Back on my feet

Well I can honestly say I'm very proud of myself for conquering the tilt monster. It's something that's always been a problem for me and it'll come up in the future too, I'm sure. I just know that next time I'll have more experience dealing with it and will be more confident overcoming the downswings.

I logged around 2k hands today, raking in about $360 on the day, and getting back to my highpoint in terms of winnings in the full rings.

I ran extremely well, and have added three or four names to my buddy list at stars. One guy stacked me pf with A5o vs my kings, another pulled a very obvious slowplayed top set which ran into my turned straight, and I stacked a few of the tagfish in spots where they really should have folded as well. Juicy stuff.

Anyways, things are going well, and I'm confident again which is all that matters. Updates on their way.

Vid of the day is from feist. It may leave you 'mildly aroused' as jt from cardschat put it...

I hath conquered

Well I'm sorry about not updating in the last while, but as you can probably tell from my last post, I was on a pretty bad tilting session and just needed to clear my head of anything poker-related for a bit to get over it.

A few days ago I started putting in a lot more volume with 100nl. Unfortunately I ran into a pretty bad downswing, and that in turn lead to tilt. All that combined resulted in a pretty nasty downswing, and I saw myself go on monkey tilt for the first time since I was back 8-tabling $16 turbo STTs. I was NOT happy with myself; the downswing was a bummer, but me going on monkey tilt was something I really, really wasn't happy to see.

Long story short, I dropped about $700 from my bankroll and decided to take a break. Today was my first day back, and I promised myself not to monkey tilt. In terms of bb/100 I've had much worse swings, but when you look at it in terms of real money you really start to understand why I was freaking out so much. I rarely have a couple hundred in my bank account, and when I see my poker account drop that much in the span of a few days, it really hits me hard.

I used to tilt a lot and just take breaks to avoid improving my game and seeing what my leaks were, but I've decided to looked at my play in the most objective way possible. I've isolated my biggest leaks and already worked on them (successfully!) today. I booked a solid session, won a buyin and a half, and best of all I didn't tilt.

So the graph on the right's been updated again. Nasty stuff, but I'm dedicated to making a solid winrate out of 100nl; I know I can do it too since the play really isn't all that much better than 50nl. As a matter of fact, most of the money I lost during this streak was either from beats or coolers (again, see below), or was from me tilting as a result of those beats. I hardly got outplayed.

I'll be back on the tables tomorrow grinding it out so I'll update you guys on how that goes. Oh, on a side note I'm accumulating fpps like there's no tomorrow. I've already got another 17k saved up and really don't know what I want to spend them on. Any suggestions would be great :)

Gotta love the 80s and how back then it was cool to act like a bisexual. Seriously though, I've developed a strange addiction to Rod Stewart lately.

FFS downswing

Well as much as I'd like to blame this on a bad run, I'm honestly not playing anywhere near my normal game right now. I honestly don't know why but my mindset seems to have changed a lot lately - maybe it's because things in real life are a little screwed up right now in more ways than one.

Long story short, I lost around $400 or $500 yesterday, came back today refreshed and started winning, only to have a few coolers and more tilt bring me back down. I'm still well-rolled for 100nl, but I think I need a break right now, if only for a few days.

Sorry for the short post, but tbh I just don't feel like talking/thinking about poker right now. When I come back without the tilt I'm going to have a good look through my PT database and see if I can plug some of my leaks, some of which I already know about and know how to fix. Shouldn't be too much trouble.

On a side note, my iPod shuffle finally arrived (exactly one month after I ordered it), and it at least put a little bit of a smile on my face after all this losing business.

brb in like 3 days no music vid/graph update this time kbai

Swinger baby!

I'm not %100 sure why, but 100nl seems to be a lot more swingy for me than 25nl and 50nl were. One thing I'm sure of is that I'm playing slightly looser and a lot more aggressive, and although I've taken more beats for 200BB+ pots this week than I seem to recall ever getting at 50nl or 25nl combined, I'm still losing some buyins to unnecessarily aggressive play that I need to tone down.

