Why cant I be great? - A FR cash game blog.

Nice photos!
Ok, I'm inspired now to post the pix of my vegas trip!

VS

Originally posted by vonki
Awesome pics, Amsterdam is a rly nice city

Thanks man!

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Nice photos!
Ok, I'm inspired now to post the pix of my vegas trip!

VS

Thanks Vorpal. Lets see the vegas pics!

11/4/2015 REVIEW

Originally posted by SmokingDough
11/4/2015 GOALS

Alright finally back to the online grind. Oh how Ive missed you Here are my goals for today.

[x] 3k Hands
[x] Watch and take detailed notes on a RIO video
[x] Mark and review minimum 3 hands from todays sessions
[x] Gym
[x] Read a chapter of Shantaram
[x] 0 auto-pilot while playing

LETS GET AT IT!

Overall a pretty successful day in terms of getting work done. Was breakeven at the tables which Ill take because I dont think I played the greatest. Its frustrating because Ive been working on my game a ton lately but the results are pretty mediocre so far. Just have to keep my head down and keep plowing away.

Studying has become my top priority for now over volume. Since Ive been back from my trip Ive been messing around with a few different poker analyzing tools. The one that I find very interesting is Poker Snowie. I imported all the hands Ive played this month and to my surprise it says that I have been playing pretty well. So far Ive identified a few leaks that seem to be reoccurring. The spot that I seem to be playing pretty badly is betting when I have no showdown value. I tend to just take the passive way out but snowie appears to like being aggressive in a lot of these spots. Here is a hand that I found pretty interesting as an example.

Pacific, $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 8 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: $50 (100 bb)
BB: $69.69 (139.4 bb)
UTG+2: $49.23 (98.5 bb)
Hero (MP1): $50 (100 bb)
MP2: $51.77 (103.5 bb)
MP3: $74 (148 bb)
CO: $50 (100 bb)
BTN: $50 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with 8 9
UTG+2 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, 5 folds, BB calls $1

Flop: ($3.25) Q 3 7 (2 players)
BB bets $1.62, Hero raises to $4.74, BB calls $3.12

Turn: ($12.73) 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $7.05, BB calls $7.05

River: ($26.83) Q (2 players)
BB checks, Hero ????

Im not a huge fan of how I played this hand after reviewing it. Villain in this hand is a massive drooler. 65/15 over 1k hands, the game is clearly running around him. My raise with 89s EP is probably a little loose but I like to throw a few of the higher suited connectors into my EP range like 89s, 109s, J10s. Regs will give me credit for a tigher range so with whale in the blinds we will probably get hu ip with him enough to make it atleast breakeven opening those hands. Ill have to check my db to see how thats actually been doing.

Ok anyways one thing I noticed about this fish is that it usually donk bets when it has any piece of the board. I think my raise otf is meh. Calling seems fine as well. The problem is he most likely never folding any pair on the flop or any draw so bloating a pot against a whale with a bare flush draw doesnt seem the greatest but when the hand was going down I was thinking that if we make our flush he is going to pay us with all his Qx hands so lets get some money in the pot. We can also rep the Q and other over cards (A, K) if they come as well. Turn doesnt change much... not sure about that bet either for the same reason that nothing is folding here either. The river is the intersting spot in the hand imo. The Q river makes it less likely that he actually has a Qx hand and the way we have been repping the Q so its a pretty good card for us imo. So what do we do here? Our draw missed, a card that hits our range more than his comes on the river and were stuck here with no showdown value. So I put this hand into poker snowie and it says the best play here is to shove. I really like it. What is everyones thoughts on the hand and the river?

11/5/2015 GOALS

Alright a new day is here lets go. Im actually going fishing for real with my buddy in a bit so I thought Id map out the rest of my days goals before I go. Hopefully we catch a big fall bass! Anyone else like fishing? I find it extremely relaxing and enjoyable. Fishing helps to develop patience which is a much needed trait in poker Ill post some pics if we catch anything worthwhile.

Like I have mentioned a few times in my last couple of posts I really want to work a lot harder on my game. Its really easy to say that but its another thing to actually figure out what you need to be studying and find leaks in your game. I watched a video yesterday that gave me a few ideas of what I need to be looking into and how I can identify what it is I need to be studying. A good starting point is to identify reoccurring spots that are giving me trouble. So today I am going to make a list of all the spots that keep giving me trouble and then look all over to find the answers. Im also going to look for vidoes / articles that will help with my basic fundamentals because I am for sure lacking in that area as well. If anyone can recommend and videos or articles that are a good read Id appreciate it.

