[Closed] BrYANS RISE TO FAME

Hello Bryan,

Congratulations on your continuing success mate.

If your still having problems with Elephant, then i am usually on skype most days and some evenings.

Kind Regards,
-Steve

Hi All
A mixed session, where BR reached around $135 before a succession of bad beats brought it almost back to session start point. A bit disappointing, but that's how it goes.

score at present:

BAL = $129.89
FTP = 1149.94
BONUS EARNED = $46.85
BONUS CLEARED = $45.00
Next release in 52.42 FTP's

GL All
Bryan

Originally posted by MAGICBRYAN
A mixed session, where BR reached around $135 before a succession of bad beats brought it almost back to session start point. A bit disappointing, but that's how it goes.

Hey Bryan - man, any session in the green is a good session. Heck any month in the green is a good month!! And occassionally, when you get to some really decent stakes, even a month in the red can be a really good month after bonuses/promos/rakeback etc!

Enjoy the journey fella!

Hi All
Thx again for your insight Waiboy. I am really enjoying it at the moment mate. Bonus almost cleared now though, and just a little aprehensive that when those bonus top-ups cease basic sss may not see me improving much. So will need to start bringing more into my game a.s.a.p and record where it goes well and where it goes wrong, and post here on forums for advice.

One of the live coaches recently answered someones question re sss and bss, that bss was more profitable and there was less variance. On the other hand, I could move up a level with less BR with sss, whereas I may even have to drop a level to be properly bankrolled for bss.

Anyway, lots to take in and think about, but for now, from nothing to $129 and I am happy enough for now mate.

All the best
Bryan

Hi All

Just had the best and worst session so far.

The best session, because I have cleared the last of my $50 bonus. Hooray for the good news !!

For the bad news, just look at my BR.

Had $129 with another $5 bonus to come so could have been set up nice for the future. Instead, the deck was good to me in that I picked up a number of good hands for all-ins, then promptly lost nearly every f...ing one of them.

I raised twice with pocket AA and they all fold like little lambs. Do they fold when I raise from early pos with AK? No, the fools call me with AJ and hit the J and A10 and hit the 10 on the river. My QQ run into AA my JJ run into QQ, and every other kind of crap to ensure I end up with less money than I started the session with, even counting my bonus !!!

Anyway, on a positive note, I still have $116 from nothing, and the tools here to help eventually build it into something bigger.

I will be studying BSS and SNG too, to add some variety into the way I lose money (er sorry, I mean to make me a better all round poker player, with the help I get from you guys). On that note I will publicly say a big thankyou to Bulldog, for freely giving his time to me earlier today, above and beyond the call as it were.

For the record:

BAL = $116.56
FTP = 1203.59
BONUS EARNED = $50
BONUS CLEARED = $50

So I will update this blog in future with a more rounded view of what I have been studying, what I have been playing, and where my BR is at. So you can continue to watch my er "rise to fame" unfold.

GL All
Bryan

Hi folks

I had a break on Thursday from actually playing poker, though I did do some studying, and caught some live coaching. Friday, too, I caught some of the MTT coaching session and have been trawling my way through the BSS strategy articles. I still have silver articles to read. I assume the silver No limit articles mostly refer to BSS too.

As I stated in a previous post, now I have cleared my bonus, I want to mix it up a little now and then.

I want to retain my silver status of course, so I will probably most easily do that initially by doing more of the same ie grinding sss basic. However, I want to throw in a bit of BSS and sng eventually. In particular I want to develop my BSS cash game skills, as that is real poker, if you know what I mean (as opposed to shove or fold sss).

My PS affiliation is with FT but I have another account on Pokerstars with a couple hundred dollars of my own money in. So, I am thinking of getting a bit of practice in now and then on the POkerstars account with BSS and SNG, just to get my confidence up with applying what I have learned here, before risking my FT bankroll.

I just love the fact that I have never deposited a cent of my own money on FT, and like the idea of building it up from scratch. So I don't mind risking the BR through normal poker variance etc, or even making wrong decisions occasionally, but I don't want to risk it through silly mistakes made through eg not being able to keep up with the action if playing more than one table etc.

When I did log on before tonights/this mornings session, I see that the kind people here at PS have given me another donation, taking my BR back to just over $120, which sounds a lot more than $116 somehow.

Anyway, I did an hour or so multitabling basic sss, and experimented with doing a few more tables than usual by cascading them. I managed about 8 at one point, which is a record for me.

