NL100 or I quit poker

Not gonna lie, I was shitting my pants. Calling is reasonable because we beat Jx but turning top 2 into a bluff in order to get an overpair to fold and risk 372bb is more fun

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 117.2 BB
SB: 728.6 BB
BB: 334.4 BB
UTG: 101.2 BB
MP: 144.6 BB
Hero (CO): 403.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has J♦ T♥

fold, fold, Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, SB raises to 7.4 BB, fold, Hero calls 5 BB

Flop: (15.8 BB, 2 players) J♣ 7♦ 2♠
SB bets 7 BB, Hero calls 7 BB

Turn: (29.8 BB, 2 players) 2♥
SB bets 17 BB, Hero calls 17 BB

River: (63.8 BB, 2 players) T♠
SB bets 32 BB, Hero raises to 372.2 BB and is all-in, fold

Hero wins 122.4 BB
Rake paid 5.4 BB

Here's the month so far:

The huge gap between EV and actual at around the 3500th hand was this delivery, nice turn

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 135 BB
SB: 122.4 BB
BB: 116 BB
Hero (UTG): 152.4 BB
MP: 115.4 BB
CO: 104 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has K♥ K♠

Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, fold, fold, SB raises to 8.2 BB, BB calls 7.2 BB, Hero raises to 24.4 BB, SB raises to 122.4 BB and is all-in, BB calls 107.8 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 98 BB

Flop: (360.8 BB, 3 players) 4♦ 8♠ 6♠

Turn: (360.8 BB, 3 players) K♣

River: (360.8 BB, 3 players) 8♥

SB shows J♣ J♦ (Two Pair, Jacks and Eights)

Main Pot [348 BB]: (Pre 19%, Flop 8%, Turn 0%)
Side Pot#1 [12.8 BB]: (Pre 19%, Flop 9%, Turn 0%)

Hero shows K♥ K♠ (Full House, Kings full of Eights)

Main Pot [348 BB]: (Pre 65%, Flop 14%, Turn 98%)
Side Pot#1 [12.8 BB]: (Pre 81%, Flop 91%, Turn 100%)

BB shows 6♣ 6♦ (Full House, Sixes full of Eights)

Main Pot [348 BB]: (Pre 16%, Flop 78%, Turn 2%)

Hero wins 345.8 BB
Rake paid 15 BB

Originally posted by Swish29
Not gonna lie, I was shitting my pants. Calling is reasonable because we beat Jx but turning top 2 into a bluff in order to get an overpair to fold and risk 372bb is more fun

I strongly recommend a high-fibre diet.
This way, your bowels are regular, and this situation is less likely to arise

Nice hand, btw
"No Guts, No Glory"

This month went ridiculously well so far, won over 22 BI in >10k hands, so basically 10x what I won last month in 10k hands of NL5:

Here are all hands at NL5, so the last 2 weeks:

Plan is to finish Lemon36's video about how to adjust to antes and continue at NL10. Instead of moving up at 25BI I am thinking to move up at 30, proportionally the gap between NL10 and NL16 is one of the smallest online and it would be better later to take shots at 30BI instead of 25, as the games become tougher.

Originally posted by Swish29
Plan is to finish Lemon36's video about how to adjust to antes and continue at NL10. Instead of moving up at 25BI I am thinking to move up at 30, proportionally the gap between NL10 and NL16 is one of the smallest on-line and it would be better later to take shots at 30BI instead of 25, as the games become tougher.

What site are you playing on?
I had thought that antes were gone, but on checking I see that they still exist at NL 10 and NL 25 zoom. and on standard tables at PokerStars at NL 2 and NL 16

Nice graphs BTW -- are these from ante tables?

Cheers,
VS

I am playing on PokerStars.cz, which has antes at NL10/NL16/N25. They had it for a while at NL2/NL5 (all I said is about Zoom, I don't look at the regular tables lobby) but that was after I started to play, all the graphs are on antes-less tables. I will have to play looser than ever, at NL5 there's only 1.4bb the pot preflop (the smallest amount possible), at NL10 there will be 50% more, and I was already playing 29/22 ♦ but I guess the higher I play the more the villains will punish my wide ranges

Congrats for the nice results!