I am also going to continue messing around with Poker Snowie and also will try and input a few hands into PIO Solver. Heard a lot of good things about this program while I was away as well. I know its probably a little bit advanced for my stakes but I think if I continue to ask myself WHY is this program saying this is the best play and keep digging until I find my answer it will help my game a ton.

So heres my goals for today

[ ] 2k hands played
[ ] Gym
[ ] 1hr messing with poker snowie
[ ] 1hr messing with PIO Solver
[ ] Make a list of areas that are giving me trouble
[ ] Find answers to atleast on item on the trouble list
[ ] Read a chapter of Shantaram
[ ] CATCH A HUGE BASS
[ ] Prepare lunches for work this weekend (BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO REAL LIFE WORK)

Alright guys Im off to do some fishing. Wish me luck

Originally posted by SmokingDough
The Q river makes it less likely that he actually has a Qx hand and the way we have been repping the Q so its a pretty good card for us imo. So what do we do here? Our draw missed, a card that hits our range more than his comes on the river and were stuck here with no showdown value. So I put this hand into poker snowie and it says the best play here is to shove. I really like it. What is everyones thoughts on the hand and the river?

Hi, SmokingDough,
What do you think his range is here?
Does he trap on the flop?
Does he donk/call with top pair, or just with 2nd pair or worse?
Does he ever donk/shove and with what?

So let's say his range is something like:
AQs,A7s,A3s,K7s,K3s,Q7s,Q3s,J7s,J3s,T7s,T3s,97s,93s,87s,53s,43s,AQo,A7o,A3o,K7o,K3o,Q7o,Q3o,J7o,J3o,T7o,97o,87o,53o,43o
I left out some of the better hands like QQ, 33 & 77 because I think he would have re-raised the flop with those, unless he plays trappy.

So equilab says:
(ahem)

Board: Q♦3♦7♣ 2♠ Q♥
       Equity     Win     Tie
MP1     0.00%   0.00%   0.00% { 9d8d }
BB    100.00% 100.00%   0.00% { AQs, A7s, A3s, K7s, K3s, Q7s, Q3s, J7s, J3s, T7s, T3s, 97s, 93s, 87s, 53s, 43s, AQo, A7o, A3o, K7o, K3o, Q7o, Q3o, J7o, J3o, T7o, 97o, 87o, 53o, 43o }

OK, however, there are 52 BB in the pot, and at that point, we have 26 BB in it, and 24 more behind.
We're risking 24 BB to win 52, so ordinarily, anything over 33% equity will do.

What all this hinges on is this question:
What does villain to with 2nd pair and 3rd pair (and weak two pair) hands when facing a river shove?
If it is anything other than fold, I'm outta there...
How about you?

Peace,
VS

Originally posted by VorpalF2F

Originally posted by SmokingDough
The Q river makes it less likely that he actually has a Qx hand and the way we have been repping the Q so its a pretty good card for us imo. So what do we do here? Our draw missed, a card that hits our range more than his comes on the river and were stuck here with no showdown value. So I put this hand into poker snowie and it says the best play here is to shove. I really like it. What is everyones thoughts on the hand and the river?

Spoiler

Pacific, $0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 8 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: $50 (100 bb)
BB: $69.69 (139.4 bb)
UTG+2: $49.23 (98.5 bb)
Hero (MP1): $50 (100 bb)
MP2: $51.77 (103.5 bb)
MP3: $74 (148 bb)
CO: $50 (100 bb)
BTN: $50 (100 bb)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with 8 9
UTG+2 folds, Hero raises to $1.50, 5 folds, BB calls $1

Flop: ($3.25) Q 3 7 (2 players)
BB bets $1.62, Hero raises to $4.74, BB calls $3.12

Turn: ($12.73) 2 (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $7.05, BB calls $7.05

River: ($26.83) Q (2 players)
BB checks, Hero ????

Hi, SmokingDough,
What do you think his range is here?
Does he trap on the flop?
Does he donk/call with top pair, or just with 2nd pair or worse?
Does he ever donk/shove and with what?

