A New Start..

you are very honest and quite hard on yourself, you seem to be aware of your majors leaks in/out game. that's a very good thing, wish you all the best, I'm sure you will improve in no time

cheers

Here's my first 3000 hands over the last 3 days, with profit of almost £400 ($677):

My stats have me playing at 35/31/12 rather consistently. I'm not foolish enough to think that I can maintain a 40BB/100 winrate, however it's a nice start.

BR is currently standing at : $1068.78
If I keep winning today and can get upto $1200, I may have time to take some 100NL shots already!

Edit: Seems images aren't allowed, possibly as I'm a basic member. I'll have to look at the upgrade packages I guess!

Hey Penguinthief,

Welcome to PokerStrategy.com

44BBs is a nice win rate over 3k hands (still small sample), so it will be interesting to see how high and how long you can stay there.

And you are correct, it is your status that prevents you from displaying images within your posts.

There are two ways you can fix this. You could take advantage of one of our free poker money offers. This will give you lifetime bronze status at no cost as well as giving you the ability to post images and graphs, send friend requests and personal messages as well as giving you a tracked room to play on where you can earn StrategyPoints (SPs) to further upgrade.

Alternatively you can buy a Points Package from our points shop.

For a full overview of how our status and points system works, click here.

If you have any further questions, then don't hesitate to ask.

GL and Happy Fishing

Laz

Unfortunately I'm quite happy on PartyPoker, so looks like I may have to just fork out for the first level of membership and go from there.

I'm also very excited to see how it goes. As said, I'm feeling very comfortable right now where I'm at and feel like I can continue winning in the long term.. How much though is a different question. I just need to find ways to stay on my A-game, and writing this whilst playing 4 tables possibly isn't one of them

For those who can't be arsed clicking links, I'm now a silver member.. I'd edit the last post, but as it was created when I was a basic member it still won't work.

That was quick.

Sorry to spam with posts, but it looks like I'm finished for the day as the girlfriend is on her way back from work and we've got a few bits to do.

So not quite upto my 44BB/100, but 42 ain't bad!

That's todays sesh.. I played a bit tighter today, at 26/24 ish.. I couldn't find a table without spewy players to my left, so couldn't raise my SB and BTN as much as I'd have liked, and at the end I started 6 tabling (whilst trying to find some better tables).

BR now stands at $1256.61, which is more than my 12BI for 100NL... but seriously, I need advice on this one. Do I stay at 50NL for another few thousand hands where I'm achieving 40BB/100+ and see if it's sustainable, or do I move up and hope I can achieve over 20BB/100 at 100NL to keep the same winrate?

Cheers guys..

Hey PenguinThief,

Normally the mere mention of the word spam has us moderators reaching for our baseball bats.

But i can live with this type of spam.

Keep on spamming

Laz

imho, grind some fat volume on nl50, withdraw some, invest it. And when you have maybe 4k br and withdrawed lets say 3k, you should go for nl100.

Im sure you are crushing nl50, but if you go to nl100, you HAVE to be prepared that you might move down to nl25 or nl10. So if you can accept varianse, and understand that it is possible to lose 10 bi despite you are crushing at maybe 15bb/100, then go for it, take 2-4 shots at nl100.

If you google "risk of ruin poker" and do the calculation yourself, by adding in the sessions, the time of sessions, and everything that is explained when you google it, you will find a suitable risk of ruin.
And to do that, you need 30 sessions, so it isnt just uber random.

Personally I use a minimum 50bi rule and at nl100 I'm using a 100bi bankroll management. My mindset isn't the most solid so I make sure my bankroll is solid enough that I will not come back to look at it when I'm down like 20bi.

OK maybe I'll still look at it but I will scream less than 3 times compared to going broke and breaking my computer.

So, today is a hard decision then. I'm now sat, about to start my session (I've got about 3-4 hours), and not sure what to do.

I think I'm going to start on 50NL for the first hour, and if I'm feeling confident, maybe swap 2 of my tables out for 100NL and go from there.

I'm not bothered about the players; alot of people I've played at 50NL also populate the 100NL tables... I'm more bothered about the swings, especially with my 12BI rule.

Infact, you know what, fuck it. I'm going to 100NL now with my 2BI tryout. If I lose $200, I can just go back to 50NL and get it back and try again.. My aim was to be a 100NL player, not to sit at 50NL.

Wish me luck!

You know what would be cool? Having your balance at the tables as BB rather than $..

Hi,

I have seen the table balance in bb during a coaching for SnGs but not for cash games. I don't even know if it's possible, but you can ask the PokerTracker guru by posing the question here.

Good luck with the 100nl shot by the way!

Have fun,

Mal.

I mean actually at Partypoker, not during review. I think it would be easier to adjust to different stakes if the monetary value on the screen didn't have an impact.