One big hand comes to mind - I called an EP raise with position holding AQo, and decided to make my first big bluff at 100nl if I didn't improve and if the board was scary enough for my opponent. I ended up double barreling a 4-straight board after calling the flop bet, and my opponent looked me up with AA. While he made a bad call with his overpair (considering the board and betting line), he still managed to snap my bluff off and I realized I really don't need to make these bluffs. Those are the types of guys I have to target when I actually do flop a set or outdraw him with a straight.

Anyways, overall 100nl is going fine, but my biggest problem so far is the swings. It's only really been 3k hands so far though, so I can't jump to any conclusions yet. I do know that I'm now very comfortable with the stakes though :)

On a side note, as I mentioned I've been playing a little less than I normally do lately, and have been studying and reading more. I was fooling around with pokergrapher the other day and found a really nice graph that put a smile to my face - winnings per date:



Judging by this graph, I've actually only managed to have three real losing days so far. Even though that doesn't really mean dick in terms of winnings, it does mean something in terms of my mindset. For one, I always feel like I'm winning since I end the day up almost all the time (ie even when I have the occasional downswing), and another thing is that I'm probably going to feel a lot worse after having losing days in the future. Anyways just a fun stat there, had to brag a little ;)

On a side note, although I'm in the process of registering for another college course, my registration is becoming a real pain and I might not get it done in time. If I don't - which would be unfortunate - I've decided I'm going traveling. I'll probably stick around during the summer, possibly picking up a small part-time job (maybe landscaping again), but come fall I might just take off to another country. Not sure exactly where yet, but I'm thinking about it. I want to make sure I go traveling before I get stuck in a multi-year college course, and soon after find myself in a job placement I can't really take a break from.

Anyways, total progress has been updated on the right there, and here's your video of the day:

Party time

It's kind of odd, but I'm finding myself playing less and studying the game more as of late. I've still only played 5k hands this month and will really have to pack in some hands in the later parts of the month if I want to maintain gold status. Should be a tad easier at 100nl though.

I've been watching and taking notes on a few more stox videos, but overall it seems that I'm spending most of my time discussing poker at cc. I started a thread on the ba/wb concept (see here), and we got some great discussion going. As expected, a lot of people disagreed with me at first, but that's what discussing poker is all about :)

One thing that does bug me though is when people spout one-liner, false adages and ignore any reasoning I give to prove they are wrong. Things like "you have top pair, bet it!", "you were the aggressor preflop, so continue it on the flop by betting" or "checking is too passive". Silly stuff, but it gets under my skin sometimes.

Anyways I've posted another interesting hand, specifically the "two overpairs" hand from SSHE, and I'm interested in seeing what types of responses we'll get there.

Anyways real life is busy still; I picked up my papers for my high school diploma and will get them signed asap (for mandatory community service - the only reason I haven't graduated yet). I've also got to hand in an application for a credit card, update my passport and go get a health card, and after that's all done I can go and get my G1 driver's license.

This weekend is even going to keep me busy with parties. Tonight my buddy and his bmx friends are having a video premier at some club downtown, and we've got the whole vip section locked off. They're a rowdy bunch to say the least and I wouldn't be surprised if there were a few scuffles - should be fun. Tomorrow night there's another party, but I'm not sure I'll have finished puking tonight's intake by then.

Anyways I'll update you later this weekend with any stories from the party and any poker I play this sat/sun.

Good timing.

..........................NOT (Borat? Anyone? meh)

Anyways the situation I'm in is sort of bitter sweet, but I can't complain.

On one hand, I just took my first real ~1 hour session at 100nl yesterday and ran very well at 15bb/100. I realize that's probably unsustainable, but I'll be happy if I can manage like 3-5bb/100 long-term. I do think I can do well, though.

