Hi all,
Little bit about me. I started playing late 2012th with free 10$. Built up to the point I was taking shots at 10NL with very low volume, around 10-15k hands per month. I stopped playing before summer and had to take my bankroll to pay off college.
Finally at the start of this year I managed to gather 100$, registered on pokerstars and decided to play zoom. Feels good to be back playing again, started on NL5 and had few bad beats one day where everything went wrong and tilted me a bit so lost a bit more because of that. My roll fell and I moved down to NL2. I decided I will make a blog to keep me motivated and get some help with my play. No more screwing around, just keep on playing good poker.
Going to try to play at least 2 hours daily for start, before my problem was I was getting scared when I ran good and was afraid of getting more volume in so I dont have loosing day, hopefully I will get over that.
Along my regular job, I have also started working as a freelance email marketing manager, that is something I have experience with and hopefully will grow in that area too. Have to finish college this year too, so not that much extra time. All the time Im left with will go into poker.
I have started to go to the gym from November to gain on some weight, was always an active athlete but last few years I lost allot, most due to my wrist being permanently injured and when I push it to hard on some movements it inflames and presses the nerve down so I cant move it for a week straight from all the pain. So yeah, getting over that obstacle too. Why you ask? Because I love to train and improve, so far I control what I do and everything is going nicely.
I will post hands Id like to have opinion on here and how my sessions were going, hopefully in a fun and interesting way.
Fun part now:
Poker goals:
- Make it regular to grind atleast 2 hours daily
- Get handle on being attached to money and bankroll status. Its a long ride.
Life goals (because you gotta have life goals in poker blog ♦ ):
- Finish that Masters thesis work and be done with college.
- Get back in shape and get some muscle.
So, to start it off, here is my graph for now (NL5 and NL2 combined):
and todays session:
I am satisfied with my play today, especially with folds in situations with overpairs on tricky boards.
I noticed ZOOM seems allot more agressive, rarely I see someone limping in, people like to steal allot etc. Big problem for me was not having information on anyone since pool is so big, I used to rely allot on my reads, have to adjust to play a bit more in the vacuum untill I get on higher stakes I guess. Any tips welcome.
Some hands that might be interesting and my though process:
Hand converted with online PokerStrategy.com hand converter:
$0.01/$0.02 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Known players:
[tg]BU$2.60:///////;SB$2.55:///////;BB (Hero)$2.32:///////;MP2$1.16:///////;MP3$4.55:///////;CO$2.00:///////;[/tg]
Preflop: Hero is BB with Q:d, Q:s.
MP2 folds, MP3 raises to $0.08, CO raises to $0.22, 2 folds, Hero calls $0.20, MP3 folds.
I decided to call my QQ on BB preflop vs 3bet, I would hate to have it fold vs a 5bet without any information. I get to keep his whole range in and I can play it easy when I see the flop.
Flop: ($0.53) 5:c, Q:h, 8:s (2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $0.38, Hero calls $0.38.
I score big, expect him to bet this kind of board with his whole range so I go for check/call, raising would probably get to many folds on so dry flop, another reason why Im not afraid to slow play it here.
Turn: ($1.29) 9:c (2 players)
Hero checks, CO checks.
I checked here and planned on raising his barrel. Turn card doesnt change much in my opinion given the preflop play, though he checks behind.
River: ($1.29) 5:s (2 players)
Hero bets $0.40, CO calls $0.40.
Here I go for value bet vs his underpairs and maybe some stubborn AK hands he doesnt want to let go since my bet is on lower side, can also induce shove from his AA/KK, though he might have bet that on the turn if he had it.
Final Pot: $2.09.
Results follow:
Spoiler
CO shows two pairs, jacks and fives(J:c J:h).Hero shows a full-house, queens full of fives(Q:d Q:s).Hero wins with a full-house, queens full of fives(Q:d Q:s).
$0.01/$0.02 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Known players:
[tg]BU$3.25:///////;SB$0.13:///////;BB$2.09:///////;MP2$1.43:///////;MP3$2.34:///////;CO (Hero)$2.00:///////;[/tg]
Preflop: Hero is CO with K:s, 9:s.
2 folds, Hero raises to $0.06, 2 folds, BB calls $0.04.
Flop: ($0.13) 7:s, 5:c, J:s (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.08, BB raises to $0.16, Hero calls $0.08.
I get flushdraw on the flop with 1 higher card, I bet to take down the pot now and I can improve on the turn for another barrel. I get check raised here, given his position and the amount I put him either on AJ, Axs kind of draw. Either way, price is ok to me and I call in position, getting it in wasnt really what I wanted here since I saw allot of times people turning over Ax hands here.
Turn: ($0.45) 4:s (2 players)
BB bets $0.10, Hero raises to $0.30, BB calls $0.20.
Given his small bet on the turn I doubt he has the flush here. Either TPTK or an overpair maybe. I raise anyway to make him pay if he just wanted cheaper showdown.
River: ($1.05) 3:c (2 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $0.40, BB calls $0.40.
River is interesting, I doubt I will get much if I bet big here given his turn play. I bet on smaller side to get some value from his TPTK or something like that.
Final Pot: $1.85.
Results follow:
Spoiler
BB shows a pair of queens(Q:s Q:h).Hero shows a flush, king high(K:s 9:s).Hero wins with a flush, king high(K:s 9:s).
$0.01/$0.02 No-Limit Hold'em (6 handed)
Known players:
[tg]BU$2.27:///////;SB$3.69:///////;BB$1.83:///////;MP2 (Hero)$2.50:///////;MP3$1.93:///////;CO$2.06:///////;[/tg]
Preflop: Hero is MP2 with Q:d, Q:s.
Hero raises to $0.08, MP3 calls $0.08, 2 folds, SB calls $0.07, BB folds.
Flop: ($0.26) 3:d, T:c, 4:h (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets $0.16, MP3 calls $0.16, SB folds.
Kinda dry flop, I bet here for value vs any Tx connectors and maybe some 56s hands they like to call with
Turn: ($0.58) J:h (2 players)
Hero bets $0.32, MP3 raises to $0.72, Hero folds, MP3 gets uncalled bet back.
Final Pot: $0.9.
Maybe I should have bet bigger here, not sure. He called my flop bet 3way on more dry than wet flop and makes a raise now. I doubt players on these limits do semibluff raises here out of calling 3way preflop, I think he probably got his set on the flop and fold my overpairs. No info so playing it standard.
Thanks for reading
