[Closed] BrYANS RISE TO FAME

Hi All

No-one seems to have spotted the deliberate mistake in my maths in an earlier post on my sng score. I miscalculated my buy-ins. So, although there was still an overall profit, it wasn't as good as I had suggested. Last nights turbo session resulted in an overall loss.

However - and I do believe these figures are accurate - I have now played 23 sng's @ $2.25 with outlay of $51.75, and placings have resulted in $46.80 return leaving a loss of - $4.95.

I obviously want to turn this into profit longer term, but as a newbie to multitabling sng's I am happy with the way I have used the knowledge gained from this site, and to only have a $4.95 loss over 23 tourneys is not something I am going to cry about.

I will give the turbos another go later today after I have been to work to earn some money. That's always the trouble with work isn't it, it gets in the way of things you want to do ? At least I have the luxury of literally working what hours I want to.

If there are any pivotal moments in tourneys where I am not sure,even after looking back at the hand history, if I did right or not, I will post on this site.

Gl All
Bryan

Hey Bryan,

If you haven't already done so, i would recommend downloading the ICM Trainer Lite as with regular practice it will really improve your end game decisions.

Kind Regards,
-Steve

Hi All

Thanks to Steve for the feedback. I have passed all the lessons on the ICM trainer light before starting to play these sng's in earnest. However, I must confess that I haven't been back to practice on it once I'd passed. Iknow that both the lessons on there though, and also the live coachings on sng's I have watched have been a great help. I sometimes hear myself thinking what the coach would likely advise when I have a decision.

Have just had a bit of a session on the turbos again, and am disappointed to have made another overall loss on the session. However, I did pull it back from a low point. I did the occasional check on the BR as I was playing, and was horrified to see it had gone below $100 into the 90's at one point, from a starting point of $111.

However, I was still playing, and managed to win one.

All in all, I played 11 and was placed in 4 including a win. I suffered some bad beats though, and of the 7 I got knocked out of, I had the best hand going in 4 of them, and was sucked out on.

The overall loss was $5 appx so again not devastating, but it would be nic to report some sessions where my BR had been moving the right way for a change.

Sometimes the action is just too crazy when I have a few at the late stages especially, so I haven't always the time to make the optimum decision on every table when I am in a crucial point in one that needs more of my attention. I use the method of if in doubt, fold. With such fsat rising blinds though, I wonder whether this might be the reason my results were much more consistent when I wasn't playing turbos.

I am thinking as I am writing now. so hmmm, I think I may experiment by returning to std sng's next session and see what difference it makes. I was profitable at those, and probably should not have changed a winning formula. Oh well the experiment will give me something to look forward to tomorrow.

My original plan was to do this sort of experimenting on my other account, but I thought, what the hell, if I do the playing on FT as much as possible, I will get the much needed SP's. I still have over 150 in the last 28 days, so don't think I am in any danger of losing my silver status yet awhile.

OK lets hope tomorows std sng's prove profitable and get that BR travelling tehright way again.

Gl All
Bryan

Hey there MB,

I too had a prolonged period where my ROI and profit on SnGs was in negative territory.

Seriously, I only managed to get it positive after about 350 trnys. It's a combination of experience needed and a variance rich game, so just stay focused and be patient and you'll get there.

If you download ICM Trainer, you can test actual situations you encountered to find out whether you should have pushed or folded a given hand. Time consuming but pretty helpful in the long run.

GL,
Tim

Hi All,

Thanks for dropping by TIM64 I will certainly look into that if I decide to stay with sng's. I am still undecided, as I really want to play BSS too to develop my cash game skills. I eventually would like to get a bit of BR together and play live. I certainly have ample opportunity where I live, as cash games are run at local casinos, and my home town, Nottingham, is home to DTD, one of the biggest cardrooms in Europe now, and a place dedicated to poker and nothing else.

However, I want tourney skills too, so it may be that I just literally develop both skills and play whichever I am in the mood for on the particular day.

