No Excuses! - My way towards becoming an excellent person

Good blog, keep doing it. Gl!

Yo dude! Couldn't response too much, I am in the middle of a visa run here in Asia

The flaws of your game you put above are really nice! Now you at least have it stated and you can always read on to these In addition, the book Mental Game of Poker will help you greatly by doing these exercises. I have made a Dropbox file where I put all my assignments for MGoP in. Perhaps you can use some inspiration out of these files

Yes, Twitch isn't always working perfectly I believe.. Right now I don't have many problems but at first I did have.. Maybe you just have to see a bit what is working.. maybe you need to lower some of your things in your setups.. However, following the website is already a good indication. Otherwise, try this website.

Cheers,
Hesticus:f_drink:

I guess you are right. Tomorrow I will try it again, lowering some settings. Unfortunately I'm just having a Notebook instead of a faster desktop pc. If it won't work out, I will just put up more videos like the last one.

Reflection of the week

To be honest... change is hard.. That's why I cant't report having done many things from my list.

Poker Goals
Watching 2 training videos actively: 1 / 2 (watched the latest w34z3l vid about overbetting for the first half, and I watched a live play for a half. Did more grinding, as usual.
Visiting one live coaching: Here I did well. I visited w34z3l's coaching and bombarded him with questions, while watching him crush the reg tables on NL25. That was cool and very helpful as well. I know now more about the importance of warm-ups and cooldowns and how to implement them better into my playing days.
Volume Goals: Easy one. Marked the checkbox.

Life Goals
Going for a run three times: 1/3
Having my sleep schedule fixed: Fail. I think I gotta either work so hard on one day that I fall asleep very early, just get up early even though I go to sleep late, or do the amargeddon move which is to not sleep at all for one night and get back to a normal rhythm.
Shooting another vlog: Fail. Gonna remake it the upcoming week. Went through a small crisis this week and therefore didn't have the head to do it.
Going out: 1/2 - I was out yesterday. The plan was to talk to plenty of girls in the club but then on the way a guy sat down at the bus station and just started to smoke pot right in front of us. We got into a talk with him, because we were wondering how he could smoke weed so publicly in Germany. Five minutes later we smoked two whole joints together before the bus came lol End of the story. didn't feel like talking to anybody just wanted to chill. Lesson: Don't smoke when you wanna be actively talking to people. ♦

Lookout for the next week

Setting goals that are more attainable for me right now. Meaning, I will think about lowering my goals so that they are easier to reach. But good thing is that I am getting financial support from the state now and don't have to worry so much about money anymore. Without touching my poker roll I can easily live, drive to the city every day, and buy some goodies like a new phone or new clothes. God bless Germany. Thus, there's less pressure and more space to steer my life into a new direction. I'll post the exact plan for the week tomorrow.

GL everyone at the tableZ

Plan for March 2016

Poker Goals
Weekly
For now:
Grind 7500 Hands of NL25 Zoom/Rush
Watch 1 Content-Video and 1 Live-Play Video

Life Goals
Read 60 minutes every day. My monthly book list is: The Art of Learning, Switch, and another German book my mom gave me to my birthday
Daily energy-cleansing meditation (twice, in the morning and before going to bed) --> Helps me to stay focussed and to also get rid of mental trash
To write down 10 reasons why I can be grateful (every evening) --> Drawing happiness from what is instead of hoping to be happy because of XYZ
Shooting 4 videos about personal-development related topics. I will publish one every sunday.
Hitting the club, every friday and saturday.

Things to acquire
Monthly trainticket
New Haircut
New Phone
A whiteboard, sponge and some markers to make things more visual
Maybe a photo-course (if there's enough $$$ left after the other stuff)

Poker Goals for Week 29.02.16 - 06.03.16
Grind 7500 Hands of NL25 Zoom/Rush
Watch 1 Content-Video and 1 Live-Play Video
Get preflop-ranges down for every spot (especially early positions and squeeze situations)
Incorporate proper warm-ups and cooldowns for every playing day: A warm-up only at the beginning of the first grinding session and at the start of another session presuming there were 2 hours of break between. Mini-Cooldowns at the end of every session, and a real cooldown incl. a journal about my strategic and mental game.

