I guess I m the only one reading this blog (may be Chris too) but I might as well write down my goals this for 2011.
2010 really sucks balls, my volume was extremely low, ended up playing less than 200k hands and made just over 10k inc rakeback faling wayyyy short of my goal. I wd blame having too much work at uni for my low volume but in the end of the day, i m just lazy as hell, well at least when it comes to playing.
I usually work really hard when it comes to stuff i really enjoyed, but poker is completely different. I obv really enjoy poker, but in a different way to most of other players. Some people just loves playing, and some people just want to make money. But to me, poker is like a puzzle, i enjoy learning different theories, strategies, maths of how and why a play will work etc and analysising hands in details. I dont actully enjoy playing, or winning money, I just like learning the game on paper and thinking about it in my head.
So this year, I am going to try my hardest to grind and try and make some money even if it means I wont enjoy myself as much. Lots of people have to do shitty job to make money, I should just be grateful that I can sit at home clicking buttons to pay for my expenses. Below are some of the goals i have for poker this year.
NL 6max - at least 300k hands by the end of the year. Not going to table select, just going to sit down and play against decent players to try and get better. I am also going to try not sticking to one style because my fav vid producer plays like that, I will be playing different strategies against different players and develop my own style.
NLHU - I want to get into HU and looking to play 100 to 200k hands by the end of the year, hopefully by the end of the year, I will be good enough to beat 100NLHU.
SNG - some days i just hate grinding cash games, so SNG will be a good change of pace, I also want to get good at push and fold because going deep in a tournament and getting crushed when stacks get shallow by donks are just wayyy too depressing. I dont know how much SNG i will be playing, but I am looking around 10 to 20 SNGs per week.
Money - Looking to make around 30k inc rakeback which was my goal last year, it really shouldnt be a problem as long as i play enough hands and not waste any time fucking about.
Thats it really, hope all my poker friends make good money and achieve their goals this year!!!
Monday 10 January 2011
Thursday 9 December 2010
Best thing I bought
For the past 5 years, I always get super tired during the day, and well awake at night. It didnt matter how much I sleep I get the night before, I will always be tired in the day, I cant focus and concentrate.
So now i bought this SAD light thingy (see link below) I no longer feel like shit in the day, I can get so much more done these days. Its prob the best thing I bought in the past 10 yrs, highly recommended!!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-HF3330-goLITE-Energy-Light/dp/B002G1Y8S6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291914577&sr=8-2
So now i bought this SAD light thingy (see link below) I no longer feel like shit in the day, I can get so much more done these days. Its prob the best thing I bought in the past 10 yrs, highly recommended!!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-HF3330-goLITE-Energy-Light/dp/B002G1Y8S6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1291914577&sr=8-2
Friday 5 November 2010
Short update, shuffle and flow homework
Just when i got the ball rolling, fucking potraiser locked my money for over a month. i ended up playing 100NL on bodog, volume has been low cos i just cant play my A game often enough when i worry bout my money at potraiser and HEM not working on Bodog (finding excuse not 2 play i guess) Been playing really well, following my session goals most of the time. i been owning lots of other regs, i just feel i m so much better than almost every1 at this limit. I go thru phrases where i feel i m really good but then lose a bunch of money afterwards and realize i actually sucks lol, so hopefully wont happen this time.
Just started watching Travis Steff's vids on DC, and there is some homework after each video, i am going to be doing this everyweek and post it here. Heres the 1st one:
Just started watching Travis Steff's vids on DC, and there is some homework after each video, i am going to be doing this everyweek and post it here. Heres the 1st one:
Write down everything you do each day to prepare to win in poker.
How much time do you commit?
What things are you doing exactly?
Well I try to spend roughly 4 hrs a day doing poker related stuff, but I often find excuses not to do anything. E.g meeting up with friends, playing playstation etc.
When I actually do play, I will usually have three 1hr sessions and finish the day with 1hr of HHs review and making notes. Somedays when I don’t feel like playing, I will just watch vids for 4hrs, the concentration level is usually very low, I always have to rewind, also I always get distracted during this period such as talking 2 ppl on skype, browsing etc. so in the end I only really get to watch 2 vids in the span of 4hrs.
