They say good things come to those who wait.. So I'ma be at least an hour late.

Thank you guys, appreaciate it very much. Please come more often

Write up and everything else I'll leave for tomorrow. For now, let me celebrate.

lol im so jelly

Originally posted by M1rCea
lol im so jelly

Haha mate, keep working like you already do and soon I'll be the one telling you this. ♠_thumbsup:

So now that I've come back to reality, it's time to type something for blog purposes.

Yesterday was an interesting day. It was my first proper Sunday session after some time of passiveness. Just like M1rCea mentioned in his blog, I also struggle to find hours for every activity of my life. Bad scheduling, you might say. But if you tried to combine regular job, studying, other daily duties and playing tournament poker, it's really not that easy. I've been trying to implement pretty strict planned schedule for every day, but the problem is that once something unexpected happens, even if it's not a big deal, everything just falls apart and you're fked.

So like I said, it was my first Sunday grind after some time off. Before that I did play some every now and then, but those occasions were pretty rare cause I had to prepare for an exam. At first felt fairly rusty and definitely not on top of my game. Was very prone to tilt, even after losing a couple of coinflips and getting sucked out on. Maybe because I was running bad for the last couple of weeks and also unable to play as much as I wanted. Things did not seem to be getting any better. Was busting tourney after tourney, cursing in the process, throwing my poor mouse, etc. Finally decided to stop registering, bust out of remaining tourneys and call it a day. But then a good friend of mine wrote me a message, eventually I vent everything I had to him and instantly felt better.

Then I realized I'm doing quite well in one of the tourneys, which eventually happened to become my biggest hit so far in MTT's.

To be totally frank, when I got to the final table, I was already super happy. Like mentioned before, it was quite some time since my last ft (I bubbled twice not so long ago, as you already know). With every guy knocked out I was getting even more happy and when 7th place was gone, at that point I knew I am going to set my new record.

A couple of posts ago I wrote about my dream of shipping a big tourney and how great that felt, even in a dream. Well, yesterday the feeling was exactly the same, except that it was happening in reality! I even made some checks to make sure I was not dreaming again. ♦ Luckily that wasn't the case. To know that you're going to win a lot of money, to be on that final table and feel the adrenaline pumping, to feel that rush is exactly why people play mtt's. It's just so hard to describe. Maybe more experienced MTT'ers are used to this, but for me it's still significant.

Obviously I ran well. You can't get deep into a tourney without that factor. But I'm quite sure I played v. well in the final table. I guess those two painful FT bubbles taught me a thing or two. Recent experience definitely did pay off.

Busted out AK < K5. Painful. But I sucked out on a guy beforehand, so no complaints. Can't really ask for more. Despite a bit of bitter-sweetness, I was (and am) a happy man. One victorious cocktail with my roommate and I went to bed. Was hard to fall asleep. Thoughts, emotions.

But today is a new day and I've got to move on. What happened yesterday was awesome, but now it's history and it's up to me to create more of these amazing moments. What's going to change? Not much, probably. Maybe a slight increase in average stakes, but that's about it. Keeping my feet on the ground because still there's plenty to prove.

Okay, if you are not a first time visitor here, you probably know that half a year gaps between blog entries are not that uncommon.

Oh man. Since I don't want to write a boring wall of text of what happened since my last post, I'll just write a short list of things that I feel are relevant.

Did not play online pretty much at all. Since I was playing big field tourneys back then, summer season did not suit that in any way (both in job terms and real life activities). Yep, for about half a year I was pretty much poker-less. That's the reason why this blog stayed quiet. I just worked hard at my regular job.

Played a live 888poker event in Tallinn. Me and my roommate decided to do something really cool for a weekend and traveled to Estonia to both play poker and spend the rest of the time by seeing places, partying, etc. Did not reach the money in a tournament, but that trip, even if it was a short one, is one of the highlights of the year for sure.

Went on holiday to Spain for the whole week. I could carry on writing about it for pages. In short, I had an incredible incredible time. A week in paradise, life of a baller.