Thanks for the nice blog.
Watched your video about your ideal self and that is very good stuff.
Sure you will have the girl of your dreams, because you are looking very good.

Wow, that are very nice words. Thank you. And of course thanks to hesticus for all the input! Makes me more motivated to keep this blog alive and write about stuff.

So, right now it's not looking good about my Poker roll. Good news though are that I've got a good amount of living costs from Germany. Makes me have less pressure and I don't have to cash out anymore.

What I gotta do now is to really work on my poker game and monitor all my leaks on a regular basis. I thought about just doing a list of all my preflop - flop - turn - river leaks. That's probably the way to go. And I wanna go away from mass grinding to a nice, solid 3hour / day gameplan. It's easier said than done because were are habitual, but it's possible and I believe in it.

Poker Leaks and Notes for different pre- und postflop situations

Preflop:
- 3betting/4betting too wide as a bluff vs unknowns
- openraising partly too wide (have to adjust my RFI-ranges based on the table a little bit more)
- calling too wide vs. very tight 3betters. Even though the odds seem good we often have to catch a very good flop in order to continue. Postflop we often have trouble playing a hand such as A7s on a T73 flop vs. a 2% bet guy who doesn't cbet that much.

Flop
- Being partly too aggressive multiway (more straightforward style is the way to go)
- Calling a bit too much vs. BIG cbets. If Villain cbets close to pot on a KJT flop and we hold sth. like J8s we should rather fold.
- Calling a bit too much vs. huge cbets in 3bet-pots. Not sure if TT in UTG vs a 3bet on a J63 flop vs. a 3/4 cbet is a call, even vs. an opponent who seems wide preflop, but just has a 33% overall cbet stat???

Turn
Notes on delayed cbetting:
- one/done on broadway boards is the way to go (no foldequity on the river)
- Axx boards: Only 2barrelling as a bluff IF: Turncard is not pairing the board in any way, it's a T/J/Q/K (Villain can fold turned 2nd pairs to a river-barrel) - otherwise his range is too strong (some double-check weak Ax)

River
- Occasional unnecessary check/raise bluffs vs. lines that "don't make sense with valuehands" --> Some guys play just weird --> Adjustment = Just look for better spots. Don't level, don't bluff.

3bet-Pots
- Calling flops too wide / not looking at all the stats (like cbet flop % in 3bet pots, preflop range in combination with the board texture etc). Could maybe even be a result of calling too wide preflop, as mentioned above

Playing the "nuts"
- Cannot fold weak flush to river-raise (even though I know I'm often beat)
- Tend to slowplay a bit too much sometimes. AA on 883 multiway vs. a fish who donks 2bb should be a raise.

Notes on going broke with AK/QQ
- Equity AK vs Range [QQ+, AKo, AKs] = 38%
- Equity QQ vs Range [QQ+, AKo, AKs] = 40%
- Multiway our equity decreases dramatically (~25% vs given 2,5% Range and another random range)
- Multiway we should only go broke with given reads vs. 2 opponents that they are full of shit
- Two-way, we should only shove if
a) There is enough deadmoney in the pot that we have lose $0 in the long run, given there is no foldequity, Villain has no bluffs in his 4betting range and we assume the 2,5% range
b) There is a good chance that Villain has a 4bet-bluffing range.
(All points made under the assumption the effective stack is 100bb)

Playing draws
- I call too much with draws that have tainted outs (let's say we have T8s on 793ss and play vs. a raise on the flop)
--> Gotta see we just have 6 clean outs and have to adjust my play more to the board and the odds we are getting (often it's just a fold vs. a 3,5x cbet-raise)
- x/r vs. x/c as the preflop coldcaller: I shouldn't build a pot with a 8high flushdraw. Should rather put it into my check/calling range and start to x/r flops with the nutflushdraw, and dependent on the width of villains preflop range and tendencies vs. flop check/raises add some 2nd-nutflushdraws to it.