So let's say his range is something like:
AQs,A7s,A3s,K7s,K3s,Q7s,Q3s,J7s,J3s,T7s,T3s,97s,93s,87s,53s,43s,AQo,A7o,A3o,K7o,K3o,Q7o,Q3o,J7o,J3o,T7o,97o,87o,53o,43o
I left out some of the better hands like QQ, 33 & 77 because I think he would have re-raised the flop with those, unless he plays trappy.

So equilab says:
(ahem)

Board: Q♦3♦7♣ 2♠ Q♥
       Equity     Win     Tie
MP1     0.00%   0.00%   0.00% { 9d8d }
BB    100.00% 100.00%   0.00% { AQs, A7s, A3s, K7s, K3s, Q7s, Q3s, J7s, J3s, T7s, T3s, 97s, 93s, 87s, 53s, 43s, AQo, A7o, A3o, K7o, K3o, Q7o, Q3o, J7o, J3o, T7o, 97o, 87o, 53o, 43o }

OK, however, there are 52 BB in the pot, and at that point, we have 26 BB in it, and 24 more behind.
We're risking 24 BB to win 52, so ordinarily, anything over 33% equity will do.

What all this hinges on is this question:
What does villain to with 2nd pair and 3rd pair (and weak two pair) hands when facing a river shove?
If it is anything other than fold, I'm outta there...
How about you?

Peace,
VS

Hello Vorpal thanks for the reply. I really think that for a shove this player is folding a ton of those hands which is why I think its the best play.

11/9/2015 GOALS

New week is here so lets get some of that $$$

[ ] 3k hands
[ ] 1 training video
[ ] 1 hr with poker snowie
[ ] Work on one item from list of trouble spots / concepts
[ ] Review marked hands from session
[ ] Gym
[ ] Read 1 Chapter Shantaram
[ ] Have fun

Lots of work to do today so lets get at it!

11/9/2015 REVIEW

Originally posted by SmokingDough
11/9/2015 GOALS

New week is here so lets get some of that $$$

[ ] 3k hands
[x] 1 training video
[ ] 1 hr with poker snowie
[ ] Work on one item from list of trouble spots / concepts
[ ] Review marked hands from session
[x] Gym
[ ] Read 1 Chapter Shantaram
[x] Have fun

Lots of work to do today so lets get at it!

Busy day today with a few unexpected curve balls. In terms of meeting my daily goals, it did not go well. I did put in some quality sessions at the tables so thats good but off table work didnt end up happening. First session of the day went well, not too many tough spots and tables were good. They have been very good so far this month imo which is great and makes putting in longer sessions a must.

Played for about 3.5hrs and decided to take a break and hit the gym. Went outside to start my car... dead. My car has been a huge pain in the ass the last few days. Friday I noticed a white smoke coming from under my hood, I checked under the hood and turns out my radiator had a crack at the top and was leaking. So last night after work I changed that and then this morning my alternator went tits up as well. Sigh.. cars lol. Called around to a few auto wrecker yards to find parts, ended up finding one for a nice price so first thing tomorrow I am going to pick it up and then I'll put it in. Went to the gym after sorting all that crap out and killed it there. Been getting in some very good gym sessions. I have a prop bet with my friends to go 20x this month so hitting the gym goal is a must for me this month.

After the gym I came home and made a big meal, showered and then checked out how the tables were. I debated not playing and going into the lab and working with snowie for a bit but the tables looked very good so I decided to put in another session. I just wrapped it up, played for about 5 hours and booked a small win. Problem is now its pretty late and I dont want to do much else for the rest of the night. Skipping the studying for today but going to put in a long lab session after I fix my car tomorrow. Anyways thats it for now. Hopefully tomorrow is a bit more productive and a lot less setbacks. Going to rail the main event final table now for a bit before bed. LETS GO STEINBERG!

See you bright and early tomorrow!

Hi fellow canadian!

Nice blog, make sure to post son graphs

Take care!

Originally posted by ReaZoN999
Hi fellow canadian!

Nice blog, make sure to post son graphs

Take care!

Hello ReaZon! No worries man, graph coming at the end of the month.

Cheers!

11/11/2015 GOALS

Lest we forget

New day, New goals. Didnt do a goals update yesterday because I was really busy for most of the day so Ill start today off with a small review.

Started off the day bright and early. Got up around 7am and immediately started fixing my car. I wanted to get that out of the way before doing anything else. Had to change my alternator which was a huge pain in the ass and took a lot longer than it should because the steel bolt holding it in at the bottom was seized in the aluminum housing of the alternator. Got it all fixed eventually.

