I have the misfortune of supporting Dundee and decided to go to the match today. What a fucking disaster that was. Actually I don't even want to think about it. It was good to get out of the house though as I've been feeling like a bit of a shut in lately. I also find that shouting at referees is a good outlet for any pent up frustraton.
Things are going pretty well for me poker wise. I've almost completely recovered from my last downswing and things are looking a hell of a lot rosier.
I've been thinking about how I'm going to approach next month as I've learned a few things recently. I really need some structure to my day as I'm currently sleeping for a few hours in the morning then another few hours late afternoon. I'm feeling pretty shit and I think this is to blame. I'm also getting lazy again and not putting in the hours.
I've noticed that the 5/10 games on Stars are significantly better from around 12am onwards so I'll be looking to play at these times. I've also managed to deposit for a $3.5k bonus on one of the Prima skins and should manage to clear this in a month playing around 2 hours per day. The peak times there are in the evening. I'm also playing a bit of shorthanded limit but the games are more readily available than full ring so I can pretty much play any time I feel like a change. I'm really enjoying the short handed stuff just now. The players are generally terrible and I'm liking LAGing it up. I've been a fucking Full Ring nit for too long.
My plan of attack for next month is to sleep from about 4am until 12pm, give or take. Fit in 500 hands of shorthanded poker at some point during the day. Bonuswhore for a couple of hours in the evening and then get down to the serious business on Stars when the games are good.
I'm also going to stop drinking so much as the hangovers are turning me into a right miserable bastard.
Sounds like a plan to me.
Sunday 27 January 2008
Thursday 24 January 2008
lol graphaments
This is my last 10k hands and a 178 big bet downsing. Nice. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster to be honest. I'm hoping that I can start stringing together some positive sessions now.
My coaching session with danzasmack has been postponed until next week as my internet went down yesterday. I have a backup but it's a data card on my laptop which doesn't have the hands I want to go over. I'm really looking forward to it, I've watched his videos on deucescracked and have been hugely impressed by his stuff.
I've decided that I'm not going to be a miserable bastard in my blog any more lol. I've managed to regain my confidence and not automatically assume that every session is going to be a loser. I'm just trying to play as well as I can and let the results sort themselves out.
I might post some hands tomorrow if I can be arsed.
My coaching session with danzasmack has been postponed until next week as my internet went down yesterday. I have a backup but it's a data card on my laptop which doesn't have the hands I want to go over. I'm really looking forward to it, I've watched his videos on deucescracked and have been hugely impressed by his stuff.
I've decided that I'm not going to be a miserable bastard in my blog any more lol. I've managed to regain my confidence and not automatically assume that every session is going to be a loser. I'm just trying to play as well as I can and let the results sort themselves out.
I might post some hands tomorrow if I can be arsed.
Wednesday 23 January 2008
8 losing sessions on the bounce...
...according to pokertracker anyway. Last night I was feeling like shit. Came off the back of another -$600 day and had no confidence in my game whatsover. This carried on into today, I played a few tables and posted another losing session.... It's becoming a trend.
This evening I had a few beers, decided to play 2 tables at the most, relaxed and played some poker. I think I might be overthinking myself right now, I might have MUBS.
To be honest I'm pretty convinced that I'm just running bad but I can't help thinking that my strategy is being completely exploited at the tables.
Anyway... I had a decent winning session against solid regulars so my confidence is restored a bit.
I'm looking forward to my HH review tomorrow and hoping I can plug a few leaks.
GL
This evening I had a few beers, decided to play 2 tables at the most, relaxed and played some poker. I think I might be overthinking myself right now, I might have MUBS.
To be honest I'm pretty convinced that I'm just running bad but I can't help thinking that my strategy is being completely exploited at the tables.
Anyway... I had a decent winning session against solid regulars so my confidence is restored a bit.
I'm looking forward to my HH review tomorrow and hoping I can plug a few leaks.