Here's a hand I'd have probably showed more aggression at (especially on the turn) in 50NL:

Party Poker $100 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players

MP: $233.21
CO: $164.80
BTN: $88.60
SB: $105.55 - 31/11/11 over 36 hands. 2/4 donk on flop, aggression seems low.
BB: $100.00 - 40/30/11 over 160 hands. Reg LAG, long term big winner.
UTG: $116.06

CO dealt 9 Q

Pre Flop: ($1.50)
2 folds, CO raises to $2, BTN calls $2, SB calls $1.50, BB calls $1

Standard CO raise for me. My Raise First In stat is around 36% which if anything is a bit low for my playstyle, I'd like to see it nearer 40%. With both having a relatively high 3bet, I'm surprised not to see BB squeeze here as it's a brilliant spot for him giving how loose me and SB are.

Flop: ($8.00) 9 6 Q (4 players)
SB bets $5, BB calls $5, CO raises to $15, BTN folds, SB calls $10, BB calls $10

SB has a history of donking, and I think he can do this with 99, 66, Qx, cc and maybe JT, especially with a club. BB's call concerns me. I think he's raising alot of his flush draw and straight draw hands here, as SB doesn't seem aggressive enough to barrel. Maybe I'm over-estimating his thinking process though. I opt for a raise to get value from AQ (if they didnt 3b pre), possibly KQ, JT, T8, 87 and flush draws. I intend on barreling any blank turn.

Turn: ($53.00) 7 (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, CO bets $25.17, SB calls $25.17, BB calls $25.17

I'm not a fan here that both called my flop raise. I'm starting to think a set is possible, especially from SB. I still can get alot of value though, with AQ, KQ, JT all still coming along, as well as any 87 still remaining that just picked up a pair. Not sure on my betsize here. If I go 2/3 - 3/4 pot, both BB and SB are going to be committed which puts me in an awkward position if they decide to shove as I think I'm facing sets alot or T8. I don't want to B/F here, so I go for thin value with a 1/2 pot bet.

River: ($128.51) A (3 players)
SB checks, BB checks, CO checks

The A is a bad card for us as I think AQ is a big possibility for SB (I still think BB would have squeezed with this). As everything missed, I don't see what I can get value from besides KQ. Maybe a stray 76 that is hanging around? I think my check back was good here, but not sure on my turn play.

Final Pot: $128.51
CO shows 9 Q (two pairs, Queens and Nines)
SB shows 2 Q (a pair of Queens)
BB mucks T J (high card Ace)
CO wins $125.51
(Rake: $3.00)

Not a good day overall.. Well, not bad, but not brilliant.

In my 50NL games I had a good poker philosophy; confident, aggressive and sensible. Unfortunately, I didn't arrive at 100NL with that same mentality. I felt semi-aggressive and like a gambler.

Here are the results:

Here is the first big loss, after only 6 hands...

Party Poker $100 No Limit Hold'em - 3 players

SB: $100.00
BB: $103.00
BTN: $100.50

Hero dealt J A (

Pre Flop: ($1.50)
BTN raises to $3, 1 fold, BB raises to $9, BTN raises to $27, BB calls $18

Calling the 4bet is questionable. 3-handed against a BTN open it can be argued, but still not brilliant considering I have no history with villain.

Flop: ($54.50) 7 2 A (2 players)
BB checks, BTN checks

I didn't want to C-bet here, and realistically it's a sick position after calling a 4 bet. AK, AQ and AA are all realistic and ahead of us. If we class villain as a reg, we can probably narrow him to AQ+ and QQ+, in which case we're only ahead of KK and QQ. Is this a c-bet when we expect 100% of his 4 bet range to call? There again, if we're not c-betting this flop, why are we calling pre? If we're only betting on AJx flops, I shouldn't be playing this hand.

Turn: ($54.50) Q (2 players)
BB bets $26.25, BTN calls $26.25

A delayed c bet, and a bad card to do it on. AK, AQ are still ahead of us, and QQ now beats us too. We only realistically beat KK or a loose players JJ here, and chop with another AJ.

River: ($107.00) 5 (2 players)
BB checks, BTN bets $47.25 all in, BB calls $47.25

This is a clear fold. What am I honestly ahead of here? If villain was aggro and could be holding KQ, KJ and betting KK/JJ here, then sure... but against an unknown, this is a fold.

Final Pot: $201.50
BB shows J A (a pair of Aces)
BTN shows Q Q (three of a kind, Queens)
BTN wins $199.50
(Rake: $2.00)

From here, I gambled even more to try and claim it back, with some ups and downs.

Even worse, I did more multi-tabling. I had 9 tables on the go, 2-3 of which were 50NL and the rest 100NL whilst I told myself I was 'assessing tables'. Bullshit, I was aiming for volume whilst assuming I'd still be crushing.

Overall, I played badly at a stake I wasn't used to whilst running too many tables. I did everything that was risky whilst trying to move up a level, and got lucky to only be 1.5BI down.

Tomorrow, I'm back at 100NL cautiously, but going to concentrate alot more on playing my A-game. I have a long day too as the misses is out all day, so fingers crossed!

My BR currently stands as $1097.76, and I'm willing to go down to $900 at 100NL, so I have nearly 2BI to risk still. Let's hope I don't piss it away.

Wish me luck again peeps.