I only made one glaring error, otherwise just basic strategy with the occasional steal etc. The glaring error was one where I hit top pair after seeing a free flop then overplaying it, and worst of all, calling a big river bet on a draw-heavy board. Although the player called my bets twice with an Ace rag and flopped a straight on the river, so I was ahead until that point, I still know I overplayed top pair crap kicker hand, and the call on the river was inexcusable. It was the old me that couldn't let a hand go even though I know I am now beat. I slapped myself on the wrist, told myself I had learned better than that on here, and didn't do anything else stupid for the rest of the session.

BAL = $122.90
FTP = 1252.97

I then went on Pokerstars and tried out a little BSS on two tables, and made a small profit on the session, so all was well, despite the small amounts involved, it still amounted to two winning sessions.

GL ALL
Bryan

Hi All
Last night decided to open up a greater number of tables than I have done before, and went on the waiting list for 10 tables, to do some grinding on basic sss, which I am now so used to doing.

I got to 8 tables open, then when another popped up, it told me I wasn't allowed to open any more (I think the site has a default 8 table limit). Well as someone who has never multitabled before I joined this site recently, I found it quite amusing I had reached a point where I was told I was at my limit !! What was equally surprising was that the 8 I had open and cascading, I was able to cope with playing them, albeit using sss basic strategy. So this is the way I will retain my silver status, and with luck build my BR. However, I will be introducing some sng and bss once I have a better grasp of them both from a poker strategy point of view. Obviously I can play both now, and have done lots of times in the past. However, I don't want to introduce them here, affecting my FT BR until I am playing them potentially profitably by following PS teachings.

for the record, last night i was playing very late after work, so short session, more to try out the multitabling than anything else, and resulted in:
BR = $121.90
FTP = 1261.32

Earlier today I caught most of the sng coaching which I found very informative, and was interested to note that the coach answered a question someone else posed re best way to build a bankroll as a beginner, was in his opininon definitely multitabling sng's.

I had previously thought of tourneys as having a greater element of luck, and cash games being more skillful, and assumed cash games were the way forward.

I want to become a good all round player so will be brushing up on both, but will I build my BR quicker multitabling sngs (once I know I am playing them properly of course) ? hmmm...

GL All
Bryan

Hi All
Had some time on my hands last night, so decided to play around a bit with different formats.

Regular readers will know I have two main poker accounts (odds and sods here and there) but main two are my FT account, affiliated to PS (so is in many respects the important one). Also I have a Pokerstars account with a couple of hundred dollars or so of my own money in from before I started here. This one I intend to use primarily for experimentation or just playing something different now and again like Omaha, Horse etc

So last night I started on Pokerstars by playing BSS, on one table, but as one guy had a connection problem, it became boringly slow. so whilst the sensible thing might have been to switch to another table, I decided to fire up three more !. I was actually pleased with how I played and handled multitabling bss for the first time, despite losing about 5 dollars on the session. Was playing 4 tables at NL10. Half of the 5 dollars I lost was lost with one stupid call I made. How many times must I call big bets on the river when I know I am beat before this message sinks in ? !! QQ can be folded. Otherwise I felt I made mostly the right decisions and would do this again, posting a few hands for evaluation maybe, once I find out how to do this properly.

Next I switched to FT to do my daily sss grind. I like to ensure that I do this whatever, to retain my silver status. Result after over an hour of this and many ups and downs as usual, was as usual, about break even.

Instead of going to bed, I decided to play an sng, so back to Pokerstars, where, I then said what the hell and fired up 4 x $1 tables. Believe me, when you have never multitabled sng's before and you are still refering to hand charts, and still unsure of what to shove and what to fold during the end game, you have to learn pretty damn fast. lol !

Amazingly I kept it together enough to place in 3 of the 4, though after buy-in fees and only getting 3rd place in each, my total profit was 60 cents !!! Well we all have to start our "rise to fame" somewhere don't we ? I don't think what is his name ? Buko? or Elky have anything to fear from me just yet.

In all, a very enjoyable evening, during which I was able to put into practice what I had been reading about in strategy articles and learning from live coachings.

Still deciding which way to go, but, for now, I think persevere with daily grinding sss and hope for br to build in time, whilst occasionally practicing bss and sng on pstars. Ultimately would like to maybe rotate on my FT account, playing whatever I am in the mood to play, but sticking to that one format for the whole session. Switching from multi bss last night to sss confused me for a bit about which hands I should be playing !!lol

FT BR = $120.21
FTP = 1273.88 (in about a years time I may have enough for a baseball cap lol)

GL All
Bryan

Very nice blog Bryan.Keep up the good work but be carefull with the multitable issue,since as more table means more possible profit it also means more variance.I lately started to open 4 tables but after about half an hour i close 2 to concentrate more to the 2 i find more profitable.

Peace

Hi All
Thanks for your comments Mr Pavlos, and for taking the time to post. I know what you mean about multitabling, and concentrating. The only reason I have got into doing so many is that I have been doing basic sss, which, once you get used to it, doesn't require a lot of thinking. Most hands are folded and decisions mostly easy when you do play. So easy way to keep gringing away points to keep my status.

However, your remarks are timely, as after last nights session, I have decided to change tack. I played up to 8 tables for over an hour, with the result that my BR went from $120 to $112.

OK I know I shouldn't be results-orientated, but that's easier to say once you are well clear of the first rungs of the ladder. Anyway, I then switched to BSS only playing 1c/2c as I enjoyed it the other night. I got to a maximum of 4 tiled tables, and deliberately didn't open any more, for the reasons Mr Pavlo stated. I wanted to be able to see each table and have at least a little time to make decisions.

Despite this shortish session ending with a small loss, I felt most of my decisions were correct, with one or two notable exceptions.

So, bottom line now, is that, my eventual aim, stated on previous post, re playing what I feel like playing for the session will be brought forward. Instead of practicing everything on my Pstars account, I am confident enough to play BSS here, though I will have to find out the easiest way to grab hand s for posting for evaluation, so I can keep track on my decision making. There is no point playing robot poker (basic sss) and getting knowhere fast. If I am going to lose money, I might as well lose it doing something I enjoy more. lol

Incidentally, played a $3 SNG on pstars following on from my 3/4 placings last session, and went out on the bubble. The final shove where I got knocked out by the big stack was questionable, and I called myself stupid for doing it when I didn't have to, following otherwise solid play. However, when I calmed down, I reasoned the decision wasn't such a terrible one, taking into account all the reasons I did it. (briefly, I pushed an Ace rag against the chip leader(that was the dumb part arguably, as the other two players were arguably in a worse position than me...but I won't go on). I hadn't been silly with my pushes and the player had shown that despite being the chip leader, he had gotten there by choosing his spots, and was more than capable of folding. I didn't want to be too passive, so figured that shoving against the big stack when not in a desperate position, when I hadn't got a loose image, would suggest I had a big hand, so heb would fold quite a range, and if not, well I had an Ace..). Unfortunately he had JJ and 8 times as many chips as me, so not a difficult call lol.

Anyway, I am waffling now.

for the record:
FT BAL = $111.72
FTP = 1313.58

GL ALL
Bryan

Originally posted by MAGICBRYAN
OK I know I shouldn't be results-orientated, but that's easier to say once you are well clear of the first rungs of the ladder.

Nice waffle Bryan! Nice to see ongoing improvement.

As for not being results oriented early doors? I think most of us are results oriented to different degrees... and to be honest I don't think it ever really changes! The important thing to remember is that you HAVE to ignore the results as variance has too big a part to play in this game. It's bloody hard but you can always use your blog to whine then refocus... it's what I do!

Hi All,
Thanks again for the kind words Waiboy, lol at your comment re whining on the blog then re-focus.

Just finished a session where I :

a) played 4 table BSS NL2 again

b) followed by 2 x $2 sngs (simultaneously)

Oh yes, I am getting brave now. No more practicing on another account tonight, I went for it big time. Risking BR playing everything on FT PS account. lol

The amounts of money were so small as to not bother detailing, but suffice to say that I made a small profit on the BSS cash game, but a slightly bigger loss on the sng, despite what I consider a good result for first attempt on this site ( out on bubble in one for 4th and placed 3rd in the other).

I got carried away after a session on ICM trainer light earlier today.

I had been struggling with it for a while, so focused today, and tried to get to grips with the reasoning that was going on. Eventual result was that I finally passed all the lessons. So obviously I was ready to take the SNG world by a storm. I was pleased with my overall performance, and my success on icm trainer light definitely boosted my confidence when it came to the end game. The end game has been my weakness in these things in the past.

The rake meant that despite one placing and one bubble, I still made a loss overall.

In the cash games I again was pleased with my overall discipline, but as usual, there was the occasional rush of blood to the head. I am getting better since watching the cool guys here on the live coachings, but still suffer occasionally.

