Congrats on diamond dude.. 
Still following your blog, just not really posting at the moment
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Originally posted by Tim64
Most annoying hand of the day:Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $1(BB) Replayer
SB ($62.20)
Hero ($223)
UTG ($68.80)
UTG+1 ($114)
CO ($194)
BTN ($85.75)Dealt to Hero 3♥ 4♥
UTG calls $1, fold, fold, fold, fold, Hero checks
FLOP ($2.50) Q♦ 9♥ 3♦
Hero bets $2, UTG raises to $4, Hero calls $2
TURN ($10.50) Q♦ 9♥ 3♦ 4♣
Hero bets $7, UTG raises to $14, Hero raises to $28, UTG raises to $63.80 (AI), Hero calls $35.80
RIVER ($138) Q♦ 9♥ 3♦ 4♣ 3♣
Hero shows 3♥ 4♥
(Pre 17%, Flop 13.6%, Turn 0.0%)UTG shows 4♦ 4♠
(Pre 83%, Flop 86.4%, Turn 100.0%)UTG wins $135
villain is 29/5... what are you going to do? Love it that he minRaises me on the flop with two overcards to his pocket pair.... The only reason I called on the flop was because he did this previously and so I suspected (correctly) that it was basically air.
even if u soul read him and u know he is bluffing it's gonna be impossible to continue oop if he is aggressive.U basically don't like any card that shows up expect from 4 and 3. so I rather just pitch it or rebluff him if I have a good read.
how are u doing bb/100 wise?
It's the end of my first month as a professional poker player. Results-wise it can't be considered a successful month.
Total poker profit: -$1447.67
Total Rakeback: $951.68
overall profit/loss: - $495.99
Total hours: 123.07
hourly rate: -$4.03
I lost about the same amount last month too, so that's two months in a row with a small loss. Because I've had to make some withdrawals (of r/bk) for RL, my bankroll has taken a bit of a beating, now hovering just over $6k.
I managed about 65,000 hands over the last month. That's a bit less than I had hoped for (75k). Things tailed off towards the end of the month as frankly I was getting depressed by the results and it was clear that things were not going well. So I have been upping the study time and also reducing the number of tables.
I don't want to play just for rake back (it wouldn't be sufficient in any event) so I need to get the poker element profitable as a matter of urgency. It's one thing stacking fish on NL 25 on NL 50, but playing profitably on NL 100 has proved beyond me and so I need to go back to school, so to speak.
I'm getting some coaching and working my way through the articles (all of them) and the aim is to get my non-showdown winnings to level off from the constant downhill slope that they have taken until now.
It's really important to me that next month (September) is a winning month poker wise. For that reason I have returned to nl50 for the bulk of my play and I'm going to be playing just 4/5 tables. I have been playing 4 tabs of nl50 on the left-hand screen and one table of nl100 (with a screen all to itself) on the right. This seems to work better and I have enough time to table select properly. The rakeback will suffer ofc but it can't be helped. The net effect of playing losing poker at nl100 is an overall reduction in my bankroll and obviously that can't go on forever.
As with so many forms of knowledge/skill acquisition, the more you learn the more you realise how little you actually know. I'm still a very long way off having the solid game needed to grind away contentedly without making obvious mistakes. Decisions which to my coach come naturally have me furrowing my brow, the mouse pointer hovering undecided over the fold or call button.
Good things to come out of this month:
-The run-hot of June is long gone now I know how much work I'm going to have to put in so I can just start getting on with it.
-I made Diamond on PS.com, which is definitely some kind of achievement. It's quite likely my rank might drop down again soon as 4 tables of nl50 producers a lot less rakeback than 8 tables of nl100 .
-I've managed a decent volume with not too much discomfort.
Here's hoping September is better. Thanks for reading!
Tim 64
I thought it was worthwhile recording my feelings right at this moment as I am pretty downbeat.
I really had hoped September would get off to a good start and for a while it seemed it was going to but the last few days have been pretty bad. Quite a few setups and some poor play and now I'm $800 down for the month. This sucks a lot because there is no doubt in my mind that I'm a better player now than I was a few months ago and it's so frustrating not to see that reflected in results.
Of course one understands that that is the very nature of poker in the short term, but nevertheless one can't help feeling how one feels and blindly continuing is not the answer.
