Zero Degrees: A Gambler going Cool

I spewed and tilted sometimes, but if i read a villains bluff with 8 high on the turn and he always hit, what can you do? All the time, hours and hours, days and days, that's just ridiculous. But I know what I have to do, get a time mark before emotions take control. Then we all lose brain powers. I'm thinking, i'm under 50 years, still time

Gonna start to work on poker. I talked to taavi a couple of days ago and he said it takes dedication. We all know that, I knew that, but this time it kind of dawned on me. So what I'm doing right now is to get in order for study. Not used to it, a solution that works for me is to take small steps to train the study/work ability. I'm very proud to have started today with reviewing 3 hands. Game vise I played well, adapted to my situation. I think a nit would be proud of me. In life I have oppression. But it's wrong to mention it compared to all those in Phillipines who have lost family.

My main motivation for playing poker is to get money to share in an unbalanced world.

GOAL tomorrow: review 1 hand of mine and look at 1 hand in forum.

Todays goal: I never watched the tourney video. Reviewed 3 hands. I'm happy with that start.

May your cards be live!

DEDICATION

Hi,
it's been a while. Gonna use this blog to help me get things done again.

2 weeks ago I started to study physics again and getting productive days. This week I never even went to the library (I can't study much home) and there's time to take action. So I came up with the idea of putting up goals here and transfer money to a friend if I fail, not much. Only goals under the explicit headline ACCOUNTABLE GOALS qualifies for transfers.

Poker has worked fine. So far this month:

Things I want to achieve:

-Study at the library most days, maybe 4-6 days a week will be best

-Running frequently

-Working on poker:
Hand review, ranges, theory and more

-Write a summary in my dairy every day.

-Write 1 hand review in diary and/or here every day I play poker

-Weightlifting

1. Library at least 4 days

2. 10 PS points 5-7 days for the level up promotion -this is a bad goal for me, not much reward and there's more important things to do, poker- and life vise. Best strategy: play when you feel for it

3. Diary report every day

Go to library and study a little. $10 penalty for failure.

Result: got almost 6 hours there

SAME ACCOUNTABLE GOAL FOR TOMORROW
Result: 2 hours

ACCOUNTABLE GOAL THURSDAY: STUDY AT LIBRARY
Result: 3 hours

Hey.

Do you think it's better to penalize yourself for not making your goals, rather then rewarding yourself for making them?
I've never tried that approach before... Maybe I should

Rewarding myself would not work that great for me; I'd take the rewards anyway. For example: a good reward for me would be to take a day off watching some favorite movies. Well, if I don't meet my goal that means I have lots of time doing nothing productive, probably watching some good movies already.

So I'm going to get good habits, basically doing what I really want to do, by taking small steps.

Acoimbra said that he tried to learn something in poker every day. I will try that. In poker as in life

Hmm, I just discovered that fulfilling my goal works as a reward. I was in the kitchen making chow and thought 'I go to the library and make 10 bucks'. And who wouldn't like to boost their bankroll fairly easy?

Learned something from this hand:
PokerStars - $0.25/$0.50 (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 26.4 BB (VPIP: 28.57, PFR: 20.00, 3Bet Preflop: 9.52, Hands: 70)
BTN: 30 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 29.63, 3Bet Preflop: 16.67, Hands: 28)
Hero (SB): 13.38 BB
BB: 53.18 BB (VPIP: 25.37, PFR: 22.39, 3Bet Preflop: 13.33, Hands: 137)
UTG: 12.56 BB (VPIP: 100.00, PFR: 71.43, 3Bet Preflop: 66.67, Hands: 7)

Hero posts SB 0.2 BB, BB posts BB 0.5 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 0.7 BB) Hero has Q♦ Q♣

UTG raises to 1 BB, fold, BTN raises to 1.5 BB, Hero raises to 2 BB, fold, UTG calls 1 BB, BTN calls 0.5 BB

Flop: (6.5 BB, 3 players) 3♥ 4♣ 8♥
Hero bets 0.5 BB, UTG raises to 1 BB, BTN calls 1 BB, Hero raises to 1.5 BB, UTG calls 0.5 BB, BTN calls 0.5 BB

