), UTG calls $2.18 (All-In)

River: ($10.50) 7 (3 players, 3 all-in)

Total pot: $10.50 | Rake: $0.52

Results in white below:
UTG had K, 9 (one pair, nines).
UTG+1 had 10, 10 (one pair, tens).
Hero mucked 2, 2 (three of a kind, twos).
Outcome: UTG+1 won $4.96, Hero won $5.84

Both had Vpip under about 12. I figured i was up against AA/KK but i think there was kinda a rivalry there and had somethign to do with it, but i just thought it was funny ♦

Also lost a QQ vs AK flip, right when I had unmarked all the auto post blind buttons to leave. Kinda hurt, dropped me back below $50 where I'd been happy to have passed back up again!

Current mansion BR- $48.91

Dadude77

Nice blog. Im a sss player turning into a bss player. Been going good so far. I see in your previous post that you had a small amount of money at the table. I used to do that too when I first started playing. Thought it was safer to take minimum buyin to the smallest limit, but later realized that I could have been making alot more down there then I actually made. If you feel comfortable with your game take the maximum to your tables. With only a minimum buyin you should be playing sss at a higher level, you can't really do that at NL2. In the hand you had posted you could have gotten a little over $3 extra dollars from each of your opponents assuming they would have called. Just a thought. Remember when playing with a big stack big hands win big pots small hands win little ones. I'll take the small pots when they come but flopping sets and bigger hands is the best especially when you know your opponent is overplaying top pair or overpairs. Best of luck to you. Your off to a good start.

Matt.

@straddler71

Thanks for taking the time to read it :), I'll get around to yours tonight when I have a bit more time!

Although it would be possible to make more, well

a) when i started with about $34 I didnt want to buy in with 5 dollars giving me about 7 BI when I wasn't too confident with my game. Although I am getting more and more now.

b) I read that even though I might be able to maximise profits, you can't buy in for that at all the other tables. I think its worth not making that extra couple dollars, for the experience of playing with the size stack (in big blinds) that I will be playing later.

c) I hear variance is worse deepstacked, with small BR yeah :).

But I should be getting some bonus money soon, and if i keep winning like this, should be up soon ♦..

Also if you haven't try to take advantage of the $50 second starting capital at mansion!!

Hey dadude77,
Finally got around to reading you blog.

I have to agree with your last post, Point a).
I was down to approx $30 and I started buying in for $2 on NL2 because I was still big stacked with 100BB's and I could still play my optimal game.
And I made my BI's increase by not buying in for the maximum ($5) because it's not necessary on these low limits.

might see you around on the tables.
Goodluck

BEST DAY IN POKER

So huge day for me!

Last week or so I'd been just not very motivated whenever I sat down to play poker. So i basically took the week off, played alot of basketball, saw some friends, great valentines day with the gf, and came back today ready to play. Went for some SSS this morning on Ipoker, mostly because I will never clear the bonus playing NL2 FR. Im playing quite causiously and am up to around $60 I believe, I will post pokertracker graphs for that later. I'm on the mac partition of my macbook and cannot get on mansion to check. Then later this evening I decided to play a set of SnG's just for fun!, bored from SSS in the morning. I was about break even, thats first 6 SnG's on the graph below, just $1 regular speed 1 table sng's on stars. I then just for fun opened 2 $1 45 man SnG's. I did well and decided to play some more of them. In the next 21 SnG's I made over $71 moving my BR on stars from around $41 where it was this morning-108 and change this evening ♦. (i played 3 $1-$2 MTT since i was running hot and to treat myself for a great day) I think I will continue to play these! heres the graph

So basically pretty great day ♦