Get into it with IvicaIliev77

I see you guys started a party here - wohoooo

GingerKid, I ask you not to give aggressive advice nor to confuse Innercityboy - since you are not aware of his poker history.
He played 6 max SNGs micro limits on Stars 1.5$ successfully and had a strong ROI on decent sample. During that time he showed very strong work ethic when it comes to range memorization. However, 6 max SNGs as a game vs Spins are easier game. While there is more blind depths and bubble factor (ICM), there were also more worse opponents vs which Innercityboy was taking stacks. Just the fact that when you get to HU you are already ITM means a lot! Here on Spins is now different story. He is now becoming a real poker pro, focusing on pre flop ranges, using HUD more in depth, understanding what each stat means and how they are related to each other, figuring out where his edge is currently vs playing field and what he needs to improve on etc

Range vs range is very important. If I had poker school I would teach only several concepts in it:
- Counting combos
- Hand strength chart
- Absolute hand strength
- Relative hand strength
- Pot odds
- Equity
- Range vs range analysis pre and post flop

The sooner he starts analyzing range vs range, the better he will become post flop and pre flop. Once he does 1 texture in full, other ones will follow much smoother and easier - because hand types will click and he will understand what optimal line could be and how to adjust it exploitably.

Keep in mind, we just started working for Spins. We do 2 sessions per week, around 1 to 1.5 hours each. I provide him outside of sessions with assignments, textures, give him lots of videos, charts and tables + HUDs (1 from Elpsycho for 3 max and 1 from Coffee HU) etc. It is from that point on purely up to him how much he studies and how he chooses to study.
I am seeing improvement in his thinking process and play already IP since that is what we focused for range vs range for 10 days already. I am happy, whether he is - that is question for him. Can he do more - yes, should he - depends on his comfort zone (if this is his comfort zone, he should aim to push through it always and pass the edges).
Since our goal is for him to make 4.5k $ by the end of this year minimum by 2 tabling 7s from Mid June or so with very normal win rate, I am positive he will not only do it but also surpass that expectation - if he continues to constantly push himself to improve and play enough - like he did past 2 weeks.

Again, I ask you not to apply any additional pressure nor to give some advice that will just confuse him or grab his focus from important things. Do your best to refrain from unnecessary beginner poker 101 advice since he is not total beginner nor idiot - on contrary, he knows very well how little he knows and how much he needs to work to crush.

Originally posted by GingerKid

I am surprised that you are already practicing range vs range which is very advanced concept, and you are playing 1$ stake. So I think that you shoud start practicing range vs range only if you already understand most of the articles from pokerstrategy.

Hello, I am sorry, I did not want to say Range v. Range, I wanted to say that I was fully concentrate about what my opponents could hold in certain spots... and I know that range v. range is still advanced stuff for me to do. I have read the most of articles from Strategy and I mostly understood it... and just to mention that I am not total beginner, this is my 3rd year in Holdem but I never did some serious study. It was more like a video game to me so far.
Thank you very much about your advice/tips, you are more than welcome to continue give me such, b'coz I know how much you know, or I think I know...
Cheers! ♠_thumbsup:

Day 15

Hello, everyone,
Day 15 was the worst day since I started work on spins. My results was awful and I have to find out the reason. I had a feeling that I was just running bad but at the end of the day when I checked my graph it showed totally opposite picture I was really confused about it. I am aware of that I had missed played hands post F in first blind level of tournaments and later as short stack I was punished because of it in way that I ran into stronger hands when went all in. Positive thing of all this is that I did not tilt, I was more focused on marked such a hands which I can later discuss with my coach.
Beside this, I played for 4 hours, 50 games. Watched a video my coach gave me and took notes about mental game which helped me a lot, not get into tilt, etc. After this video I have much more clear picture about my goals and how to deal with grind, study and so on.
I will continue to give my best to understand the game more and to improve myself as a poker player. I will be in poker 8-10 hours per day, decided to cut off the distracts so I can be fully committed to poker.

Good luck today at tables and see you tomorrow.

Innercityboy.

Day 16

Yesterday I played for 6 hours - 60 games, mostly 1 table. Focus was good, without tilt and I had spew in couple of spots, probably wrong situation or opponent to bluff. I marked that hands to analyse. It was a good feeling to have positive ROI after a couple of days. It even be higher but just did not have enough luck in couple of 6x tournaments Also, additional 2 hours, I continued to watch and take notes from videos my coach gave me. Still have a lot to do with it, it is not easy as I expected... will continue and try to finish in couple of days. I spent 8 hours on poker and will try little by little, day by day to increase it. After all, satisfied how my day passed.

Wish you all the best, see you.