Got to know a very kind, supportive and caring young lady who I can call my girlfriend now.

I had/still have an injury. Actually today is the second day my ankle is out of plaster. Still have rehabilitation to undergo. Twisted an ankle severely, fu*ked it up pretty hard. On a positive note, I don't have to work, I can stay at home with my family, plenty of time to read books and obviously... play poker.

Now, the main purpose of this post is to tell you about what is going on at the moment and, of course, related to poker.

// Teaming up with BrokeSoBroke.

Even though I enjoyed my switch to tournaments quite a lot, had decent success there and things were looking promising, I realized that it's not possible to play them efficiently enough when you only have up to 4 hours for poker on a daily basis. Obviously, now that I don't have to work, I could play them, but looking at the long term, tournaments is not something I can be efficient at. I accidentally found an article about the variance in large field mtt's ( http://www.nsdpoker.com/2011/01/mtt-pros/) and it kind of struck me. I realized that if I keep on playing mtt's with that low volume, I am at total mercy of variance. And in my situation, I need poker to be at least a little bit more stable.

So what do we have here. I thought a lot about it and the only possible solution is to get back to cash games. Since I could not make it on my own when I was playing them before, it's logical to take a different approach.

This is why I contacted BrokeSoBroke. We've agreed on a contract. I won't reveal all the details, but the most important thing is that it's quite a long-term one. But I really do believe in this coach and think that having him on my side will absolutely help to make a step I could not manage on my own.

We've started working since November, 1st and I am really happy how things are going so far. We agreed to start on 25znl even though my roll would probably be healthy enough for a good player to shoot at 100nl. But we are going step by step, because there are lots, lots of things for him to do to make a a solid player. And lots and lots of things for me to do to help him.

I feel like taking a decision like that was necessary for me if I still want to 'make it' in poker. Obviously this means different things to different people. To me, at least for now, that means being a solid player at decent stakes (100 or 200nl), making some money in the process.

Knowing how long this project will take kind of puts things into perspective. No need to rush anything, the only thing I have to do now is to listen carefully to what BsB says, do the work on my part because I obviously don't expect everything to be done for me by others, be as good of a student and partner as I can and bring everything to the table in its' best possible form.

We both know this is not going to be easy, there will be bits of everything, ups and downs, peaks of motivation and laziness, but it's definitely possible, I have no doubts. My last point in the previous post still applies, there is still plenty to prove. The job up to me now is to make BsB's job as easy as possible. I think in a relationship like this it's very important to have trust in each other and I think this is what we've got. This will be a looooong journey. Therefore I thought it would be cool to record it in a blog.

And for the sake of graph's, this is the progress so far, this month. (25nl zoom)

It's so good to have the time available for poker... I mean, I did not have this luxury since I got employed. It's the middle of the month now and I already have 30k hands clocked in. What is even more important, when there are things to learn and implement, when you try to improve and evolve your game every session you play, it does not feel 'a grind' to play a lot.

25NL is going fine. (This dates back to October 31st)

8bb / 100 is a decent winrate so far. Nothing spectacular, but I'll take it as a start. It's been two weeks only, but I could name at least 4 areas in my game that got improved, more or less. Only if I could bring my A game every time I open up my tables... Definitely think that my weakest area is mental game.

Anyway, as I was doing fine @ 25, we decided to give it a 5BI shot @ 50. It's funny, I think I have played about half a million hands at this stake alone lifetime, and yet when I opened tables up, I felt like I was shooting there for the first time in my life Probably just wanted to make it count too bad. At first it went well, won a couple of buy-ins, but then things started to go away from me and eventually I lost it. Did not run well, but I definitely did not do anything to change that. Turned into kind of a passive regfish and got rekd.

The only good thing out of that shot is that I quit 50 as soon as I hit the 5 BI mark. Did not do anything stupid to chase my losses. Maaaybe it was not to my benefits that for quite some time we were playing 3 handed as player pool was very small at the time... Increases variance, which is not what you want when shooting up. But definitely should have performed better.