I have an hour or so free right now, so am just about to start a sng session, where I think I will play std rather than turbo, just to see what happens.

All the best,
Bryan

You can't play TURBOs profitably without practicing on the ICM trainer or the like A LOT in my opinion. In the standard tourneys you can somehow get by since even on the 11$s I now play it sometimes doesn't even got to push or fold the whole tourney but ICM is the essence of TURBO tourneys..

Hi All

Thanks for your feedback Luborc. That message seems to be coming to me from various quarters now, so will have to take it on board, and set some time aside to train on ICM.

That said however, I have just played the aforementioned session, but realised after my last post, that I have to pick my grandchildren up from school today. So,as I have a time limit, I couldn't risk entering sng's. So changed my mind, and played 4 table BSS.

Guess what? I made a small profit at least, on every table, and an overall profit for the session. So forget sng's, I am going to rip up the cash tables. lol.

Seriously though, I enjoyed the session, where I played tight solid poker gleaned from everything I have learned here, and it paid off. I don't know if it was the time of day, as I am used to playing late at night uk time/early morning, but the tables didn't seem as tough as they can be, and I seemed to get a lot of respect when I raised/re-raised.

I would like to think that I got respect because of my tag style, and they believed me when I had the goods, but it would be a first for NL2 players wouldn't it?

Anyway, small stakes mean small profits, but great to see the BR at least taking a shift in the right direction again.

BR = $108.06
FTP = 1454.85

Gl All
Bryan

Hi All

Enjoyed my poker tonight. Carrying on from earlier, and not wanting to break a winning run as it were, I decided to 4 table BSS again NL2.

This time I was slightly in the red for most of the session, as I wasn't getting many hands. I also remembered there was a coaching at 9:55 uk time, which was fast approaching.

So I played a little longer, and won a big pot on one of my tables, which virtually doubled me up on that table, and nudged me just into profit overall, as the coaching was about to start. So I left, resulting in technically speaking, another winning session, albeit only a few cents.

After the coaching, I decided to do what I did the other night, and enter a $10 sng on my other account. As I said the other night, I didn't feel out of my depth particularly. I just was too tired the other night, and won't be playing them too regular just yet, as they are not good BR management with the $200 or so I have in that account.

Anyway, I played it, and placed 3rd, so well chuffed with that. I have had the hand history emailed to me, and will try to analyse it when I have time,as suggested to me earlier. I was chip leader in the early to mid stages, as I had only played the strongest hands, in position, and played them aggressively as advised here.

As usual, it's the end game where it's won and lost, and as I had a decent chip stack whilst others were getting short, I saw no need to get involved unnecessarily with the crap I was largely getting dealt, despite the fact the stacks were starting to even out a bit more.

I would like to think I made the right decisions at least most of the time, but will try to post any queries I may have on here when I have been through it.

Had a look at the hand evaluations thread briefly, and some posters were being told to use a hand converter. I must find out what one of those is. lol

BR = $108.84
FTP = 1460.90

Gl All
Bryan

Hi All

Forget the last bit of my last post. I have found out what a hand convertor is, and I have already got one. It's called Elephant !

OK so now I need 2 notes to myself.

Download and practice with full version of ICM Trainer.
Start getting more familiar with Elephant. I only need about another 700 points for my Elephant licence. I'm sure I will get there one day.

Gl All
Bryan

Hi Bryan... Have just sat here and read the whole of your blog and have found it very interesting.

Keep up the good work! I can't help thinking though, that you might have better results sticking to just one type of play (cash or sng) for the time being? I'm certainly not the most qualified here to make that judgement though so would like to hear what the more experienced guys think?

Hi All

Thanks for your comments Wurble. The thought has certainly crossed my mind, that I should maybe concentrate on one type. I have to balance that, though, with the thought that I enjoy playing different kinds of poker, and the thought I may become a good all round player.

For instance, I enjoy playing Omaha occasionally, and there seems to be a school of thought these days that so many people at all levels are getting good at holdem, that Omaha is the future, if you want to have an edge.