Turn: (11 BB, 3 players) 2♥
Hero bets 1 BB, UTG calls 1 BB, BTN calls 1 BB

River: (14 BB, 3 players) 6♥
Hero checks, UTG bets 1 BB, BTN calls 1 BB, fold

Easy call on river, I only need to win 1/17, around 6%.
Equity calculator gives me 18%.
Reason for mistake:
the old 'what's the use', 'everything goes against me', 'rigged' feeling.
Solution: keep working on Jareds book, keep spotting good variance and it's importance.

I wanna share this hand from which I learned (not to the unconscious level, needs doing several more times) 2 things. I just copy my own HH note:

PokerStars - $0+$0|10/20 NL - Holdem - 9 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

CO: 104 BB (VPIP: 44.44, PFR: 22.22, 3Bet Preflop: 25.00, Hands: 10)
BTN: 81 BB (VPIP: 33.33, PFR: 33.33, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 6)
SB: 72.5 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
BB: 75 BB (VPIP: 10.00, PFR: 10.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
UTG: 73.5 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
UTG+1: 73.5 BB (VPIP: 0.00, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
Hero (UTG+2): 96.5 BB
MP: 107 BB (VPIP: 22.22, PFR: 22.22, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)
MP+1: 67 BB (VPIP: 20.00, PFR: 10.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 10)

SB posts SB 0.5 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.5 BB) Hero has A♥ A♣

fold, fold, Hero raises to 3 BB, fold, fold, fold, BTN calls 3 BB, fold, fold

Flop: (7.5 BB, 2 players) Q♥ 4♣ T♦
Hero bets 4 BB, BTN calls 4 BB

Turn: (15.5 BB, 2 players) 6♠
Hero bets 11 BB, BTN raises to 28 BB, Hero raises to 89.5 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 46 BB and is all-in

River: (163.5 BB, 2 players) K♦

He raises low, 560 into 530, leaving only 920 behind. This isn't a bluff usually (not sure, think it's best to treat it as minimum 2 pairs). Think I should just call the relatively cheap 340 and hope for a cheap showdown. UI I should give up I think.

This was a satellite to MM ME with 1600 players and 1000 places played, so I should be nittier than an ordinary tournament. And that makes his turn raise so strong.

LESSON TO BE LEARNED
Learning to recognize good hand's reraises, mostly in the Early Phase of tournaments.

LESSON IMPLEMENTED
Played 'Catch Up' and didn't give up and made the ticket.

I actually thought about 2 pairs before my crappy all-in, but I had more tables open and couldn't handle it.

I run into a similar bad spot early in Red Spade (satellite ticket win) with KK. Blinds were only 10/20 and I got reraised right away on a ragged flop. Made the same mistake and lost to a set.

Some who see my hand posts must think I really suck:). But my philosophy is by posting my worst hands, I can elimate the worst mistakes faster. And of course, I'm still a fish, playing the limits I do.

Out in 2nd hand in Sunday storm. Got it all-in pre with KK vs AA. Think I should start registering late:)

Busted in 1200 or so with lex valduis to my left. He busted same hand: I was first in w JT of clubs on the button, he went w a ragged ace and lost to KK in BB. As did I. Next time, I was just beginning flow state after 7 hours. Still i learned and am boosted. Next time lex, next time

PS The micro main event, playing the last hyper #100 now
EDIT around 3-400, barely plus, still waiting for gr8er moments

PPS I'm not afraid of lex, look forward to next big tourney nights

PPPS I beat him last hand save for the unfortunate KK in BB

I'm going to try to fulfil several goals this week:

1. Library Tuesday - Saturday.
2. Run Tue, Thur, Sat
3. Handreview every day
4. Make short session summary after every session as cooldown.
5. Write a summary in my diary every evening.

I plan to make the library and diary writing a daily habit.

Making precise schedules worked well for me too, just stick to your goals. Also, learning every day something new is a great approach

Best of luck sir,
Fran

Well, that didn't work out so great for me this time. Results were 2 weeks of more or less total relaxation. Too make it worse, I discovered Ceasar 4.

Poker ended badly with a loss of over 150 euros on one evening at the end. I played over my bankroll. What's positive is that I kept my cool despite a bad run (don't think I played that bad). Month was still in the plus though, and got some rakeback on top of that.

My goals now are:

1. Take half an hour of fresh air walking/ running every evening.
2. Report in diary every evening.

Today's question:
-Why do I do bad in standard tourneys but play better in turbos? The time difference shouldn't affect me that bad. Bad confidence, too loose, better opponents...?

Seeing the new coaching series on tourneys I've decided to make an effort to keep gold status. 2 days tracked poker sofar.

Listened to Jared Tandlers broadcast with Roy Bashin yesterday. That was inspiring (how come it took me so long to do this?). Talking about inspiring, I learned there was a difference between inspired and motivated. When I've set up goals in the past I've been inspired, driven by feelings. Gonna go for motivated now.

Also learned that some missed challenges should not be regarded as failures if not met. An example: Roy had a challenge of playing poker for 100 hours in a week. He didn't make it but learned his limits. And doing 80 hours of poker (if I remember correctly) isn't really a failure either.

To my delight I noticed I had no bad reaction whatsoever towards the straights hitting the river. I had spotted my good variance earlier in the session which helped. I'm improving:)!

GTECH G2 (Boss) - $0.50/$1 (5 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 164.79 BB (VPIP: 44.62, PFR: 13.74, 3Bet Preflop: 8.98, Hands: 499)
SB: 76.22 BB
BB: 43.74 BB (VPIP: 83.33, PFR: 5.13, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 160)
Hero (UTG): 62.41 BB
CO: 10 BB (VPIP: 72.22, PFR: 11.11, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 54)

SB posts SB 0.25 BB, BB posts BB 0.5 BB, CO posts penalty blind 0.5 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.25 BB) Hero has A♦ A♣

Hero raises to 1 BB, CO calls 0.5 BB, fold, SB raises to 1.5 BB, BB calls 1 BB, Hero raises to 2 BB, CO calls 1 BB, SB calls 0.5 BB, BB calls 0.5 BB

Flop: (8 BB, 4 players) 7♦ 5♦ 2♣
SB bets 0.5 BB, BB calls 0.5 BB, Hero raises to 1 BB, CO calls 1 BB, SB calls 0.5 BB, BB calls 0.5 BB

Turn: (12 BB, 4 players) 8♥
SB checks, BB checks, Hero bets 1 BB, CO calls 1 BB, SB calls 1 BB, BB calls 1 BB

River: (16 BB, 4 players) 6♥
SB checks, BB bets 1 BB, fold, CO calls 1 BB, SB calls 1 BB

I just did a session review of yesterdays session. Gonna aim for that at the beginning of the day. Schedule is coming together!

Hard to complain about the action here:

GTECH G2 (Boss) - €0.25/€0.50 - Holdem - 10 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

MP+1: 15.84 BB (VPIP: 43.70, PFR: 16.81, 3Bet Preflop: 6.38, Hands: 123)
MP+2: 56.08 BB (VPIP: 50.65, PFR: 24.51, 3Bet Preflop: 8.62, Hands: 312)
CO: 88 BB (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 14.39, 3Bet Preflop: 8.62, Hands: 141)
BTN: 36.64 BB (VPIP: 50.75, PFR: 9.13, 3Bet Preflop: 5.92, Hands: 3,026)
SB: 5 BB (VPIP: 66.67, PFR: 56.67, 3Bet Preflop: 40.00, Hands: 30)
BB: 66.98 BB (VPIP: 75.36, PFR: 47.09, 3Bet Preflop: 20.97, Hands: 210)
UTG: 6.3 BB (VPIP: 49.11, PFR: 3.67, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 114)
UTG+1: 41.48 BB
Hero (UTG+2): 22.92 BB
MP: 16.9 BB (VPIP: 47.22, PFR: 12.96, 3Bet Preflop: 6.52, Hands: 108)