Go through that list.
What other things could you be doing more of that you aren’t doing enough of?
Things I don’t do enough are basically playing, I should be playing more sessions during the day instead of being lazy. I am happy with the way I review HHs, but I guess I should be posting in this blog more often and write down my thought process
What things you should be doing that aren’t doing at all.
Getting into a routine, go to sleep early and get up early, eat healthily and regularly
Doing sweats and discussing HHs with other people, its something I want to get involved but most poker friends I have play higher than me so doing sweat and discussing HHs would be a waste of time for them.
What are you doing that you know you shouldn’t be doing?
Staying up late, getting smashed, chatting shit with friends during the day, playing playstation, eating junk food, downloading and watching porn and fucking livejasmin.
GL everyone
Tuesday 14 September 2010
All done now :)
Havnet really been playing for the last couple of months or so due to dissertation and uni, but its all done now. Going to start playing next week, will probably play 500 to 1k hands a day to start and gradually build it up to 1.5k to 2k hands a day by end of the yr.
I will prob start to play 50k hands at 50NL (euros) since i havent been playing for so long plus i have turned into a even bigger BR nit, then move up to 100NL and grind there til i make 10k then move up to 200NL sometime next yr.
I feel like i ve got the skill to beat 200NL, i just need to make sure i play my A game as often as possible and not tilt when things get really shitty.
One thing that helped me loads after my 40bi downswing was focusing on small goals for each session instead of on my cashier, the goals i wd b focusing are as follows:
Beside these goals, i am going to make a real effort in experimenting:
To get better at poker, i am going to need to do a lot more work off the table.
I am going to spend at least 2hrs a day working on my game which will mainly be reviewing hands, making notes on opponents and making gbucks calculations (no idea how yet but will figure it out) and watch some vids too if i ve got nothing else to do.
Thats all i could think of for now, will add more if i can think of anything else, any suggestion wd b cool.
Hope everyone s running good in life and poker!!
Martin
I will prob start to play 50k hands at 50NL (euros) since i havent been playing for so long plus i have turned into a even bigger BR nit, then move up to 100NL and grind there til i make 10k then move up to 200NL sometime next yr.
I feel like i ve got the skill to beat 200NL, i just need to make sure i play my A game as often as possible and not tilt when things get really shitty.
One thing that helped me loads after my 40bi downswing was focusing on small goals for each session instead of on my cashier, the goals i wd b focusing are as follows:
- 3betting different ranges vs different players based on their tendency.
- Cbetting and knowing firing multiple barrels in 3bet pots ( i feel like my cbetting strategies r pretty ok in single raise pot)
- Beware of gameflow at all time, dont make plays just because its my standard e.g 3betting and 4betting pre, barrelling etc.
- Beware of PSR, knowing how to set up betsize to put the last bet in or let villain to put last bet in etc.
- Making sure not to autopilot
Beside these goals, i am going to make a real effort in experimenting:
- Leading into PFR esp BB vs LP (grog gave me a lesson on leading a while back so will be trying that shit out, ty)
- More cold 4bet bluffing, i hardly ever see ppl do it in my limit and my cold 4bet always seems to get a lot of respect, so will prob be doing 1:1 air to nuts ratio ( depends on gameflow obv)
- Turning made hands into bluffs, this s an area i been thinking about a lot, don't really have a clue when to do it but i guess i will find out by doing it.
To get better at poker, i am going to need to do a lot more work off the table.
I am going to spend at least 2hrs a day working on my game which will mainly be reviewing hands, making notes on opponents and making gbucks calculations (no idea how yet but will figure it out) and watch some vids too if i ve got nothing else to do.
Thats all i could think of for now, will add more if i can think of anything else, any suggestion wd b cool.
Hope everyone s running good in life and poker!!
Martin
Tuesday 15 June 2010
Short term poker goals. And some hands from today
Bet sizing - dont just bet 1/2pot because its a type 1 board, think about who the villain is and his range? if villain is never folding a pair, bet big for value. If villan is folding to any bet, bet smaller as a bluff.
3betting - 3betting different ranges vs different players. More tweener hands if they like calling, and suited trash if they fold too much. And pay more attention to gameflow, adjust air:nut ratio based on recent history. dont just 3bet bluff because it is in our normal air function.