GL
Monday 21 January 2008
Nothing Doing
Not much happening with me over the past few days, still grinding it out. I've been struggling a wee bit with poker too. Couldn't seem to get a winning session in. I seem to be getting a few big hands early on but then proceed to spunk away my $$. I'm making quite a lot of mistakes and doing badly in blind on blind situations again. I'll be doing a big session review this afternoon and going over things with a fine tooth comb. I also have danzasmack doing a hand history review for me on wednesday so that will be useful.
I played a session just now and the tables were really good which is unusual for during the day. Take this for example: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1971603
To be fair I didn't know where the fuck I was at in that hand. Anyway, halfway through the session I was down about $300, same old same old, big draws not hitting and big hands not holding up. I managed to to claw it back though and ended up about $150, hopefully it's the start of a decent run for me.
As I said earlier the daytime games are usually shite so I was thinking about what I could do during the day instead of chasing TAGs around at 5/10. I decided to set myself a little challenge. I've been meaning to learn short handed limit for some time so I'm going to start with 300 big bets at 1/2, play 500 hands a day and see where I end up. I'll move up when I have 300 big bets for the next level and drop down if I hit 300 for the limit below. I'm going to do this until the end of February or March as a bit of a side project. It's more productive than sitting on my arse watching tv or playing the Xbox.
I played a session just now and the tables were really good which is unusual for during the day. Take this for example: http://www.pokerhand.org/?1971603
To be fair I didn't know where the fuck I was at in that hand. Anyway, halfway through the session I was down about $300, same old same old, big draws not hitting and big hands not holding up. I managed to to claw it back though and ended up about $150, hopefully it's the start of a decent run for me.
As I said earlier the daytime games are usually shite so I was thinking about what I could do during the day instead of chasing TAGs around at 5/10. I decided to set myself a little challenge. I've been meaning to learn short handed limit for some time so I'm going to start with 300 big bets at 1/2, play 500 hands a day and see where I end up. I'll move up when I have 300 big bets for the next level and drop down if I hit 300 for the limit below. I'm going to do this until the end of February or March as a bit of a side project. It's more productive than sitting on my arse watching tv or playing the Xbox.
Friday 18 January 2008
Drunk Shot Taking Anyone?
So I'm pretty pissed, watched a film with the missus, she goes to bed and I fire up 2 tables of 10/20 for a laugh. I decided to take a shot with $1k and see what happens. What happens is I win some hands.
Fuck You Downswing!
I thought 5/10 played hard but 10/20 is a whole new kettle of fish... without the fish unfortunately. It plays totally different and I actually seen someone fold to a river check raise! I need to get some of that shit in my game lol.
I go too far with hands sometimes.
In other news: decided to take the night off (apart from drunken 10/20) as my wife went back to work on Monday following nine months of maternity leave. I was feeling somewhat worse for wear following last night anyway. We had an Indian, a few beers and watched a film which was good. I'm lucky enough to live in an area which has the best Indian take away bar none. Seriously the place rocks.
In other, other news: I've been in touch with the coaches at deucescracked.com and danzasmack is going to give me a few coaching sessions. I think I have a few leaks and unfortunately the poker literature for full ring limit is somewhat outdated and assumes people play shittily. I play against people who are pretty fucking good for the most part so decided to get a coach to help me out. Trip report to follow.
In other, other, other news: My wrist has been giving me shit with spending so much time on the computer... nothing to do with redtube you understand. Anyway, I bought one of those gel wrist pad things and it's worked wonders. Buy one.... it's better than a fag packet.
Fuck You Downswing!
I thought 5/10 played hard but 10/20 is a whole new kettle of fish... without the fish unfortunately. It plays totally different and I actually seen someone fold to a river check raise! I need to get some of that shit in my game lol.
I go too far with hands sometimes.