I started by playing 4 tables to keep the pace down a little bit, with the intention of making solid decisions on each table, but all that lead to was me playing LAGgier than usual. I made a few moves including a bluff so terrible that I can't remember the last time I tried something that improbable of success. I got in a tough spot with ATh vs a maniac, ended up all but stacking him, but he folded to a bet for like $15 of his remaining ~$80 stack :p

Well that gave me some confidence (oh goodness what would have happened had I lost that...), and I decided that I needed more tables to keep me playing solid. I fired up two more, giving me 6 total, and that's when the run started. Before that I had lost quite a bit, nearly a buyin, and was running at like -14bb/100, and ran at somewhere around 25bb/100 after that to bring me back up for the session.

The transition from 25nl to 50nl seemed to be so much more nerve-racking for some reason. I broke even for about 4300 hands, and only after that did my profits actually start rising. So far I can't make any assumptions based on my results at 100nl, but I can tell you that I feel WAY more comfortable and am as excited as ever to start grinding it out.

Which brings me to the bitter part of my situation. I'm right in the middle of some very busy stuff in real life, including getting my high school diploma (yes, grades-wise I finished it, but I don't actually have my diploma due to some silly paperwork), drivers license, a credit card, and doing all of this before the deadline for my new course at my college.

I think I'm going to have to really exercise some discipline here and tear myself away from my PC in order to get the stuff done. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna start now - I'll catch you guys later. Enjoy the song :)



EDIT: weee another milestone!

5k in withdrawls:

Taking shots!

Well new games are calling me, and I can't resist. Last night, half drunk, I decided to play some 25plo, and did fairly well. I started off with two tables of 25plo 6-max, found it a lot of fun, and fired up two more tables to get some more action. I played a pretty loose aggressive style and it paid off this time as I was hitting a lot of flops. I don't plan on playing this aggressive long-term if I end up playing it more, but just getting the feel of the game again was nice. Here are some numbers from the free trial of PT Omaha:



Then today, I got a yearning for 100nl and decided to fire a couple of the juicier tables up. Both were pretty fishy in the beginning which gives me some relief after building up the image of 100nl being full of tagfish in my head. Anyways in the end one table was still as fishy, while the other tightened up after the 'lesser' players left. I ended up playing pretty lag on that table, and on the other I played pretty tight, and missed most flops. Here are the results for the brief session:



Anyways as I've been mentioning in past posts, real life has been getting pretty busy. I found a full-time course at my college that interests me, and the registration is filling up fast even though the course doesn't even start until September. I've got a few little complications that I've got to clear up next week before I can register, so that'll keep me busy still, but once again I'll find time for poker.

On a side note I've decided to watch a certain series of videos on stoxpoker by Ed Miller entitled "The poker made simple series", and taking notes on pads of paper as I watch them. Basically I'm studying, which will help me actually remember the info I watch as opposed to just hearing it and most probably forgetting a lot of it later on.

On another side note, my bankroll has reached a new all-time high!

Way back when I was playing in way over my head at Titan poker, my bankroll had reached about $2800 while I was trying to play 400nl (lol). Anyways right now my bankroll at stars is about $2500, and I've still got funds locked up at both party and mansion, totaling around $500 more which brings my bankroll up to 3k! Fun times.

Anyways, today's track :)

Expanding

Well after commenting on Mr. Paulsson's last blog entry by offering to join him in studying PLO or possibly another non-holdem game, he promptly emailed me and said he'd definitely be interested. Needless to say this is all exciting as full ring tends to get a little monotonous, and keeping my poker options open is always nice. Holdem may not always be the most popular poker game, and it's always nice to have another game to fall back on (PLO being a close second in popularity, especially over in Europe apparently).