Innercityboy.

Day 17

Hi, Yesterday played almost 4 hours, almost 40 games, played 1 table most of the time. Learned few new things in sweat session in coffee place. Had some missed played hands which I marked to review. Lack of study yesterday, because of private obligations, only watched video for HU play. Today I will catch up... I will have an session with coach, will play for min 3.5 hours and do ICMizer, hand review and flop texture, between 8-10 hours in poker.

See you and wish you a nice day.

Days 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23

Hello, again.

I did not update my blog in past 5/6 days. I did not do it because of alcohol and hangover in first two days which I took off. After that I fall into trap with stuff you should do constantly, but miss some days and you it becomes harder and harder to back into track. I updated it yesterday, but it seems I forgot to push Submit button. I wrote really good review for past and this is just the short version.

In past 6 days I played 23 hours of poker and studied around 12 hours. Had couple of sessions with my coach. Worked most on post flop. What I noticed is that my evening grind sessions is over. I plan to achieve my grind goal in next two days and get my status upgraded, after that I will study 70% of the time and play just couple of sessions until the end of the month. I will do on things that I am not clear with which I consider I should not be so far.

That is it for now, see you tomorrow again.
Have a nice evening.

Booze time over, time to crush some 3$ Spins.
Road to Phuket Part 2

Day 24
Good morning everyone. Yesterday I played 3.5 hours, 1 and 2 tables mixed, and I agreed with Ivica to start to get some volume on 3$, which I consider very cool and motivating, so I can feel the field and start playing it from next month. I feel better since I made I schedule that excludes evening sessions, so I dont burn my all day EV and money in just one or two last sessions.
I had a study session with my coach, we worked on one specific hand. He also took my database to analyse, so, I can know which areas of my game are the weakest. I am looking forward to that really, and I am ready to work on it and try to fix it. I tried to watch some training videos coach gave me but I couldnt, was tired and unfocused. I will try to do it today.

Now it is time for coffee with my best friend and coach. Wish you nice day and good luck at the tables.

Innercityboy

Day 25

Hi, yesterday played for 4 hours, achieved status upgrade and grind target for this month. Played some more 3$. It was exciting. And it will be more and more, I hope. Studying was not on the level I expected. I watched video hand review from my coach for 1 hour and did one hand I want to discuss about in tomorrows session.

Day 26

Hello, day 26 was quite good. Played 3.5 hours, seems I cant stop playing, starting to get addicted to Spins Played 30-35 games 1 tabling 3$. I noticed that HUs lasts a little bit longer than 1$. Player pool is as you know the same but regs are slightly better, I even got a chance to play 2 hu vs. Supernova guys.Never did it before, and I can tell that for my level of knowledge it was hard and challenging against them. Won both Quick adjusting is one of their big advantage. Other thing, that I started to work on my mental game, how to prevent tilt and how to back my self to the level of focus needed when it happens. I put all my tilt triggers down to the paper and will try to fix my biggest enemy bcoz, like I told my coach, I have much better knowledge than I can feature at tables and it coasts me a lot of chEV. I will see how it will pass in upcoming days. I did not study enough yesterday. Had private evening obligations. Just my hand review and 1 hour video hand review content from my coach. There is a plenty of them and will need some time to watch them all, but i can make it till end of the month.
Now after almost a month I know that is possible to achieve monthly target, which was a big problem for me in the past, which I am very proud of. I made a schedule which is not so strict but very helpful. I can organize my time better. This will very important in sense of improving.

Day 27

Today had a session, triple one. Mental game session, post flop session and DB analyses questions answered. Great job by IvicaIliev77. Cheers,bro!
Too much information, though, I will need some time to absorb all of it, to get to the same spot...but it was very helpful. This morning I marked couple of unclear hands that i will review tomorrow. Today I wont play. Consistent about not playing at evenings. Will use the remaining brain energy to renew today's things try to memorize as much as I can and to watch some video again. I'll stop to mention videos watching, I'm boring with it. I'll do it for 1.5 hours more.

Wish you all the nice evening and see you tomorrow.
Innercityboy aka. 9♣:5♣:

Originally posted by Innercityboy
Played 3.5 hours, seems I cant stop playing, starting to get addicted to Spins

Perhaps the reason why you're saying this is that you've never tried out superknockouts - those are much more addictive But I agree that Spins are much better when you want to establish confidence in your ability and the magnitude of your future earnings because it's so easy to estimate your true EV accurately in Spins. And the maximum potential hourly winrate is also higher in Spins because they run regularly at higher stakes than $25 too.

Hey, Tony, you shouldnt tell about this knockouts! I know myself good enough ♦ How do you run there? What limit do you play and do you play it regularly?