Notes on Overbetting
- If overbet called --> close to 0 Foldequity on the following street
- Overbets don't work good for value vs. regs, but even better vs. fish.
- Overbets don't work less good as bluff vs. fish, but better vs. regs
- do not overbet every time (I tended to do it as I discovered it), but choose the smaller sizing if you can have the same effect with it. Having a 2-street bluff can have a higher EV since we get money from e.g. the turnbet but have enough foldequity on the river
- Good spots to overbet as bluff: On the river, doesn't matter if 2-way or 3-way, if it's get checked through on boards with two face cards. On the turn on boards with one highcard vs. skipped cbets (holding some good amount of equity, like a draw that makes the nuts if it gets there on the river)
- Good spots to overbet for value: Axxx boards vs. regs who checkback the flop in late-position battles. Still debatable since we lose value vs. middle pocket pairs... hmm.... - Then: Vs. fish on drawy textures --> They wanna hit their draw, no matter the price. In 3bet-pots we should overbet jam vs. a fish in such a spot where we have the most likely best holding but have the chance to get outdrawn by the river.

Will edit them soon

Yo guys, I'm off poker for a week. Gotta organize my life a little bit Cu next week

Looks good MisterSnS! Good luck for the week and hope you do well

Thx, Bro ♠_grin:

Review of the week

In terms of my poker goals I achieved everything I wanted to achieve. Putting in volume was never a problem for me. Since yesterday I've got some valuable help on my journey. The great Asimos accepted me as a Student and we've got our first coaching session behind already. Due to his help I could fix some big leaks I haven't been aware of instantly and could boost my winrate to the roof. But I shouldn't be too fast with my judgment because I am also running quite good again on stars NL25 Zoom. Overall I'm proud on myself that I finally got over my own ego and now got a mentor for poker.

Life Goals

♠_mad:♠_mad:♠_mad:♠_mad:

I barely read, barely meditated, and did not shoot any video for youtube. BUT: I've got a brandnew, fresh haircut, did some shopping (chino, shoes, looked for a watch), got a trainticket to go to the city daily (if I want to) and ordered a whiteboard, markers and a sponge. The latter will be a major element of this blog. Gonna write on it daily and put pictures of it in here so you can see what I've planned for the day and if I achieved it.

Outlook for the next week

Poker Goals
Volume: 10k Hands on NL25 Zoom
Finish Tendler's TMGOP2
Do another Coaching Session

Life Goals
Use my whiteboard (as soon as I have it) for daily lists and monitor my progress daily
Get my new shoes from the store (had to order them because they didn't have them in my size)
Go running 3x
Meditate daily for 10 minutes (starting smaller this time..)
Go out on the weekend with my buddy
Find and apply for a basic photo-course

Wow, yesterday was a hell of a ride. I went way too spewy and tried to win every pot ♠_mad: Just to realize AGAIN that it doesn't need much more than simple value poker to beat NL25 Zoom. We put a stop-loss of 4 stacks because I almost lost 5 of them. Going to work on my mental game a little bit and then come back even stronger. ♠_thumbsup:

Hm, that makes -120$ for the BR challenge?

Spewiness is the most fun way ... to loose money!
Maybe try Asimos new series to see where you can find value from loose play?

It's fine because I've got a up of over 10 BI's the 2 days before that happened. I put a break for the BR-Challenge actually. And I could win Asimos to coach me now, so the videos are probably just the tip of the iceberg

Today was fun. I went to the city to pick up my new shoes (nice leather boots). As I got out of the store a girl who worked there said "goodbye" to me and for a second our eyes crossed in an unusual, "magical" way. I turned back to her when I've out of the store and saw that she turned around too! That was pretty cool. But I had to process everything before I could go back to her. So I got a coffee, told myself that I would feel bad for the whole rest of the day if I don't go back to talk to her. So I got back up and approached her at work and figured out pretty fast that this was pure attraction. She was very chill, funny and extremely cute. We also had a funny and interesting short conversation. But when I went for her number she told me she would not know it so I should give her mine, and when I asked for facebook she told me she's not having it. Probably two very good signs that she didn't want to exchange contacts for whatever reasons (maybe boyfriend, who knows). The chances she's not having facebook AND is not knowing her number from the top of her head are maybe.. 2% ?- In general though I am very proud on myself that I am in a position in which I can just go to a random girl I never met and chat her up.