In other news: decided to take the night off (apart from drunken 10/20) as my wife went back to work on Monday following nine months of maternity leave. I was feeling somewhat worse for wear following last night anyway. We had an Indian, a few beers and watched a film which was good. I'm lucky enough to live in an area which has the best Indian take away bar none. Seriously the place rocks.
In other, other news: I've been in touch with the coaches at deucescracked.com and danzasmack is going to give me a few coaching sessions. I think I have a few leaks and unfortunately the poker literature for full ring limit is somewhat outdated and assumes people play shittily. I play against people who are pretty fucking good for the most part so decided to get a coach to help me out. Trip report to follow.
In other, other, other news: My wrist has been giving me shit with spending so much time on the computer... nothing to do with redtube you understand. Anyway, I bought one of those gel wrist pad things and it's worked wonders. Buy one.... it's better than a fag packet.
Thursday 17 January 2008
A Review
After reading through my last few posts which are all a bit doom and gloom, I decided to reflect on my experience of playing poker for a living to date (all 17 days of it lol). I must admit it's not exactly how I thought it would be and it's been a steep learning curve.
Some stuff I've learned:
Motivation
It's not too easy to motivate yourself when when you can play any time you want. I'm going to try to get into a regular routine to get some structure to my lazy arse life. It's not all that easy to motivate yourself when you're winning either.
Losing
Lets face it, losing is a bastard. Nobody likes to lose. It's even more of a bastard when it's your livelihood that you're spunking away at the tables. There are some things that have made losing a bit easier for me to deal with. The first is having a big enough bankroll to absorb the loss. I'm playing with 1000 big bets and can reload if things go completely tits up (like i get haxxored, get drunk and spunk it all at $200/$400 or decide to do $1k flips). Also having some money in the bank to pay the bills at the end of the month takes a bit of pressure off. I don't know if I would go as far as to recommend having as much as 6 months worth of expenses but having a bit of money is good. The most important thing when it comes to having a shit session is remembering that I can make enough money in a month through FPP bonuses to pay the bills. Fuck the downswings :).
Playing Your A Game
This is really important when you play against reasonably decent players all the time. I can safely say that I don't take my A game to the tables often enough. I started off really well in respect of this. I prepared myself mentally before i started playing and would stop if I noticed myself making mistakes, take a look at the hands in pokertracker, find the leaks and get back to business. This is something i need to get back to doing.
Find a Way to Vent
This blog has really helped me in this regard. My wife really doesn't want to hear about it when I'm having a shit day and dropping $$ at the tables. Lets face it, she doesn't need to know and it'll only make her nervous. I whine like a little bitch in here instead and instantly feel better. She doesn't need to know about the upswings either as she'll go and spunk loads of money on shoes and handbags. I also really enjoy writing lots of abusive shit in a players notes because I get a laugh when I check them out the next day or whatever when all memories of the suckout have faded.
Don't Doubt Yourself: Review, Review and Review
Losing sessions getting you down? Review your play. Spot the mistakes. Learn something and move on. I've found that doing a session review following a losing session is a must. A couple of times it has transpired that I was playing pretty well even if it felt like I made loads of mistakes at the time.
Make Clear and Achievable Goals
It's good to set goals for the day, week and month but be specific. I read my goals for the year and they're waaay too vague. Set yourself clear and concise goals.
Don't Worry About Quitting
Let's face it, sometimes the games are shit. Sometimes you're playing badly. Sometimes you're at the arse end of varience. Sometimes you're on insane monkey tilt. Go and do something else instead of spunking away your bankroll you fucking tit.
Enjoy It
At the end of the day this has to be the best job in the world and I fucking love it.
Some stuff I've learned:
Motivation
It's not too easy to motivate yourself when when you can play any time you want. I'm going to try to get into a regular routine to get some structure to my lazy arse life. It's not all that easy to motivate yourself when you're winning either.