Cbetting - just like bet sizing, think about who villain is, how hard did the board hit him? How likely is he going to peel light? Think about his strong/weak range on the turn, can we fold out his weak hands by firing multiple barrels? knowing where the point of honesty is for villain.
Dont call too much in the blinds - Dont defend shit like small SCs and PPs just because bobbo is doing it, just have to admit i am not good enough to play them profitably OOP for now.
PSR - beware with PSR at all time to plan better bet size, and think about how to max vs worse hands with diff PSR.
Hand 1: Facing donk bets 3 streets
Villain is 20/15 donk bet 11% of the time.
History: I joined this site 2days ago, and villain has been pretty aggressive preflop against me, but i have been owning him with 4bet bluffs + he ran into the nuts a few times. My image is pretty laggy, running at around 28/24 3bet round 10%
I can def see him donking the flop as a bluff, but when he donk into me 3streets, i think its either air or nuts. There is no semibluff in his range, i have a bluffcatcher on the river. His value range is really narrow but i just dont think he is donking 3 streets into me as a bluff, i guess i should fold?
Hand 2: Value bet river?
Same villain but this hand actually happened before.
I think when he calls my cbet, his range cant be very strong as i expect most sets and straight will raise flop, i think with FD he will raise me some% of the time too, i think his mostly range is 77 - JJ pair + str8 draw etc. So after he calls my cbet i planned on firing 3 barrels on good turn and river cards. Turn is pretty decent card to rep so i went ahead and bet it, but i expect most mid pairs will still call one more street so i was going to bluff him on most rivers.
But now i hit my ace which i think its the best hand like always, how should i maximize? Shall i value bet? i think all those mid pairs i ve mentioned earlier will have a tough time calling, if i decide to bet, how much shall i bet? a small bet since his range is most likely to be weak? or shall i bet big to look like a bluff? or is checking to bluff catch vs missed draws a better idea?
Hand 3: TP 3bet pot
Villain is 18/14 folds to resteal 67%. I dont really feel all that comfortable calling with ATo OOP vs this guy so decided to 3bet which is probably bad.
Even tho i flopped TP, i m not that excited because he is pretty tight. Do we want to just bet 3 streets for value? or is my line ok?
3betting - 3betting different ranges vs different players. More tweener hands if they like calling, and suited trash if they fold too much. And pay more attention to gameflow, adjust air:nut ratio based on recent history. dont just 3bet bluff because it is in our normal air function.
Cbetting - just like bet sizing, think about who villain is, how hard did the board hit him? How likely is he going to peel light? Think about his strong/weak range on the turn, can we fold out his weak hands by firing multiple barrels? knowing where the point of honesty is for villain.
Dont call too much in the blinds - Dont defend shit like small SCs and PPs just because bobbo is doing it, just have to admit i am not good enough to play them profitably OOP for now.
PSR - beware with PSR at all time to plan better bet size, and think about how to max vs worse hands with diff PSR.
Hand 1: Facing donk bets 3 streets
Villain is 20/15 donk bet 11% of the time.
History: I joined this site 2days ago, and villain has been pretty aggressive preflop against me, but i have been owning him with 4bet bluffs + he ran into the nuts a few times. My image is pretty laggy, running at around 28/24 3bet round 10%
I can def see him donking the flop as a bluff, but when he donk into me 3streets, i think its either air or nuts. There is no semibluff in his range, i have a bluffcatcher on the river. His value range is really narrow but i just dont think he is donking 3 streets into me as a bluff, i guess i should fold?
Hand 2: Value bet river?
Same villain but this hand actually happened before.
I think when he calls my cbet, his range cant be very strong as i expect most sets and straight will raise flop, i think with FD he will raise me some% of the time too, i think his mostly range is 77 - JJ pair + str8 draw etc. So after he calls my cbet i planned on firing 3 barrels on good turn and river cards. Turn is pretty decent card to rep so i went ahead and bet it, but i expect most mid pairs will still call one more street so i was going to bluff him on most rivers.