If you continue like this, you won't have to quit poker.

Originally posted by LahtiPelican
If you continue like this, you won't have to quit poker.

Haha that's the plan quite an ambitious goal but with a good amount of work I think I can do it.

Got an interesting graph for the 1st session:

I like how the antes change the games, you make more money vs tight/nit regs and vs other regs it induces so much action, seems funny/intense, there was a lot of deep stacks, more than at 5NL

I'll have the Gold status quite soon if I don't have to move down, that's nice

Not in love with this game right now, NL10 shot didn't go well and I didn't play my A-Game here's the month so far:

At least I am on pace to get Gold this month:

Hand of the day:

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 79 BB
SB: 118.4 BB
Hero (BB): 108.2 BB
UTG: 108.8 BB
MP: 169.2 BB
CO: 105.8 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, Hero posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has A♥ A♦

UTG raises to 3 BB, fold, CO calls 3 BB, BTN calls 3 BB, SB raises to 16.4 BB, Hero raises to 32.8 BB, fold, CO calls 29.8 BB, BTN calls 29.8 BB, SB raises to 118.4 BB and is all-in, Hero calls 75.4 BB and is all-in, CO calls 73 BB and is all-in, BTN calls 46.2 BB and is all-in

Flop: (404.2 BB, 4 players) T♠ 7♠ T♦

Turn: (404.2 BB, 4 players) K♦

River: (404.2 BB, 4 players) K♣

SB shows A♠ K♥ (Full House, Kings full of Tens)

Main Pot [319 BB]: (Pre 6%, Flop 6%, Turn 5%)
Side Pot#1 [80.4 BB]: (Pre 6%, Flop 6%, Turn 5%)
Side Pot#2 [4.8 BB]: (Pre 7%, Flop 7%, Turn 5%)

Hero shows A♥ A♦ (Two Pair, Aces and Kings)

Main Pot [319 BB]: (Pre 56%, Flop 5%, Turn 3%)
Side Pot#1 [80.4 BB]: (Pre 72%, Flop 5%, Turn 3%)
Side Pot#2 [4.8 BB]: (Pre 93%, Flop 93%, Turn 95%)

CO shows T♣ 9♦ (Full House, Tens full of Kings)

Main Pot [319 BB]: (Pre 20%, Flop 82%, Turn 88%)
Side Pot#1 [80.4 BB]: (Pre 21%, Flop 90%, Turn 93%)

BTN shows 5♠ 5♥ (Two Pair, Kings and Tens)

Main Pot [319 BB]: (Pre 18%, Flop 8%, Turn 5%)

SB wins 387.4 BB
Rake paid 16.8 BB

Bankroll is 170, need to win 16BI of NL5 before next shot, in the meantime I will study the game, since I started again I only watched 1 video on this site + some free content on youtube basically, that's not enough ♦

Originally posted by Swish29
Not in love with this game right now, NL10 shot didn't go well and I didn't play my A-Game here's the month so far:

Bankroll is 170, need to win 16BI of NL5 before next shot, in the meantime I will study the game, since I started again I only watched 1 video on this site + some free content on youtube basically, that's not enough ♦

Yeah, it can get brutal at times...

Have you read "The Mental Game of Poker" by Jared Tendler and Barry Carter?
There are 2 editions -- I have not read the second one.
It might help with the feelings that the brutal swings can generate.

It would be helpful if you can plan a warm-up for your session and a cool-down.
Warm-up is to do a few hand reviews -- perhaps post answers to other people's questions here in the forum.
Cool-down would be to review some of your own hands -- and post some questions in the hand discussion forums like you're doing.
These would be separate from study sessions, which is where you read an article, watch a video or watch a coaching session.

You might already do this, but if not, give it a try.

Cheers,
VS

Yes I have them both actually, I will probably look into them again one day, thanks for reminding me! I found another book called "Poker Therapy" which may be good too, I liked the free beginning of it. I was also thinking about meditation, some people say that thanks to that they don't suffer anymore, that sounds convenient ♦

For now I think my poker time is better invested in playing & getting better technically though, I honestly get really annoyed but not for long, it's just micro-stakes and I don't need to make money from poker so that takes a lot of pressure away. I am still eager to play the next day etc. so that's fine.