I'm not sure I would go that far, as, at the levels I am forced to play at currently with my BSS there are some players who are unbelievably bad. Some of them seem have obviously read that poker is a game of aggression, and take the line that if in doubt, shove all your chips in, and they will fold, and you will win. I say that based on some of the hands I find myself up against sometimes when I have a premium hand.

Also Wurble, the way I waffle on sometimes, I think it very commendable of you to have read through the whole of my blog. lol and thankyou.

Also, whilst I sometimes think I would like to concentrate on BSS cash games, as that seems more like proper poker, it requires the biggest BR. At the moment, without depositing money myself on my FT account, I only have a little over $100 built from my free money here, so am forced to play at the lowest level. This doesn't rack up the Strategy points very quickly like grinding sss or even sng's.

We all would like tourney skills too, I think, for when we enter the big ones with life-changing money at stake. I have final tabled a few tourneys at my local casinos even before I came to this site, at low level buy-ins. The confidence I get from my skills developed here will, I am sure, see me entering and doing well in bigger buy-in events in the future.

For now, though, the road is a long one, with sessions like last night.

I again managed to come away with a small profit, so can't complain. I played good tight solid poker for the most part at NL2 BSS. However, as has been the case in the past, before joining this site, there is just the occasional daft moment that can be costly in cash games, relatively speaking of course. I know with $2 BI it's not like proper money, but relative to the BR it certainly is, and that's the way I have to think.

In one case, I got arguable too attached to AQs. Re-reading the HH I realise that I was UTG+1, so strictly speaking that was a no-no even being in the hand with AQ in the first place. However, when you see some of the shit being played at this level, can I really fold AQs ? So I decide if I am going to play it, I open raise rather than limp and face a raise. Of course I got a caller, but two hearts came on the flop, giving me the nut flush draw and an overcard with the Ace (there was a king on the flop). So when a short stack shoved, and everyone else was out of the way, could I fold a nut flush draw with 2 to come for 10c ? I don't think so.lol. The loss wasn't too devastating on a 58c pot.

In fact, I think the 3 questionable hands, I will post in the BSS hand evaluation bit when I get the time, now I think I know how to do it.

Anyway, the good news was that I did spectacularly well on two of my 4 tables, so managed to leave with a small profit regardless.

BR = $109.77
FTP = 1464.64

Gl All
Bryan

Originally posted by Wurble
Hi Bryan... Have just sat here and read the whole of your blog and have found it very interesting.

Keep up the good work! I can't help thinking though, that you might have better results sticking to just one type of play (cash or sng) for the time being? I'm certainly not the most qualified here to make that judgement though so would like to hear what the more experienced guys think?

I think this is good advice. When I started I could never stick to one thing. Started with SSS and when I lost some switched to sng's. Then went back and forth between BSS and sng's whatever I felt like that day. And I found out thhat it really slows down your learning. You can choose to do it if you're playing just for fun, but if you seriously want to play cash games and sng's in the long run I would pick one and wait until you're 3 or4 limits up then switch to the other one and once you've moved up the limits in that one play both as you please. Just my 2 cents!! Good luck in whatever you choose to do!!

Hi All

Thanks for the reply dadude77. I recall it was your link that introduced me to this site in the first place. Am really enjoying it. Just posted a couple of hands for evaluation, now I have worked out how to do it with Elephant. It's great that people take the time to reply and help you with your game.

I take on board what you say re sticking to one thing, but wait until I go up 3 levels? I am in my fifties now mate. lol

Seriously though, I may give it a go by sticking to BSS cash games for a while. I will just have to keep an eye on whether I am earning enough SP's to retain my silver status at the NL2 level. Am not too sure how I earn the SP's from cash games. I assume it is based on rake/pot size etc, but don't know just how the figures work out.

Maybe if I concentrate on the cash games, I can use some of the time I would have to spend ICM training on playing more hands.

Incidentally, I did download the ICM trainer, but when I opened it up it was in German !!

I did learn a little German a year or two back, but knowing how to introduce myself, and ask the way to the nearest railway station wasn't of much use. lol

All the best
Bryan

I can't remember exactly where but you can change it in the options... look around abit and you'll find it, sorry can't be more help as i uninstalled it when i quit sng's ♦

I say around 3 levels I'm not sure exactly, I would get to at least NL10 or $5 sng's. I was told wait until your roll is around $500. But again, it is up to you

Good luck!

Hey Bryan,

With regards to the ICM trainer being in German, you can change the language to English by using the middle button on the top menu.

Kind Regards,
-Steve

Hi All

Thanks again guys for your help too. I have now got English on my ICM trainer. Had a go on it and got 16 correct from 20. I don't think I can give up the sng's completely just yet. You can't let skill like that go to waste can you? lol

Tonight I got brave. With a bit of rakeback I got today, I had $112 and NL5 only requires $125 for 25 BI, so I have around 22 BI anyway. So thought I would give NL5 a go.

I enjoyed the session and held my own ok. I played for around an hour and a quarter, but unfortunately only made a few cents overall profit, due to a couple of bad beats.

It's a good job I didn't take the first one to heart, as it was one of the first hands I played. In fact it was literally the first hand I played at that table, and I got dealt AKs. I ended up calling an all-in from a short stack who turned out to have AA. Should I have called an all-in with AKs? I intend to post that hand and one or two others in the appropriate forum. A similar thing happened near the end of the session with my QQ finding KK. That one almost wiped out my bit of profit from the session.

I was 4 tabling, and had a bit of a profit on one table, a small loss on another one, a bigger loss on a third table, from the AKs hand and a hefty profit on the fourth table, where I almost doubled my stack. This time I had the AA Ha Ha.

I feel like unless anything goes drastically wrong, I would like to continue at this NL5 level to try to build it up when things swing my way. I will stick mostly with BSS on NL5 and keep posting hands for evaluation. I did this for the first time today, and was pleased with how people are keen to respond and help you improve your game.

BR = $112.48
FTP = 1478.96

All the best
Bryan

If you're going to move up a little early to take a shot you have to make sure you are disciplined to move back down if you start to lose. Nothing against you. Just if you move up early you'll have to move down if you hit the slightest bit of variance. I've had to move down from NL50 to NL25 twice already. Good luck with the step up

Hey MB. Now you're blog of the week in the community roundup, you're famous!

BTW when I started playing I was a FL player and then I moved to SnGs. After joining PS.com I split my learning between both, but decided I could see a more immediate result from playing FL - and I was enjoying it more.

Even now I occassionally play micro stakes PLO and SSS and the odd NL freeroll MTT or SnG, but when the grind comes its pretty much hardcore FL. I figure that it is good for the soul to mix it up a bit, but once you develop a bit of feel more toward one variant than another, go hardcore. Then really try to nail the theory and practice at that variant by applying decent chunks of time.

Good luck!

Hi All

Thanks for the feedback again guys, and WOW Waiboy, thanks for drawing my attention to the community roundup. Blog of the week. What an honour that is, and I mean that honestly. I really appreciate the comments made. It's obviously come through how much I want to be the best poker player I can be, and I am certainly getting help from all quarters here.

It seems like any help you need from this site, you can get it willingly. Last night I posted 3 more hands, and have had replies to two of them already.

I will go with NL5 BSS for the time being, but am sure I will play some sng sessions again before long too. I enjoy them both in different ways.

Not sure about fixed limit though Waiboy, now that I am used to NL. I will certainly keep away from it for the time being, as :

a) I don't know enough about it tactically
b) I definitely don't want to introduce anything else new that I might enjoy. lol

Anyway, its Saturday, and a bank holiday, so lots of people out there wanting taxis, so I had better get out there and start earning my BR.

All the best from the blog of the week, WOW

Bryan

Hey MB

I wasn't suggesting you switch to FL (although if you did you would suddenly become much more rugged and good looking)... It's more about finding your groove.. not being too quick to pick a variant to specialise in, but when you do, giving it the guts.