But now i hit my ace which i think its the best hand like always, how should i maximize? Shall i value bet? i think all those mid pairs i ve mentioned earlier will have a tough time calling, if i decide to bet, how much shall i bet? a small bet since his range is most likely to be weak? or shall i bet big to look like a bluff? or is checking to bluff catch vs missed draws a better idea?
Hand 3: TP 3bet pot
Villain is 18/14 folds to resteal 67%. I dont really feel all that comfortable calling with ATo OOP vs this guy so decided to 3bet which is probably bad.
Even tho i flopped TP, i m not that excited because he is pretty tight. Do we want to just bet 3 streets for value? or is my line ok?
Monday 14 June 2010
Ok, i lied!! some hands
After writing up my rountine, i didnt stick to it. i have been getting up early everyday, have breakfast lunch regularly, but i havent stick to my playing schedule. I have been playing very little over the last 2 weeks, instead of playing, i have been working on my game.
I have been watching these vids made by a stox coach called matt janda teaching how to play game theory optimal. I found the vids very very interesting, it showed me what is the optimal calling frequency vs different bet sizes on each street and optimal bluffing frequencies based on my best sizes. I dont know how useful this GTO stuff is to my game, i m not planning on playing GTO, just thought knowing what the optimal strategy will allow me to understand better at exploiting people's leaks.
I have also been using stoxev, to work on 3betting ranges and 4betting ranges and calculate the EV of my cbetting strategies on different boards. i feel like stoxev has improved my understanding of the game a lot, i think i know a lot better when to cbet, when to fire multiple barrels and when not to.
I dont think the reason i havnet been playing is because i m lazy, i think the reason is i enjoy learning about the game too much. I spend most of my time watching vids, thinking about 3betting and 4betting ranges, calculating EV and making a ton of notes. i just dont want to play until i have totally understood the concept i have been working on. And by the time i finish with 1 concept, i will want to learn another 1, it just never end.
I need to find a way of balancing my playing and learning, theres no point in learning all these stuff if i dont play. Right now, i m probably doing 80% learning and 20% playing. I am going to change slowly, starting from this week, i will be doing 50% leaning and 50% playing, nxt week i will be doing 60/40 and hopefully 75/25 the week after that.
Anyway enough bullshit, lets look at some of the hands i have played lately. All of these hands are 50NL euro games which works out to be around 60NL. I will be grinding this stake for a month and hopefully my roll will be big enough for me to move up to the 100nl euros games.
Hand 1: misplayed AA,
Villain is a 26/4 passive fish, flop is obv standard, i bet on the bigger side because he is unlikely to fold any pair. On the turn, i suffered from the monster under the bed sydrome, i was really worried he hit his 9. But thinking about it now, there shouldnt be too many 9x in his range, i shud just bet bigger for value vs pp and charge draws. On the river, i wasn't sure if i should value bet, there shouldnt be any Kx in his range unless its Kxss, TT- QQ will prob raise PF, and i wasnt sure if 5x, 66- 88 will call another bet.
Hand 2: Value bet river?
Villain is 13/7 nit, betting flop and turn is standard, if i get raised on the turn, i will prob have to fold since he is so nitty. On the river, i dont think he is ever folding Qx but i only beat KQ, QT, JT. But QT and JT is prob not even ijn his PF calling range, i guess this is too thin and i should just c/f the river.
Hand 3: Boat on river 3bet pot.
Villain is 27/20, raise 1st 41%, fold to 3bet 68%.
PF, he is folding to a lot of 3bet and he is OOP, i think my air to nut ratio should be pretty wide here, probably 4:1 at least.
Flop: the board is kind of drawy PSR is 5.7. I didnt pay attention to the stack size and thought we are just 100bb deep, so i thought of just betting pot on flop and shove turn.
Turn: I realized i fucked up my bet size on the flop, leaving an awkward stack size opn the turn. I didnt want to bet small since there are now two flushes on the board, but i donty really want to just shove. but thinking about it now, i should either bet small giving him a chance to shove over with his draw or just shove and get called by AJ, KJ and may be TT that didnt 4bet PF.
River: not the best card for me, it is quite plausible he has Jx here, FD prob shove flop some % of the time. I cant really see him bluffing here, eff is 40bb with 150bb in the pot, he cant expect me to fold anything. what shall i do here? can i call?