Once I fixed all the car troubles I hit the gym with my buddy. So far 4/20 on the prop bet. Im very happy with progress Ive been making at the gym the last while. These prop bets that my buddies and I make really help motivate me to go. Seeing results also has me absolutely hooked. I hit my goal this year of getting to 200lbs and now I am trying to work on definition.

Played a small session after the gym and then ended up going out for an early dinner with a few people to a new Thai place downtown. I love all asian food and this place did not disappoint. Got home just after 6pm and then hit the tables again. Played for just under 7 hours! My hands per hour was pretty sad, only played 2.3k hands on the day but I am going for quality over volume. Tables were good but I took a few sick beats and spent most of the session climbing out of the hole. I managed to do just that and made a nice $20 profit on the day After the session I took a shower and crashed for the night.

This morning I woke up early again . I wanted to put in some work with poker snowie before starting the grind. I spent about 2 hours reviewing all my hands from yesterday. I am still getting familiar with the program but it is helping me a lot by identifying reoccurring mistakes that I am making. I wrote down all of them and today I will try to incorporate them into my play.

So here we are. Its 10am and I already have a nice chunk of todays work complete. Im going to make a nice breakfast now and watch a training video before starting my first session of the day. Lets go over todays goals:

[ ] 3k hands
[ ] 1 training video
[ ] Poker snowie session
[ ] Do a sweat with a friend
[ ] Gym
[ ] Review marked hands
[ ] Read 1 chapter of Shataram
[ ] Have fun

Talk to you guys later! LETS GO!

Hey man thanks for following my blog.

Good luck at the tables for today! ♠_thumbsup:

11/11/2015 REVIEW

Originally posted by SmokingDough
11/11/2015 GOALS

[ ] 3k hands
[x] 1 training video
[x] Poker snowie session
[ ] Do a sweat with a friend
[x] Gym
[x] Review marked hands
[ ] Read 1 chapter of Shataram
[x] Have fun

Talk to you guys later! LETS GO!

Alright guys not going to do a big review today because basically today all I want to do is play. Going on lockdown. GOOD BYE outside world for today. Yesterday though I didnt play too well. I think I made a lot nitty passive mistakes and started to auto-pilot because I was distracting myself with other garbage. Ended the day -70 so wasnt a terrible day, just more disappointed with how I played more than the results.

Anyways...

11/12/2015 GOALS

[ ] Play 8+ hours
[ ] Poker snowie review of yesterdays session + notes
[ ] Have fun

TIME TO GRIND

Alright start of a new week and the halfway point of the month is here. So far this month has been an interesting experience. Ive been putting a lot of work into my game and its slowly coming together but my results so far are very meh. Up a bit but nothing to get excited about. I am learning a ton and super motivated still so Im going to keep my head down, keep working hard and finish the month strong.

Lets get to todays goals and get to work!

[ ] 8+ hrs at the table
[ ] Gym trip
[ ] Mark minimum three hands and review them
[ ] 1 hour with Snowie
[ ] 1 training video
[ ] 1 chapter Shantaram (slacking should be half done this book )
[ ] Have fun

11/16/2015 REVEW

Originally posted by SmokingDough
Alright start of a new week and the halfway point of the month is here. So far this month has been an interesting experience. Ive been putting a lot of work into my game and its slowly coming together but my results so far are very meh. Up a bit but nothing to get excited about. I am learning a ton and super motivated still so Im going to keep my head down, keep working hard and finish the month strong.

Lets get to todays goals and get to work!

[x] 8+ hrs at the table
[x] Gym trip
[x] Mark minimum three hands and review them
[x] 1 hour with Snowie
[x] 1 training video
[x] 1 chapter Shantaram (slacking should be half done this book )
[x] Have fun

BOOM! Today was a great day. Hit all my goals on and off the table. Felt like I played really well all day and also started to recognize spots that I have been working on while playing. Decided to do a review and goals right now instead of tomorrow morning so I can immediately get to work first thing when I wake up.

Started off really early today. Was up by 445am, had a quick shower, made a tea and small breakfast and then started studying. I watched a great video on Squeeze play that helped me understand the math behind a squeeze which helped me identify a few more spots today when I was playing. A few posts back I said I made a list of weak parts of my game and squeezing was one of the things on that list. The coach did a great job of explaining the math and then showed some interesting examples to polish it off. Ill probably watch a few more of his videos. One of them is for another spot that I have on my list which is creating a BB defense range vs all positions. Im actually excited to dive into this. That will be what I start my day off with tomorrow.

