My Journey Through The Micros: Self Discovery

oh yeah i must add, i'm pretty excited i just hit silver status. that was another goal of mine to maintain silver status now that i'm here. with the bits of $$ i've got floating around on a couple of sites I've managed to make it. I'm pretty stoked, i know it's only silver status but for me it's a huge deal as it opens up many more videos and strategy guides and considering I haven't sat down to play online poker in what seems like over a year or 2 I'm feeling pretty motivated!!

and yes, thanks again to PS for providing me with the information to refresh my game again. Tons of rust around my mouse... clickety click!

cheers

Hey Rob,

Welcome to the blogs.

Awesome to hear that you are having fun and enjoying the site. It is actually a very interesting first post so I doubt anything will be boring crap.

Congrats on reaching Silver. I remember how chuffed I was when I achieved it for the first time. Plus I won about $60 on PKR doing it which made it even better.

Definitely following and who knows, by March you may not need to go back to construction. ♠_biggrin:

Good Luck

Laz

Laz, thanks!! It would be a dream to turn something I love into a full time hobby or even a job. I understand it requires a lot of hard work and dedication and respect to the game to do so. Will have to search the forums for any player(s) that have done so successfully. Would like to know how they do it, what BR would be neccessary to acheive such a thing on a week/week or month/month basis.

For now I'm just grinding away to pass what free time I have between my SHD duties, my girls hockey schedules. Along the way just hope to elevate my game higher then it's been in the past.

thank you for reading and replying not sure what else to blog about, that's part of my learning curve is to be able to put up a decent blog maybe with some hands (once i learn how too)

cheers!

Okay just an update, which still new to this blog thing but from people i've chatted with, it apparently helps. Helps with my memory as it feels as though i have short term memory at times. Can never find my wallet or my car keys. Bad beats I always remember though, lol

So i was sitting at the arena last night watching my youngest have a great time during hockey practice, extra ice time is always great especially at the tender age of 5! She's improved so much from last year and even from the beginning of this season. Anyhow, lucky for me the oldest daughter brought her iPad so i thought while practice was still going on for 1.5hr I'd pop on Party Poker and play some hands. I had a really good night 2 nights ago on Fast Forward NL5 or (.02-.04) is that a right? Anyhow, managed to bring my $25 to nearly $60!! I was amazed how easy or how good I was running that night, that was till my wife came down asked how much later I was going to be and that she couldn't sleep. Which when your running good and cards on both tables are good, is there any reason to quit? Maybe setting limits will be a good thing in the future, because from that point on it was like my brain shut down, i was still getting the cards but lady luck wasn't there, beat after beat it was like that tunnel vision you get when things are great, (being in the zone) then all of a sudden it was gone! I couldn't believe, as much as I tried to hang in there that $60 dimished to around $40. I couldn't believe it really, and there was no little voice telling me to quit earlier till i looked up and it was just under $40 which is when I finally did turn it off.
So back to the arena story, I was sitting there and they have wifi which was great played a few hands and yet again good cards but not being focused to see any back door traps I was leading into I dropped another $10 without even blinking!!

That was last night, I'm home now thought I'd play some hands before tackling some house chores and wow, running good. The cards are back! Started off slow, but patience is key and sticking to the charts and being focused no disctractions (tv is off, dog has been walked, took the kids to school) re-read some articles refreshed on some charts and sat down to grind some fast forward play action. Today or this morning has been a 3 hour session account is back up to $55 which nice, stopped while i was ahead now to quickly type this up while it's fresh in my mind. May play some more tonight after both girls hockey practice we'll see. that or call it a day and hit it up tomorrow again.

Thanks to anyone reading, and anyone replying. Constructive feedback is always welcome. Cheers!!

Okay it's been awhile since my last confession. My apologies to myself really. I tried to keep a promise that I'd type something at least once every couple of days but I've been a bit busy. Just finished stripping wallpaper in living room and hallways and painted. We bought some new furniture and finally our new home is starting to look a lot more like home!
I've been trying to put in some time at night when the kids are off to bed. I've done some negotiating with the wifey that my "down time" will be spent here grinding away on poker. She seems to be cool with it thus far.

So, I try and get some hands in a bit during the days or evenings when I can. It's been a little difficult to concentrate and focus at times especially trying to keep a clear and open mind to the micro limits. I know I'm terriable but man there are some people out there that make me look good at times!