Hand 4: 3bet pot spew
Villain is 20/15, fold to resteal 75%. since he is folding so much i dont want really to 3bet tweener hands vs him, so i made my Kxs and Qxs my bluff range here.
Flop: PSR is 5, the board hit his range pretty well, so i guess i shouldnt really bet the flop, but i thought i have a over and BDFD lets give it a go. He tanked and called.
Turn: because of his timing on the flop, it really made me believe he wasnt very comfortable with his what is most likely to be a marginal hand. 8 is a bad double barrel card, and i assume he knows this so if i bet here i will actually look really strong (prob levelling myself). I decided to go ahead and bet 1/2p because i think it is big enough to put his whole stack at risk and i m giving myself a good price on the bluff. But with no equity whatsoever, i should just check and give up
Hand 5: FPS again?
Villain is 21/16 cbet 50% of the time
Flop: i think when he checks turn, he has a marginally hand very often and air obv.
Turn: since i think he hasa marginal hand here a lot, it makes me want to bluff him. I could lead out here and bet river, but i wasn't sure if 2 bets s enought to make him fold, so i went for a c/r thinking i can put pressure on his med strength hand and fold out his air.
River: so at this point, i think its pretty clear he has a marginal hand, so i went ahead and bet to try and get him fold. I know i m not repping anything, but i think people at this stake generally concerns more with their hands rather than mine.
Martin
I have been watching these vids made by a stox coach called matt janda teaching how to play game theory optimal. I found the vids very very interesting, it showed me what is the optimal calling frequency vs different bet sizes on each street and optimal bluffing frequencies based on my best sizes. I dont know how useful this GTO stuff is to my game, i m not planning on playing GTO, just thought knowing what the optimal strategy will allow me to understand better at exploiting people's leaks.
I have also been using stoxev, to work on 3betting ranges and 4betting ranges and calculate the EV of my cbetting strategies on different boards. i feel like stoxev has improved my understanding of the game a lot, i think i know a lot better when to cbet, when to fire multiple barrels and when not to.
I dont think the reason i havnet been playing is because i m lazy, i think the reason is i enjoy learning about the game too much. I spend most of my time watching vids, thinking about 3betting and 4betting ranges, calculating EV and making a ton of notes. i just dont want to play until i have totally understood the concept i have been working on. And by the time i finish with 1 concept, i will want to learn another 1, it just never end.
I need to find a way of balancing my playing and learning, theres no point in learning all these stuff if i dont play. Right now, i m probably doing 80% learning and 20% playing. I am going to change slowly, starting from this week, i will be doing 50% leaning and 50% playing, nxt week i will be doing 60/40 and hopefully 75/25 the week after that.
Anyway enough bullshit, lets look at some of the hands i have played lately. All of these hands are 50NL euro games which works out to be around 60NL. I will be grinding this stake for a month and hopefully my roll will be big enough for me to move up to the 100nl euros games.
Hand 1: misplayed AA,
Villain is a 26/4 passive fish, flop is obv standard, i bet on the bigger side because he is unlikely to fold any pair. On the turn, i suffered from the monster under the bed sydrome, i was really worried he hit his 9. But thinking about it now, there shouldnt be too many 9x in his range, i shud just bet bigger for value vs pp and charge draws. On the river, i wasn't sure if i should value bet, there shouldnt be any Kx in his range unless its Kxss, TT- QQ will prob raise PF, and i wasnt sure if 5x, 66- 88 will call another bet.
Hand 2: Value bet river?
Villain is 13/7 nit, betting flop and turn is standard, if i get raised on the turn, i will prob have to fold since he is so nitty. On the river, i dont think he is ever folding Qx but i only beat KQ, QT, JT. But QT and JT is prob not even ijn his PF calling range, i guess this is too thin and i should just c/f the river.
Hand 3: Boat on river 3bet pot.
Villain is 27/20, raise 1st 41%, fold to 3bet 68%.
PF, he is folding to a lot of 3bet and he is OOP, i think my air to nut ratio should be pretty wide here, probably 4:1 at least.
