OK will PM you both if I decide to take up on the offer! For now I think I am going to try and do my best to satellite/make enough to BI direct... if the latter though I may sell some %
Nice work with the roll.
How did you learn to play PLO btw are you self taught?
Thanks I'm still waiting for that inevitable downswing though! And yes self taught, same with holdem really. I read 1 PLO book (can't recall title atm) but that's about it. To improve my game I mostly just read/comment on threads on the SSPL omaha forum on 2+2 and then just put in lots of practice.
With a 2k+ roll why are you not playing 50nl? With your talent ur risk of ruin is like <1%. Plus u can step down if u drop like 10 BI's. Step up Posted by Dumbmofo
In the past I would have definitely been playing 50NL by now. However there are a few reasons why I'm choosing not to move up yet.
The main one being is that I'm planning on poker being my main source of income, although I also plan to get a part time job as well. Atm I have no part time job so my BR management needs to be as strict as possible and ideally want 60 buyins for my main level. Once I get to 50BI's I will gradually start adding some 50NL tables in.
Since I started poker I've had a job and then been at Uni so poker was just a nice side-earner for me and hence bankroll management was less strict.
The second reason is that I know I can have tilt problems and with better bankroll management a downswing will affect me less and hence reduce the likelyhood of me tilting. Also with my health problems I know a major downswing could have a negative impact on that if the downswing was a significant amount of my bankroll.
The third reason is that 30NL seems to have more recreational players anyway on a regular basis whereas 50NL has a lot more regs, so I'm not sure my winrate would increase that much if I decided to move up. I'll happily play 50PLO omaha though because although the variance increases there it's much softer than 50NL holdem!!
OK so not had an update for a few days. I was close to 2.3k but since then my BR has stayed steady. Last night I entered the £55 BH tournament and finished 8th despite taking no bounties! So I won back £55ish + the orginal BI. Cash never got going really and lost a slight amount leaving me a small profit for the day.
Tonight has been much better although I'm disappointed somewhat as it could have been better. Entered the rebuy which cost me £33 total and built up a really nice chip stack after the addon period. Got myself into some marginal situations though and my chip stack dwindled. Picked up tens in the BB and squeezed after the HJ raised and got 3 callers. Original raiser shoved and I figured I'd been active enough that he could be shoving fairly wide. He had 88 and flopped a set and that was that!!
£55 BH I started well and was gradually increasing my chip stack. Got it to 8k and found 77 in CO. Raise with 4 callers. Flop a set and short stack shoves - I decide to flat as board is super dry and get sky's great MTT player MattBates to shove over the top with QJs drawing pretty much dead. I hold up and get myself to 30k. 19 or so left and I pick up JJ and a short stack limps. I raise to 4x and then the BB 3-bets me which puts shorty all in who obliges. Now my gut said to fold here but I was reminded of last nights BH when I folded AQ after investing 1/3 of my stack to find out villain had 9s. People will just go crazy in BH's to knock players out so I ended up going with it. I run into KK from the BB and the shorty has AA. Board runs out 4 flush of which we all have! Mine only J high I lose though. I then stupidly shove KJ for 11bbs or so from an UTG raise. Find myself a race (AQ) but they flop an ace and it's all over. At least I had 2 bounties that time to recoup some of the BI.
Omaha 50NL was where my big profit came for from the night. Had 2 tables open of it and finished with £200ish on one iirc and £350 on another. Below is the biggest pot of the night for me: (nvm it wouldn't post)
Basically I got it in with AA23ss pre-flop against 3 opponents. One had AQJT, the other JJT9 and the oher QJ79 (all ss, hearts which i had and spades) - the pot was £219 total
Just checked the equities and I was a huge 60.59% favourite - it helped that everyone had each others cards. So glad to see that it held up! The flop + turn was stuff dreams are made of :P
Bank roll now is at £2543. Probably enough to start playing 50NL. That being said if omaha continues to run regularly on here at 50NL I may spend most of my time playing that.
Don't comment too much on the forum but I've followed this from the start. Just want to say that your story is somewhat inspiring and your ambition to keep playing after so many setbacks is again, inspiring. Hope you get everything you want from poker. GL!
OK quick update on the past few days. Been on a small downswing the past few days and my roll had decreased from £2550ish to £2330. Had a 2 and a half hour session just then with a profit of £110 but overall disappointed with how I've played.
Player
Action
Cards
Amount
Pot
Balance
joey690
Big blind
£0.20
£0.20
£90.75
Your hole cards
8
K
BASH448
Fold
reddiking
Fold
chaseHINCH
Raise
£0.60
£0.80
£41.57
F_Ivanovic
Raise
£1.80
£2.60
£39.30
joey690
Fold
chaseHINCH
Call
£1.20
£3.80
£40.37
Flop
8
9
3
chaseHINCH
Check
F_Ivanovic
Bet
£2.00
£5.80
£37.30
chaseHINCH
Raise
£5.50
£11.30
£34.87
F_Ivanovic
Call
£3.50
£14.80
£33.80
Turn
3
chaseHINCH
Bet
£8.00
£22.80
£26.87
F_Ivanovic
Call
£8.00
£30.80
£25.80
River
A
chaseHINCH
All-in
£26.87
£57.67
£0.00
F_Ivanovic
All-in
£25.80
£83.47
£0.00
chaseHINCH
Unmatched bet
£1.07
£82.40
£1.07
chaseHINCH
Show
10
10
F_Ivanovic
Show
8
K
chaseHINCH
Win
Two Pairs, 10s and 3s
£80.60
£81.67
Player
Action
Cards
Amount
Pot
Balance
dubzs
Small blind
£0.10
£0.10
£47.75
joey690
Big blind
£0.20
£0.30
£39.80
Your hole cards
5
5
dontazeme
Raise
£0.60
£0.90
£49.10
chaseHINCH
Fold
F_Ivanovic
Call
£0.60
£1.50
£57.69
dubzs
Fold
joey690
Fold
Flop
J
J
9
dontazeme
Check
F_Ivanovic
Bet
£3.00
£4.50
£54.69
dontazeme
Call
£3.00
£7.50
£46.10
Turn
5
dontazeme
Check
F_Ivanovic
Bet
£5.90
£13.40
£48.79
dontazeme
Call
£5.90
£19.30
£40.20
River
A
dontazeme
Check
F_Ivanovic
Bet
£14.80
£34.10
£33.99
dontazeme
All-in
£40.20
£74.30
£0.00
F_Ivanovic
Call
£25.40
£99.70
£8.59
dontazeme
Show
A
J
F_Ivanovic
Show
5
5
dontazeme
Win
Full House, Jacks and Aces
£97.90
I lost a lot on this table this afternoon, with 3 medium sized pots going to a fishy player who 3 did the same thing 3 times (call/call/donk river and I payed him off every time) - The first time he had flopped trip 2's with 25 vs my overpair, the 2nd time he had J7 on a 9JxxJ and I payed him off with a 9 because so many draws missed. And the third time we both had trips on a flush board but he had better.
The first hand I posted here was just so annoying and I'm surprised I didn't just auto quit after it. I'd been really active and 3-betting a lot. When he raises my flop bet I assumed his range is 89, 88 99, TJ, 33, 67, some QT with BD draws and then some big overpairs. Turn brings a 3 and when he bets I was pretty certain he didn't have a full house. I had a blocker which helped but at this point I was confident he had a draw. That being said I was still willing to fold the river since I think the avg player just isn't capable of firing a third barrel. Then the river A comes and vs a normal bet size I would probably have folded but his (slight) overbet shove makes me think he's polarized here to AA or a bluff. To find out he had turned TT into a bluff was just horrible and something I never expected - got well and truly owned here!!!
The 2nd hand is weird. When dontaze me checks the flop I assume he has QQ-AA quite a bit and then just some hands he was auto giving up. Maybe sometimes a weak Jx. Obviously very rarely JJ as well. I planned to just put a lot of pressure on him whilst being very deep. I knew if I just bet 3 streets he was probably snap calling me down so I decided to overbet the flop to straight away give the impression I was willing to play for stacks. Then OTT I actually hit my hand, so I bet again but was really unsure of sizing here. Now I don't want him to fold anymore but I still figure I need to bet quite big. River is an A. On a blank I was going to overbet but on this river that might have hit his AA I decide to just bet a normal sizing. I should have folded to his ship but for some crazy reason I thought he might be turning QQ/KK into a bluff. Really stupid call from me - was quite surprised to see he had AJ though. I thought for sure it was JJ/AA or a bluff.
Played 1 50NL as well though and that's where my profit came from today!
I won this pot at first and then when I was on £110ish I had AA on an AJ96 board and 3bet the turn/shoved river - villain had A9. Was a horrible flush completing river as well but I thought I was for sure against an other set! Quite surprised to see I was up against A9.
Hey all, be nice to see some more discussion in this thread! Seems like it's just me posting updates every now and again!! I wouldn't mind some hijacking of my thread anymore :P
I'll start talking more about life outside of poker I think. So anyway - still not got a job. I missed my job seekers appointment this week as basically I'd not completed the "obligatory contract" - haven't phoned up though to do anything about it I just find it pointless spending my time doing loads of job searching for full time jobs when doing so only earns me £70 a week. And I know I can make that amount at least playing poker. Problem is I still need money for food etc each week and so it means taking money out of my poker account if I decide to stop getting JSA as I have like £50 left in my bank account.
Anyway, onto the poker; Feels like I've not been running too well recently but have had a pretty decent session tonight. Played 5 tournaments - the main, the mini, the TOTPs, the £22 deepstack and the SPT quarter satellite. Mini didn't go too well. Lost my stack right before the addon so rebought twice and had an addon as well. Then got my stack in miles ahead and lost! Main event I rebought once and had one addon. Got a treble up with 99 when I 3-bet and got it in facing AK and AQ. KQx flop, 9 came otr!! Was on a table with the biggest chip stacks and just couldn't get anything going. I got a double up on 20k and then the next hand lost a flip with JJ vs AK so was back down to 20k. Ended up going out 2 off the money!!
TOTP's I won somehow! Didn't really do too much, just played really tight and let the field drop and then applied the pressure 3 handed. £22 deepstack was a non-starter. Went out horribly when I limped otb with T7s and shoved over the BB's raise - I still had 15bbs here or so. He had QQ and flopped a set - I had a flush draw but he housed up on the turn. And finally the SPT satellite which went well and won a seat!
Played some cash later on when I was out of all tournaments and had a nice profit of around £130 by the end! This was despite my AA being cracked by TT!
Been reading but first post in your thread. Balance of poker and life would be good. Don't normally look at hand histories in diaries but yours are interesting because it's always good to see how a strong player plays a hand.
I understand your thoughts on work at the moment. I think we play for decent sums at poker and we're all a little guilty of losing the value of money. I remember years ago getting back from the casino one night about 4am and realising that I'd committed to doing overtime at work the next day. Pretty demoralising when I was going to do the overtime for about £30 and I'd just lost £300.
Discussion points
How difficult is it for you playing at stakes which are far below what you used to? Pretty obvious that you'll get back there soon but really impressed with your discipline to play smart and play the lower stakes whilst rebuilding your bankroll.
Do you play cash live much? I'm always surprised more online grinders don't do this more. Generally the standard at 50/1 in a casino is so much worse than online and you would most likely crush those games. Even I win a bit live!
Have you decided on playing the SPT at Nottinghsm yet?
Should really be going off to bed now (I said that an hour and a half ago!!) but will reply here again first!!
I didn't know whether or not to continue to post hand histories but I will try and pick out interesting ones wherever possible then as long as some people enjoy them!! Balance is definitely important. When I used to have a job (in the gap year between college and uni) I would put in some unreal volume playing poker but it meant I didn't have much of a life outside that. These days I need to consciously make an effort to put in volume.
Yeah I definitely am guilty of losing the value of money, especially in the past (when I was tilt shoving in £1k at 1000NL!) - Not just with poker but in life I would spend on so much that I didn't need to. Now I'm a bit of a life nit with regards to money. It's not really difficult anymore playing lower stakes. Early on I struggled because it took a while to adjust to the lower stakes games and how they played but now I've got used to it I'm fine.
Don't play much live cash - I used to play 20NL games when they ran in the rileys I used to play at but the poker stopped there. I actually played pretty horrible in them. Also played at the SPT's - had a small profit there but I don't know what it is, just really don't seem to play myself in live games. I definitely would like to improve that aspect though. As for SPT - well as with my last post I mentioned I won a semi-seat so will see how that goes. I might be inclined to sell action if I fail to qualify in that though - although I'm not sure how possible that is, as I think you need to be a priority to BI direct and I missed out on priority last month!
I still keep up to date with thread but don`t post much on it.
keep up the good work I`ve came across you at the 20/30nl tables a bit and you will be back 100nl+ in no time buddy.
also for SPT Notts the direct buyin i`m sure is available for everyone not just priority im the same i`m trying to qualify for it aswell I`ve got to 2 semi`s but no luck so far but will keep trying.
Defo keep posting hand histories mate. I'm sure I'm not the only one reading them all lol.