Losing
Lets face it, losing is a bastard. Nobody likes to lose. It's even more of a bastard when it's your livelihood that you're spunking away at the tables. There are some things that have made losing a bit easier for me to deal with. The first is having a big enough bankroll to absorb the loss. I'm playing with 1000 big bets and can reload if things go completely tits up (like i get haxxored, get drunk and spunk it all at $200/$400 or decide to do $1k flips). Also having some money in the bank to pay the bills at the end of the month takes a bit of pressure off. I don't know if I would go as far as to recommend having as much as 6 months worth of expenses but having a bit of money is good. The most important thing when it comes to having a shit session is remembering that I can make enough money in a month through FPP bonuses to pay the bills. Fuck the downswings :).
Playing Your A Game
This is really important when you play against reasonably decent players all the time. I can safely say that I don't take my A game to the tables often enough. I started off really well in respect of this. I prepared myself mentally before i started playing and would stop if I noticed myself making mistakes, take a look at the hands in pokertracker, find the leaks and get back to business. This is something i need to get back to doing.
Find a Way to Vent
This blog has really helped me in this regard. My wife really doesn't want to hear about it when I'm having a shit day and dropping $$ at the tables. Lets face it, she doesn't need to know and it'll only make her nervous. I whine like a little bitch in here instead and instantly feel better. She doesn't need to know about the upswings either as she'll go and spunk loads of money on shoes and handbags. I also really enjoy writing lots of abusive shit in a players notes because I get a laugh when I check them out the next day or whatever when all memories of the suckout have faded.
Don't Doubt Yourself: Review, Review and Review
Losing sessions getting you down? Review your play. Spot the mistakes. Learn something and move on. I've found that doing a session review following a losing session is a must. A couple of times it has transpired that I was playing pretty well even if it felt like I made loads of mistakes at the time.
Make Clear and Achievable Goals
It's good to set goals for the day, week and month but be specific. I read my goals for the year and they're waaay too vague. Set yourself clear and concise goals.
Don't Worry About Quitting
Let's face it, sometimes the games are shit. Sometimes you're playing badly. Sometimes you're at the arse end of varience. Sometimes you're on insane monkey tilt. Go and do something else instead of spunking away your bankroll you fucking tit.
Enjoy It
At the end of the day this has to be the best job in the world and I fucking love it.
Tilt and the Downswing Continues
I dropped more than $500 in 250 hands earlier tonight in brutal fashion. Nothing held up for me at all and my win rate for the month has plummeted. I admit I did tilt a bit and probably lost about $100 through doing stupid stuff but the rest was lost through vomit inducing suckouts and running into AA 3 times with overpairs.
Fucking fucking fuckity fuck fuck fuck.
After losing with KK against J7o which hit 2 pair on the river I wanted to punch something. I stopped playing instead. Went out to the carry oot shop and I'm going to get fucking wasted. No more poker until tomorrow.
Tilt is a funny thing. I though I'd overcome it and had seen beats so heinous that I was now immune. Apparently not. I lost about 4 big pots on the trot to fuckwits cold calling with any 2 and I was away on super monkey tilt. I'm glad I have the sense to quit before I lose more. I'll take the night off instead.
I'm such a whining bitch lol.
Fucking fucking fuckity fuck fuck fuck.
After losing with KK against J7o which hit 2 pair on the river I wanted to punch something. I stopped playing instead. Went out to the carry oot shop and I'm going to get fucking wasted. No more poker until tomorrow.
Tilt is a funny thing. I though I'd overcome it and had seen beats so heinous that I was now immune. Apparently not. I lost about 4 big pots on the trot to fuckwits cold calling with any 2 and I was away on super monkey tilt. I'm glad I have the sense to quit before I lose more. I'll take the night off instead.
I'm such a whining bitch lol.
Wednesday 16 January 2008
Today
I think today has been the first day I've actually followed the goals which I set for myself at the beginning of the year. I've played 2 sessions and 1000 hands so far today. First session was pretty pish and I dropped $350 over 500 hands playing a mix of 3/6 and 5/10. My 3/6 play has netted me a grand total of 50 cents this year... not even enough for a mars bar. I didn't steam although I was pretty disappointed with some of my play and started to doubt myself a bit.