I've been grinding $3s (24-mans and a bit of 6-mans intermittently) with mediocre results (I don't know my EV as precisely as I'd like to - I haven't written a PT4 stat for 24-mans yet - the default way in which PT4 calculates the EV there is provably biased), and my current plan is to abandon Pokerstars for 888poker (specifically, to try once more to establish myself as a $5+ Blast Poker reg) in April. It's just that Stars have kindly offered me an instant reload bonus so I feel compelled to complete Goldstar this month before doing anything else, so that they don't flag me as a bonus abuser.

I think it's quite possible to start beating the regs at higher stake super-KOs after studying with Holdemresources Calculator for more hours than they do. It's just that I'm generally not interested in encounters with too many regs which would make either me or them unhappy, and I don't like upsetting people - I like it when, in the long run, all the players at my tables get what they want - recreationals get pleasure from the gamble, I get their money for serving them with their adrenaline doses - that's a win-win situation

Alas I didn't grind poker during the winter so I need to get back into shape and regain the confidence before attempting to play $15+ games again.

Originally posted by tonypmm

- I like it when, in the long run, all the players at my tables get want they want - recreationals get pleasure from the gamble, I get their money for serving them with their adrenaline doses - that's a win-win situation

.

Hahahaha!:f_biggrin: Great point of view!

Good luck with getting back into shape! Do it as soon as you can! Otherwise, you will continue pardon their money.

Day 28

Hello, yesterday played for 5 hours, 45 games, mix 1 and 2 tables. A lot weird plays I saw... Was hard stop playing. I had couple of spews against donks, and couple of light calls. About studying, was a great day. 3-3.5 hours. Did one flop texture and marked hands to review, watched video, and just random renew things that i didnt for 10 days or so.

Wish you all a nice day and see you tomorrow.

Day 29

Yesterday played for 6 hours, 50 games, I won my first 10x at 3$, and won couple of 6x and 4x as well. I could win some more but I did have some missed played hands in HUs, which I have marked. Overall, I am satisfied how it passed. I did not have any tilt problems and I could, just keep remind myself about my tilt triggers and it helped so far. Now after a couple of days on 3$ limit, I started to get use to bigger swings, in terms of BI is the same but in terms of money it is not... Have to continue to work on that, I think it will have huge impact on my EV.
Studied for 2.5 hours, marked, review hands from day before and did one detailed for tomorrow study session with my coach, watched a video about c-betting and continued to renew things.

Wish you all a nice day, and good luck.

1st 10x won - that is great accomplishment Phuketinho!
Time to celebrate today in our favorite restaurant

Next stop, 25x but you know I only accept 100x and higher, those lower ones are "govedji multiplajeri"

P.S. Print that cash on 3$ and get ready to crush 7$ 9♣:5♣:

Day 30

Yesterday played for 4 hours. Had some bad plays/spews. Missed draws mostly. Worked on game plan/studying for 2 more hours. Lost hands hand review, marked for today session.

Day 31

Today played for 4 hours, again. That will remain my daily grind goal, to play 120 hours in April. Worked with my coach this morning and had coffee with him. Renewed game plan and focus of today sessions was at 3bet v. BTN. That new things get me chance to win some 4x and 6x. It is nice when you have result right away. Very motivating to continue work hard in April like I did this month.

See you tomorrow, and have a nice evening.

9♣:5♣:

Day 32

Good morning, yesterday played for 2 hours, studied for 5 hours. Studying was about all things I did in sessions with my coach. It is important to renew from very beginning, I did it with full focus and I plan to go back to it from time to time because I noticed that in all this new information coming in daily I forget few things from each session. I consider it normal and will continue to do it hard until it gets crystal clear. After all, I am satisfied how first month passed, about hours played (125), which is important bcoz I did not know would it be a problem for me to achieve it after a year or two without serious grind. Now, when I know it is achievable, I can better organize my study time, and put even more hours than in previous month. I expect to find very good balance between two in third month. March was very fast, confusing, full of new stuff, I get used to HUD, to new format, ranges, and so on... With all these things in mind, my chEV was good enough to earn a promotion by my coach. Like I said before, it is very motivating for latter streets.

Good luck and have a nice day.
Phuketinho aka. 9♣:5♣:

Day 33

Hello and good morning.
Day 33 played for 4 hours and worked on my game/studying for 3 hours. Read a lot of articles, watched a video from my coach, did thinking process for 2 hands and did one flop texture.

Day 34

Day 34, I took off bcoz of my private obligations. Today plan is to continue with post flop, play for 4 hours and try to catch up with ICMizer and homework I did not finish yet.

See you tomorrow and good luck.