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Coming off of a shitty week

CougFan13 — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 04:41:00 GMT

I got smoked last week. I'll spare you all of the bad beat stories, but it was a joke. It simply wasn't my week, everything I did just didn't work. I didn't go on crazy tilt at all, but I did let it effect my play more than I should of. Oh well, getting doom switched had to happen eventually. I listened to a psychologists interview regarding tilt, and he said a lot of things that made sense. One thing stuck out, "You can't control what your opponent does, or what cards come. You can only control how you play and how you react to what happens". It's very true, and being level headed is so big in poker. Getting upset about bad beats, or taking it personal when someone stacks you and gunning for them afterwards are the kind of things that hurt results. I feel like that part of my game is getting pretty good now.

Things have turned around for me since last week. I actually don't know for sure as I haven't looked at my results, but I feel like I'm winning this week. No big wins or anything, but enough to rebound from last week and get rolling again. I plan to get focused and grind hard this week.

COUGFAN13

Ok Day at 50NL

NeedAJoker — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:31:00 GMT

I was planning on playing some 25NL to get my head back in the game, and this week I still might, but the 50NL games were pretty good last night so I put in a session there instead. I ended up winning a bit over a buyin, but made some good changes in my game that I think will help me in the future.

Beyond that, I have been doing a ton of reading on prop bets and things going on in poker and they have given me a little boost of motivation. There is a pretty crazy one going on 2+2 right now with a guy trying o win $40k at 200NL FR in 31 days, which is a bit beyond comprehendable for me, but motivating in the fact that if someone can even think they can do that, I should be able to at least win a couple grand in a month, lol.

I have a job interview Wednesday so hopefully it goes well and I can really get poker to being a side income. For now, off to grind a bit of poker, I feel confident it will go well if games arent saturated with nits from the miniFtops big event going on today.

Kevin

Back to 25NL..

NeedAJoker — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:45:00 GMT

But only for a while, to get my shit regeared and build some confidence. I am also confident that being able to 16 table FR is doable and I need to master it at 25NL before I move up. So plan on seeing me playing very long sessions 16 tabling 25NL for the next few days until I figure out this mess I have gotten myself into. Should be fun.

Kevin

Rough month...

NeedAJoker — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:32:00 GMT

So my crappy results continue to haunt me this month, and I just can't keep attributing it all to running bad. I know that I am starting to be a bit complacent and calling too much in certain spots due to frustration from this downswing. I am not calling too much in river spots, but too much in draw type or mid-pair type hands on the flop OOP then having to fold to aggression on later streets. I just need to play a bit more sharp and not quite as (insert adjective here I can't think of right now) and my results will follow.

I really just need to stick to my gameplan and try to keep positive during my sessions to avoid slowly bleeding off money that I shouldn't be. Hopefully I will catch a bit of rungood and go on a mini-tear. I did end up coming home tonight after watching the BBall game and making about $100, so maybe this is the start of something good...in fact, THIS IS THE START OF SOMETHING GOOD, THINGS ARE GONNA TURN AROUND FROM HERE ON OUT..(being positive)

Kevin

Yesterday

NeedAJoker — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:20:00 GMT

Yesterday I stuck to my schedule well, and played 4.3k hands. Only problem is I broke dead even on the day. I definitely didn't play very well, and I can attribute 2-3 buyins to stupid or unnecessary plays.

The month has gone pretty awful to this point and I am down still over 15k hands. After playing those hours I set aside yesterday, I am for sure changing from that plan. It leaves me playing a lot of daytime hands and lately, there haven't been great games at all during the day, so I should be putting in more of my hours from 6-11PM. Today I am going to play this morning, and then try to play tonight. I am going to stick to 9 tables today to try to just put up a winning day and try not to screw up hands again like yesterday.

Kevin

A rough stretch

CougFan13 — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 05:47:00 GMT

The last few sessions that i've played haven't gone very well. I haven't played great, but I've just had a bad run. I'm running bad, and seem to be running into the top end of my opponents range non stop. Oh well, I think I had 20+ winning sessions in a row before last Friday, so this was past due. I lost both friday and saturday for a total of 6 buy ins. I made almost 2 buy ins in RB though, so it really isn't an issue at all.

I grinded hard today and got in 8k hands. I 16 tabled and was starting games do I somehow played over 1k hands/hour. I really felt like I had a decrnt day. I had some rough stretches, but I was shocked when I just saw that I only won $90 today. I made another $80 in RB, so ~$170 total. While that's far from an awful result, I would of guessed I was up at least $300 before I check my HEM. Oh well, maybe I played too long and was out of it.

I plan to keep grinding and spend more time working on my game.

COUGFAN13

Stuck to it so far.

