STT : Insert Subject Here.

Hey Kevin,

Welcome to the blogs ..... again

To be honest I sometimes struggle with confidence at the tables. In keeping with the oceanic descriptions of poker players (i.e. fish, sharks etc), I class myself as an eel. I hide in a nice safe hole and come out occasionally to feed on the fish but at the first sign of trouble I scurry back into my hole.

All the best and happy grinding

Laz

Hi Kevin

I'll definitely be following your blog.

What site do you play on?

Looking at your weaknesses, I would recommend you read and re-read the mental game of poker by Jared Tendler. He directly addresses things like confidence and concentration.

Increasing the amount of tables you play relies on a few things:

• How much of your game is automatic. You already have some of your game at this point. For example if you have 72o UTG in the early stages of an STT you fold it without thinking. A big breakthrough is when 85-90% of your ICM decisions are automatic.
• Layout. I play 9 tables and I can't stand playing stacked. It's hard to know if a table has timed out and is sitting me out. My layout is tiled but the tables overlap each other, it allows me to see a little piece of each table.
• Screen size. Unless you like a stacked layout, you don't want to overload a small screen to much.

This won't apply if your traveling time is by car, but if it's by train there's quite a lot you could do in that time study wise if you felt like doing it.

I don't drink or smoke before or during poker. I've found that after 1 pint I don't notice it normally but in poker all the tough decisions I make lean towards calling/shoving and thus negate a decent chunk of the edge I have. Weed effects everyone's decision making differently but I'd imagine it takes some of the edge off your A-Game, just because it creates a deviation from your normal decision making.

The stats you've given are too small a sample size to analyze but they look fine. If those stats were of a bigger sample size, I would C-bet a tiny bit more 66-70% C-bet flop is a good figure.

Hopefully this is helpful.

I've added you as a friend on here and will send you my skype name via pm. Feel free to message me if you need anything.

Instead of writing down all of your weak sides. Try to write down every thing that is positive about you and your game, whats your strong sides? Read them over and over again, to make you feel better! Go Go Go!

To truly be a profitable poker player you must meet the following:

Creat a blog []
C-bet every flop []
Over-play Ace King []
Slow play aces, it's unbeatable []
Over-value baby aces []
3-bet a lot []
4bet, 5bet, and 6 bet tight players []
Don't buy HEM2, Daniel Negreanu doesn't use one, why should you? []
Listen to Phil hellmuth's tips on pokerVT []
Ignore bank roll management [] go big or go home!
Play when high because it puts you in the zone []

@Lazza61. Thanks! good to be back! hopefully will stay longer than the time before!

@pauln

At this moment im playing the STT turbo on pokerstars, i tryed to look on other sites becaus there's huge fish amount but pokerstars has the best volume ever!

I do have the poker mindset book but im hearing everywhere that The Mental Game of Poker is much better! Will buy it asap to get on the road for a better mindset!

I think most of my game is automatic so guess im on the right way! Kind of hating stacked play also, there is a program though that i used the last attempt called stackandtile but thats not ideal also. i have 2 screens, 1 24 inch and 1 22 inch full HD display's, kind of hating myself that when i bought the 24 i didnt pick a higher resolution but nothing i can do about that now

It is indeed a small sample size but just wanted to know i was on the right track thanks! verry helpfull indeed!

@woodmo,

Thats a good idea! Down side is that im bad at giving myself positive things haha. i sure am patient! (downside is im sometimes TOO patient in the middle phase so gotta work on that )

@maythany,

Those are some awesome tips! Gonna be pro in months with this guideline! thanks! haha

Got a day off today and tomorrow from work hurray. downside is they are replacing my heating system so cant really play any poker. Hope they finish this early so i can do some sessions I can however look at my latest sessions and see where i screwed up positive!

Quick update... no play The heating is now fixed but when they left i immediatly ran into my bed and didnt leave it till this morning (on work now). feeling terrible!

I do however got myself a .mobi of The mental game of poker so started reading that on my Nexus 7!

My plan for the rest of Januari :

Get silver on Pokerstrategy! (need 15 more points so easy)
Work trough 'the mental game of poker' book.

I think the most important thing to do is work trough the book to give myself a mental advantage heading into Feb. Also gonna be thinking of realistic goals for the month Feb.

played a few sessions today... down 6 dollar

STT's are harder than i could imagine! damn... Every table i join is full of regs who seem to read me perfectly..

Overal after 61 games im now down 13 dollar.

Are they even beatable or are people just playing them as a side game or for bonusses or something???

I think i should push a little wider but getting called to much as it is already so not really sure.

Gonna play to atleast 100 stt's to check where i stand and if i should continue playing these..... really unsure about these games.... and really unsure wtf im doing wrong.. im not making strange hero calls, not making crazy plays or bluffs just ABC poker.

hehehe kind of tilting as you notice ♦

Wondering if somebody is willing to play while im watching on the 1 dollar STT's.. might be allot of fun and good learnwise.

Originally posted by Roachor
hehehe kind of tilting as you notice ♦

Wondering if somebody is willing to play while im watching on the 1 dollar STT's.. might be allot of fun and good learnwise.