I was obviously feeling pretty shitty given the break even nature of the last few days so I dug out The Poker Mindset and read some bits and pieces. I then took the dog for a walk and hit the tables tonight with a lot more confidence in my ability. Finally hit a winning session and I'm currently -$75 for the day. i'm going top play another 1000 hands tonight starting around 2 or 3am. I've found that the games are a lot softer at this time but I'm usually too tired (or drunk) to play much. Hopefully I'll manage to get a decent win.
Random information: I was taking a look at pokertracker today and discovered that i had won with AA 28 hands in a row and lost with them twice today.
I'm going to get some sleep.
I was obviously feeling pretty shitty given the break even nature of the last few days so I dug out The Poker Mindset and read some bits and pieces. I then took the dog for a walk and hit the tables tonight with a lot more confidence in my ability. Finally hit a winning session and I'm currently -$75 for the day. i'm going top play another 1000 hands tonight starting around 2 or 3am. I've found that the games are a lot softer at this time but I'm usually too tired (or drunk) to play much. Hopefully I'll manage to get a decent win.
Random information: I was taking a look at pokertracker today and discovered that i had won with AA 28 hands in a row and lost with them twice today.
I'm going to get some sleep.
Tuesday 15 January 2008
Breaking even
The last few days have been pretty much break even for me. No big wins but no big losses either. Just played for an hour and won 1 whole dollar. I think I'll buy a mars bar.
I was just talking to a mate of mine who I used to work with. He is a compulsive gambler and plays live tournaments with reasonable success. He was telling me about the number of times he has busted his roll online because he has to play the biggest stakes he can afford and would rather go busto or robusto. He's had a few decent wins online but has never cashed out and always ends up throwing it away.
I started off in poker playing mtt's and would deposit small amounts and bust fairly quickly. My wife bought me a beginner type poker book which taught a super tight passive strategy for fixed limit and I was away. I started with a $200 deposit on pokerroom, cleared a $100 sign up bonus and had a 300bb bankroll for .50/1. I discovered bonuswhores.com and took full advantage of all the decent sign up bonuses I could find. I built my bankroll up a litttle bit at a time.
Anyway. the point I was trying to make is that I used to get really pissed off at a $10 loss at .50/1 even when I had a decent bankroll. It wasn't about the amount of money involved and I was never really interested in getting super rich quickly (you fucking liar), at least not playing high stakes poker. I used to take a fair amount of pleasure out of watching my bankroll grow month by month even though I could afford to deposit a lot more money and play higher stakes.
When I finally decided I wanted to play for a living I started moving up the limits. I didn't play outwith my bankroll and still spent most of my poker time bonuswhoring. I took me a long time before I became frustrated playing micro stakes with a substantial roll because I ground it up from nothing.
I was trying to explain all of this to my mate but he doesn't quite get it. He informed me that he wouldn't waste his time playing "shitty penny games".
At this point I reminded him that I'm the one who is now playing poker for a living and he's stuck in a shitty job throwing away a couple of hundred quid of his wages every week trying for the big score.
I was just talking to a mate of mine who I used to work with. He is a compulsive gambler and plays live tournaments with reasonable success. He was telling me about the number of times he has busted his roll online because he has to play the biggest stakes he can afford and would rather go busto or robusto. He's had a few decent wins online but has never cashed out and always ends up throwing it away.
I started off in poker playing mtt's and would deposit small amounts and bust fairly quickly. My wife bought me a beginner type poker book which taught a super tight passive strategy for fixed limit and I was away. I started with a $200 deposit on pokerroom, cleared a $100 sign up bonus and had a 300bb bankroll for .50/1. I discovered bonuswhores.com and took full advantage of all the decent sign up bonuses I could find. I built my bankroll up a litttle bit at a time.