I'm going to try and post a couple graphs so bare with me. Party Poker is where I'm at the moment and its been a struggle. I like the fastforward games as I can get in a couple thousand hands in but i'm struggling in that area. Just pulled up numbers for 4NL and i'm doing pretty good to my amazement. ♠_thumbsup:

still learning everything about stats and all that jazz so if anyone notices anything if you wouldn't mind educating me that would be appreciated. i'll post some hands and some numbers soon. Thanks for reading!!

Well had a great night today. completed the pocket pairs mission on party poker. I thought getting down to the lower pockets 66-22 would be hard but to my amazement it wasn't as hard earning them as it was with such hands like AA. Odd, but guess it goes to show you the micros anything can happen at NL2 and NL4.
So with the $25 starting BR and clearing the pocket pairs mission Im up to $75. I look back through my sessions and I'm having much success at NL4 6max then I am at NL4 Fast as shown in the graph in last post. Here I'll post a graph of my results up to date on fastfoward.

quite a big difference then playing on regular SH tables.
Will have to do some more homework on my play and strategies for this type of game but for now, i think i'm going to stick to SH 6max as i've been running good (for now!)

Is it odd to be torn between cash and sng's?

Having a hard time deciding where to focus my attention too. Is it possible to do both or is recommended to stick to one till you have a BR that can accommodate both?

Decisions decisions…

sng and cash are different.

I was an SNG player and converted to cash awhile ago.

I just got bored of playing it, and it was really the only thing I played since I started playing poker.

I would say to play sngs if you want to. Since you are playing recreationally and for the sheer fun of it, you should explore different variants and see which one you really want to commit your time to.

If it's sngs then let it be so, and if it's cash then stay at cash games

I'm not sure if you can do both because it'll be hard learning cash games and SNGs at the same time I think.

Nice blog BTW, hope to see more updates on a regular basis :deadhappy::pcuser:

Originally posted by maythany
sng and cash are different.

I was an SNG player and converted to cash awhile ago.

I just got bored of playing it, and it was really the only thing I played since I started playing poker.

I would say to play sngs if you want to. Since you are playing recreationally and for the sheer fun of it, you should explore different variants and see which one you really want to commit your time to.

If it's sngs then let it be so, and if it's cash then stay at cash games

I'm not sure if you can do both because it'll be hard learning cash games and SNGs at the same time I think.

Nice blog BTW, hope to see more updates on a regular basis :deadhappy::pcuser:

Thanks dude yes more frequent blogs would be beneficial, I'm trying to get used to this blogging.

Have taken notice when typing blogs use spaces between. Easier on the eyes.

Sngs at the moment I'm enjoying at the moment. I think it's a psychological thing at the moment as there's little downswing in my BR, where cash I've been up and down and started to feel ill with the amount of beatings lately.

Problem with sng on party poker is the lack of games really which is the biggest downfall so mixing 6max and FR has been an adjustment.

I'm going to continue playing sng's at the moment as I said it's enjoyable but I've been viewing my cash hands and going over them and the forums to keep learning. I'd really love to be a better cash player as I find getting in the hand volume as well leaving when I want is a huge perk for me, unlike sng where your tied to game till the last chip is moved in.

cheers dude!

So I'm discovering with my time off how valuable it's been to discover a little about myself when it comes to poker.

I love cash games, but need a lot of work at it (of coarse.) I've had some steady numbers at regular tables 6max and will work with this. Just need to find the right times to play where I'm maxing the most profit, sometimes it doesn't always work according to busy life schedule.

I love fastforward tables as well, unfortunately this is where I tend to lose a lot. I like the fact I can see many hands but I've yet to show positive numbers from it, which brings me back to regular tables and grinding there. I've started reading CTM (thanks to Maythany) so hopefully this may have a big influence on my game.

MTT, I rarely play due to the fact that unlike cash games you can drop in and out whenever you want but as of recently with some tickets I've earned and I played in two MTT and final table both yesterday. The first was because I had a $1 ticket so played in a $150GTD plus KO and finished just 7th. Wasn't a huge prize pot but did something for the mind set that's for sure. I'll take it as a win/win!

The second MTT i finished 3rd which was $2 and collected $53. It would have been real nice to take that one down worth $103 or even runner up, but again a win/win for me either way. I'll post some hands once I'll filter through them

SnG's I've been enjoying some time at these tables while taking a "breather" from cash games. Its been a lot fun, and easier on the BR as the fluctuations don't happen as much as they do in cash. Yesterday and today were some rough patches though, where it seemed no matter being IP or having the best hands PF I was getting called by whatever and they were hitting and the only thing I was hitting was my jaw to the floor. But again, unlike cash you can bounce back a little quicker because the BR doesn't take a huge hit and play another without TILTING (as much!)

So for now, I'll continue reading CTM it's a tad bit dry at the moment going over hands, stats and yada yada yada but from what I've read and heard its a really good book so that's that.

Cheers everyone!

It's been a few days since I've blogged and I'm going to apologize for what may appear a lack in confidence in just the title of my blog. I'm new to this and haven't quite figured out an title for my blog that will represent me. The stuck and never moving up has been annoying me everytime i see it, because the truth is, in order to succeed one has to have a positive outlook and attitude and generally I am, except when it came to poker. Which I'm hoping to change and recent results in MTT's, cash and SnG's have changed that.

I haven't quite figured out which area I'd like to focus all my attention on, but I've noticed at Party Poker they don't offer a wide selection in games at various different times of the day. During EST there's a wide variety of coarse, but during the evenings I'm limited so I've begun to play within what's available to me.

I've played in 14 MTT's thus far starting Dec 15 to today and have made 3 final tables, 3rd $58 4th $57 7th $6.56 as well being ITM in a few more as well.

Just like to share my graph thus far.

should i be a little concerned about my blue line Chips Won With a Showdown? seemed a little out of place, but I'm not a huge MTT player so will have to look into this line.

My STT graph looks like a painting of the rocky mountains. I've been sitting down at $2 as again, seems to be the game of choice in the evenings not to mention I feel comfortable playing here rather then $1. Not sure if that's the right approach, if i should "beat" the $1 STT's first but I just find its a tad bit more frustrating in those games.

Well there's a few graphs to post, my BR from $25 is now $214 it's been a rough road here and there, hence the title of blog but I'll be changing that right after this to hopefully something more suitable, or inspiring!

If I don't hear from anyone or I don't blog from now till Christmas I want to wish everyone a very merry one, hope the big guy "Santa" is good to you all for Christmas and at the tables!! Cheers everyone! ♠_drink:

:appl::appl::appl:

you can check my mtt scores here: Link Text... click on "cashes"

I myself have had some success playing MTTs. It's really fun! but I ended up switching over to cash because of the time commitment mtts and sngs require.

CTM is a great book! so it the mental game of poker or the poker mindset. You can find PDF versions of them if you look hard enough

Yeah thanks for recommending it, CTM has been an interesting read thus far. I've just started listening to The Mental Game of Poker on podcast, another great discovery I found while playing around on my ipad. He's always mentioning to d/l his FREE copy of the book which I've yet to do, still just listening to this pods.

Your right about the MTT's they are fun, but man can they be time consuming which making a final table has been a huge reward in itself and because they have been dragging on for so long I've noticed I got into this "speed the game up" attitude which is probably why I haven't taken one down. To quick to make poor judgement calls on particular hands. I'll have to locate some hands I busted on and see if I would have played it any differently now that it's all over.

So I posted a hand a while back which I felt I got screwed in making a straight flush to complete a mission on Party Poker. Thinking I'd never see one for a while, finally... and I mean finally it came. Funny thing was, I didn't have the mission turned on, as I've been playing MTT's and completing some of the goals on there, when I finally noticed I had hit it, man I panicked and luckily enough was able to un-pause the cash mission and viola an instant $25 bonus added to BR. PHEW!!:milord:

Here's a link to the previous hand I had but the donk folds a checked river to him??

https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?threadid=329407

Here's todays hand of the day!!
partypoker - $0.04 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $4.98 (VPIP: 50.00, PFR: 10.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 21)
SB: $5.38 (VPIP: 17.07, PFR: 7.32, 3Bet Preflop: 5.00, Hands: 41)
Hero (BB): $7.66
UTG: $5.96 (VPIP: 83.33, PFR: 0.00, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 12)
MP: $3.09 (VPIP: 44.07, PFR: 22.03, 3Bet Preflop: 5.26, Hands: 63)
CO: $5.00 (VPIP: 20.95, PFR: 16.72, 3Bet Preflop: 7.52, Hands: 601)

SB posts SB $0.02, Hero posts BB $0.04

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.06) Hero has 9♥ T♥

UTG calls $0.04, fold, fold, BTN raises to $0.08, fold, Hero calls $0.04, UTG calls $0.04

Flop: ($0.26, 3 players) 8♥ 6♥ 4♦
Hero bets $0.16, fold, BTN calls $0.16

Turn: ($0.58, 2 players) 7♥
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($0.58, 2 players) 3♥
Hero checks, BTN bets $0.56, Hero calls $0.56

BTN shows Q♥ A♣ (Flush, Queen High)
(Pre 60%, Flop 42%, Turn 0%)
Hero shows 9♥ T♥ (Straight Flush, Ten High)
(Pre 40%, Flop 58%, Turn 100%)
Hero wins $1.62

Merry Christmas to everyone, hope everyone had a great one. Managed to get in about 700 hands tonight on NL4 6max. I always tell my daughter for math homework the numbers never lie and here I am trying to convince myself otherwise when it comes to poker.

I don't know what it is Im' doing on FastForward but whatever it is I'm doing it all wrong and am losing. Maybe too aggro?? I don't know but my numbers are in the red!!!

I'll have to hit the books or forums and guides to find a good strategy at this game, otherwise just stay away from these tables.

On a much brighter note!!! NL4 6max reg tables I've been doing well at. For the most obvious reasons I guess, is I'm able to get better reads on my opponents. Here's a graph of today's games

nothing but cash coming in!! Well at leasts todays session. lol

but seriously though, any tips on the fast/zoom tables? I'd like to get the volume of hands put in and when the site only has a few tables running on reg at a time it's hard and quite frankly a little long!

Will hit the forums and strategy guides some more!!

Originally posted by sokoi
but seriously though, any tips on the fast/zoom tables? I'd like to get the volume of hands put in and when the site only has a few tables running on reg at a time it's hard and quite frankly a little long!

I'm not a cash game player and am not sure about the difference between regular and fast-fold poker. I would think that your ranges (opening, calling, 3-bet, etc...) would be different between the two formats...

Have you checked out the 6-max pre-flop ranges strategy article? For most of the positions you require platinum status but as it gives some basic ranges and gives information on how to construct your own ranges it may be worth the upgrade... Another option is to try and form a study group and compare ranges for the two speeds....

Great blog so far - looking to reading to more from you.

Thanks ramble. I have taken a look at them and have tried to stick to the list at times. I believe it's my "don't fold" mentality in fast poker that gets the better of me.

Trying to steal more from CO/SB which obviously am not going to be pro from watching w34z3ls videos a couple of times but that seems to have been a leak in my approach.

Lost my silver status due to lack of play on sites that are related to PS which sucks but will keeping going and hopefully build my BR high enough to split to a related site maybe even take advantage of some first deposit bonus.

Switched to HM2 trial as well. Which has been an adjustment trying to find stats and how it all works. Big difference from my HM1. Yup still rockin the HM1. Used PT4 trial as you can see by most recent graphs. In my opinion thus far was easier to use then HM2 so will have a decision to make after my trial is up.

BR has taken a beating thus far in 2015. Was sitting at 220$ hoping to be over 250$ Start of the month but with my retun to taking a stab at fast forward has made my BR <<<rewind. So, we dropped back to NL2 to gain some confidence with a BR of $120 and we run some regular 6max. Had a great session this morning BR at a $130+/- give or take but in the right direction.

My goal for this month will be

:spade:Move up to 4NL once I reach $150
:heart:Move to 10NL at $225
:diamond:finish off first half of grinders mission of 5k hands on fast 4NL for $5 cash bonus. (Will decide to go for another 5K hands for other half of bonus)

Short goals but will give me something to work towards. I'm about 1400 hands away so reason to complete that mission.

Anyhow stay sharp keep grinding everyone.

IDK if you're srill looking for a title name for your blog but I think you should call it 'The rocky mountain' because I think it's funny.

subbed gl