As for real-life issues, everything's been picking up speed lately and I'm getting excited. My college FINALLY sent me my results for the last course I took and I passed. My good friend is planning on taking a two or three-year building construction technology course, told me about it, and I've decided I'm going to take the same one. The program costs around 2 or 3 grand, and will start next September, and to be honest I've never been this excited about a school program. The course is apparently very hands-on, giving you the chance to practice building an entire house inside the college's work space. This isn't going to help me tremendously with my electrical career, but it'll open my options up as well as give me a little bit of background in construction. Should be fun.

Full ring's still going great - my last session was a hefty 16BB/100 through about a thousand hands. Unsustainable obviously, but it's always nice to be on a mini-heater :) Graph on the right has been updated once again. I've really got to start actually playing more - my winrate is at a very nice $25/hr so even if it drops a few bucks by playing higher volume, it'll still result in more profits per day.

I recently did a few videos you might be interested in. One's an analysis of a fellow cardschatter NineLions' 10nl full ring session, the other is me 8-tabling full ring myself.

Anyways, all's going good in the poker world and the real world as well. I've still got a list of things I need to do that will keep me a little busy and away from poker for the next week or two, but I know I'll find time.

Let's finish this one with some newer Radiohead:

2000BB update

Quick update here. Just finished today's session after having a ball with the $3+R rebuyament, and I cracked 2000BBs as well as the 30k hand mark.

To keep things short, I still have lots of work to do at 50nl and although I'm rolled for 100nl now I still think I'm going to stick around at 50nl, especially since I will probably be withdrawing some funds soon. Things are still going well; I'm starting to see the big picture in terms of variance, how often I should expect sets, how well I'm running and all that good stuff. Things are still going well (peep the graph again :) and I still feel like a kid in a candy store.

Anyways I'll be busy this week again with some real-life issues, but I know I'll find time for poker and for an update or two on the blog, so stay tuned!

More pac because he's just so gangster. One of my favourite songs of all time also includes one of my favourite verses of all time (quik):

Busy busy busy

Well real life has been keeping me busy, and of course that means that my poker progress has been a little slower, nevermind the blog (sorry!).

I've got a whole list of things I need to catch up on in real life (driver's license, apprenticeship, getting a credit card etc etc), and once I'm over this hump of getting back on track I have the feeling I'm still going to be playing tons of poker when the day is done.

Christmas was fun; we pretty much drank all day, played yahtzee, scrabble and pente (look it up; great game. Unfortunately nobody wanted to play poker with the kid who lives upstairs and plays online all day :(

New years was unfortunately not that great for me. Back in the day we used to have a list of parties to go to. We would go to one of our buddies houses to predrink, then end up roaming the streets with bottles of liquor trying to find the parties. I remember several times being outside during the countdown and hearing people scream in their houses as it went down :p

This year we went to a friend of my best buddy's house for a party. My buddy is as big of a skateboarding fanatic as I am with poker, and this party was almost all skating friends of his. I met some new people, including a very unattractive girl who now thinks I'm her boyfriend and expects a call sometime soon (fat chance). We ended up staying at that same party the whole night and it left me aching for more partying which unfortunately we didn't do. meh.

Another thing I did over the break was hockey! Me and my old man went out to a skating rink, found it completely empty and played for about 3 hours before nearly dying of exhaust. I hadn't played since last summer which was the longest break I'd taken in years. I used to be just about as obsessed with hockey as I am now with poker - for those who don't know, I've played since I was like 7 years old, never missing a season of hockey. For about 4 years in the latest part of that stretch, I even played summer hockey which meant I was never off the ice for more than about a month. Anyways that was a lot of fun and I hope to squeeze some more in before spring hits us.

On to poker, like I said I haven't been playing all that much. I've played two sessions since Christmas; the first was a big cooler/bad play downswing that turned into a break-even session, and the second was yesterday which I made a video of and (just) posted on cardschat here. I'm still doing very well overall at 50nl, but still have great lengths to go before I move up to 100nl even though I've been pondering taking shots soon. Progress updated on the right :)

Anyways I've been a little obsessed with synthesizer-filled 80's music lately (and music that emulates it) so here's a nice tune from TV Eyes: