In Response to Re: F_Ivanovic 20nl to 100nl Q+A welcome : True. Not sure how it relates to my thread but nvm!! I think one of my biggest +ev decisions is sticking away from 'gambling' when I know that I'm not a favourite. ie. casino games/sports betting.
Completely with you on this one.
I can never get my head around the attraction of casino games like roulette, or slot machines in general. It's impossible to win over time, so what's the point?
At least with poker, or general sports betting, it is possible to gain an edge if you have enough skill.
Some people actually believe they have a system to win in casino games, which is the most laughable thing. I used to be mates with someone who was reasonably clever in most ways but they actually believed they could win at online slot machines with a system they had. One night they spun up to £5k from about £200 - but then a few hours later and he'd lost everything! Ironically he had "targets for 2011" on his wall and one of his targets was to make/save £5000.
Not updated for a while and it's mostly because I just haven't played at all over the festive period! Gave myself a week off because I knew I wasn't going to make priority anyway and just didn't feel up to grinding this week. Played a bit yesterday though and have played a bit more tonight. Yesterday went up and then down. Lost £150 playing omaha and decided to quit for the day. Half an hour later though I was back on the tables. Won a nice £170 pot when I flopped middle set and a flush draw and got it in vs bottom set + top 2. Both drawing thinly to 2/3 outs between them and I held. Ended up about even.
Today I started off badly as well losing 2-3 buyins playing 20PLO and a BI playing 40NLH. However I made 2 BI at 40NLH and 6 at 20PLO and finished around £100 up in the end. Then tonight had another session and finished another £70 up. Won 2 BI's at NL40 and almost a BI at 50PLO but then encountered a cooler at NLH. Got it in with AA vs KK and the kings hit a set OTT.
3 days till the end of the 2013 and I probably won't achieve my target of being a 100NL reg. But I'm more than happy with my results this year and don't think there's any need to rush becoming a 100NL reg. I'm comfortable with the stakes I'm playing atm and making enough money at these stakes to rush into taking a shot at 100NL!
Will start off this post by saying Happy new year too everyone!
Spent NYE round a mate's house who I'd not seen in a while.. was originally going to be a few of us meeting up but ended up just him and me so we played a lot of FIFA and some Survival on MW3! Didn't drink as much as I'd planned because his housemate's friend accidentally took my bag of alcohol to another house party so I was stuck with just having some drinks that my mate had. I was going to attempt to enter the TRUTHORBLUFF comp but couldn't think of a single good idea.
Woke up today really tired after not having much sleep and really wanted to grind today to make some headway on this PS4 promo. But then Alicia came round because it was her last day before going back to work. Watched Spurs beat United which was fun despite a nailbiting last few minutes.
I still managed to get some poker in (2 short sessions in the daytime and one slightly longer one tonight) and won a nice £200. Only 250 odd poker points though. I've been reading the Mental game of poker which I decided to buy over Christmas (had some Christmas money to spend) but despite advice in the book to not play when tired/right frame of mind, that's exactly what I did! Sometimes you just have to play even though you know you're not going to be on your A game so long as it's good enough to still be +ev.
Anyway, going to head off to bed now get an early (ish) night and the grind starts tomorrow!
ugh first day of serious volume and it's been the worst downswing I've had since I began this diary. -£650 (clawed back from almost -£900) Ran unbelievably bad. Made a couple of questionable plays including a 5bet jam with JTo in cash (ran into AK and didn't suck out) but didn't really tilt too badly.
Consolation is I've already picked up 1000 points today and if I carry on like this I should have a PS4 locked up! Estimate I can get 20k-30k points providing I don't have to drop down from 50NL. If my BR goes below £3500 though I may have to consider that
ugh first day of serious volume and it's been the worst downswing I've had since I began this diary. -£650 (clawed back from almost -£900) Ran unbelievably bad. Made a couple of questionable plays including a 5bet jam with JTo in cash (ran into AK and didn't suck out) but didn't really tilt too badly. Consolation is I've already picked up 1000 points today and if I carry on like this I should have a PS4 locked up! Estimate I can get 20k-30k points providing I don't have to drop down from 50NL. If my BR goes below £3500 though I may have to consider that Posted by F_Ivanovic
Never a nice start to the month but sure you will pull it back pretty fast.
Just a quick question Ivan, how many hrs/tables did you play today to make 1000 points?
In Response to Re: F_Ivanovic 20nl to 100nl Q+A welcome : Never a nice start to the month but sure you will pull it back pretty fast. Just a quick question Ivan, how many hrs/tables did you play today to make 1000 points? Posted by foldUfairy
thanks, yeah hopefully i can! Going OKish tonight so far went out deepstack first hand, didn't get going in main but the 9oclock BH I'm 4th/34 atm and cash is going slightly better too.
I was playing 4 tables of 50NL and probably played for 6/7 hours today with about 1300 points gained.