Anyway. the point I was trying to make is that I used to get really pissed off at a $10 loss at .50/1 even when I had a decent bankroll. It wasn't about the amount of money involved and I was never really interested in getting super rich quickly (you fucking liar), at least not playing high stakes poker. I used to take a fair amount of pleasure out of watching my bankroll grow month by month even though I could afford to deposit a lot more money and play higher stakes.
When I finally decided I wanted to play for a living I started moving up the limits. I didn't play outwith my bankroll and still spent most of my poker time bonuswhoring. I took me a long time before I became frustrated playing micro stakes with a substantial roll because I ground it up from nothing.
I was trying to explain all of this to my mate but he doesn't quite get it. He informed me that he wouldn't waste his time playing "shitty penny games".
At this point I reminded him that I'm the one who is now playing poker for a living and he's stuck in a shitty job throwing away a couple of hundred quid of his wages every week trying for the big score.
Saturday 12 January 2008
A few days off and my first bad session...
I had a few days off to try and get myself motivated for grinding out the rest of the month and approached today with a great amount of enthusiasm. I'm really happy with my game at the moment and have been consistently making good decisions, running goot and generally being fucking amazing.
I played for 2 hours during the day today, again playing the only 2 tables of $5/10 and 2 of $3/6 and did ok. I played for an hour this evening and had a modest win and all was right with the world.
I've just finished another hour long session and got shat on. It was one of those where absolutely nothing goes for you at all. Flopped trips - lose to rivered flush, hit straight - lose to rivered flush, set over set, river a boat - villain rivers quads, hit 2 pair - lose to a bigger 2 pair on the (yup...) fucking river. Down $450 and I'm pretty amazed it isn't more. I fucking hate rivers.
Anyway I'm glad I got that out of my system. It's only 45 big bets and far from disastrous. I'm actually quite glad (?) I've broken my shit session cherry as it was bound to happen eventually. Reflecting on it just now I don't think I played too badly. I made a couple of bad call downs and got sucked out on a few times but all in all I think I did ok. I'm about to review my session in pokertracker so that might change my opinion :)
If I find any hands I played spectacularly badly I'll post them so you can have a laugh at my expense...
edit:
I reviewed my whole session while having a beer or 3 and there really wasn't anything that stood out. I think I'd play all the hands the same. there were 2 hands that I found where I had AK and should have folded the river as I was obviously beat. A bet saved is a bet earned I suppose.
I've had Pokerace HUD for a long time but didn't use it on my old computer as it would flicker like a bastard and really put me off. I downloaded it again because I noticed when I was reviewing my session that I was folding too often against maniacs where I could be 3 betting profitably. I fired up a couple of tables intending to test the fucker out. I played a couple of orbits and it worked fine. I also won a few hands to put me at -$196 for the day.
Not 3 bad really :)
I played for 2 hours during the day today, again playing the only 2 tables of $5/10 and 2 of $3/6 and did ok. I played for an hour this evening and had a modest win and all was right with the world.
I've just finished another hour long session and got shat on. It was one of those where absolutely nothing goes for you at all. Flopped trips - lose to rivered flush, hit straight - lose to rivered flush, set over set, river a boat - villain rivers quads, hit 2 pair - lose to a bigger 2 pair on the (yup...) fucking river. Down $450 and I'm pretty amazed it isn't more. I fucking hate rivers.
Anyway I'm glad I got that out of my system. It's only 45 big bets and far from disastrous. I'm actually quite glad (?) I've broken my shit session cherry as it was bound to happen eventually. Reflecting on it just now I don't think I played too badly. I made a couple of bad call downs and got sucked out on a few times but all in all I think I did ok. I'm about to review my session in pokertracker so that might change my opinion :)
If I find any hands I played spectacularly badly I'll post them so you can have a laugh at my expense...
edit:
I reviewed my whole session while having a beer or 3 and there really wasn't anything that stood out. I think I'd play all the hands the same. there were 2 hands that I found where I had AK and should have folded the river as I was obviously beat. A bet saved is a bet earned I suppose.
I've had Pokerace HUD for a long time but didn't use it on my old computer as it would flicker like a bastard and really put me off. I downloaded it again because I noticed when I was reviewing my session that I was folding too often against maniacs where I could be 3 betting profitably. I fired up a couple of tables intending to test the fucker out. I played a couple of orbits and it worked fine. I also won a few hands to put me at -$196 for the day.
Not 3 bad really :)
Wednesday 9 January 2008
Knackered but running goot
I seriously need to get my sleeping patterns sorted out. It's 1240am and I'm totally shattered. So much for working through the night...
I'm going to make a supreme effort to stay awake in order to get some sort of semblance of order here. Unfortunately I'm too snookered to play and I really want to. I've had prior experience of playing tired and it's just not worth it for me. I played for a couple of hours earlier tonight and I'm up about $350 or so which is not exactly an incentive for me to keep going. The games were pretty poor tonight with about an average of 18% of players seeing the flop. Luckily I managed to pick up a few good hands in steal positions so was called down light on several occasions. I also made a few good calldowns myself.
I'm quite enjoying playing shorter sessions as I feel I'm taking my A game to the table more and playing a lot better. I'm also taking a few minutes to prepare for playing which is something I seldom did before. I read something about it in Hilger's "The Poker Mindset" and it's helped me immensely, especially if I am facing a tough decision right off the bat.
Being a bit of a lazy bastard has also helped believe it or not. While I've been procrastinating and feeling shite I've read a lot more on 2 + 2 and watched a few videos on Stoxpoker and Deucescracked. Yay for lazyness.
One of the weaknesses I had was blind play which has improved significantly recently and I now feel a lot more comfortable playing out of the blinds. I've also really opened up my range against some opponenents which has proved profitable. These are things I've struggled with for a while so I'm glad to see some progress.
Anyhoo... I'm up $1454 so far. Cashed out $1000 to stick in my savings account and now need to get my finger out of my arse and start grinding.
edit:
Played another short session (against my better judgement) but the tables were looking really good. Ended up +$270 when the games started breaking up. I'm currently running at 6.63bb/100 on my desktop.
I seriously need to stop playing on my laptop and get my arse out of bed in future.
I'm going to make a supreme effort to stay awake in order to get some sort of semblance of order here. Unfortunately I'm too snookered to play and I really want to. I've had prior experience of playing tired and it's just not worth it for me. I played for a couple of hours earlier tonight and I'm up about $350 or so which is not exactly an incentive for me to keep going. The games were pretty poor tonight with about an average of 18% of players seeing the flop. Luckily I managed to pick up a few good hands in steal positions so was called down light on several occasions. I also made a few good calldowns myself.
I'm quite enjoying playing shorter sessions as I feel I'm taking my A game to the table more and playing a lot better. I'm also taking a few minutes to prepare for playing which is something I seldom did before. I read something about it in Hilger's "The Poker Mindset" and it's helped me immensely, especially if I am facing a tough decision right off the bat.
Being a bit of a lazy bastard has also helped believe it or not. While I've been procrastinating and feeling shite I've read a lot more on 2 + 2 and watched a few videos on Stoxpoker and Deucescracked. Yay for lazyness.
One of the weaknesses I had was blind play which has improved significantly recently and I now feel a lot more comfortable playing out of the blinds. I've also really opened up my range against some opponenents which has proved profitable. These are things I've struggled with for a while so I'm glad to see some progress.
Anyhoo... I'm up $1454 so far. Cashed out $1000 to stick in my savings account and now need to get my finger out of my arse and start grinding.
edit:
Played another short session (against my better judgement) but the tables were looking really good. Ended up +$270 when the games started breaking up. I'm currently running at 6.63bb/100 on my desktop.
I seriously need to stop playing on my laptop and get my arse out of bed in future.
