Hello everyone!
My name's Money, and I'm a fish :f_biggrin:! However, that's all about to change, with the good people and infinite wisdom here at pokerstrategy! My idea for this blog is to log the adventures of someone who just starts out in poker, from 
to 
to ♠_grin: to ♠_cool:! I'm going to try to identify what I think is improving about my game as I'm going along, to make a little "Beginner's Guide" from my point of vew. Of course, I'll also be posting results graphs, hands, and all that good stuff!
I'd better introduce myself! (TLDR section :P!)
My RL name is John, and I just finished a PhD in physics in Barcelona. I worked pretty hard especially for the last year or so, so the relief of actually having a few hours where I could do what I wanted afterwards was amazing ♦! I had played a few hands of poker before, and signed up here in last year sometime. Whenever I started to read/play poker, I got really into it, but always ended up being too busy after a week or so, and so dropped it again! I graduated in December, and now how been getting back into it again, but I think this time I'm hooked ♦!
My other hobbies include Starcraft II (I play lower platinum, but with no practice :P!). I've heard a good few times that there's a link between these two, with SCII pros becoming poker pros, and even visa-versa! I think this is because it's all about making "correct decisions", quickly, and under pressure, and above all, doing so in response to what your opponent is doing. It's about being able to develop good strategies, while being quickly able to adapt them to your opponents style of play. Also, being one step ahead, and predicting/controlling your opponents actions. From what I've seen, there's a lot of that to poker too!
Another thing that I think draws me to poker, is that I really love trying to understand why people think what they think. In fact, I almost quit my first year of physics in university to do psychology... but didn't ♦! I'm glad I didn't, but I'm still really fascinated by what motivates people's actions.
Apart from that, I'm really drawn to poker as an awesome metaphor for life. It's random. You can't choose your starting position, and you can't choose the actions of those around you. But if you consistently make correct decisions, you can beat the game :f_cool:! Also, you have to learn to accept that good things and bad things come, but if you play well, you will come out winning! What does playing well mean? Well, have a good strategy, try to see things from other people's points of view, and respect them. Even the fish have two-pair sometimes :f_biggrin:! It's all about +EV baby!
Now, down to business!! (That's the MSS NL4/5 shipping business btw ;)!)
The first graph I posted here looked something like this 
Spoiler
I was down $10 after 700 hands...
After the dear members here at PS correctly called me out for being a fish :f_love:, I realised I had to take stock of me game. I think my biggest weakness was not respecting raises from fishes on the turn, and always expecting them to be bluffing. Also, I NEVER saw draws coming lol, and thought top pair was unbeatable! If I'm honest, I'd have to admit to reading only the starting hand chart carefully, and glossing through the post-flop play.
So, I went back and re-read all the material, and steadied my game, and played pretty break even for a few hundred hands. Then, I started posting some hands in the evaluation forums, and after another few hundred hands, I just "got the feel for it", for how to fold when behind, and extract value when I was ahead.
Now, I'm happy to report that since things have been looking more like this:
Spoiler
Now, there's two ways of looking at this. The first is that I'm -4bb/100 :f_biggrin:! On the other hand, my winrate for the last three sessions has been 24, 36, and 44 bb/100 :f_cool:!
The truth is probably somewhere in between! I've definitely had variance of my side of the last while, but I've definitely improved my game also, so I'm looking forward to where it takes me to for 10000 hands ♦!
Stay tuned to see how I run...
Lot's of 
to the community for their help so far,
Cheers,
Money.
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