NeedAJoker — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:46:00 GMT

So I have stuck to my plan that I laid out last night so far. I am slightly down on the day but I have played terrible so its mostly my fault. 3.3k hands so far... dinner, then on again.

Kevin

Scheduling

NeedAJoker — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:29:00 GMT

So this week I am going to try something new and set a schedule for myself that I want to stick to very strictly. I want to start each day playing 9-12noon. This should be a solid 1.5k-2k hands. Then I want to play before dinner from about 3-5pm, another 2 hours, and then after dinner from 6-8. So thats 7 hours for the day. There will be no button flails or changing the schedule besides the 3-5 session n Wednesday may have to switch to earlier to account for the BBall game.

With any luck, 7 hours a day the next 5 days will leave me with 35 hours played at $20/hr or $700. Thats the plan, I think I can do it, just need to stick with the plan starting tomorrow morning.

Joker

Another slow day

CougFan13 — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:28:00 GMT

I played 5.3k hands today and posted another win. I ended up making $180. I just never seemed to get anything going. I had a few stacks gift wrapped to me, but that's it. I'm happy that I posted a win, but I really feel like I lost focus too often today. I don't really feel like I played too bad when I lost focus, I just got lazy. It is something that I need to work on. I'm going to do some reading now.

COUGFAN13

OK results

NeedAJoker — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:38:00 GMT

So I was was to tired to play but did anyways and make about $60, So now the first 2 days of the month have left me at 3500 hands playd and breakeven in winnings. Tomrrow will be the srat of grinding a ton of hands 12 tabling for me so I hop I can make some thing happen. Witht the chaneges I have made in may game I reallyt think I am going to start to crush.

Fuck this ambien is hitting harder that expected so im out.

Need AJoker

Lots of volume, little winnings

CougFan13 — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:19:00 GMT

I grinded my ass off today and logged 7.8k hands. Things were pretty slow all day. I felt like I played well, but it just wasn't my day. Luckily I played a night session and it went well enough to salvage a profit for the day. I ended up making $200, wish isn't great for that many hands but I'll take it. I'm glad that I put in so much volume though. I was 16 tabling and it really didn't seem to bad playing that many hands, I hope to be doing it more often. Rakeback really adds up when you play that much. I plan to grind again tomorrow.

COUGFAN13

Soooo Tired..

NeedAJoker — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:25:00 GMT

I posted yesterday about how I was going out for an anniversary dinner last night but I didn't realize that was going to lead to a pitcher of beer and 3 bottles of wine afterwards. I then topped things off by watching concerts on DVD until 4am when I promptly passed out and slept for a whopping 4 hours.

Needless to say I feel terrible today and I am really really tired. Against my better judgement I am actually starting a session right now so I better focus.

Joker

Another day

CougFan13 — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:18:00 GMT

I played 5.3k hands today and won $270. I felt like I played really well. I didn't look at how I was doing at all during the day. I was very surprised that I won as much as I did. I got stacked 3 times by running KK into AA today, all were spots that I'm never folding KK too. I really didn't even blink when it happend either. But I did get a couple of stacks gift wrapped too. One from a reg who i've played a decent amount with. I have no idea what he was thinking this hand, but i'll take it. I'd say he was drunk, but it was 11 am on a tuesday.

bob iliopoulos posts (S $0.25

cougfan13 posts (B $0.50

Dealt to cougfan13 Ad As

fold, fold,

-Virge raises to $1.75

fold, fold, fold, fold, fold,

cougfan13 raises to $5.50

-Virge raises to $13

cougfan13 raises to $39.25

-Virge raises to $50 (AI)

cougfan13 calls $10.75

FLOP ($100) Tc 9s 7h

TURN ($100) Tc 9s 7h 3d

RIVER ($100) Tc 9s 7h 3d 3h

V-irge shows Qd 6d

(Pre 17%, Flop 19.7%, Turn 9.1%)

cougfan13 shows Ad As

(Pre 83%, Flop 80.3%, Turn 90.9%)

cougfan13 wins $97.25

Awful Games

NeedAJoker — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 01:45:00 GMT

I am not sure why but today the poker games were just dogshit. There were so many "reg" type players that I have never even seen infesting the games like mad today. It was weird because usually there is about 3 regs on at any given time that I think are even remotely decent, but today every table had 6-7 guys playing 17/13 and aggro. I cant tell you how many times I took a note saying "Called 3B and insta pot raise to 45bbs and fold to bet/shove."

I am trying to not be as results oriented like cougfan13 was talking about, but I ended up down a little bit today after being stuck almost 5 buyins at one point. I really got coolered in some sick spots and it took some real solid play to fight my way out of the hole. I played really well today though and there is only one stackoff I am not thrilled about. I would post the HH but it was pretty much I raise UTG, huge 19% 3 bettor sqzs from BB and I call, flop 85T, I call his Cbet on the flop, and his shove on the turn 5 with an overpair and a flush draw. I don't think this was very good really but against the aggro player I dont think stacking QQ is too awful either.