Also the markers to my whiteboard arrived today. Though the board itself is not there yet, probably tomorrow.

I'm going to grind another 15k hands now, do some session reviews with my coach in between and if everything goes well (my winrate stays at 4-5bb/100) I'll move to NL50.

UTG(Nit): "I bet small because I am afraid of 9x. Oh, another 9 on the turn! HA me has best hand me checkraise. Hmm... minraise after bet... Me has best FH me calls"

CO: "UTG checks, me has best hand me bets! A minraise, lol what can he rep? Nothing, ha! Me has best hand me calls vs protection raise from 66 (lol). NICE my card! Me has nuts! Let's donk and get max value from worse.. the BTN probably folds, but the UTG raiser looks like he has AA or KK. Ok, lol the BTN raises All-In... WTF? Whatever.. me has top-set. I deserve pot. Me calls!!! Show me "

MisterSnS: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

Hero (BTN): $34.03
SB: $25.00 (VPIP: 21.74, PFR: 18.01, 3Bet Preflop: 8.06, Hands: 166)
BB: $73.26 (VPIP: 28.06, PFR: 22.30, 3Bet Preflop: 4.46, Hands: 286)
UTG: $115.90 (VPIP: 10.86, PFR: 6.74, 3Bet Preflop: 3.03, Hands: 272)
MP: $43.68 (VPIP: 16.49, PFR: 11.83, 3Bet Preflop: 3.51, Hands: 282)
CO: $40.73 (VPIP: 27.59, PFR: 18.97, 3Bet Preflop: 4.00, Hands: 60)

SB posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has 7♥ 9♥

UTG raises to $0.75, fold, CO calls $0.75, Hero calls $0.75, fold, fold

Flop: ($2.60, 3 players) 5♠ 9♠ 9♦
UTG bets $1.25, CO calls $1.25, Hero calls $1.25

Turn: ($6.35, 3 players) 9♣
UTG checks, CO bets $3.21, Hero raises to $6.42, UTG calls $6.42, CO calls $3.21

River: ($25.61, 3 players) J♦
UTG checks, CO bets $10.76, Hero raises to $25.61 and is all-in, fold, CO calls $14.85

Hero shows 7♥ 9♥ (Four of a Kind, Nines)
(Pre 19%, Flop 88%, Turn 100%)
CO shows J♥ J♠ (Full House, Jacks full of Nines)
(Pre 81%, Flop 12%, Turn 0%)
Hero wins $74.83

Review of the Week 7.03.16 - 13.03.16

That was an interesting week. A lot of stuff happened in my life. And to my own surprise I could achieve every life goal I've set for the week. I think it's more about setting the goals a bit smaller, and then increase them in volume or difficulty over time. I'm going to keep this system for now and rather do some less than do too much (and focus rather on most important goals). So to make it short: I've got a whiteboard now, applied for a photo course, got new shoes, went running, meditated daily, and also went out in the weekend to talk to girls. Didn't find the girl of my dreams yet but I'm not giving up (is there also a Quagmire emoticon? would be great..)

Poker Review

Started out the week with a sick downer, mainly because of mental game issues and playing too long. That was the point my brain said "ENOUGH!". From that day on I started to grind Tendler and applied his tipps... and.. voilá.. results went through the roof. I scheduled in breaks, put strategic reminders in front of me every time I play and know how to prevent myself from slipping into B-Game in the first place. With Asimos help (we did 2 coaching sessions so far) I feel much more confident in my game now. From being a 2bb/100 Winner for the last weeks I am winning with 8bb/100 by EV for the last 26k hands. Getting a coach was the best choice I could make.

