[Closed] Mike's poker diary

Just thought I'd update regarding my silver status. Poker takes a backseat until I read all of these articles

Hope u will learn a lot out of it. You can combine learning and playing as well. It's more fun imo. For example: playing 2hours a day, learning 1hour... But you can arrange it like you prefer of course

Good luck and congratulations on becoming a silver member!

Tried SSS again today. Downswing continues for another $7 or so. Luckily I just grabbed my first bonus so it's not much of a setback.

EDIT: ... I'm at a 10 bi downswing. I think every set I made got outdrawn, and ran AK/KK into aces at least 4 times. Downswing go awayyyy...

EDIT2: Wish granted. I won a SnG without needing to suck out. BR back at 115.

I'm on a downswing... 7 buyins so far. I guess I'm not going into details, since I'm trying to deal with bad beats and I don't want to dwell on them any longer. I will, however, say that I lost to two two-outers at the begnning of my session. I'm confident that I'm not making tilty raises/plays.

However, I think a lot of regular players on my limit have realized my strategy, and the big stacks are raising what seems to be all of my cbets. I plan to do a longer session on Tuesday- about 7 hours or so as long as I don't get fatigued.

Hopefully two seven hour sessions will help me get really close to the next limit so that players will not be able to identify my strategy strictly because they know my username by now.

I've broken a little positive on small SnG's, but I think the variance is too high for such low limits, so I will not play them anymore.

Goals: Move to 0.10/0.20 by the 20th.

Hey,

Originally posted by mikeymoo
that I lost to two two-outers at the begnning of my session. I'm confident that I'm not making tilty raises/plays.

I am loosing to two-outers 24/7) its actually my favourite hand to loose)

However, I think a lot of regular players on my limit have realized my strategy, and the big stacks are raising what seems to be all of my cbets. I plan to do a longer session on Tuesday- about 7 hours or so as long as I don't get fatigued.

Hopefully two seven hour sessions will help me get really close to the next limit so that players will not be able to identify my strategy strictly because they know my username by now.

It`s all your big illusion. Nobody is watching you on NL 10, believe me... Most of your opponents are whether morons or limit climbers or grinders they are called, I guess.. The last category is likely beginners, who study the game, but still make a lot of mistakes...

What I can see from your post is that you are likely making mistakes when cbetting... since you have to push most of the time, not giving the chance to reraise you. For this reason post your hands...

Thanks Xylere. I always appreciate reading your posts.

I know that you are very familiar with the beginners' SSS.

You bet about 2/3 of the pot.
If your stack is smaller than or even pot size, you go all-in instantly.
If your opponent raises you after you made a bet, you have to fold.
(For trash hands.)

This scenario is the one I am being raised on. Perhaps my opponents just happened to have something today. You are probably right that I am just being paranoid of my opponents. If I raise to 0.50 and get one caller (0.05/0.10), I cbet for about 0.70-0.80. My stack before this cbet is 1.50 or so, and the pot is 1.15 or less. I do not move in right away, and must fold to a raise.

It is this case that I am always check raised or raised on.

I will probably post some hands after my next session.

Mike

PS: Thank you for giving me the initiative to reread those articles to double check. As I play, I tend to revert to a style that is more indicative of my live play (which has no reverse implied odds).

You bet about 2/3 of the pot.
If your stack is smaller than or even pot size, you go all-in instantly.
If your opponent raises you after you made a bet, you have to fold.
(For trash hands.)

This scenario is the one I am being raised on. Perhaps my opponents just happened to have something today. You are probably right that I am just being paranoid of my opponents. If I raise to 0.50 and get one caller (0.05/0.10), I cbet for about 0.70-0.80. My stack before this cbet is 1.50 or so, and the pot is 1.15 or less. I do not move in right away, and must fold to a raise.

yes, you are right, that`s what basic strategy says. But this strategy is Basic, it works fine, but there some obvious situations that can not be covered there... Ok it`s hard to explain in one post, I will try to provide two simple exmples.

1) Stack: 20BB and you hold JJ on the button, CO limps, you raise 5BB, SB folds, BB calls, CO folds.

Flop: Ah Ts 5c (2 players) Pot: 11,5 BB Stack: 15BB
Ok, here you are wa/wb. you are way ahead if he doesn`t hold an Ace and you are way behind if he holds an Ace (you have only two outs to improve).
Here you do what the strategy says, cbet 2/3 and fold, since you don`t want to risk your stack in the situation where you have only 2 outs in case you are behind...

1) Stack: 20BB and you hold AKs (clubs) on the button, CO limps, you raise 5BB, SB folds, BB calls, CO folds.

Flop: Jc Ts 7h (2 players) Pot: 11,5 BB Stack: 15BB

You are betting 2/3 (say 7BB) and your opponent re-raisng you all-in. Now fold is a huge mistake here ! your stack after betting is 8BB, so you are getting 8BB/ (11,5BB initial pot + 7BB your bet + 15BB rearaise=33,5BB) = 3:1 pot odds, which means that you have to win only in 1/3+1 = 25% of the time... Given that you have most likely 10 or close live outs here, you will have enough equity again ALMOST ANY possible range... So you can`t really fold here any more... What you do is push insted of cbetting, because on top of your equity advantage (that I described above) you are getting fold equity and what is also important you are not giving your opponent a chance to bluff you out...

so as a very general rule its profitable to push when you hold overcards + some outs (gutshot, backdoor flush) and your stack:pot ratio is 1.5:1... but I strongly recommend you to avoid any general rules, instead just post hands where you made a cbet and you think it might be wrong... after some time you will start to recognize situations, where it might be profitable to push....

Wow! Thanks!

I always thought since SSS was a winning strategy that I would play it to the letter and play as I have been before. The thinking you've displayed has always been logical to me, but I could never bring myself to open push with two overcards or w/e because open-pushing (imo) is sometimes viewed as a sign of weakness. I guess SSS does have a bit of room to maneuver, as you've shown.

Thanks again!

Originally posted by mikeymoo
Wow! Thanks!

I always thought since SSS was a winning strategy that I would play it to the letter and play as I have been before. The thinking you've displayed has always been logical to me, but I could never bring myself to open push with two overcards or w/e because open-pushing (imo) is sometimes viewed as a sign of weakness. I guess SSS does have a bit of room to maneuver, as you've shown.

Thanks again!

You are welcome)
about "open-pushing (imo) is sometimes viewed as a sign of weakness": I implement it both ways, meaning that when I have a made hand and my stack is 1.5 bigger then pot I will aslo push, instead of betting 2/3 as a strategy suggests... and since they see me pushing with overcards (while having no idea that my push with overcards is absolutely +EV) they will call more liberally, usually with pockets... In this way they always have to guess what a hell of a hand I am holding)

this becomes more effective on later limits, where opponents pay more attention to what you are doing...

I'm still on the same downswing. It's kind of gross, QQ has lost 6 times straight.

But anyway, I feel I am playing well but maybe need a break. I was going to post some hands, but forgot to turn on the app >_<.

I've lost 10 ss buyins, so $20. I'm just glad this didn't happen when I was starting out.

Variance got in the way of my goals, and I don't want to play bad/spew just to move up to 0.10/0.20 so I'll simply postpone that goal.

Xylere, about how many hands did it take you to move up? Did you use any bonuses?

I had my first underset in a very long time. QQ vs. KK. It kinda made me laugh.

As much as I want to learn, I think I may be applying a bit too much higher-level thinking for these limits. I will try and discipline myself to my previous type of play, which did not have any steal raising. It was strictly by the SSS hand chart etc.

BR at 96, but I'm confident I can grind it to $150 by the end of January (holidays are busy and i might not get much time to play)

Until next time.

Well, I moved to NL 25 after 15k hands or smthing, but after two sessions on NL 25, where I lost 20 stacks, I had to go back and played another 5k on NL 10...

Your idea to stick to SHC is quite good, since this is the fastest way to climb first three limits) add hand posting and you will be there in no time)

LOL bad beat today.

Had AK on 4 tables.

And my connection died.

I'm not playing until I either have LAN or my wireless stops waving.

Won a very strange hand with AK early for $3.50, then promptly lost $4 in two separate coinflips.

Was like a 10 minute session thanks to my connection. =/

I'm surprised that I got so many playable hands so quickly.

EDIT: Okay, I got the connection fixed.