After studying I played a long 6 hour session. Tables were really good but the session didnt start off well at all. Just kept getting coolered vs fish that had 30-50bb stacks. Adds up after a while. However near the end of the session I raked a few nice big pots my way to get back to even. Heres a hand where Im not sure what this reg is thinking. I know he has KK and its a cooler but I really feel like he can get away from it OTT. Dont get me a wrong Im VERY happy he didnt but it just shows that hes not really thinking in terms of ranges, just his hand strength and thats it.

Pacific, $0.15/$0.30 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 7 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: $75.27 (250.9 bb)
Hero (BB): $48.58 (161.9 bb)
MP1: $51.56 (171.9 bb)
MP2: $38.83 (129.4 bb)
MP3: $32.95 (109.8 bb)
CO: $47.24 (157.5 bb)
BTN: $46.91 (156.4 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A A
MP1 folds, MP2 raises to $0.90, 2 folds, BTN raises to $2.85, SB calls $2.70, Hero raises to $7.86, MP2 calls $6.96, BTN folds, SB calls $5.01

Flop: ($26.43) 5 7 9 (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $16.54, MP2 calls $16.54, SB folds

Turn: ($59.51) Q (2 players)
Hero bets $24.18 and is all-in, MP2 calls $14.43 and is all-in

River: ($88.37) 5 (2 players, 2 are all-in)

Results:

Spoiler

$88.37 pot ($4 rake)
Final Board: 5 7 9 Q 5
Hero showed A A and won $84.37 ($45.54 net)
MP2 showed K K and lost (-$38.83 net)

After the session I chilled out for a bit and did nothing at all for a few hours which I hate so I got up off my ass and hit the gym. It was really busy (lol mondays) which sucked so I did what I could. Not a huge fan of waiting around for machines or asking people if I can get in and do a set with them because I hate when people do that to me. Didnt get in the greatest workout to be honest but its better than nothing right ? At 7/20 for my challenge so far. Ill probably do a 2 a day tomorrow to make some ground because I have trouble going on the weekends after work. Im just too tired and all I want to do is get home, shower, make a lunch and go to bed. 12 hour work days are quite draining.

Got back from the gym, took a shower, ate a nice delicious salmon dinner then hit the tables again. Managed to find some good tables but didnt get itno many huge pots or anything just a few medium ones my way for a little profit to end the last session of the day so Im happy with that. Heres the biggest hand of my last session. Not a huge fan on my sizing this hand. Should have gone a bit bigger of flop and turn to set up a pot sized shove OTR but it worked out. This hand also confirms... games are no where near dead folks lol.

Poker Stars, $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 4 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

Hero (SB): $25 (100 bb)
BB: $25 (100 bb)
CO: $31.21 (124.8 bb)
BTN: $20 (80 bb)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q A
CO folds, BTN raises to $0.50, Hero raises to $1.50, BB folds, BTN calls $1

Flop: ($3.25) 3 A J (2 players)
Hero bets $1.55, BTN calls $1.55

Turn: ($6.35) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $3.25, BTN calls $3.25

River: ($12.85) 6 (2 players)
Hero bets $18.70 and is all-in, BTN calls $13.70 and is all-in

Results:

Spoiler

$40.25 pot ($1 rake)
Final Board: 3 A J 6 6
Hero showed Q A and won $39.25 ($19.25 net)
BTN mucked J 4 and lost (-$20 net)

So thats it for my review of today. Going to read a chapter of Shantaram after Im done writing this up and then call it a day. All before 9:00pm lol. Ill be up bright and early again tomorrow. Heres my goals for Tuesday:

11/17/2015 GOALS

[ ] 8+ hours grinding
[ ] 2x Gym trips
[ ] Review yesterdays hands in snowie
[ ] Do a snowie sweat session with a friend who knows way more about it than I do
[ ] Watch training video on BB defense ranges / Work on developing my own BB defense ranges
[ ] Read a chapter of Shantaram
[ ] Have fun

Good night everyone! See you tomorrow!

Let the bonus whoring begin!