Although my bankroll is still okay for NL100 (around 50 BI) I'm not sure I feel comfortable playing at that limit any more. I'm not sure I'm making good decisions and every time I drop another $100, it's like someone digs a nail in my side.
I have about 40k hands at NL50 now and I think the best thing to do is to grind through to 100k and then see where we are. If my bankroll is a bit healthier by then and I have maintained a decent winrate (around 4bb/100 at the moment on nl50) I might think about going back up to nl100.
Yours, the disappointed pro.
Hang on in there mate, the first few months are always tough.
But I have watched you play and you are 10x better cash game player than you were only a month or two ago.
Poker has a habit of kicking you when you are down but im sure you will be ok
Sad to hear you Tim, but keep up with the good work and everything will eventually turn around
Well today for the first time, I really enjoyed playing poker. Of course it helped that I ended the day more or less five stacks up but honestly that is a relatively small part of it.
Two of my favourite hands from today:
Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Replayer
SB ($65.70)
BB ($61.55)
UTG ($50)
UTG+1 ($58.50)
Hero ($73.10)
BTN ($52.50)
Dealt to Hero 2♠ 2♣
fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.75, BTN calls $1.75, fold, fold
FLOP ($4.25) 5♠ 7♦ 3♦
Hero bets $3, BTN calls $3
TURN ($10.25) 5♠ 7♦ 3♦ T♠
Hero checks, BTN bets $6, Hero raises to $15, BTN calls $9
RIVER ($40.25) 5♠ 7♦ 3♦ T♠ 3♥
Hero checks, BTN bets $32.75 (AI), Hero calls $32.75
Hero shows 2♠ 2♣
(Pre 48%, Flop 43.4%, Turn 54.5%)
BTN shows 6♠ 8♠
(Pre 52%, Flop 56.6%, Turn 45.5%)
Hero wins $102
Well, on the turn villain has a boat load of equity and would not have been making any great mistake just shoving over my gayraise. I was actually hating life quite a lot when he called. Had put him random over cards which he was floating me with... Somehow managed to find a call on the River when he shoved his busted draws.
Other hand I lost after being ahead right to the river:
Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Replayer
SB ($51.15)
BB ($82.85)
UTG ($74.40)
Hero ($103)
CO ($53.25)
BTN ($50)
Dealt to Hero T♠ K♦
fold, Hero raises to $1.75, fold, fold, fold, BB calls $1.25
FLOP ($3.75) A♥ J♣ Q♣
BB bets $2.50, Hero raises to $10, BB calls $7.50
TURN ($23.75) A♥ J♣ Q♣ 6♥
BB checks, Hero bets $20, BB calls $20
RIVER ($63.75) A♥ J♣ Q♣ 6♥ J♥
BB bets $51.10 (AI), Hero folds
BB wins $60.75
Pretty disgusting River. I think the old me would have called and hated my life when being shown the inevitable fh. Being 200bb is pretty amazing when you flop the nuts and pretty awful when you have to pay another 100bb to find out you are dead.
Most amusing hand of the night involved a highly aggressive fish had been donking out of position and just shoving over my flop raises. I hadn't had anything I could call with before. Pretty chuffed when he flipped over his cards and I saw that, unbelievably, my 6-high flush draw was actually dominating his:
Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Replayer
SB ($38.30)
BB ($155)
UTG ($62.60)
UTG+1 ($104)
Hero ($58.05)
BTN ($103)
Dealt to Hero 5♠ 6♠
fold, fold, Hero raises to $1.75, fold, SB calls $1.50, fold
FLOP ($4) 5♣ 8♠ J♠
SB bets $1.50, Hero raises to $7, SB raises to $36.55 (AI), Hero calls $29.55
TURN ($77.10) 5♣ 8♠ J♠ 5♦
RIVER ($77.10) 5♣ 8♠ J♠ 5♦ Q♠
Hero shows 5♠ 6♠
(Pre 65%, Flop 95.8%, Turn 100.0%)
SB shows 3♠ 4♠
(Pre 35%, Flop 4.2%, Turn 0.0%)
Hero wins $74.10
Let's hope this continues...
p.s. thanks to Lennonac and RahXephon1 for the assistance today
p.p.s thanks also to PokerStrategy for my lovely new red hoodie which they sent me for being so annoying and posting all my dumb hands in the forums.