The stake felt like I could beat it for sure though. I just need to sort myself out in the first place. It's a matter of time.

Now back to grinding 25nl some more while trying to constantly bring my A game and sustain it. Then, I'll be ready for another go at 50. Really want to make this step asap.

We had some history with this guy... He tanked to the last 2 seconds of his timebank on the river.
That's what you get when you attempt to slowroll...

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (6 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://flopturnriver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

SB ($39.48)
BB ($48.18)
UTG ($11.24)
Hero (MP) ($25.25)
CO ($20.06)
Button ($28.41)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 6♠, 6♥
1 fold, Hero raises to $0.75, 2 folds, SB calls $0.65, 1 fold

Flop: ($1.75) 3♦, 6♣, 10:spade: (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $1.19, SB calls $1.19

Turn: ($4.13) 6♦ (2 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $2.80, SB calls $2.80

River: ($9.73) 3♣ (2 players)
SB bets $6.75, Hero raises to $20.51 (All-In), SB calls $13.76

Total pot: $50.75 | Rake: $2.53

Rekd.

He only has 3rd nuts, can't blame him for tanking.

Sick he tanked TT. 25NL guys. ♦

Welcome to the thread, coach. ♠_drink:

Originally posted by Varune
He only has 3rd nuts, can't blame him for tanking.
I still genuinely think he was slowrolling me there.

//

Good news is that I managed to quickly recover my losses from that failed shot @ 50. A couple of good sessions at 25, cleared a bonus and my roll is back in good shape.

Today I noticed one interesting thing in my database. For anyone asking what rake to expect at NL25, I think this would be a really useful illustration.

This is why they say to get out of micros asap. And this is what we're trying to do.

I have over 4k$ in my roll at the moment, so think it's definitely enough to try and move up to 50. To do that as fast as possible would be beneficial in every way you look at it. The plan is to play a few k more hands at 25nl though, because I still have new things to implement in my game. You know how it goes... Don't want to shoot a higher limit without being comfortable in my own skin. And when everything's settled, we can make another go. I think I am proooooooobably going to make it a 10BI shot now. The roll is healthy enough and thanks to BsB I am now constantly improving as a player.

So the next update is going to have some 50nl content again I imagine. We'll see what happens, but I really feel good about the improvement we are doing and sooner or later this just has to translate into results.

Ola ♠_drink:

So I'm back to continue the story. I did dive into the 50nl waters and thankfully this time it went a lot better. I played 3.4k hands and won 5 BI's, so now the harm from previous shot is completely neutralized, which makes my monthly 50nl graph look like this:

(first shot ended at -250$, second one continued from there)

I am really happy about that. At first it did not seem it's going end that way, though, because this hand happened maybe 30 seconds into the first session:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://flopturnriver.com

BB ($51)
UTG ($25.35)
MP ($60)
Hero (CO) ($108.65)
Button ($31.45)
SB ($87.85)

Preflop: Hero is CO with 8♥, 7♥
2 folds, Hero raises to $1, 2 folds, BB calls $0.50

Flop: ($2.25) 3♥, 3♠, 7♦ (2 players)
BB bets $1, Hero raises to $2, BB calls $1

Turn: ($6.25) 8♣ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $3.25, BB calls $3.25

River: ($12.75) 7♠ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $9.75, BB raises to $44.75 (All-In), Hero calls $35

Total pot: $102.25 | Rake: $3

I was like "okay, probably not going to last for long again . Gladly I went on running above EV since and did fairly well in general. Can't say I am perfectly happy with my game, but definitely did better than the last time.

So my overall comeback to cash games so far:

Side goal is to reach Edge Prime status sooner or later. Have to do everything to reduce the rake. Will probably stay at Full Tilt for some time, so it makes sense to do that and get back as much money as possible. Weird thing is, 50nl rush sometimes just has no player pool, while both 25 and 100nl runs smoothly! Probably this is going to affect my volume a bit, but it should be fine.

Anyway, It's going well so far! The task now is to stay at 50nl while still working hard and listening carefully to BsB. Not thinking about 100nl yet. We are taking it slowly. Baby steps. ♠_wink:

Excellent comeback to cash!

I could only dream of graphs like that haha 😍

Good luck with it and your blog definately has a new subscriber

Originally posted by stompy91

I could only dream of graphs like that haha 😍

Good luck with it and your blog definately has a new subscriber

It is very good to know, mate ♠_drink:. Nothing to dream of, though...

Since last post...

Aaaaaaand it's 25nl again. Still a fish

Damn.

Oh man i must be a Jinx!

I won't wish you good luck this time then, in the hope you catch a massive heater

Plenty EV to catch up on there especially with BsB by your side, i'm sure your going to be crushing 200NL+ in a few months and that will be a drop in the ocean!

Hi Pkrpains,

Great blog and really good progress since you first started. Looks like the only way is up!
Look forward to following your progress in the coming months.

Regards

Matt

@Stompy - I don't believe in jinxes man, thus I am very happy when people come to this thread to wish something good for the author. ♠_love: There are so many blogs out there, so every visitor is really appreciated. The fact that I ran bad and played bad has nothing to do with anyone else other than me. 200NL in a couple of months sounds a bit too optimistic - I still have tons to learn and figure myself out in the first place. Nothing in my life ever came fast, so I don't expect anything different in poker. I've been trying to make it on my own for many years already, but never came further than 50nl... Probably a lack of talent or other specific qualities that make a good poker player. Therefore I don't really have unrealistic dreams like rising like a star from 25nl to 400nl in a year or things like this... That said, having BsB as a tutor is a very big thing and, I believe, he is my best opportunity to still do some damage in this game.

@metalmonkey80 - and I hope to see you here more often. Thank you for those good words, I am glad that you enjoy the thread. Probably you're right, now there is nowhere else left to go, just onwards and upwards.

//

My gf came to visit me for the weekend so I did not play yesterday, but had a great time Plan is to get back on grind mode starting tonight or at the very least, tomorrow. I hope I can continue doing well at 25nl and those things from fifty did not carryover. Will be eagerly waiting for another chance to finally move up, third time's a charm after all.

If I want to be a proper student of BsB, I gotta learn to tilt some regs. Guess today I had some success.

If they 5bet shove AQo, you know you're on the right path.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (5 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.com/

saw flop | saw showdown

MP ($45.43)
Hero (Button) ($71.44)
SB ($20.21)
BB ($25.92)
UTG ($60.24)

Preflop: Hero is Button with K♦, A♥
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, SB raises to $2.50, 1 fold, Hero raises to $5.90, SB raises to $20.21 (All-In), Hero calls $14.31

Flop: ($40.67) 4♣, 10:heart:, A♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Turn: ($40.67) 7♣ (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($40.67) 8♦ (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $40.67 | Rake: $2.03

In this hand some Hollywood on the river probably did the trick, I used my timebank a bit, pretending a tough decision.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (5 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://flopturnriver.com

saw flop | saw showdown

BB ($38.29)
UTG ($27.48)
MP ($33.95)
Button ($23.65)
Hero (SB) ($65.99)

Preflop: Hero is SB with A♣, K♦
2 folds, Button raises to $0.75, Hero raises to $2.20, 1 fold, Button calls $1.45

Flop: ($4.65) A♥, Q♠, A♠ (2 players)
Hero bets $2.40, Button calls $2.40

Turn: ($9.45) 6♣ (2 players)
Hero bets $4.91, Button calls $4.91

River: ($19.27) 9♥ (2 players)
Hero bets $18.60, Button calls $14.14 (All-In)

Total pot: $47.55 | Rake: $2.37

The following two are versus the same villain in a span of 3 or 4 hands.
First, set him up...

