So my journey to 50NL begins. I thought what better way to start, than by looking back to where I've come from.
It has been a rough couple of months for me in regards to poker, so much so, I was contemplating whether the emotional stress was worth it. Fortunately I channelled my frustration to positive effect and used this inner sense of injustice to come up with this goal and the desire to improve my game and finally realise my potential in regards to poker.
Poker I feel, is much like life and fitness. You have to work at it, gradually you will start to see improvement step by step. It can all get a bit disillusioning at times when one fails to see the fruits of ones labour.
The key is to break it down session by session, run by run. I am a firm believer in an old latin proverb 'Mens sana in corpora sank' or 'healthy body, healthy mind'.
As such will also be keeping a record of my fitness goals and aspirations which I hope will one day lead me to complete an ironman, just as I hope to one day be playing poker at mid/high stakes professionally.
And so enough of the philosophising and on the subject at hand. What preceded my new outlook on poker? My run of bad luck is clearly illustrated in the graph below which shows me running at 10 stack below EV. However it was not destined to last.
My downswing ended just as soon as my new outlook and expectations for life and poker also changed. What expectations are these you might ask? Well, for starters I have formulated a plan for my life with which I hope to move forward. I am joining the armed forces in a few months and hope to one day be a reservist playing poker professionally.
So there you have my long term aspirations! See graph below;
Now for all of you folks still reading this blog I thank you for joining me on this journey through life. As you can probably tell by now, I plan to extend this blog in the future so upon completion, my goals will be reset accordingly.
Below follows my last two sessions during which I maintained a good win rate of 19.41BB/100 for saturday the 5th april and owing to a rather unlucky climax to todays session a 10.79BB/100 win rate for sunday 6th april. I actually managed to net almost $100 over three sessions (one 3hr session early saturday morning netting me $20).
See graphs below;
The unfortunate climax I alluded to earlier, during which I lost almost two buy ins in quick succession and which also led to me feeling pretty deflated at the end of a 5.5hr long grind follows;
No Limit Hold'em $0.05/$0.10
PokerStars
9 players
Formatted by pokercopilot.com - Mac OS X hand history analysis and tracking
Stacks:
UTG - UTG ($8.00)
UTG+1 - UTG+1 ($10.34)
UTG+2 - UTG+2 ($33.75)
MP - MP ($6.20)
MP2 - MP2 ($10.61)
CO - CO ($33.62)
BTN - BTN ($10.84)
SB - SB ($9.50)
BB - Hero ($10.00)
Preflop: ($0.15, 9 players) Hero is BB with K♠ A♠
2 folds, UTG+2 raises to $0.20, 2 folds, CO calls $0.20, 1 fold, SB calls $0.15, Hero raises to $1.00, 1 fold, CO calls $0.80, 1 fold
Flop: 5♣ 3♠ 3♣ ($2.40, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $2.30, Hero raises to $9.00 (all-in), CO calls $6.70
Turn: 6♣ ($20.40, 2 players, 1 all-in)
River: K♣ ($20.40, 2 players, 1 all-in)
Total Pot: $20.40
Hero shows K♠ A♠ (two pair, Kings and Threes)
CO shows Q♣ J♥ (a flush, King high)
CO wins $19.48
Not the most obvious call at first glance and I was pretty horrified when I saw BDFD+overcards but if you had been sat on this players table I am pretty sure you would of done the same. I was however, still a little tilted as I folded pocket aces to him a few hands earlier after he min/R'd the turn after calling flop so I have to put this loss down to bad judgement and tilt. I felt sick at not calling the turn previous as he turned out to be less of a loose passive and more a complete aggro monkey/tard.
The second hand demonstrates quite aptly to what extent emotion can interfere with good judgement.
No Limit Hold'em $0.05/$0.10
PokerStars
8 players
Formatted by pokercopilot.com - Mac OS X hand history analysis and tracking
Stacks:
UTG - UTG ($10.02)
UTG+1 - UTG+1 ($10.00)
MP - MP ($9.83)
MP2 - MP2 ($9.45)
CO - CO ($15.77)
BTN - Hero ($12.53)
SB - SB ($8.62)
BB - BB ($11.05)
Preflop: ($0.15, 8 players) Hero is BTN with J♥ J♠
4 folds, CO raises to $0.30, Hero raises to $1.00, 2 folds, CO calls $0.70
Flop: 5♦ T♣ J♦ ($2.15, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $1.00, CO calls $1.00
Turn: 7♣ ($4.15, 2 players)
CO checks, Hero bets $2.60, CO calls $2.60
River: A♦ ($9.35, 2 players)
CO bets $4.30, Hero calls $4.30
Total Pot: $17.95
CO shows K♣ Q♠ (a straight, Ten to Ace)
Hero mucks J♥ J♠
CO wins $17.14
I tanked realising I should have jammed flop or turn, all of this within a few minutes of the hand above. I learned a valuable lesson today on why all the hand reading, polarisation and combos counting in the world counts for nothing if you don't accept defeat on the river. There wasn't a single hand left in his range that didn't have me crushed, perhaps two pair that turns itself into a bluff but I am still just subconsciously trying to justify my spew. Horrible spot, easy fold. Idiotic decision.
That concludes day one and two. I will be posting my next update monday night or tuesday morning.
I will sign off the post with a daily quote. Todays is from one of my favourite political figures,
"Never, never, never give up."
Sir Winston Churchill