I've messaged you my skype name. I'm happy to watch you play.

Judging by your previous post, I would say avoid tables with lots of regs on it. Especially if they're good regs and not just guys at a similar level.

On stars you have the luxury of playing regular/turbo normal/knockouts, that's 4 types of games to be looking at (assuming you're happy playing regular speed, some people find it just too slow).

Originally posted by pauln

Originally posted by Roachor
hehehe kind of tilting as you notice ♦

Wondering if somebody is willing to play while im watching on the 1 dollar STT's.. might be allot of fun and good learnwise.

I've messaged you my skype name. I'm happy to watch you play.

Judging by your previous post, I would say avoid tables with lots of regs on it. Especially if they're good regs and not just guys at a similar level.

On stars you have the luxury of playing regular/turbo normal/knockouts, that's 4 types of games to be looking at (assuming you're happy playing regular speed, some people find it just too slow).

I have added you on skype Hope its the good Paul cause there were 4 haha.

Been playing KO stt's yesterday without a big succes Made a few small mistakes (trying to slow play) which is stupid cause seems like they are hitting everything but mostly bad luck QQ"s getting raped by KQ, 55 push getting wooped by A4 those kind of things, i think im on the bad side of variance right now.

After 15 KO games im down 12 dollar ♠

Switched back to 2 tables for now, my BR has dropped down to 32 Dollar, lowest is has ever been.

Just noticed i am Silver status Hurray.

Hi, Roachor!

I am also a SNG player and when reading through the intro of your blog I came across this:

Originally posted by Roachor

- Smoking to much weed!... Well..... When I get home I smoke a joint and most of the time I end up hanging on the sofa for the rest of the evening! Need to work on this... I think I can play and smoke, dunno if its better to not smoke and play... Need to figure this out.

And just wanted to say that IMO you shouldn't play & smoke, because from my experience when I am high it doesn't really improve the thinking process (and it is very important in poker) and mainly when your high you tend to get "lazy" and don't want to do anything but just be in static mode lying in the bed watching some stuff on tv ♦ I am not judging or being offensive but it just a recommendation not to get high when playing cause it doesn't really go hand in hand

GL !

Originally posted by benaars
Hi, Roachor!

I am also a SNG player and when reading through the intro of your blog I came across this:

Originally posted by Roachor

- Smoking to much weed!... Well..... When I get home I smoke a joint and most of the time I end up hanging on the sofa for the rest of the evening! Need to work on this... I think I can play and smoke, dunno if its better to not smoke and play... Need to figure this out.

And just wanted to say that IMO you shouldn't play & smoke, because from my experience when I am high it doesn't really improve the thinking process (and it is very important in poker) and mainly when your high you tend to get "lazy" and don't want to do anything but just be in static mode lying in the bed watching some stuff on tv ♦ I am not judging or being offensive but it just a recommendation not to get high when playing cause it doesn't really go hand in hand

GL !

Hi Benaars,

I know you are correct, but its just to hard not to! It is so in my system to smoke weed on my free time.

For my Feb goal list i have "no smokey smokey" on the list, not only because it is a influence on my poker game but also on my personal life. I really want/need to become a winning player (even if its just on the 1 dollar games) so i can say that im atleast a winner in something!

The grap below encourage's me to stop blowing this week! (got the day free today so will smoke it all up! so i dont have anything tomorrow!(its a waste to throw it all away :P)

Failure so far :

Well I actually know the feeling pretty well myself )) But I find it so unprofitable to play poker when high so if I do play I do it casually - load up some low stakes MTT and just play for fun. Or play a home-game which is actually more fun ♦
Also I think it never works when you try to quit something (like drugs) to do it from particular date eg. 1st Feb or 31. Dec etc. You have to commit to not doing it voluntarily and follow it, because if you don't smoke just because you have sent a boundary to yourself it will be so difficult to force yourself no to want it, its like you wanna scratch so bad but you cant. For some people it might work, but that's a question of how strong your will-power is.
Try to do some other stuff so that you don't get the feeling to want it. F.e. instead of chilling home (like you would normally, won't make you not wanna smoke because it is what you would normally do) try doing some sports or something like that, so that you don't think about joint (it's never good to do sports when high imo)

Do you play 6max or Full-ring?

Originally posted by benaars
Well I actually know the feeling pretty well myself )) But I find it so unprofitable to play poker when high so if I do play I do it casually - load up some low stakes MTT and just play for fun. Or play a home-game which is actually more fun ♦
Also I think it never works when you try to quit something (like drugs) to do it from particular date eg. 1st Feb or 31. Dec etc. You have to commit to not doing it voluntarily and follow it, because if you don't smoke just because you have sent a boundary to yourself it will be so difficult to force yourself no to want it, its like you wanna scratch so bad but you cant. For some people it might work, but that's a question of how strong your will-power is.
Try to do some other stuff so that you don't get the feeling to want it. F.e. instead of chilling home (like you would normally, won't make you not wanna smoke because it is what you would normally do) try doing some sports or something like that, so that you don't think about joint (it's never good to do sports when high imo)

Do you play 6max or Full-ring?

haha true i have been trying to quit for a long long time now! Setting particular date's is indeed not a verry good idea but i feel like i am now on a point in my life where i can say NO! Specially now i have something to work towards. The quit attempts before this 1 i did it becaus of the money and health but deep in my hearth i dont care about that so i always failed, will be different this time! Real possitive!

