[Closed] Nobody's blog. A story of BSS.

Hi degre,

Great intro my friend, really nice to get to know you a little better.

I for one am hoping that nobody wins ♦

Wishing you every success and will be a regular reader of your blog.

Good luck buddy,

Bart

hi degre, nice blog, i like your honesty and wish you the best of luck with your mission.
maybe i can help u a little along the way.

Thanks to you guys for going through the massive text!
Epsecially thanks to Bart as his MTT challenge has been in a way inspirational on the matter of how to face the game.

I wanted to present you yesterday with some data to introduce how I've been going so far, but I went home, had dinner, played a couple of hours and went pretty bad, by the end of the session I wasn't exactly in the mood for commenting anything. so I've decided to walk out to a nearby restaurant to have a good wine with some friends.

The session was quite awful as our Lady of the Variance yesterday decided to hit me badly for the first time since I started, I've seen most of my premium hands explode and somehow tilted, loosened up and started pushing also stuff like KQs or AQs OOP, it resulted in me loosing a few extra stacks...

Eventually I've reined in, but was awful, gaining every little cents by stealing or by hitting with lower hands when my monsters where sucked out, at least I've recovered from the -11BI I was in to get back to a more healthy loss of 5BI.

I'll update with some juicy stuff as I go home this afternoon

And finally here I am updating with the first juicy bits!

Here's my graph since I started on the 20th if September:

It's quite pleasant to see as I'm running perfectly on EV and, most of all, I'm liking how I'm managing to keep the non showdown winnings on a good line, my aggression pays for the blinds and I can get a gain from the showdown.

These are the stats:

To be fair I don't know much how to read it, I've seen some pre-made filters on HEM and need to study those to begin, however, I don't really want to do it now, as I've said now I'm more enjoying the game and getting through the lower limit with ease, I'm waiting to get to the end of month when I'll have two weeks holiday and I'll go to Florence, then I'll print everything out and I'll read some guides on how to read those numbers and I'll do a proper analysis.

What I can say doing an autoanalysis from my plays is that for a basic SSS player I've got quite an open range and at times I'm too loose, this bring me into troubles at times as not always I'm able to give up and I fall trapped with flushdraws that almost never enter.

On the bright side my wide range is giving me lots of fun and I'm quite happy of how I enter the game now, even though is giving me the idea that SSS is not really for me and it's just good for the moment to stop the losses to a limit while I'm learning, but as soon as I feel confident enough and I'll have completed some studies I'll have to think if the BSS is not more apt to my style.

Of course is to consider as well that as a neophyte my readings are quite bad and at times they get me into trouble, in order to solve this, now that I've got to know better HEM I'll start marking hands that I'm unsure of and I'll post into the proper section to improve my calls.

One thing that I've had to do is to print the hands' chart and stick it to the wall next to my screen as twice I've went in heavily with a draw believing that I was going to beat the flush... call me silly, for some reason can't enter my mind that flush is above straight...

On a sidenote, I went today to see Zombieland, that film is a good laugh and it's much suggested if you like layback films.

PS. I'm an avid cinemagoer, so more films might pop at times

Nice start buddy,

You've got a good gradient to your graph there, ignore the swingy bits inbetween, these always happen, just keep focused on the long term.

Yes I can see from your VPIP that it's not basic sss ♦ your currently playing but you seem to be doing well so far.

Sorry, not really had time to play or update my blog yet, but will do soon.

Keep up the good work, best regards,

Bart

hi degre

sweet graph you got there

how many hours do you play a day?

i play 4 tables myself and loving it. never going back to that sick grinding again. i manage around 4-5k hands a week these days.

good luck

So long...

Anyway, after 2 quit due to personal reason (depression) here I am again in an attempt to play this magnificient game. At least both times at least I've quit with profit

For this third start I've eventually landed on Everest as, while I was looking for a room to fit my needs, it worked out I was eligible for a second starting bonus on such room.

To begin with I'm starting again from the bottom just to shake the rust off, so I've played a bit this eve NL on the .01/.02 tables. A couple of hours netted me some 25BB and I'm quite happy about it, especially considering that I havent played in 6 months and havent read anything since.

The plan now is to play some 10/15k hands at this limit, stop a moment to review my game and then step up to NL2 and then set up some goals and start up seriously.

I've solved most of my past personal issues so this time I should be calm to play, let's see how it goes!

Hello my friend & welcome back,

Having suffered from similar issues myself I fully appreciate what you've been going through.
Just take it easy and don't go pushing yourself too hard, but it IS really good to see you back ♠_thumbsup:

If ever things get too tough, give me a shout.

Good luck & best regards,

Bart

Like almost everyone else on this site I’m after cash, this has to become a source of income to implement the poor salary that I get in the videogame industry, which I’m not too interested in leaving.

HMM? I'm going to start studying to become a game programmer next year. But from what i've read people in the game industry earn ALOT. a programmer earns about $60k a year from what i've read. So what exactly do you do in the game industry if you don't mind me asking?

