Good times, bad times - a beginner's NLHE blog

It appears I am playing more concentrated when on 4 zoom tables than when on 2 or 3. So I stick to playing 4.
I've yet to find a way to study in a structured way so suggestions are warmly welcome.
And a few more thousand hands and I will share stats and stuff, I think at least 10000 hands.

Well, an update is long due although noone is reading this. But it helps me keep some semblance of order and keep track on what I'm doing so I'm going to continue.

I played like 8000 hands on NL5 Zoom. And I kind of crushed it. Like 15 BB/100 hands win rate. I was amazed at how easy it was.

And from yesterday I climbed on NL10 Zoom with more or less 35 bi, haven't exactly seen the cashier and I don't care much about it. I've played only 3000 hands on it. I haven't seen reports on HM2 but my guess is that's it's not all too pretty. I was greeted with my KK vs AA, a few hands later a dude had his two outer from turn to river for 230 bb pot and some other crap. But it's a too small sample size so tomorrow and on Friday I have to play at least 7000 hands and then do some review and share some stats and a graph if I feel like it.

Have to go buy HM2 small stakes version as now I am on trial period and I have some $30 discount for it.

What's kind of big news to me is that I've made a deal with certain someone to help me with my game. We've had 2 sessions, both on pre-flop play and just some hands were reviewed. But it's giving me a lot of confidence and I am very happy.

'sall! C ya!

Originally posted by mishkagg
Well, an update is long due although noone is reading this.

I'm reading. ♦ glgl

Laz

So, um, hello.
I've played around 10000 hands on NL10. I was so crushed that I had to go back on NL5 to gather resources again. But I did it and today I played around 2200 more hands. I was calm and I was pretty content with my play.
I had also a coach session and of course I got some valuable advice to incorporate into my game and some homework on cbets on different boards. Woo-hoo, who doesn't love homework?!?
I am too lazy to make a graph right now so I will just post an image of a Muay thai fighter as this is what I started training besides bodybuilding. And it's a better picture than a coordinate system for sure!
Gl hf!

So I made a full month of playing NL.
Let me recap a bit... I started on NL5 and I kind of was beating the crap out of them. Then I started NL10. At first I was crushed, then I stabilized. Finally I thought I was doing great in the last two weeks. Then it came the time to see the graph.
Here it is:

I really thought I was doing better than to win a couple of buy ins but that's the situation. Lots of room to improve in the months to come. I hope I crush this NL10 in the next month.

Here are my goals for the next month:
- play at least 50000 hands
- read and reread The mental game of poker
- plug game leaks whenever possible

I guess that's all for now. Bye - bye!

Good luck at achieving your goals mishkagg. You are wrong if you think noone reads your blog :f_cool:.

I just want to say that you have to be careful when you 4 tabling ZOOM. You might think you are more focused but are you really? If you are nothing to be afraid of Maybe you are busier but the question is if you are also more focused. I am also microstakes player so we do a lot of mistakes and i think we can reduce them if we have enough time to think.

If you will have some question regarding specific hands don't forget to post them onto HE board.

Also don't forget to update your blog in near future. You don't have excuses that nobody read it anymore :f_p:. Good luck mate.

Alan833, thanks for the input. Yes, about the 4 tables, I went back to three tables. Hands per hour is like 200 hands less but it's not the volume that's the real issue now. I will update more frequently from on too. Thank you again and have fun!

Not much going on poker wise. I reduced the number of zoom tables to two. Trying to pay more attention to detail and react accordingly. Oh, I bought HM2 small stakes but only using one key for now. Might put the other key on the PC at home, I don't know yet but it doesn't make sense to store it and be useless...
So today I was planning on playing. I still am. It's just that a certain retard accused me that a phone I am selling is stolen and tried to blackmail me for the small sum of EUR 25. He successfully drove me extremely mad. Which was quite an accomplishment considering the fact that I had weights and muay thai trainings in the morning and was pretty exhausted. So now I am calming down before I start playing.
Here's a fun story from yesterday. I also had a plan to play. Then a crazy rich lady called and asked me if I can assist her in choosing a dog, chihuahua to be precise. I've got one of those little suckers at home and I know a thing or two about them and also the whole deal I thought would take not more than 30 minutes and I'd get EUR 50 for it so I happily agreed. Then my horror began. She bought not one but two. That's not the problem. The problem was that she literally did not stop talking for 115 minutes. Not for one minute. "Here's my dog with Novak Djokovic, here's my dog with Michelle Placido, here my dog is eating his own crap!". All the time I just wanted to walk away and stop listening... Whatever. Those things are past now, seems like I've calmed down and it's time to try the tables.

Lol, fun stuff. Yes you really need to calm down before you play in that mood!

Enjoying this (and the Mauy Thai lady's hair), keep it up!

Oh by the way, I have dog, would you like to hear... ♦

Sure, hit me with a dog story. I actually like animals, it's just some clients that are annoying.
ps. two table gaming rules, I feel much more at ease this way.

So I am playing on two tables and life seems calm and good. That's all I can say. I'm very happy I reduced the tables to two.
On Tuesday I should have my database of around 40000 hands analyzed and I will share the results.
I really need the weakest parts of my game to be found and I will try my best to remove them. I hope so much that from 2014 I will play on NL25 and leave this dreaded NL10 for good.
With that said, good luck and have fun!

Hey!
So I had my 50000 zoom hands analyzed today. And it was super useful. I will now share a HM2 shot with the results by position. First a cat though. The cat illustrates my reaction when I saw the By position filter:

Actual image of the filter after about 50000 hands:

So it turns out I am having serious trouble playing with broader ranges and that's where my blinds are draining.
I've had some advice already, more is always welcome though so I will be extremely grateful for it.

What's funny is that I am currently reading The mental game of poker. I am printing 10-12 pages at a time and read them. Then I try to actually understand what's written and read it again. It's an amazing book full of insight and great advice.
The "funny" part is that I reached the tilt section and there is this desperation tilt where people start blaming everything and everyone for the lack of success. I was on the brink of doing so too but then I read the corresponding section in the book. And besides I had this session today about the 50000 hands. The conclusion is (as stated in the book too) that the only one responsible for the results is me. It's not Pokerstars or my daughter or whatever but me. And only by working on the technical and mental part of the game there can be improvements. I've just been looking for excuses not to work on the game. Such as "It's just bad luck", "Maybe I am cursed." and such stupid stuff.
It's striking how similar this is to training with the weights or Muay thai. I am the one responsible for going to the gym and giving my best there. There can always be an excuse. But in the end the training is the price I pay in order to feel good and confident.
With all that rubbish typed, I am now going to do 5-6 rounds of shadow boxing, then eat some food and hit the tables. I've got to try the normal tables for 10000 hands. See how that goes and where it gets me.
I feel fueled and content and I wish you all the same.

Hey.
So I switched from zoom games to normal tables short handed. It's so fun watching the guys go on each other. I had no idea this game could be so fun. I am loving every single hand I play on the tables.
I haven't seen results, I am playing less volume than zoom. But I am being more careful and concentrated than ever, I am giving it my best, really I am. I have a plan to post stats and graph after 10000 hands.
So until then take care and have fun.