Well guys Ive been debating a lot of things with regards to poker since I got back from my vacation. While I was away I heard a lot of good things about playing on other sites with regards to softness of games. I dont think theres any debate when I say the hardest games online are on Pokerstars. Ive played on stars basically since I started playing. For the last half of this year Ive been playing a few other sites as well and have noticed qute the difference in games and my winrate compared to stars.

With all the changes coming down the line on stars I started to wonder if its worth it for me to even stay on this site. I think the changes that stars are implementing will effect all levels, but I personally wont be hit as hard as others. Atm I only play up to 100FR and I am no where near making Supernova this year because I had already spread some of my volume across other sites like 888 and Party. The big change that lead me to wonder if I should look else where was that it looks like Stars will also be getting rid of HUDS and table selection. For me this big because I am a multi-tabler who practices heavy table selection. This makes up for a huge part of my $/hourly and if stars gets rid of both Im in trouble. This is why I decided to change. I just dont have any reason to stay on stars. I wont be hitting Supernova this year or next, I have no bonuses to clear and it looks like the games there are only going to be getting harder. There are still quite a few sites out there that have some FR action for my stakes but not only that, they also have some big deposit bonuses wait for me to clear.

Ive put in some work and found a few sites that look like ideal candidates. I will for sure be playing on atleast 2 of them with deposit bonuses adding up to $4.5k as well as rakeback on top of that. Im going to be careful though and not put too much money on these sites because Im pretty skeptical of any site that isnt stars. Ive asked a few of my friends who also play on some of these sites and they havent had any problems though so thats a good sign. Sorry guys... I wont be disclosing which sites Im playing on but you could probably figure it out when I start posting HH from them later on. The less regs in the games the better Software on them is pretty aids though so that might take so getting used to but whatever, it will be very profitable experiece. (I hope) Ive been railing the games the past few days and they look super juicy.

Im excited for this new little adventure. Im going to be putting in some serious hours at the tables to clear these bonuses A$AP. Ill be starting all this hopefully first thing monday. This weekend aside from working my full time job Ill be hitting the gym and running scenarios in Snowie and possibly watching a training video or 2. Full time job, gym and work in the poker lab this weekend is the plan.

Thats all guys. Ill be back Monday.

PEACE

11/24/2015 GOALS

Whats up guys? Didnt do an update yesterday because I had a lot of work to do non poker related and poker related. It took me a while to get all my software going to for these new sites to get my HUD going and money on these sites. The site software is so bad lol. The games make up for it but man, we are seriously spoiled with stars software. I dont get why these sites dont jump on this opportunity they are going to have soon with all these regs looking to possibly shift their volume to other sites. Hire me as a consultant Ill show you how to fix these sites

Today though not too many goals. Just going to put in some serious hours at the tables to make up for my lack of volume yesterday. Gym and grind, thats it!

[ ] 10 hours grinding
[ ] Gym

LETS GO!

NOVEMBER REVIEW

What up guys? Been working really hard since my last post, sorry I havent been updating consistently. Going to do a quick review here and then set some goals to end 2015 strong!

At the start of this month I was super motivated. Coming off my trip to EPT Malta where I was hanging out with some absolute crushers really lit a fire under my ass. The most important thing that I realized was that I really needed to make an effort at studying the game and working on finding leaks. Those guys eat, sleep, breath poker all day every day and that is what it takes to reach that level. While grinding quality over quantity was the main focus for the entire month. The average table count I had while grinding this month was 4! The main reason I had such a great month though was because I worked on my game more than ever before. I put in a ton of hours analyzing my play in HEM and Poker Snowie and did several sweats with very good players. I learned a ton this month and had a lot of fun doing it. You can literally see in my monthly graph where things started to click. With that being said... heres my graph:

LOL Volume but my winrate was a solid 8.3bb/100. I know I know it could be variance LOL Sample size etc. but Im really happy with how I played and feel like my game is moving in the right direction.