Tuesday 8 January 2008
Lazy
I've been feeling pretty ill the past few days so haven't managed to put in many hands, preferring to spend my time sleeping or reading 2 + 2. I managed to put in about 100 hands yesterday and that was it.
I think I'm being a bit lazy as I'll have a wage at the end of the month from work. I'm quite disappointed in myself really so I'm going to put in a hefty session tonight to make up for lost time.
I think I'm being a bit lazy as I'll have a wage at the end of the month from work. I'm quite disappointed in myself really so I'm going to put in a hefty session tonight to make up for lost time.
Friday 4 January 2008
Lots of swings
Managed to put in a solid 5 hours so far today and I think I'm done. I played a lot of shorter sessions and left when I didn't think I was playing optimally so I could go over my play in pokertracker. The 5 hours was probably played over 8 sessions or so. I might play another hour or so later tonight.
Really, really swingy day today. I'm up about $75 i think. Had some really horrendous beats but sucked out myself on a number of occasions so it's all good.
One of the reasons I played shorter sessions was because I felt myself becoming a bit tilty with a couple of bad beats. This led to a few marginal call downs with less than optimum hands. As I said, I then reviewed these hands in pokertracker and felt a lot better about my play when I got back to the tables.
I also got the dreaded "ty" after someone sucked out on me with a 2 outer on the river. That shit tilts me instantly but i managed to keep my cool and not give out the usual beratement I reserve for these fuckers. I'll keep that for here.
I actually contemplated asking stars to ban my chat but I discovered that if I type abuse in their player notes it gives me the same sense of satisfaction. It makes for some interesting reading the next time I see them too.
Really, really swingy day today. I'm up about $75 i think. Had some really horrendous beats but sucked out myself on a number of occasions so it's all good.
One of the reasons I played shorter sessions was because I felt myself becoming a bit tilty with a couple of bad beats. This led to a few marginal call downs with less than optimum hands. As I said, I then reviewed these hands in pokertracker and felt a lot better about my play when I got back to the tables.
I also got the dreaded "ty" after someone sucked out on me with a 2 outer on the river. That shit tilts me instantly but i managed to keep my cool and not give out the usual beratement I reserve for these fuckers. I'll keep that for here.
I actually contemplated asking stars to ban my chat but I discovered that if I type abuse in their player notes it gives me the same sense of satisfaction. It makes for some interesting reading the next time I see them too.
Thursday 3 January 2008
up a bit
I didn't play last night or early this morning because I was feeling crappy. I woke up at 2am but decided to go back to sleep. Too much alcohol over the festive period caught up with me I think.
I played for about an hour this morning and 2 hours this afternoon. The morning session went well and I was up a couple of hundred $. There were only 2 tables of 5/10 running so I played 2 of 3/6 aswell. Ran well at 5/10 and got my arse kicked at 3/6. happy days.
I did the same this afternoon and that didn't go well at all. Lost about $300 not getting cards and not playing particularly well. I noticed a big difference in the games today aswell. Much tighter and the players were generally better.
I'm still up $500 so far this year so I'm pretty happy.
I played for about an hour this morning and 2 hours this afternoon. The morning session went well and I was up a couple of hundred $. There were only 2 tables of 5/10 running so I played 2 of 3/6 aswell. Ran well at 5/10 and got my arse kicked at 3/6. happy days.
I did the same this afternoon and that didn't go well at all. Lost about $300 not getting cards and not playing particularly well. I noticed a big difference in the games today aswell. Much tighter and the players were generally better.
I'm still up $500 so far this year so I'm pretty happy.
Wednesday 2 January 2008
1st day
I played for about 3 hours tonight and did pretty well. I don't think I'm going to play any more today as posting a winning session is more important to me right now. It may be more important to my missus but never mind :)
I plan on getting drunk for the rest of the evening.
Happy New Year!
I plan on getting drunk for the rest of the evening.
Happy New Year!
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