Iscre4m's blog. (6max, 10NL)

Played some poker yesterday. Lost about 800 bb. EV seemed not terrible. I feel like I should play less tables, because I added a few strategy things to my game and I need more time to think about it. I'll play 4-6 tables mostly, I think.

New study topic for me is BB squeezing vs late positions and BB defense vs SB and BU.
That takes time to think.

Another topics will be:
- which hands should I check from BB when someone limps and which raise;
- the same for SB.

Last few days have been pretty interesting. I lost all poker hands database of 20k hands, because my PC's HDD was working on 100% all the time and I couldn't find a way to fix it. So, I lost it and did a reboot of Windows. All fresh. Now it works perfectly well.

I also had a pretty good heater today. Up about 12 BI in 3300 hands. I decided to play some fast poker to improve my deep-stack play and it turned out well. Have to add that I played all the session without any HUD and it helped me in a way to think more about hand reading.

My current BR: $ 94,73
Targeted BR: ~ $ 120,00 (for more comfortable first NL5 shot).

PS. Afterwards NL10 @ $240,00 - ish.

Hey Iscre4m,

Nice session. You should consider entering our Get Rich or Die Tryin' - The Bankroll Challenge - Opt-in now!.

Where are you from? In fact, why don't you get yourself added to our Member map. You never know, the nearest PokerStrategist may live right next door.

Good Luck

Laz

Thank you, Laz!

I'll certainly think about BR challenge, if I lose my motivation or so. For now, I'll have simple mindset goals like:
1. Improving my sit out when tired timing;
2. Improving not looking at small sample sizes oh hands (at opponents);
3. Remainding myself that poker is just a fun game and money is just a subproduct (odds and outs, hell yeah);
4. Warm-up improvements;
5. Not to break whats workin' already.

I'm from Latvia, Riga and added it in thread. It's a really nice idea in case we can find other players to do some kind of sessions, lessons and stuff.

5 days since I last updated. I've played for about 10k hands since, but sadly most of it was my B game because of not playing at my natural gaming place.

I don't mind if it was a worse autopilot strech for me, because now I can learn from my database and understand my leaks, which would turn up anyway. Only now I understand where I'm at, but quicker.

I'm ready to put in some quality game and work now at my place.

My BR: slightly under $90, I guess.

Nice to be back home. It's a good feeling to be able play my A game for longer periods of time. Yesterday I got up by 650 bb and I'm getting closer to 5NL. Not sure yet if I need to improve my win-rate by 2x at least since it's only about 10 bb/100. On the other side, I had a lot's of B and C game when I was away from home, so realistically it should be higher.

My current BR: $ 106.2
Targeted BR: ~ $ 120.00

Today I accepted a BR challenge, where:

My current BR: $ 106.2
Target: ~ $ 2 500.00

Every Monday, every participant must write in his blog a weekly report, including:
- number of played hands / tournaments
- weekly bankroll movements in USD or EUR
- Current bankroll
- How many weeks he has participated in the promotion

I'll assume that this is my first week and will post about my results on Monday, December 25th.
So, week 1 = 18.12.2017., 00:00 - 24.12.2017., 24:00.

BR report. Week 1.
18.12.2017. - 24.12.2017.

Hands played: 32 173
Current bankroll: $ 121,41
Plus/minus: +$15.21

Eye bleed
I recently switched to another poker platform and learned that it's not worth it to chase "great rake back deals". All it did for me was that I got super tilt from bad software and graphics that made my eyes bleed. For that reason I'l just stay where I'm comfortable and keep on learning, playing, playing and more playing.

My poker place
I play at Poker Stars for now and don't seem to find many problems against opponents at 5NL. Only problem that sometimes comes up is my FPS (fancy play syndrome), which I try head on and battle with "range tables" and reminders on my Desktop.

All hands at Poker Stars so far:

The more hands I play the straighter the lines seem to go. At the moment I'm 6.4 bb/100, which I'm not very super-happy about, but the good news is that I have a decent Roll and I'm not a losing player. (I didn't include hands played at eye-bleed poker site. It was about - $ 30.00, so -6BI at 5NL).

Here are some of my stats/win/lose lines.

Books, hand reviews, learning
I enjoy learning stuff from a book called The Poker Blueprint: Advanced Strategies for Crushing Micro & Small Stakes NL.
It's not to be meant as an advertisement, but I don't mind sharing it with you guys. If you read this, how about you share your favorite "micro-stakes crushing" book.
I have not posted any hands yet, but I do read those posted by other players and learn from that. We have similar problem spots, though. I might post some, will see.

5NL

At this point I have played about 12k hands and it seems to be going quite well. I took 2 shots at 5LN. Failed at 1st one, but the second one is the charm.
Bad beats, or in other words - high equity losses don't sting too much and I cope well with those. What tilts me the most is when I make a mistake which seems so obvious afterwards. Like c-betting against a calling station with air and giving up OTT. Or, not shrinking my opening ranges when there is a 20% 3-bet guy on the button.

I feel like I can improve my win-rate by studying some players in my HEM database. I could categorize them and write some tactics/strategies how to beat them. I think I could make some notes, like:
- 3bet just nuts;
- from BU 3bet light and cbet all flops;
- don't 3bet AK, AQ. Villain folds too much;
- never folds to 4bets. Tighten opening range.

So, these would be meant for me to remember what to do against this kind of a player type.

Playing alright. Let's go orange line.