I played 2800 hands, mostly 9 tabling, so i am pretty happy with that volume considering I was constantly switching tables in and out over and over and over today to try and get some decent tables.

Today my girlfriend and I are celebrating our 2 year anniversary so we are heading out to dinner and I wont be on again tonight. Hopefully I have a good day tomorrow and the games are better.

Kevin

Slow start but motivated.

NeedAJoker — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:48:00 GMT

I really can't remember a time in the past 2 years that I have been this motivated to play poker. I am not sure what it really is, but even having a damn near break even February, I still am really enjoying poker on some weird level. Maybe it is because I had a break even February, lol.

I really feel like the past 2 weeks since I have been playing "full time" again, I have really found some leaks in my game, and knocked quite a bit of rust off of things. I have experimented everything from 9-tables, 12-tables, 16-tables, stacking, cascading, tiling and Stack-To-Tiling, so I feel like I have had a very broad experience with a variety of setups, as well as a variety of playing styles:

16-Tabling

Undoubtedly the most fun for me to play, keeps my focus the most, and I feel great at the end of the day logging so damn many hands. Only problem is that at this point its just not that profitable for me. I have somewhat molded myself into what is probably a "better player" in poker overall, but just not good at that many tables. I really find myself firing a lot of cbets, but not having the time to figure out what is truly going on in the hand, and giving up on the turn with my weak hands and not value betting my medium hands.

12-Tabling

For sure will be my bread-and-butter again when I get my game straightened out a bit, as the gameplay is perfect speed for me, a great balance between boredom and FPS, but still plenty of time to make all my decisions without ever using my timebank. It still is close to 700 hands an hour so 6 hour days is still 4k hands a day and is plenty for what I need right now.

9-Tabling

Easily the most boring for me, but the most profitable for me the past 100k hand or so. The first 15k hands I played in February were 9-tabling and I kept over a 7BB/100 winrate. Small sample size obviously, but it is pretty variance free when your winrate is that high. The only problem is its hard to win much money even at a huge winrate if your only playing 450 hands/hour.

So with everything I have tweaked over the past 14 days, my volume and poker endurance being high by my standards, and the games being so good, I think March is going to be a great month. It is hard for me to set goals because my life seems so random right now, and I don't know how one day is going to be from the next. I know likely I will have a job interview next week, that usually takes me a day at least to prep for, but I don't know when, or even if its going to happen so its hard to plan.

I think a good goal for me regardless of results would be 75k hands this month and a 4BB/100 winrate in the 50NL games. If I can do that I will easily break the $3k mark for the month and be in a good spot. It's just a broad goal, and as my number of tables and play evolve through the month I am sure it will change as well, but its a start.

NeedAJoker

March here I come

CougFan13 — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:07:00 GMT

I fell short on a my goals last week. I didn't make $1000 and I was 1k hands or so short of my 25k goal. I made around $800, and went to the gym 5 times. I had a personal issue that distracted me, so considering that I'm fine with the result. Last month I took a 9 day trip, so my month was cut really short. I ended playing 70k hands and making ~$3400. I'll take those results with a Hawaii vacation any day.

I just bought "Treat your poker like a business" by Dusty Schmidt. I've only read about 1/3 of it, but I like parts of it so far. One interesting thing I found is that he doesn't look at his resukts or even his cashier window at all until the end of every month. It's hard to be results oriented when you don't know the results. I think I am too results oriented, so I'm going to stop looking at my results until the end of a given day. I may eventually try it for a week and see how it goes.

I played today without looking at all, and I liked it. I had to do fucking jury duty today, luckily I got dismissed from doing it. But it still tied me up from 7 am to 1 pm. Thankfully it wasn't the next 2 days as well. I jumped right on the tables when I got done and had a nice start to march. I logged 5k hands and made $340. People were playing way too aggro today and trying to bluff me non stop. Most hands turned up were laughable. That was where the majority of my winnings came from.

Below will be my march goals. I'm not going to make any goals for winnings. It's just another way of being results oriented, and thinking too much about results is a big problem I have. I know I'll be better off just trying to get in hours and staying focused. If I do that things should work out well for me.

Goals:
-Log 20 hours of studying. I really need to work on my game more and try to take it to the next level. I plan to watch videos, do sweats, and analyze my play. This is something I quit doing a while ago.

-Play 100k hands. I have no excuse not to play this type of volume. If I play the hands the results should take care of themself.

-Continue to go to the gym 5 days a week.