I made a small profit despite at one point blowing my stack on one table, through such a rush of blood to the head. I began the pot ok raising my KK, one caller, contibet etc, but further down the line, I got frustrated, as the dry board didn't offer any clues as to what my opponent was calling me with, so, ignoring the little warning bell in my head that told me he must have something, I prefered to think he was calling station fish and was reminded very soon after - as he showed 33 for a flopped set - that shoving my whole stack in the middle, is not the best way to find out where I am in a hand. lol

FT BAL = $110.97
FTP = 1325.43

GL ALL
Bryan

Hi All

Just a short post to say just finished session where I just played 3 x $2 sng's. Started by just playing one whilst listening to a live coaching, then when I finished that one, and turned off the coaching, I fired up the other two.

Decent enough result again with two 3rd places and one unplaced. I seem to unfortunately be getting 3rd's rather than wins/2nds but not complaining, as its better than not cashing at all. I don't feel I have got 3rds by not playing hard enough for the win. It has just been luck more than anything. Of the two 3rds tonight for example, in one I got short-stacked, and shoved K10, and was called by the big stack with A7, so fair enough. I didn't do anything wrong shoving there.
In the other one, I got sucked out on, as my shove with QQ was called by 88 and he hit an 8. We were fairly evenly stacked too, so had my QQ held, that would have been at least 2nd for sure. Just tough luck.

Am enjoying mixing it up a bit with BSS and sng's, but may have to grind some sss if I am to keep my silver status, as I would never be able to play as many tables on BSS OR SNG so couldn't earn enough points whilst on the micro stakes.

Tonights 2 x 3rd's out of 3 obviously resulted in a small profit for the BR.

BAL = $111.42
FTP = 1330.68

GL all
Bryan

Hi All

Thinking aloud now, I got so used to grinding away basic sss to clear my bonus, that I developed the ability to multitable 8 tables if necessary.

However, I find it the least interesting of the forms of poker I play. There is more skill required to play BSS, and I feel it develops me more as a player. Also sng's are a skill in themselves, particularly with the end game, where they are usually won or lost. I am fast realising what I already knew from experience, that, despite there still being a lot of luck involved in tourneys, it can definitely help when you are more aware of when to shove and when not to lol

However, having attained silver status, and access to everything that comes with that, I obviously want to retain it. My daily points have been lower since experimenting with these other forms.

When I last played sng's, I admittedly only played 3 x $2, but despite a slight increase in my BR my SP score was just 1.5. Presumably sng's are scored on the buy-in fee, and thus a fixed rate. So I assume I scored 0.5 for each one. So I would need to play 8 or more to make it viable.

I don't know exactly my figures for BSS but I only played that at NL2 due to NL5 requiring a BR of $125, which I haven't at present, got.

My problem is that I am limited through work etc, most days, to an hour or two a day. So, until the BR grows it looks like, to retain silver, I have to grind away at the poker I enjoy the least, and throw in the other stuff when I can.

It wouldn't be so bad if I could hit a good run and build my BR, but last nights session of multitabling sss resulted in a small loss, undoing the gain I got from the sng the other night, but will, at least have earned me more SP i hope.

I can already here some voices on here saying, don't worry about the results Bryan, just keep trying to improve your game and the results will come.

Incidentally, after my last post, I got an urge to play a game of Omaha, which I do on my other account. I played solid poker, folding all but the most promising of starting hands, then played them aggressively as taught here. I held my own well, then flopped a well-disguised nuts FH against a very aggressive player. Correctly guessing he was aggressively playing an AA type hand, I checked the nuts and let him bet at me and hang himself, which he duly did. I doubled my $10 starting stack to over $20, left the table and went to bed a happy man lol Sharing that memory with you all has lifted my mood alresdy lol

BAL = $108.93
FTP = 1363.47

GL All
Bryan

Hi All

Have taken a break from work to play an hour or so session. Decided to 4 table sng's and see how I fare. Result was I was placed again in 3 out of 4. I went out on the first one on the bubble, but then got 2x 3rd place and 1 x 2nd place. This gave me an overall profit on top of a few quid rakeback from PS, so BR looking a little healthier and me feeling quite pleased with my results on only I think the 2nd time I have 4 tabled sng's.

Thought I would write up this good news now, as I am off out to work again now for an hour or two, taxiing, taking the drunks home from the pubs, and when I get home, if not too tired I may play another session. It all may go horribly wrong later, so have wrote up the positive news now, whilst there is some to write. lol

BR = $116.48
FTP = 1370.47

Gl all
Bryan

Hi All
Ref last post, back from work again now. Quite late now, so just played shortish session of less than an hour, and it didn't go horribly wrong.