Grabbed by Holdem Manager
NL Holdem $0.50(BB) Replayer
Hero ($50.25)
BB ($75.75)
UTG ($50.75)
CO ($20.75)
BTN ($49.25)
Dealt to Hero Q♦ K♦
fold, fold, fold, Hero raises to $2, BB raises to $6, Hero calls $4
FLOP ($12) 6♥ Q♠ 6♠
Hero checks, BB bets $6.50, Hero calls $6.50
TURN ($25) 6♥ Q♠ 6♠ J♣
Hero checks, BB checks
RIVER ($25) 6♥ Q♠ 6♠ J♣ 3♥
Hero checks, BB bets $14.50, Hero calls $14.50
Hero shows Q♦ K♦
(Pre 30%, Flop 16.8%, Turn 10.2%)
BB shows Q♣ A♠
(Pre 70%, Flop 83.2%, Turn 89.8%)
BB wins $51.30
Wtf??? 
Villain is a standard Taggish reg: 21/17/7, 8% 3b, 150 hands.
Do I have any reason to think he is 3betting me light? No.
Is it a good idea to call out of position with an easily dominated hand? No.
Is villain likely to be bluffing me on the river? No.
Am I always going to get shown at least AQ here? Yes.
Should I ever, ever do this again? NO.
A few setups and a bunch of idiotic plays like the one above cost me all yesterday's profit. Wise up, monkey-fish-boy.
Off to sunny spain tomorrow for a week of seafood, sangria and sun.
Sssssssswwweeeeeeet!
Just got back yesterday. Had an extra day as motorway pileup caused us to miss our flight and we had to have an extra night in Alicante, which was actually a really pleasant surprise with loads of amazing restaurants and classy architecture. The city goes back to the 1500's and is not (as I had supposed) a new creation built for the tourist trade
Chris, we stayed in Xabia/Javea on the Costa Blanca, about 100 km north of Alicante, where the family has had a place for many years.
Kind of undecided about returning to the UK and poker. Also trying to wrap my head around the changes at Full Tilt. Can't decide whether I should be happy about being a black cardmember or annoyed about the fact that, apparently, it's going to affect my rake back, since rake is calculated differently from before.
Well, month two is over. Unfortunately I have to report another (slightly) losing month:
Total poker profit: -$973.52
Total Rakeback: $721.59
overall profit/loss: - $251.93
Total hours: 107.41
hourly rate: -$2.35
That makes three losing months in a row. It's really hard to know exactly what's going on. However, until July, every month since September 2009 had been profitable, so I think it's unreasonable of me to assume the heavens have fallen. Almost all of my losses came in nl100, where I continued to play a few tables selectively, at the beginning of the month.
For the 25K hands I played at nl50 this month, I've only lost two buyins, which is really nothing to cry about. When you consider that I've generated over $300 r/back from those 25K hands there's even less reason to cry: at nl50 I have managed to make a small but reasonable profit. After 50,000 hands I'm on about 3bb/100 which is much less than I would like but still nothing to be ashamed about.
My goals for October are fairly simple: play 2000 hands per day, for 25 days and reach 100k hands at nl50. Continue to work on my game and, with the help of my coach, improve my win rate. I would really like to get to something approaching 5bb/100 at this limit. I'm not sure whether that's going to be possible but it is my aim.
Despite the fact that the first two months of the experiment in playing professionally have gone - objectively - badly, I'm still quietly optimistic. My bankroll is solid, and even after taking a small hit, remains very healthy for my current limit. As part of treating poker is a business one has to expect months where you will not make money and will need to withdraw from capital to sustain living expenses. If after six months, as I have said before, I've had to withdraw a lot of my bankroll to keep the family fed, then I will know it's time (gracefully) to admit defeat.
There will be no shame in that. Better to have tried and failed than never to have tried, a famous somebody once said.
Now, come on October - help me out! I don't want to go back to 9 to 5 life...
Thanks for Reading!
Tim 64
if u arent making enough money on nl100+ y dont u just 24 table nl50 rakeback pro style? I know this is bad for your game but it can make u alot of money.
oh, i didnt know u play SH.
Well, any idea is a good idea if it makes you try s/thing new, so thanks for dropping by.