I have started the course "from the ground-up" on RIO, first few videos are really basic but a) it seems that it will get more complex soon and b) I am sure that in many spots I need to have a better foundation/understanding.

Had a weird hand today, it's not every day you shove 1 pair for almost 1 stack on a 4 straight board for value :

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 189.6 BB
SB: 152.4 BB
BB: 131.4 BB
UTG: 113.8 BB
Hero (MP): 182.8 BB
CO: 405.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has A♠ A♣

UTG raises to 2.4 BB, Hero calls 2.4 BB, CO raises to 10 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to 28.8 BB, CO calls 18.8 BB

Flop: (61.4 BB, 2 players) Q♦ 7♥ 6♣
Hero bets 15.6 BB, CO calls 15.6 BB

Turn: (92.6 BB, 2 players) 9♥
Hero bets 44.4 BB, CO calls 44.4 BB

River: (181.4 BB, 2 players) 8♣
Hero bets 94 BB and is all-in, fold

Hero wins 173.8 BB
Rake paid 7.6 BB

Call PF because EP has a high fold to 3bet and the stacks are quite deep so if I face a squeeze I can then manipulate the size of the pot better than if I had 3bet - if I 3bet a lot of hands that would have squeezed will cold call and then it's difficult to put all the stacks in postflop while being confidant I'd get called by worse. Back to the hand, on the river I thought that villain's most likely hand is KK (he put 29bb PF with his hand and called 2 barrels in a 4bet pot after all) with the occasional slowplayed QQ and because I am OOP, I think shoving is better because if I check it's basically impossible to get value from worse and only QQ shoves river. Villain tanked OTR and ended up folding, maybe he had the Kh and decided that there was not enough bluffs in my range, we'll never know

16k hands in 10 days though, I'll reach 30k hands for sure this month. Lost 22$ in a WCOOP 6max tournament, I played it very badly and leveled myself instead of keeping it simple, bravo once more ♦

I have a new life goal of quitting caffeine, after watching this video:

While I knew pretty much everything that guy said, I guess hearing it at the right moment (I was already thinking that I was having too much of this drug), increased my motivation

Partly for the reasons mentioned, I limit my caffeine intact to max 2 cups and both before 10:00
In addition to the sleep effects, coffee is also a diuretic, which is a problem in itself.

I wake up two or three times most nights, so I go to bed quite early so I get enough sleep in total, since I pretty much always wake up at the same time (07:00)

Let us know how kicking caffeine goes -- I find that it is harder to quit coffee than any other habit I've ever broken.
Except tobacco -- for some reason I had no trouble stopping smoking -- but I was only 16 then, so that might be why.

Cheers,
VS

Thanks for the support

I have up to 4-5 double espressos per day so it is way too much. I usually have huge headaches when I quit so I might not play a lot in the coming days.

Quitting tobacco was an on and off process for me, I have been a non-smoker for 3 years though, thanks to someone on this forum who mentioned Allen Carr's books, the only thing that helped me.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-Smoking/dp/1405923318

In case someone reading this wants to quit smoking - this is from a guy that was smoking 1 pack a day at least, more during weekends

These swings are normal. It is an opportunity to work on your strategic and mental game.
When I played poorly I am usually able to reset my mental state saying to myself: No matter what happened, it has passed. It doesn't define me. I can always improve and start fresh and new.
Stay strong! 💪🏻

416.50 Strategy Points, Gold Status soon. I played 25k hands this month so it looks like my 30k hands goal was not that ambitious after all

Still grinding back my NL10 losses as well as my losses in tournaments this month (49.5$), I was tempted to do too many WCOOPS...

In the meantime I noticed leaks in my game: I am folding to cbets 50% of the time*, I lose money when I call 3bets compared to if I would be folding in some positions, I have a WWSF of 44% (around 50% would be better), and I raise cbets 4.5% of the time (3.8% in BB!).