Anyway, welcome back and goodluck on your poker journy!

$60k a year is not a lot for a top rate programmer.

Thanks for the welcome back Bart!

I see that eventually you've failed past year quest but you'retrying again this year, good luck!

I'll pop in your thread as I have a chance, these days I'm damn busy as I've just returned from 3 weeks in Tuscany and got a lot to catch up on, plus the gaming

Originally posted by Hahaownedlolz

Like almost everyone else on this site I’m after cash, this has to become a source of income to implement the poor salary that I get in the videogame industry, which I’m not too interested in leaving.

HMM? I'm going to start studying to become a game programmer next year. But from what i've read people in the game industry earn ALOT. a programmer earns about $60k a year from what i've read. So what exactly do you do in the game industry if you don't mind me asking?

Anyway, welcome back and goodluck on your poker journy!

Thanks for the welcome back and, about the gaming industry, my complain is related only towards the testing environment.

I'm a tester with 5 years of experience, I know by heart all Microsoft's TCRs and I've got a good experience with all other platforms, especially on Wii; top it all with the fact that I do speak Italian and the result for the past year was 17k £ with all the overtimes, that's about 26k $ before the taxes and London isn't cheap, wonder why I complain...

As a programmer obviously you'll aim for more, unfortunately I can't program.

So a little update for these first days played.

Played 3 days past week, on Friday just a few hands to warm up and get the feeling again, closed slightly positive.

On Saturday I've onestly messed around, just wanted to have some fun and I've opened with a very wide range, eventually I've carried on most of my hands even if I've had the idea I was going to loose just to see if I was still doing decent reads. I was playing the lowest limit just to get a bit in shape, so at .01/.02 I didn't really care about loosing a few bb and I've spent gladly those 3 dollars, I sort of consider it an investment.

Then a shorter session on Sunday where I've decided to play properly to see what I could do, and turned out I've played nicely and I can put some effort into it.

Here's a graph just for the sake or taking the habit again.

Today was the moment to take some time off, went out of town to collect my new lady, a '99 Cagiva Roadster that will be my company for the summer, being back on wheel makes me finally feels complete. Pics soon

Now I've take things to the next step and put some more effort into it. With tomorrow the plan is to start reviewing the basics, so I'll dust my printouts and I'll get onto doing some reading in the afternoon, chill out a bit and then get in for some evening play.

Time to make my own luck.

So, here we are for another weekly update!

First of all I can happily say that I've decided to move from SSS to BSS.

Everest offers enough tables to grind SSS on NL2, but I already had the BR to move and I was staying there just to play my first 10k hands (with 9300 already done...), I was then facing the complete impossibility of grind the above limit (NL10) as there are no more then 6/10 tables up during the day, and 10 is a luxury that rarely occur.

Another problem was that with SSS I was getting bored, too limited starting chart and no post flop action apart from shove/fold, so I've started studying the BSS a couple of days and went through all the basic articles and videos, today was the first day and was glorious!

Too bad for some serious suckouts by the end of the day, but still, 650bb in a day at NL2 are beautiful to me

If only Everest offered something before NL10 I could have moved up, no problem though, I'll just hang around NL2 until I've gained enough to move up.

Now, a few things.

I've decided to set some goals, and by the end of the month I want:
reach the second tier of Everest, Camp I. I've got already 77 SP this month so Base Camp (300) is pretty much earned already at this pace, but I want to see if I can get higher up.

get at leasthalf-way though moving up to NL10. currently with an 87$ BR, hence I need some 165$ BR by May 31st.

read all bronze BSS articles in May and start giving a look at the first silvers.

have my starting capital fully unlocked (1000SP).

Also, since this time looks like I'm working seriously, I've decided that even if little I'll have some rewards from the game, so from the end of the month I'll cash out any bonus/rakeback I receive and a 10% of my actual winnings, I've set up already a secondary bank account just to deal with poker and those money will go 50% into savings and the rest for me to mess about and maybe play some live poker.

And finally, last week chart.

Notice the red line how it changed since I've started with BSS!!!

Nice to see you've made the switch to BSS. I also play at Everest, and recently started playing BSS after shortstacking up to nl200. The average Everest-player is pretty bad, and have tons of leaks. Therefore, u are better off playing a big stack against them, to be able to get all their money ♠_cool: GL!

Oh dear... how have you shortstacked all the way up there? I thought there where simply not enough tables...

On the other hand, good to hear that going up doesn't change the fishyness, this site looks like a damn packed aquarium!

Honestly, never seen the crap I've seen here in 10 days in the months spent on Mansion or Party.... if you look at that graph, the first 7$ up in BSS are coming mostly from 2 players only!
BSS really helps maximising profits.

So...