SB posts SB 0.26 BB, BB posts BB 0.5 BB, CO posts penalty blind 0.5 BB, UTG+1 posts penalty blind 0.5 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.76 BB) Hero has 9♠ 6♠

UTG calls 0.5 BB, UTG+1 checks, Hero calls 0.5 BB, fold, MP+1 calls 0.5 BB, MP+2 calls 0.5 BB, CO raises to 1 BB, BTN raises to 1.5 BB, SB calls 1.24 BB, BB calls 1 BB, UTG calls 1 BB, UTG+1 calls 1 BB, Hero calls 1 BB, MP+1 calls 1 BB, MP+2 raises to 2 BB, CO calls 1 BB, BTN calls 0.5 BB, SB calls 0.5 BB, BB calls 0.5 BB, UTG calls 0.5 BB, UTG+1 calls 0.5 BB, Hero calls 0.5 BB, MP+1 calls 0.5 BB

Flop: (18 BB, 9 players) 2♣ A♣ J♣
SB bets 0.5 BB, BB calls 0.5 BB, UTG calls 0.5 BB, UTG+1 calls 0.5 BB, fold, fold, MP+2 calls 0.5 BB, CO calls 0.5 BB, fold

Turn: (21 BB, 6 players) 4♦
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, UTG+1 checks, MP+2 checks, CO bets 1 BB, SB raises to 2 BB, BB calls 2 BB, UTG calls 2 BB, UTG+1 calls 2 BB, MP+2 calls 2 BB, CO calls 1 BB

River: (33 BB, 6 players) 4♠
fold, BB checks, UTG bets 1 BB, fold, MP+2 calls 1 BB, fold, fold

opposite to this
PokerStars - $0.25/$0.50 (6 max) - Holdem - 5 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

UTG: 3.32 BB (VPIP: 19.05, PFR: 4.76, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 21)
CO: 28.02 BB (VPIP: 22.37, PFR: 15.79, 3Bet Preflop: 7.14, Hands: 76)
BTN: 18.52 BB (VPIP: 87.50, PFR: 12.50, 3Bet Preflop: 25.00, Hands: 8)
SB: 50.64 BB (VPIP: 66.25, PFR: 1.25, 3Bet Preflop: 2.04, Hands: 82)
Hero (BB): 27.2 BB

SB posts SB 0.2 BB, Hero posts BB 0.5 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 0.7 BB) Hero has 5♥ 6♥

UTG calls 0.5 BB, fold, BTN calls 0.5 BB, SB calls 0.3 BB, Hero checks

Flop: (2 BB, 4 players) 6♦ 6♣ T♦
SB checks, Hero checks, UTG bets 0.5 BB, fold, fold, Hero calls 0.5 BB

Turn: (3 BB, 2 players) T♣
Hero checks, UTG bets 1 BB, Hero calls 1 BB

River: (5 BB, 2 players) 6♠
Hero bets 1 BB, UTG calls 1 BB

Discovered, SaRaHa:

This blew my mind this week. Strange, having listen to 60's all my life, that I never heard this. Old guys have more fun!

I achieved my grinding goals this month fairly easy; that is keeping my gold here, a rakeback deal there and silver on stars. Not really there on stars yet, but very close. I don't know how frankie fix keeping schedules, for me it's usually means I won't do anything on my schedule:). However, the schedule thing is good and things get done and learned and the next schedule will be closer to be fulfilled.

What do you do when you're playing somewhere and/or everywhere and the outcome you get is like the one figured out by an evil writer? You take a break. I've seen it happen to others, some good players, that's why I say this. If you're on other sites, go there. One example from one site I play at, it's very, very obvious I have the goods and someone value donks a 6 on the turn on an all broad way board and hits another 6 on the river and it's that way for too long. You won't be able to think straight and you don't need to, get another site.

I'm low temporary, but things have been done, and results are what matters. I'll be back.

Just finished watching http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119472/?ref_=nv_sr_1 , Knockin' on heavens door. I loved it. Great humour, 10/10 for me