Played 4 tables BSS NL2 and made a small overall profit. Seem to be on a roll at the moment when I am not playing sss. Whilst things are going well I will continue to play what I enjoy, but keeping half an eye on my strategy points, to retain silver status.

BR = $117.68
FTP = 1372.14

GL ALL
Bryan

Hi All

Well I said last post that I was on a roll whenever I wasn't playing sss. However, I decided my strategy points are slipping a little, so I would grind sss tonight. Result was another losing session. Am going to keep sss to a minimum now and play what I enjoy, and just try to do enough of it to get my points. sss basic is just pissing me off a bit now.

For fun I played an Omaha tourney on my other pokerstars account earlier, and was doing ok until I rather foolishly got my chips in with botom straight, and lost to a higher straight.

So not a great night all told.

FT BR = $114.39
FTP = 1386.70

Gl All
Bryan

Hi All

Last nights session (well I always say last night, but usually it was earlier this morning, after midnight) 4 tabling $2 SNG's, reloaded a couple when I got knocked out, so played 6 altogether. Got two 2nds and a 3rd for an overall profit of 90c !!

Well, a profits a profit eh ? lol

I don't think I have actually won one yet on full tilt, though I haven't played many sessions of them yet, and I have lost one or two on suckouts, which should rightfully have been mine if there was any jury involved. lol Of course, I don't remember me ever sucking out on anyone else.

Afterwards I fired up my other account on Pokerstars and on a whim had a one-off kind of shot at a bigger buy-in sng just playing one table, despite being very tired.

I learnt a valuable lesson there. If faced with a decision when very tired, of playing a bigger buy-in sng or going to bed, you should choose going to bed !!

The buy-in wasn't really relevant, it was a $10 sng, but to be honest I didn't particularly feel out of depth against my opponents, and may have even had an edge against one or two notable examples. My biggest enemy was myself.

In one instance I made such an elementary mistake that I couldn't believe I had done it until I looked at the hand history to see where I had gone wrong, and the answer was from the word go, in that hand.

I had folded a lot, then found myself being first to act in late pos and decided to do a blind steal. One call and a conti bet later, I was left wondering where all my chips had gone ! I check folded the river.

I couldn't believe when I later looked at the hand history, that I had 1100 chips on 50/100 blinds. I had no business even trying a blind steal unless I shoved all-in. My first standard raise was a mistake. What was I going to do if called and missing the flop? Throw more money away on a pointless contibet thats what.

Like I said, next time go to bed. Thankfully, my win at Omaha the other night paid for that fiasco, so no real damage to BR there, but I may have to think generally about when I play poker, as I am tending to mostly play at night after work and before bed, which can't be the best.

Anyway, I'm waffling aloud again.

FT BR = $115.29
FTP = 1418.49

Gl All
Bryan

Hi All,

Just stumbled across a feature on FT (I am still relatively new to the site) where I can look at my tourney history. This tells me thaqt I have played 15 $2.25 sng's and placed in 9 of them.

I worked my entry fees out to be $20.25 and my returns as $37.80. So a good start.

I struggle a bit to keep up, when playing 4 tables. Often it's not at the end where you would expect, but in the middle stage, where decisions take a bit longer. At the end it is just push or fold. One of the coaches says he prefers turbos, for the very reason that you spend less time at the middle stage, and get to push or fold quicker.

I have so far played std tourneys, but for next session, which I am just about to start, I may try turbos, to see how I do.

All the best
Bryan

Hi All,

Further to my earlier post, I have now played the session, and managed 8 turbo sng's. I enjoyed playing them, despite not very good results. I was pleased with the way I played most of the time, though at times I still struggle to keep up with the action, as I am still new to 4 tabling sng's. This probably results in me taking my eye off the ball occasionally, and not always playing optimally.

However, firstly the bad news, is that I only actually placed in 2 out of 8, resulting in an overall loss on the BR. However, the good news is that I actually won one of those, and came 2nd in the other. I also had two bubbles, and was sucked out on badly. So 2 out of 8 I don't think was a fair reflection of how I played.

Also in one of the tourneys I seemed to quickly go from a big chip stack to a small one, then out, and was concerned I had messed up. However, I looked up the hand history, and felt that I didn't do anything wrong on the pivotal hands, but rather was unlucky, or as chenny888 is fond of saying on his coachings, "shit happens".

Unless anything goes terribly wrong, I intend to play more sng sessions, and maybe some BSS again soon.

BR = $111.69
FTP = 1432.49

All the best
Bryan