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (5 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://flopturnriver.com/

saw flop | saw showdown

SB ($45.53)
Hero (BB) ($26.38)
UTG ($31.06)
MP ($25.35)
Button ($51.05)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 9♣, 8♣
1 fold, MP raises to $0.85, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.60

Flop: ($1.80) 10:diamond:, 6♦, J♣ (2 players)
Hero checks, MP checks

Turn: ($1.80) 10:club: (2 players)
Hero bets $1.22, MP raises to $5.46, Hero raises to $25.53 (All-In), MP calls $19.04 (All-In)

River: ($50.80) A♣ (2 players, 2 all-in)

Total pot: $50.80 | Rake: $2.54

And finish him.

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.25 BB (5 handed) - Full Tilt Converter Tool from http://poker-tools.flopturnriver.com/Hand-Converter.php

saw flop | saw showdown

MP ($45.43)
Hero (Button) ($49.19)
SB ($31.16)
BB ($25)
UTG ($51.05)

Preflop: Hero is Button with J♥, A♣
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.50, 1 fold, BB raises to $2.75, Hero calls $2.25

Flop: ($5.60) 10:club:, A♦, 4♣ (2 players)
BB bets $5.60, Hero calls $5.60

Turn: ($16.80) Q♦ (2 players)
BB checks, Hero checks

River: ($16.80) K♥ (2 players)
BB bets $16.65 (All-In), Hero calls $16.65

Total pot: $50.10 | Rake: $2.50

I was a nice guy tho, did not want him to commit suicide so resisted the idea to write "U suck" in the chat right after this hand... Hope karma appreciates it.

// November recap

It's probably better to let the graphs do the talking...

25NL

50NL

Overall in $

Two things I am most happy about:

Teaming up with BsB. Now my 'career' has a direction.

Volume. To me, it's really a solid amount of hands. December will be harder to reach something like that because of the obvious reasons... But I still aim for 40k or so.

Results are really 'meh, whatever'. I can't be happy with that... It's just the first month of work, though, and I did get better, so let's see it as a glass half full.

December is going to be better only if I do something about my biggest enemy at the moment and it's the mental game. I can be decently good when playing in the present, calm, focused, always thinking... The problem is, I manage to be like that only a small percentage of the time. I think my next month's results are going to be directly dependent on how much I improve in this particular area. Technical game... Not to sound too confident, but I believe I know enough to crush 25nl. The task is to apply that knowledge well instead of clicking buttons for the sake of it. This is how I kill my hardly earned winrate. Less of that - more crushing.

So it's been a lovely start of December.

Which is really encouraging :f_grin:. Positive turn of variance when I needed it. But results is not the main thing. Seems like I've sorted my head out a little bit. Been doing mental session warm ups, working on recognizing emotions in-game and got rid of checking whether I am up or down in the midst of my sessions. Running good makes it all easier of course, but I definitely feel that the quality of my mental game has increased by doing these things. Sustaining all of that when I hit a rough patch will be a test, sure. But like I said, December's only going to be an improvement if I cope well with my mental tasks. So, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Otherwise there's not so much point in putting in that effort. It's a bit like cutting down a branch I'm sitting on.

OK, so now that I shared some good results, positive things and am feeling optimistic, doomswitch in 3..2..1..

Good day Pkrpains
Let the good times keep rolling! and nice graph too!
Glad to hear you have made progress in your mental game.

Regards

Matt

Hey Matt, thanks for the good wishes Yeah, there's definitely been an improvement in that area and it shows in the results.

December so far, all 20nl .

Almost 20 buyins in 9.1k hands... Running hot!

At the same time, today I had an idea to play some MTT's for a change, but only on Sundays when there is most value. I've been going decently well in those games as can be seen from my previous posts, also it's a nice change of scene to avoid monotony and they are always so thrilling when you get deep! Of course I had to ask BsB about it first and he was absolutely fine by that, so I'm really happy :f_love:.

So from now on it'll be cash games all the time and mtt's (or both) on Sundays! Main priority is obviously cash, but why shouldn't I give myself a chance to bink something nice while having fun. I already proved to myself that I can do it. Also, this way I'll be able to become a better player in both formats, which is obviously a very good thing. So yeah, really looking forward to that.