Flop: the board is kind of drawy PSR is 5.7. I didnt pay attention to the stack size and thought we are just 100bb deep, so i thought of just betting pot on flop and shove turn.
Turn: I realized i fucked up my bet size on the flop, leaving an awkward stack size opn the turn. I didnt want to bet small since there are now two flushes on the board, but i donty really want to just shove. but thinking about it now, i should either bet small giving him a chance to shove over with his draw or just shove and get called by AJ, KJ and may be TT that didnt 4bet PF.
River: not the best card for me, it is quite plausible he has Jx here, FD prob shove flop some % of the time. I cant really see him bluffing here, eff is 40bb with 150bb in the pot, he cant expect me to fold anything. what shall i do here? can i call?
Hand 4: 3bet pot spew
Villain is 20/15, fold to resteal 75%. since he is folding so much i dont want really to 3bet tweener hands vs him, so i made my Kxs and Qxs my bluff range here.
Flop: PSR is 5, the board hit his range pretty well, so i guess i shouldnt really bet the flop, but i thought i have a over and BDFD lets give it a go. He tanked and called.
Turn: because of his timing on the flop, it really made me believe he wasnt very comfortable with his what is most likely to be a marginal hand. 8 is a bad double barrel card, and i assume he knows this so if i bet here i will actually look really strong (prob levelling myself). I decided to go ahead and bet 1/2p because i think it is big enough to put his whole stack at risk and i m giving myself a good price on the bluff. But with no equity whatsoever, i should just check and give up
Hand 5: FPS again?
Villain is 21/16 cbet 50% of the time
Flop: i think when he checks turn, he has a marginally hand very often and air obv.
Turn: since i think he hasa marginal hand here a lot, it makes me want to bluff him. I could lead out here and bet river, but i wasn't sure if 2 bets s enought to make him fold, so i went for a c/r thinking i can put pressure on his med strength hand and fold out his air.
River: so at this point, i think its pretty clear he has a marginal hand, so i went ahead and bet to try and get him fold. I know i m not repping anything, but i think people at this stake generally concerns more with their hands rather than mine.
Martin
Thursday 27 May 2010
Routine
Going to be back in Manchester on Sunday, and from the 1st of June, i m going to start playing more poker and follow a proper rountine everyday. My rountine is going to be as followed:
7:30, get up and shower
8:00, breakfast (I dont have breakfast regularly, i m going to make sure i do and i wont allow myself to play until i had my breakfast)Got to make sure i have my vitamins afterwards too.
8:30, have a walk near my apartments to clear my mind and calm myself down, got to make sure i walk slowly and not rush (again not allowed to play unless this s done)
9:00, start playing, going to stick with short sessions, no longer than an hr each and have 15 mins rest in between (may be 30 mins)
12:00, review hands for the morning, make notes etc
12:45, lunch time
1:45, 15mins walk to clear my mind again
2:00, play poker again, stick with short sessions, short breaks in between
4:30, review hands played in the afternoon and make notes and posts at least 3 a day onto the blog
5:30, hit the gym every Tuesday and Thursday
The rountine is only for Monday to Friday, wkend will be dedicated for studying, watching videos and making notes, doing EV calculations and playing on StoxEV. Will be playing a couple of short sessions if i have time and hit the gym at least once too.
7:30, get up and shower
8:00, breakfast (I dont have breakfast regularly, i m going to make sure i do and i wont allow myself to play until i had my breakfast)Got to make sure i have my vitamins afterwards too.
8:30, have a walk near my apartments to clear my mind and calm myself down, got to make sure i walk slowly and not rush (again not allowed to play unless this s done)
9:00, start playing, going to stick with short sessions, no longer than an hr each and have 15 mins rest in between (may be 30 mins)
12:00, review hands for the morning, make notes etc
12:45, lunch time
1:45, 15mins walk to clear my mind again
2:00, play poker again, stick with short sessions, short breaks in between
4:30, review hands played in the afternoon and make notes and posts at least 3 a day onto the blog
5:30, hit the gym every Tuesday and Thursday
The rountine is only for Monday to Friday, wkend will be dedicated for studying, watching videos and making notes, doing EV calculations and playing on StoxEV. Will be playing a couple of short sessions if i have time and hit the gym at least once too.
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