*this is consistent across all positions, so while I think it would be difficult to deny auto-profit from BB when BT cbets 1/3 (it has to work 25% to auto-profit, which means BB should defend more than 75%, this sounds like madness), I think it's a problem that I fold 50% when I cold call IP, isn't it? I probably CC too much from MP as well (10%, same as CO, doesn't make sense, I VPIP 15.5% in MP when EP opens, and it's bad because I'm asking to get squeezed, I play a capped range, it will get multiway and I will pay rake etc.)

Looking forward to the Gold Status so that I can watch more videos like this to work on my preflop leaks:

And these for my flop leaks:

Here's the month so far:

I won 29BI of NL5 in almost 24k hands this month, and because of that I feel entitled to play higher and that I am wasting my time, which is a bit of an exaggeration I'm telling this to myself out of frustration. Anyway, if I win 1BI/1k hands at NL5 I'll be back (on average) at 250$ in 15k hands, and if in the meantime I work on my leaks I should get back stronger and feel more comfortable, 15k hands isn't much if I am in this for the long run

Originally posted by Swish29
Looking forward to the Gold Status so that I can watch more videos like this to work on my preflop leaks:

That looks like a very, very good set of videos.

In the past I had ignored videos, since they take so long, and unless I stop and take notes and I have pretty much forgotten what I learned by the time I reach the end.

I've marked them to watch myself.

PokerStars - $0.05 NL FAST (6 max) - Holdem - 6 players
Hand converted by PokerTracker 4

BTN: 109.4 BB
SB: 100 BB
BB: 133.6 BB
Hero (UTG): 152.8 BB
MP: 51.2 BB
CO: 195.6 BB

SB posts SB 0.4 BB, BB posts BB 1 BB

Pre Flop: (pot: 1.4 BB) Hero has 5♣ 5♠

Hero raises to 2.4 BB, fold, fold, fold, fold, BB calls 1.4 BB

Flop: (5.2 BB, 2 players) 6♠ 5♥ 4♦
BB checks, Hero bets 1.6 BB, BB calls 1.6 BB

Turn: (8.4 BB, 2 players) 6♣
BB checks, Hero bets 4 BB, BB raises to 12.8 BB, Hero raises to 38.4 BB, BB calls 25.6 BB

River: (85.2 BB, 2 players) T♣
BB bets 21 BB, Hero raises to 110.4 BB and is all-in, BB calls 70.2 BB and is all-in

Hero shows 5♣ 5♠ (Full House, Fives full of Sixes)
(Pre 19%, Flop 89%, Turn 91%)
BB shows T♥ T♠ (Full House, Tens full of Sixes)
(Pre 81%, Flop 11%, Turn 9%)
BB wins 256.4 BB
Rake paid 11.2 BB

Quite tilted by this hand, just how terrible does one have to be to take this line turn? I would seriously give money to hear his thinking process

Also tilted by this news: https://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/world-of-poker/High-stakes-pro-Fedor-Kruse-accused-of-using-real-time-solvers_114798/ it's a bit sad to invest time and effort to get better in anything if you know it is doomed. Also I saw someone I perceived to be a crusher win at NL100 at 3bb/100, that's really not as much as I expected

Already reached my 30k hands goal this month (initially I was supposed to be away last weekend but it did not happen in the end), I'll try to push it to 45-50k. I am supposed to travel 5 days at the end of the month but the Covid situation may prevent that so let's see.

I lost 49.5$ in MTTs this month so I am still not back at 250$ (what I would like to have before playing NL10)

Impressive looking graph -- this is at NL 5 I presume?
You may have said this before, but do you play fast-fold or regular tables?

Either way, good going!

Thanks
Most of it is NL5, but there are 2k hands of NL10, here's the breakdown -

NL5:

NL10:

I play fast-fold games, there are still a lot of fish at NL5 and regs that have huge leaks like folding too much vs steals/3bets or doing some serious missplays in huge pots. Maybe the regular speed tables are softer but I would be surprised if it would be worth it given that I would play a lot less hands per hour.

I hear so often in the forums that "I can't beat zoom" yet you seem to be doing OK -- well done.
Any idea regarding the NL 10?
You seemed to be doing fine for the first 1200 hands or so