DECEMBER GOALS

The last month of 2015 is here. Going to give it all Ive got and hopefully have my biggest month of the year! I am confident I can make this happen. One of the main reasons I am so confident is because this will be the first full month where I do no put any volume in on pokerstars. I am not a losing poker player on stars or anything but these new sites I am playing at are much much softer and I feel like playing in these stars games for so long has set me up well to crush these games. I need to turn up the volume quite a bit compared to last month because some of these sites have bonuses that expire after a set amount of time. I stand to make 4.5k in bonuses if I clear all them and Ill be quite disappointed in myself I dont clear them. So heres my goals for December 2015:

[ ] 40-50k hands
[ ] 20 gym trips
[ ] 10+ hours a week studying
[ ] 1.5k+ profits at the tables
[ ] 5+ hours a week studying for my Certificate of Qualification test to get my mechanics license
[ ] Finish reading Shantaram
[ ] Have fun

12/1/2015 GOALS

Time to kill it in the last month of 2015. This will also be my first month of the year where I wont play any volume on stars. It will be really interesting comparing results. Anyways Im itching to start the grind so lets go. Here are the goals:

[ ] 8+ hrs grinding
[ ] Gym 2x
[ ] Review days session in Snowie
[ ] 1 Chapter in Shantaram
[ ] Have fun

12/1/2015 REVIEW

Originally posted by SmokingDough
12/1/2015 GOALS

Time to kill it in the last month of 2015. This will also be my first month of the year where I wont play any volume on stars. It will be really interesting comparing results. Anyways Im itching to start the grind so lets go. Here are the goals:

[x] 8+ hrs grinding
[x] Gym 2x
[x] Review days session in Snowie
[x] 1 Chapter in Shantaram
[x] Have fun

Very solid day overall. A bit swingy but my god the games were good. I put a few things that I wanted to get done on hold for a bit because I had giant whales at all my tables. I felt like I was the best reg at most of the tables so there was no way I was quitting. It paid off and I built up some huge stacks. Heres an example of the whales I had in my games:

$0.25/$0.50 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 8 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: $54.30 (108.6 bb)
Hero (BB): $51.13 (102.3 bb)
UTG+2: $18.20 (36.4 bb)
MP1: $45.76 (91.5 bb)
MP2: $38.63 (77.3 bb)
MP3: $61.30 (122.6 bb)
CO: $19 (38 bb)
BTN: $65.66 (131.3 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with J Q
5 folds, BTN raises to $1.75, SB folds, Hero calls $1.25

Flop: ($3.75) A 7 3 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $3.75, Hero calls $3.75

Turn: ($11.25) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $11.25, Hero calls $11.25

River: ($33.75) 2 (2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $48.91 and is all-in, Hero calls $34.38 and is all-in

Results: $102.51 pot ($3.00 rake)
Final Board: A 7 3 2 2
Hero showed J Q and won $99.51 ($48.38 net)
BTN showed 5 J and won $0.00 (-$51.13 net)

I know I wasnt getting the right odds to chase the flush otf but my god this guy was bad and punting so I felt that If I hit ott I would get paid off a very high % of the time vs this guy. This table had 3 guys with a 55% vpip. Yummmmmm.

Heres my biggest losing hand of the day... the good old J6s boys...

$0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players
Poker Tools Powered By Holdem Manager - The Ultimate Poker Software Suite.

SB: $69.99 (280 bb)
Hero (BB): $25.67 (102.7 bb)
UTG: $44.02 (176.1 bb)
MP: $15.48 (61.9 bb)
CO: $36.12 (144.5 bb)
BTN: $25.55 (102.2 bb)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K K
UTG raises to $1, 4 folds, Hero raises to $3.50, UTG calls $2.50

Flop: ($7.10) 3 6 J (2 players)
Hero bets $4.93, UTG raises to $9.86, Hero raises to $22.17, UTG calls $12.31

Turn: ($51.44) Q (2 players)
River: ($51.44) 5 (2 players)

Results: $51.44 pot ($2 rake)
Final Board: 3 6 J Q 5
Hero showed K K and lost (-$25.67 net)
UTG showed 6 J and won $49.44 ($23.77 net)

Oh well. The games are just too good. Cant get upset over hands like that. I played 2.8k hands yesterday and analyzed all of them in poker snowie this morning.
Out of all of the hands I played, Snowie says I only made 9 errors ♠_cool: Very happy with that because it reassures me that I am improving as a player and the hard work is starting to show. LETS GO!

12/2/2015 GOALS

Alright need to put another huge day in on the tables. Gotta clear dem bonuses. I found out yesterday that both of them only give you 60 days to clear So lets not waste any more time here. Goals:

[ ] 8+ hrs grinding
[ ] Gym (leg day :f_frown:)
[ ] Buy a foam roller (been using these at my gym everyday when I stretch and I find they really help loosen me up when Im sore)
[ ] Review hands in Snowie
[ ] Read 1 chapter in Shantaram
[ ] Have fun

LETS GO! PEACE!