Hopefully I make all of these goals,

COUGFAN13

Stupid Windows 7

NeedAJoker — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 03:27:00 GMT

So I am a bit annoyed right now, I "upgraded" to Windows 7 Release Candidate(pretty much a trial version) last summer and its been telling me for about 14 days that I need to upgrade to a real version now that it is released. This is totally fine as I have a free copy through a school website. The only thing is until I went to do it today, I didn't realize theres a few problems. First, you can't just enter the serial code to activate Windows like I thought you could, so what I thought would be a 5 minute process, isn't gonna be all that easy. Then to complicate things even more, Microsoft doesn't want people upgrading from the trial version, they want you to do a clean installation. This is a pain for obvious reasons, and I did a clean install in the summer, so I really don't want to do it again right now as you have to reinstall everything, Itunes, favorites, HEM, FTP etc. Furthermore, the trial version is Windows Ultimate, and I have a copy of Windows Professional, and thats not allowed either as its a downgrade in their product line.

Long story short, my 5-minute upgrade has now taken 4 hours of research on how to get around these issues, and the download is going super slow, so it's bogging down my internet, and will take another 10 hours or so. The kicker is that if I don't upgrade to Windows 7 by 5PM tomorrow, my computer will automatically start shutting down every 2 hours! No Shit!

Needless to say, I haven't gotten a single hand of poker in today, can't play without lagging my internet with this stupid download going, and am pretty annoyed.

I guess February is over, and i'm not really sad to see it go. I started playing on the 15th of the month and since then I feel like my poker game has come a very long way. The results still have not been there for me, but I think March is gonna be a good month.

NeedAJoker

Fucking Fridays

NeedAJoker — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:38:00 GMT

I swear in all the hundreds of thousands of hands of poker I have played online, I must be down money on weekend nights. I don't know if its me trying to force too much shit vs them or what but its annoying.

The games tonight literally are full of some of the biggest donks I have ever played with, but I had to quit because I honestly cannot make a hand and no matter how much I bet my top pair hands for value, their naked overs hit the river every single time. I know we want them peeling this shit, so I am not complaining about that, I just literally couldn't see one more A hit the river when I had KK and already bet 2 streets without punching my computer, so I am done.

I started off today on fire and was up 3 quick buyins, but I wiped that away in a jiffy tonight. I really don't even know how I would play tonight any differently. I just value bet, value bet, bet/fold like every single hand.

Uhh, whats new.

Video Thoughts

NeedAJoker — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:21:00 GMT

I just watched another video and I am not sure how many of my opponents read this, if any, but I dont think writing about what I am doing wrong is gonna give anybody at 50NL any sort of advantage so here goes.

-Calling too many 3 bets. Over 33k hands I am down $295 when calling 3 bets. I think the largest portion of those are calling OOP with mid pairs and AK, then check/folding a lot of flops that I brick. This luckily is an easy fix so I look for instant improvement here.

-Playing my big hands a little too straightforward. This has always been an issue for me, I think because when I started playing 5 years ago, you really just could 4bet and get stacks from JJ+ and AK with ease. Its not really like that as much and to get someone to stack off QQ, and even a small portion of the time KK these days is tougher.

-Overplaying, or overrepping big pairs. The example used in the video was raising AA in MP, getting called from BB, and the flop being like J57 or something. We bet and get check min raised and we just call here to keep in his Jx type hands, 88, 99. I on the other hand raise and have the thought process "well if he has Jx, I dont want him to hit 2 pair..." which is a stupid mentality because a raise pushes out everything we beat and gets it in with pretty much just sets. I just need to call down here and hope to catch some of his thin value/bluffs, or take him to V-Town myself if he checks. This should help some of my stack off problems and make playing pots in general a bit easier.

There is some more shit I got from the videos but im playing now so gotta focus. Just wanted to write it down so I dont forget.

Joker

Shit day yesterday

NeedAJoker — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:10:00 GMT

I played 4.1k hands yesterday and it just sucked pretty much all day. I was back to stacking off in a couple stupid, stupid spots right at the beginning of my session and it just set the tone for the rest of the day. On the month over 33k hands I am just a few buyins over break even and I know it isn't just running bad.

Last night I watched another video, and I plan to watch another couple videos this afternoon to keep trying to smooth over some of my flaws. This weekend is going to be a solid playing weekend, with good games, and good volume. I have 10.9k hands left to play by Sunday night to hit my 25k(revised) goal and I expect them to be very quality hands with some great results.

I got a $160 rakeback payment today which is pretty nice following a bad day at the tables and for next week I am shooting for a $250 rakeback payment, which when you think about adding 5 buyins a week to my roll just from RB, its a lot.

Anyways, expect good results from me this weekend and Ill see you at the tables.

Kevin