Goals for the week 14.03.16 - 20.03.16

Poker Goals
Grind 1500 Hands every day
Work 10 minutes on my mental game every day
Get my SB-Play to $0 when unopened
Visit 1 Public Coaching

Life Goals
Meditate for 10 minutes / day
Read 10 minutes of the book "The Confidence Gap" / day
Go running 3x
Write daily to-do lists on my whiteboard every evening (get things done!)
Go out on the weekend

He MisterSNS,

Which Coaching are you going to visit?
Also, you should add one Poker goal:
• https://forums.pokerstrategy.com/forum/thread.php?postid=1986696#post1986696

:-)
SvenBe

hi

Hey SvenBe,

Yeah, I will rejoin the BRC soon, no worries B-)

The last days were very harsh pokerwise. I could not win anything, ran into sets ALL THE TIME in 4bet pots and also put in some bad play / slight Tilt because of that. Before that happened I actually wished to run into a downer, to get more to study and to learn (did not learn anything when I just hit and stacked everyone for a couple of thousand hands). Now as this happened I just wanted it to be over. Weird world ♠_ugly:

Realizations from the Downer

1) The Importance of Valuepoker
- Being in a downer has the result that I play more aggressive than usual, trying to win pots, instead of being tight and straightforward
- Being in a downer results in playing longer sessions than I am mentally capable of. I hate losing all the time after a while. But somehow losing becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Taking some steps back and reflecting on the flaws in one's game is harder than expected. It is mostly important to stay with the winning strategy and TRUST in the process. Variance is out of our control, but how we play is definitely IN our control. And this is what we should focus on.
- People don't fold at ALL on NL25 - I just went through my database and looked especially in the SB when I raise first in and where I lose the most money: When I run bluffs. People party float Ahigh on a Broadway flop and even worse, call 4th pairs etc. Correct Adaption: REALLY just check/fold any flop that I didn't connect with. Even x/f 3rd pairs has a higher EV than cbetting vs. most opponents... (cbetting vs. someone who folds too much vs cbets is a different story)
- People don't fold at ALL to big bets --> Correct adaption, always bet BIG for value, and don't bluff at all. Harder said than done. But this is what my downer is teaching me.

Hand examples of NL25 and their stationy tendencies
1)

2)

3)

2) Some notes on QQ/AK preflop
- Auto-broke only in late positions
- 3bet/fold vs. UTG 4bet on NL25 without table dynamics (people don't bluff 4bet). Just call pre if UTG RFI <= 15%
- 3bet/fold vs. MP without table dynamics / vs. unknown OR call the 4bet. Never jam. QQ/AK serve a bit like semi-bluffs if we jam, because nothing worse calls.
- Always flat in MP/UTG when facing a 3bet or a squeeze --> Reason: Nothing worse calls the 4bet. We get it AI badly and just push the variance (in a negative way). We gotta live with calling a squeeze and giving the coldcaller some odds to setmine.
- Fold vs. HUGE squeezes or 3bets from weak players

Lost so much money playing AK/QQ wrong on zoom.. ♠_mad:

How is it going?

Hey man, going to post updates as soon as I reach NL50 (should happen this week).

PokerStars - $0.25 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: $25.00 (VPIP: 27.31, PFR: 20.37, 3Bet Preflop: 6.82, Hands: 223)
Hero (SB): $25.00
BB: $38.96 (VPIP: 19.02, PFR: 13.36, 3Bet Preflop: 2.69, Hands: 523)
UTG: $52.12 (VPIP: 40.00, PFR: 40.00, 3Bet Preflop: 33.33, Hands: 6)
MP: $24.12 (VPIP: 26.22, PFR: 23.08, 3Bet Preflop: 14.29, Hands: 294)
CO: $138.61 (VPIP: 28.13, PFR: 15.63, 3Bet Preflop: 0.00, Hands: 33)

Hero posts SB $0.10, BB posts BB $0.25

Pre Flop: (pot: $0.35) Hero has 7♣ 7♥

fold, fold, CO calls $0.25, BTN raises to $1.00, Hero calls $0.90, fold, CO calls $0.75

Flop: ($3.25, 3 players) 9♠ 6♣ 9♥
Hero bets $1.50, fold, BTN calls $1.50

Turn: ($6.25, 2 players) 7♦
Hero bets $4.00, BTN calls $4.00

River: ($14.25, 2 players) K♥
Hero has the decision between...

1) Bet small to get called by his whole range and induce a raise by 9x
2) Go for x/r AI (but let him go to showdown with all his middlepairs)
3) Jam

Let's discuss