I have played 19k hands an 5NL and I'm looking to take a shot at 10NL.
Graph below.
Stats: bb =11.3 bb/100, EV bb = 13,8 bb/100

Could be better, made some interesting call-downs and iffy bluffs.
Current BR @ ~ $ 230.00

This is how I spot tilting signs in my game:
1. When I play and start to feel like laying back into the chair to feel more comfy.
2. When I catch myself opening 5% looser vs calling stations while OOP and then looking at barreling hand. So x/f > b/b/b.
3. When I want to turn on some music. I play 10x better in silence.
4. When session is at 52nd minute mark. Consistent brain freeze here. If 4 tables or less, might go for 2hr.
5. When I considet if I should play MTT. Like, wft!
6. When I take a shot at higher stake late in the day. It should come with fresh mind.
8. When I look at session stats too early in a session. After 20 min it is OK for me.
9. When I'm not interested in finding spots:
- better 3bet spot;
- limp in mwp IP;
- better table than this;
- looking to my left before making an ABC play ...

Not worried about tilting too much. Feeling good! I think the key is to learn myself. To get a feel of what my body and brain are capable of. Do I need to rest or perhaps some food? Maybe drink more water? Maybe relax, turn off the brain. Overloading brain by learning too many poker concepts too quickly is the worst thing that can happen. So, I keep my cool. Repeat what works and keep on going.

I want to say thanks to Jared Tendler for teaching us a concept of ALM (Adult learning model). This works and is all I need to know for now. Let's not overload.

BR report. Week 2.
25.12.2017. - 31.12.2017.

Hands played: 17 900
Current bankroll: $ 260.64
Plus/minus: +$139.23

Poker feels good

Hey guys!

I've been doing well at poker and life in general. I love the feeling to be able to excel at strategical game and look forward to beat the next stake.

This is a meaningful point in my short poker career. It's been a month (just 30 days) and I've been able to grow my BR from zero $ to $ 260,00.
I still feel like I'm not entitled to anything and that the money in my poker account has actually never been there. It's like I'm playing with credits. I like earning credits in general, just like money in GTA V or skill points in some strategy game.

At this moment I'm not able to play 10NL, just because I'm not in optimal playing conditions. And I really want to be able to compete on a my highest level, bringing that A-game.

I imagine - silence at my gaming space and playing 4 tables, while taking 2-3 notes per 5 minutes and crushing the game. Four days to go until I'm back home, so in my free time I'm looking forward to post some hands (or rather comment on other player hands) and do some poker learning at Zoom poker 5NL. I say "learning" because for me it's not a real poker, but just a way to learn average opponents tendencies at stake and practice some GTO (Game Theory Optimal, or getting closer to that at least).

I'm also not looking to table select perfectly at the start. I want to play some average regulars and crush them. I think that is one way how I can improve faster. Improvement and having some fun games = +EV Life.

Happy New Year!

Edit: Note to myself. There is no need to use GTO in micro stakes. Everyone is unbalanced.

BR report. Week 3.
01.01.2018. - 07.01.2018.

Hands played: 37 700
Current bankroll: $ 335.51
Plus/minus: +$ 74.87

PS. At some point had a 1800 bb downswing.

TIL

Orange line in HEM do not represent anything. It doesn't show players skill on multiple streets (or great bluff EV all-in). My logic was so flawed for a long time. Today I removed it from my view.

I think that it is a serious tilt inducing EV line and can only make more harm that good.

The more intersting thing is to take a look at red and blue lines.
By those I can suspect if something works well (or worse) after I add a few things into my strategy. Large sample size needed, though.

I wonder by how much 25NL is more variance heavy than 10NL. I'm growing bankroll rapidly, but first I need to stabilize my game at 10NL just because I started to implement a new strategy recently and need to make sure if I can keep my edge (let's say for 10-20k more hands).

For now I had a 20 BI rule, while taking many aggressive shots with 2BI reserve. So, at 22BI. I might use a 25 or 30 BI rule at 25 NL when multi-tabling and 20BI rule when 1-2 tabling.

Most likely I'll keep taking aggressive shots just to have that fire in me, to keep me going.

Sometimes I run like this.

PokerStars Zoom, Hold'em No Limit - $0.05/$0.10 - 6 players
Hand delivered by Upswing Poker

UTG: $10.54 (105 bb)
MP: $28.44 (284 bb)
CO: $3.84 (38 bb)
BU: $20.44 (204 bb)
SB: $8.74 (87 bb)
BB (Hero): $10.20 (102 bb)

Pre-Flop: ($0.15) Hero is BB with 8♣ 8♥
UTG raises to $0.30, 3 players fold, SB calls $0.25, Hero calls $0.20

Flop: ($0.90) T♣ 8♠ 4♦ (3 players)
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG bets $0.50, SB calls $0.50, Hero calls $0.50

Turn: ($2.40) 4♣ (3 players)
SB bets $0.40, Hero calls $0.40, UTG calls $0.40

River: ($3.60) 2♣ (3 players)
SB bets $2.10, Hero raises to $9 (all-in), UTG raises to $9.34 (all-in), SB calls $5.44 (all-in)

Total pot: $29.14 (Rake: $1.31)

Showdown:
UTG shows T♦ T♠ (a full house, Tens full of Fours)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 65%, Flop: 95%, Turn: 95%, River: 100%)

BB (Hero) shows 8♣ 8♥ (a full house, Eights full of Fours)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 18%, Flop: 5%, Turn: 2%, River: 0%)

SB shows 2♥ 4♥ (a full house, Fours full of Twos)
(Equity - Pre-Flop: 17%, Flop: <1%, Turn: 2%, River: 0%)

UTG wins $27.83

Nice to see that you moved up. Depending upon the site, it makes sense to play 10NL instead of 5NL (when you're ready) since the players are largely the same, you simply get twice the profit when you stack someone, and you're getting a better rake/rake back deal @ 10NL. Again, this does depend upon the site you're playing on. As far as clearing bonuses and things - if you're even close to break even @ 10NL, that's the way to go. You'll clear the bonus more than twice as fast.