Playing Full-Ring atm.

What kind of SNG's do you play?

Originally posted by Roachor
I have added you on skype Hope its the good Paul cause there were 4 haha.
.

I haven't got a request on skype, perhaps message me your skype name and i'll add you.

For me it was quite similar, I also didn't care much about money, but I had to stop because I had this feeling all the time that I am wasting my time, and I knew I wouldn't wanna continue with it all my life, so why not stop now!? Anyway its quite hard to say no when a lot of my friends/acquaintances do it, but at least I am not buying it anymore and only smoke at some parties and not very often.

I play 6max on PKR, started from 6$ games since October, now taking shots at 20$ SNG's. Also I like MTT's there a lot, because the field is really soft. If it is full-ring you play I cannot really help much with your game, since when I was playing full-ring on party network my ROI was like 1-2% (really low) on (11-33$)

Originally posted by pauln

Originally posted by Roachor
I have added you on skype Hope its the good Paul cause there were 4 haha.
.

I haven't got a request on skype, perhaps message me your skype name and i'll add you.

oke, i have messaged you my skype address

Originally posted by benaars
For me it was quite similar, I also didn't care much about money, but I had to stop because I had this feeling all the time that I am wasting my time, and I knew I wouldn't wanna continue with it all my life, so why not stop now!? Anyway its quite hard to say no when a lot of my friends/acquaintances do it, but at least I am not buying it anymore and only smoke at some parties and not very often.

I play 6max on PKR, started from 6$ games since October, now taking shots at 20$ SNG's. Also I like MTT's there a lot, because the field is really soft. If it is full-ring you play I cannot really help much with your game, since when I was playing full-ring on party network my ROI was like 1-2% (really low) on (11-33$)

Yeah i know what you mean all my friends (dont have many but the once i have) all smoke like a chimney. haha.

Thats an impressive fast climb you did there than! nice!

Played 8 STT KO yesterday 2 tabling, i have the feeling that when i 4 table i make way to lose or nitty decisions. So will stay 2 tabling till im back on my original roll (approx 50 dollar). Was a good day, up 3,76$, finally im up after a day of play so im pretty happy.

Im finishing 4th way to often, maybe becaus i shove to lose, get unlucky, im not sure yet.. session from yesterday :

01/27/2014 $1.50 NL Hold'em [Turbo, Knockout] $1.35+$0.15 4/9 $0.00
01/27/2014 $1.50 NL Hold'em [Turbo, Knockout] $1.35+$0.15 2/9 $2.91
01/27/2014 $1.50 NL Hold'em [Turbo, Knockout] $1.35+$0.15 4/9 $0.00
01/27/2014 $1.50 NL Hold'em [Turbo, Knockout] $1.35+$0.15 4/9 $0.00
01/27/2014 $1.50 NL Hold'em [Turbo, Knockout] $1.35+$0.15 2/9 $2.91
01/27/2014 $1.50 NL Hold'em [Turbo, Knockout] $1.35+$0.15 4/9 $0.00
01/27/2014 $1.50 NL Hold'em [Turbo, Knockout] $1.35+$0.15 1/9 $4.87
01/27/2014 $1.50 NL Hold'em [Turbo, Knockout] $1.35+$0.15 2/9 $2.91

Bubble play is complicated, specially on KO tables cause everybody is so damn lose. (well thats a + if you get some shoving cards)

Games Played: 71
Total Winnings: $88.98
Biggest Buy-in: $1.50
ITM %: 37
First: 6
Second: 12
Third: 7
Early Finishes %: 5.6
Early Middle Finishes %: 12.7
Middle Finishes %: 45.1
Middle Late Finishes %: 26.8
Late Finishes %: 9.9

Also need to improve on my headsup play, need to finish 1st more often ^_^

Have not played or the last couple of days, so much wrong in my play that i need to get a solid strategy! And thanks to PaulN for pointing me toward a video series i am now learning how to play them correctly!

Have been watching (8 video's) casually without taking any notes, so after im done with the last i will rewatch the serie and start making notes/ranges/sngwiz thingy's so i can put them on my 2nd screen and look at it while playing

Hopefully can start playing some on saturday evening or sunday

So played 2 sessions yesterday (2x 2 tables) and altough i didnt make any profit (0,07 loss :P) i am somewhat happy about how i played.

Pushed allot wider, wich resulted in getting to 1 FT with a bigger stack than i usual get, to bad my HU play is still pretty passive (bad) but overal i am happy

Also got to watch PaulN play yesterday, he got a real nice explenation about certain situations and amazed about how he plays, so still lots to learn

Sucks that when im watching i think ' ah yeah ofcourse ' and when i go to bed i got 10000 different thoughts and questions. haha.