Yesterday the doomswitch turned on and I've went through a serie of bad beats which I'll call simply impressive. Was winning cheap and loosing big, upon getting a set I was costantly loosing to a higher set or a full, couldn't even win The Nuts as I was either getting the blinds or sucked out, all of this until eventually my flatmate screamed for terror and went checking what was up, worked out there was a tiny spider in her room, which I've then killed for her.

That turned the day!

Went back to my seat to find an amazing genius that in an attempt to slowplay his pocket Kings simply called my raise with AQs, on a flop xxQ I've raised, he min-raised and I promptly called, then turn and river showed A and Q giving me a nice full house, obviously I've pushed every street and he gently gave away his stack.

This made me think that maybe the gods were angry with me for some reason and the blood sacrifice pleased them, only for that hand... Upon getting the bullets a couple of hands afterwards I've lost to a set of 9s...

I've then started thinking of what could I offer them and went through some ideas, unfortunately I cannot deal with human sacrifice as the law says I cannot (even though I do have a few I'll happily sacrifice), I'd also like to avoid sheeps as I wont like to offend any Welshman, then I thought that maybe offering the neighbour's chihuaua could please the gods (will surely please me).

It remains now the means... shall I wait for the full moon and deal with it in the wood within the sacred stones, or shall I maybe wait for a summer weekend and be done with it on a BBQ with beer and sausages?

What you do to please your gods and keep your karma up?

Any suggestion?

And please, don't send over the funny guys with those straight white jackets, are uncomfortable. The jackets I mean...

First of all...

I DEMAND BRAGGING RIGHTS!

So... I've been a complete fool, don't know how, but something distracted me and I've pressed raise instead of fold, so on such a 3bet preflop I've decided to bluff hard and play the bullets, it paid off!

Lucky boy...

Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:

Play hand

$0.01/$0.02 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)

Known players:
[tg]BU (Hero)$2.00:///////;SB$4.02:///////;BB$1.77:///////;MP2$5.62:///////;MP3$1.86:///////;CO$2.08:///////;[/tg]

Preflop: Hero is BU with 6:d, 7:d.
MP2 raises to $0.07, 2 folds, Hero raises to $0.24, SB calls $0.23, BB folds, MP2 calls $0.17.

Flop: ($0.74) 8:h, 6:s, J:h (3 players)
SB bets $0.21, MP2 calls $0.21, Hero raises to $0.75, SB folds, MP2 calls $0.54.

Turn: ($2.45) 2:d (2 players)
MP2 checks, Hero bets $1.01(All-In), MP2 folds, Hero gets uncalled bet back.

Final Pot: $2.45.

On top of the above I've also been blessed with a nice straight flush which paid well and and a genius who decided to pay me his stack (210bb!) with a pair of Aces against a straight, this helped getting more on a tone against yesterday's losses, I'm back up.

On a more serious note, I've been doing some thinking about yesterday's downswing and this morning I've decided to have a read through the psychology articles as I was sure there was something about suckouts, I was right.

Very first one: Professional Attitude

There is no downswing in poker - only poorly played hands.

In fact there's to say that yesterday I've been seriously hit by coolers, by a bit due to the success of my first day of BSS and a bit due to my previous positive results I was thinking a bit too much of myself and I've made mistakes, the article humbled me down.

So I've printed the article to give it another read or three these days, then I've set myself the goal to do a costant review and partecipate actively in the Hand Evaluation Board.

Another thing I've done is to limit the tables, playing BSS I can't grind anymore like I used to do with SSS, I miss too many reads and that I think has a problem of yesterday's bad play, so I'm playing 4 tables only and, as soon as I've studied a bit more and I'll have a better understanding of what the numbers mean, I'll start playing with the hud; for the moment I don't want to be distracted by something that I don't fully comprehend.

A little celebration for my first very deep stack table, never had 5BI at a table before!

Some extra happyness for the BR finally in 3 digits

So... for how insane can sound... I've decided to step up prematurely to NL10.

The main reason are 2, first of all I've noticed just this afternoon that I've got only 1 month to clear the deposit bonus instead of the 2 I originally thought, at NL2 I would have never been able, hence the idea to try out.
Second reason is that at work is getting pretty bad, no overtime at all, without those I hardly afford the bills, so I could really use some extra income at the end of the month, and here we are risking the step.

The first night wasn't too bad at all, I've played a bit too nervous for most of the session and I've done some bad calls, knowing that almost half my BR was sitting down was part of the issue, topped with with having to get used to the new blinds and bet size and the simple fact that, while just a few hours ago I as celebrating going deep stack and having 10$ at hand, now 10$ are the norm.

I've ended up playing not too bad and was up until 10 minutes before the end of the session, then I've hit 3 coolers one after the other and lost all the gains in 2 minutes, thanksfully the higher rakeback gave a positive closure.

Overall I cant complain, I just need to adjust to the limit and relax, the people are way more tight and not as fishy as NL2, but I just need to focus, relax and squeeze the money of them.