The K8 hand i play exactly the same, played him for a while the other day. He doesn't exactly play by the book lol. Love how he's panicked and turnt his hand into a bluff on the river haha.
The 55 hand is almost certainly a b/f on that river imo. Oppo is a super nit who is never going to be turning a FD into a bluff or raising for value with KJ. His line is so strange it gives it away aswell. Pretty confident hes c-betting all draws and only rarely check/calling with a range like 10s-As (coz hes super tight) or he has it, so would say he only ever has AA/Aj here.
+1 to the comment about the hand with 55. Villian is SO tight postflop so when he ships the river it's gonna be better FHs (and quads) virtually 100% of the time imo. I'd bet/fold and probably bet/fold smaller just cos I wouldn't be surprised to see him hero fold some strong hands that are weaker than yours to that sizing, some Jx etc....
Yeah I knew 55 was a bet/fold. Probably one of the worst decisions I've made at the tables over the past few weeks! I think I shouldn't be overbetting the flop though without a clear plan for the rest of the hand. I think river bet size is OK though - villain's not folding Jx given the strange line we've both taken and he may hero with QQ/KK.
Quality read F Inanovic i hope things go well and you move up the levels and im pretty sure your be at 100nl at some point. Posted by TimmyRaRa
Cheers mate. I think with my current BR in the past I'd already be a 100NL reg by now!! But I'm pleased that I'm sticking to rigid BRM this time.
The huge positive out of doing this is that I find myself no longer tilting. Back when I played higher in the past I would tilt at some point almost every other session of poker. Since I've started this challenge I've tilted just once (one night where I stayed up till 6 in the morning playing 2 tables of 20 PL omaha (against 2 other players) was a fun session though and I didn't end up too much down!
Update over the past few days - good profit of around £300. I played some 50PL omaha yesterday before the mini primo and SPT satellite. Won £250 in the space of less an hour. Got it in twice with AA - once in a HU pot and held and the 2nd in a 3 way pot where a set of aces on the turn won it for me. SPT satellite didn't go well though, barely got going in it.
Today I lost a lot of yesterdays profit in Omaha early on. Ran really badly and just couldn't get any decent run of cards. Entered the Main, mini and deepstack. Got busted in the deepstack when I had AA and opponent shoved turn with TP+ flush draw and binked river. Mini I picked up a couple bounties then got busted. Main I doubled up first hand and plain sailing for a good while. Got into the money and made a loose raise UTG with 8Ts. Flop 833 and I was non-believing when the opponent raised the flop - he showed me JJ. Then got it in with KQs for 10bbs against QJ. J on river.
Fortunately I finished the day slightly in profit as I stuck at the omaha tables and finished with £300ish+ over 2 tables.
Comments
Just checked the equities and I was a huge 60.59% favourite - it helped that everyone had each others cards. So glad to see that it held up! The flop + turn was stuff dreams are made of :P
--
The first hand I posted here was just so annoying and I'm surprised I didn't just auto quit after it. I'd been really active and 3-betting a lot. When he raises my flop bet I assumed his range is 89, 88 99, TJ, 33, 67, some QT with BD draws and then some big overpairs. Turn brings a 3 and when he bets I was pretty certain he didn't have a full house. I had a blocker which helped but at this point I was confident he had a draw. That being said I was still willing to fold the river since I think the avg player just isn't capable of firing a third barrel. Then the river A comes and vs a normal bet size I would probably have folded but his (slight) overbet shove makes me think he's polarized here to AA or a bluff. To find out he had turned TT into a bluff was just horrible and something I never expected - got well and truly owned here!!!
The 2nd hand is weird. When dontaze me checks the flop I assume he has QQ-AA quite a bit and then just some hands he was auto giving up. Maybe sometimes a weak Jx. Obviously very rarely JJ as well. I planned to just put a lot of pressure on him whilst being very deep. I knew if I just bet 3 streets he was probably snap calling me down so I decided to overbet the flop to straight away give the impression I was willing to play for stacks. Then OTT I actually hit my hand, so I bet again but was really unsure of sizing here. Now I don't want him to fold anymore but I still figure I need to bet quite big. River is an A. On a blank I was going to overbet but on this river that might have hit his AA I decide to just bet a normal sizing. I should have folded to his ship but for some crazy reason I thought he might be turning QQ/KK into a bluff. Really stupid call from me - was quite surprised to see he had AJ though. I thought for sure it was JJ/AA or a bluff.
Played 1 50NL as well though and that's where my profit came from today!