BOOOM!!! What a day. Just taken down the £55 BH for £1157 total. Final hand was a beauty. Won't let me post HH here but it was AK (me) vs AQ all in pre. Flop was AKK and I was already celebrating before the turn came the case ace. But then the river gives me the case K for quads!! Last few times I've reached HU I've ended up losing it and this time I didn't expect too much - I was a 3:1 chip dog but clawed it back to even with some really good HU play.
Tournament started off really well with a double up in the first hand when I had 99 and flopped a set against aces. I kept up the pace for a bit but then tailed off. Then I got a much needed double up with kings to bring me to the top of the leaderboard again. A few more won hands and I was sitting on 40k chips. But then I got it in with K7 on 778 against J9 and the river spiked a T. I was still plenty healthy but I kept on losing pot after pot that I entered and found myself hovering around 15k and near the bottom. Found another double up though and then came an interesting hand where I bluff-raised the flop with JThh. Picked up a flush draw OTT and bet again and was called. River I was left with 13k and the pot was about 23k. Decided to shove and got it through. From then on it was relatively straight sailing to the final table.
Was so drained by the time it got to 4/5 handed after having played 10+ hours of poker today. I robbed an energy drink off my brother tho and that helped me through till the end!
So from -£900 down today I've finished £500 up and have gone past £5k at last. Aim for January is to reach £10k. Tough ask but I'm planning on putting in some sick volume this month. Current points total is about 1750. Will probably play a bit less tomorrow and spending Saturday with Alicia but then from Sunday-Friday going to be grinding every day. Might consider making the £55 BH a regular. Only played it once before today, and the last time I think I won my money back.
BOOOM!!! What a day. Just taken down the £55 BH for £1157 total. Final hand was a beauty. Won't let me post HH here but it was AK (me) vs AQ all in pre. Flop was AKK and I was already celebrating before the turn came the case ace. But then the river gives me the case K for quads!! Last few times I've reached HU I've ended up losing it and this time I didn't expect too much - I was a 3:1 chip dog but clawed it back to even with some really good HU play. Tournament started off really well with a double up in the first hand when I had 99 and flopped a set against aces. I kept up the pace for a bit but then tailed off. Then I got a much needed double up with kings to bring me to the top of the leaderboard again. A few more won hands and I was sitting on 40k chips. But then I got it in with K7 on 778 against J9 and the river spiked a T. I was still plenty healthy but I kept on losing pot after pot that I entered and found myself hovering around 15k and near the bottom. Found another double up though and then came an interesting hand where I bluff-raised the flop with JThh. Picked up a flush draw OTT and bet again and was called. River I was left with 13k and the pot was about 23k. Decided to shove and got it through. From then on it was relatively straight sailing to the final table. Was so drained by the time it got to 4/5 handed after having played 10+ hours of poker today. I robbed an energy drink off my brother tho and that helped me through till the end! So from -£900 down today I've finished £500 up and have gone past £5k at last. Aim for January is to reach £10k. Tough ask but I'm planning on putting in some sick volume this month. Current points total is about 1750. Will probably play a bit less tomorrow and spending Saturday with Alicia but then from Sunday-Friday going to be grinding every day. Might consider making the £55 BH a regular. Only played it once before today, and the last time I think I won my money back. Posted by F_Ivanovic
VWD mate
And well deserved imo
I read your updates quite alot but never post very often on your thread
Your a very good player and it was only ever a matter of time before you won one of these, as for making the 55bh a reg thing i think you should def do this cos the deeper starting stack suits cash players like yourself down to the ground
Haven't played as much today as I planned. Woke up late and then tried to prepare better for my session today to prevent what happend yesterday from happening again. Went on a walk with the dog, got some food and set up downstairs at the table as opposed to playing in my bed (which is what I did all day yesterday)
However, I sat down at about 2 and played for a couple of hours and just couldn't find any good rhythm going. I lost 2-3 BI's early on in the first hour - some of it bad play and some of it just a bit unlucky. Made back a BI and a bit tho and only finished about £60 down when I decided I better stop and make some tea. It was as though I was playing somewhat scared as well - didn't play my usually LAG style because I was worried what happened yesterday would happen again.
Going to read more of the Mental game of poker this afternoon and will probably play a for a bit later on this evening! I think yesterdays long session just took a lot out of me!
Apologies for the lack of updates but the past few days have been utter abysmal. 3/4 losing days straight. I can't remember the last time that's ever happened but it was equivalent to £150ish or so per day meaning my starting roll for the day was £4550ish after being up to £5k after that tournament win.
I've definitely not played my A game and have been pretty shocking at times. Lady luck hasn't been too kind either. I entered both Primo and the Sunday Roller this weekend aswell as another £55 BH. Didn't play particularly well in any of them. Closest I got to a cash was in the Sunday roller where I finished 28th (23 paid) - But I just felt like I drifted through the tournament and was never really fully focused.