Ran really really good. No tilty plays at all, and only one steal-raise from the button (KJs or something).

Won every pot that was contested for my entire stack, and left every table with at least 25 bbs, no rebuys or addons necessary.

It feels so so good to run good again. I'm not going to say I'm outstanding with discipline, I'd rather attribute it to my luck today.

Yesssssssssssssssssss.......

I had a questionable scenario today, and I'm not sure where to post it.

I was in UTG+1 and held JJ. UTG raises for more than his usual 4x, and goes for 5x. I felt like he was trying to protect AQ or KQ, so I pushed, hoping my chances of winning were 52% or whatever it turns out to be. (There was also a blind post, so it's def. +EV if he only has two overcards.)

I won the hand, doubling up to $3 (0.05/0.10)

Then I found myself UTG (and other guy tilting, this was his third all in since I got to the table) with the same hand, JJ.

I folded and left. I didn't want to put myself in a marginal situation.

What do you think?

I also had JJ the hand after I had cbetted my way to $2.60. The guy in front of me, who I am sure is playing SSS, raised it to 0.60. I folded and got out of his way; I didn't have the Silver guide to beating other SSS players and once again did not want to jeopardize my stack for a coin flip at best. (EDIT: Okay, looked it up and I was actually 50.2%... with 2 limpers I should have gone for it, but hey, it's all about learning.)

Anyway, summary.

Wireless sucks.

Running good makes me feel good.

Over and out.

Hi mikeymoo!

Nice to hear that you are running good although your internet connection sucks. Concering the JJ hands: If you don't feel comfortable playing this hand in a particular situation fold is always the best choice! Your examples are not explained in detail (stack sizes, blinds, etc.) which makes it difficult to analyze these situations. Could you please post these hands in our sample hands board to get further advice from experienced players and our hand judges?!

Good luck at the tables!
Puschkin81

Puschkin,

I was going to post, but which do I post in?

I am not a short stack or a big stack =S

You should select one strategy: short stack strategy or big stack strategy. If you have a hand where you have at most 25 BB, you post it into the short stack strategy forum. If you have more than 25 BB you post it into the big stack strategy forum.

Good luck at the tables!
Puschkin81

puschkin, i think he is referring to that stage on a table where he is more than 25BB, and is waiting for the big blind to come to him.

@mikey, gj!

Originally posted by chenny8888
puschkin, i think he is referring to that stage on a table where he is more than 25BB, and is waiting for the big blind to come to him.

Which means he should post it into the big stack strategy sample hands board

Good luck at the tables!
Puschkin81

Originally posted by chenny8888
puschkin, i think he is referring to that stage on a table where he is more than 25BB, and is waiting for the big blind to come to him.

@mikey, gj!

I heard that judges in SSS sample forum are not afraid of stacks bigger than 25BB))) so feel free)

I guess I'll post in SSS and BSS judges are welcome to help out.

Tomorrow though. It's far too late for me.

So thanks to my fragile internet, I've decided to keep my sessions short and never exceed 2 hours a night.

Problem is, one hour is more than enough time for variance to turn its ugly, ugly head. What I've found is that if one bad beat simply went another way, I'd break even or move up.

The goal for me now is just to log as many hours as I can to smooth out the variance and slowly rise to the $150 level, where I can play for twice my current stakes.

I have to take mental breaks to convince myself that I am making +ev choices, and that 400 hands in one night is not nearly enough to base my assumptions about whether I am a winning or losing player. I have to consistently remind myself that I started with a paltry $50 and am nearly double that playing directly by the SSS. And that only took two weeks or so. Another two weeks from that, and I'm hovering at around the same number.

Some mistakes I have been making lately: (kinda tilty things to do with a short stack)
- Attempting too many steal-raises.
- Calling minimum raises from the BB
- Raising minimum raises with speculative hands for SSS like AQ, AJ, TT. (EDIT: Also flatcalling and playing passively postflop with these)
- Not playing incredibly passively from the big blind
- Flat-calling from the SB for implied odds that really aren't there at my 0.05/0.10 level

I will try and plug these leaks in my next session, whenever that may be.

I think I can.
I think I can.
I know I can.

EDIT: And titan tells me I'm $3 rake off of ny 2nd bonus. So that ought to soothe my pains a bit.