Today has been better however. First session this evening was from 7-11. Started off badly where I went a few BI's down but gradually managed to pull back to a slight profit. I played reasonably well in NLH and in the couple of omaha tables I had going I played really well and didn't really do too much wrong. Second session was 12.30-3.30ish. Again I got off to a bad start - bluffed off £60ish when I raised the turn with an OE + FD in NLH and barreled river but got called by an overpair. Then I played a pot in omaha that was HUGELY tilting.
I called pf with QJJ7ds and flop was Q92. 3 way and the original raiser pots it. I call. Turn is a blank (4 or something giving a FD) He pots again and I flat again. River is an A and he pots all in. I make a hero call only to see villain has AK55! Complete air ball on flop/turn but he hit a river ace. I should have just shoved turn but I had him on a complete air ball all along and thought I could get him to bluff shove river but with how much closer equities run in omaha I should have just protected my equity OTT.
After a bad start though I pulled it back and finished a nice £300 in profit.
Points are coming along nicely again after not playing too much over the weekend. Still in the top 10 but I want to push on get in a safe position because I can see some people entering the code late maybe or just having a late surge!
Wow, been a whole month since I've posted here. My late new years resolution is going to be to remember to update this at least once per week!!
So January/start of februrary hasn't been the best of months for me. I definitely feel a lot more down in the first few months of a year. I know this is the same with a lot of people, but when your suffering from depression as well it can be hard sometimes. It probably hasn't been bad as previous years when I've had Uni stuff to worry about (lots of assignments around this time) but towards the latter half of January it meant that I didn't feel up to playing much poker and as such my good start in the PS4 promo went to waste. Thankfully I was able to do enough to get into the PS4 freeroll,but would have been nice to win one outright.
Taken a 'big' step in my relationship this past month as I've moved in with Alicia. So far, so good! Although she still hasn't moved all of her stuff in yet properly.
Poker wise this past month I haven't really made too much money at all. I was £4500 at the start of January and had that horrible start to the day where I lost nearly £900 but then took down the £55 BH and made some money back in cash to finish on £5k. I've taken out £300 recently and am currently on £4900. So since the 2nd of January I'm barely up by £200, which considering I've averaged at least £1k a month since I've started playing again isn't much of a great month. I have had some horrific days of runbad though where everything has gone against me!!
Tonight's been a mixed bag - lost 2BI's playing cash. Busted out in the main early on and the mini-not long after. Mini was a really bad exit from me. Ended up calling a 4x UTG because I wasn't payng attention with 57s (i thought it was a min-open) and then called a flop with TP + gutshot and decided that villain's range for 4x UTG consisted mainly of AK/AQ hands so got it in when he bet on a blank turn. Plus side is that the first time I've played the £22 deepstack in a month or so I managed to take it down!
Boom! Took down a PS4 in the freeroll. Had an absolute dream table move - was sat on about 3k with the blinds at 400/800 and BB next hand. 9 left with 6 getting a PS4. Got moved table, still in BB and had T2 but it folded round to me. The table I got moved to had all the big stacks which in a satellite is fantastic (so long as they know what they're doing) because they needn't risk any of chips. On the other table most of the stacks were similar with most needing to gamble so fold equity from a shove is much smaller.
I shoved about 5/6 times in 9 hands and found myself with 10k in 2nd place. Time to sit back again - and not too long after before 2 players bust on the other table. I found myself back in 6th but it was all v close. A short stack began to emerge on the other table and I picked up the blinds with K9s and found myself comfortable again. Didn't take long before SS shoved Q9 into AA and that was that!
Boom! Took down a PS4 in the freeroll. Had an absolute dream table move - was sat on about 3k with the blinds at 400/800 and BB next hand. 9 left with 6 getting a PS4. Got moved table, still in BB and had T2 but it folded round to me. The table I got moved to had all the big stacks which in a satellite is fantastic (so long as they know what they're doing) because they needn't risk any of chips. On the other table most of the stacks were similar with most needing to gamble so fold equity from a shove is much smaller. I shoved about 5/6 times in 9 hands and found myself with 10k in 2nd place. Time to sit back again - and not too long after before 2 players bust on the other table. I found myself back in 6th but it was all v close. A short stack began to emerge on the other table and I picked up the blinds with K9s and found myself comfortable again. Didn't take long before SS shoved Q9 into AA and that was that! Posted by F_Ivanovic
Congrats Ivan. Beats grinding 12 hours a day to get one. Why not donate it to IDCU?
Who all won one? Can you post the final result for me. Cheers.
Comments
Just a quick question Ivan, how many hrs/tables did you play today to make 1000 points?
VWD mate
And well deserved imo
I read your updates quite alot but never post very often on your thread
Your a very good player and it was only ever a matter of time before you won one of these, as for making the 55bh a reg thing i think you should def do this cos the deeper starting stack suits cash players like yourself down to the ground
WD again
Kev
Well done m8
Fair play £5000 in one month would be mighty impressive.
I have a Q for you.
If executed well, in your opinion, what style out of the following would be most successful at microstates (and why)
1 TAG
2 LAG
3 Small ball
4 Shortstacking