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craigcu12 diary.

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  • jimb0d1jimb0d1 Member Posts: 660
    Chuffed for your win Craig. I enjoyed your last few posts on here and learned from them.
  • craigcu12craigcu12 Member Posts: 3,960
    Another month is over and boy was it a great month for me.

    You know already I had a great achievement with sunday majors on sky well that wasn't the only good thing because August was also the first month I managed to final table an MTT costing over £50 on a non sky site.
    I managed to come 5th in the main sweat MTT on I poker, I did also manage to cash out in the main sweat again the following day.



    Another absolute first this month came in the form of a river value raise with a hand not what you normally expect.
    In previous months I never would think of doing a value raise on this river as KK, all I ever did was value raise trips+.
    Question do I have trips+ on this river?
    No I don't really have any, most Ax and sets are gonna be value betting either the flop or turn, OOP can however still have some Ax on this river but again it's not that many because a number of these are gonna be leading on turn, also on the river itself some might still X river with plan to X/R.
    When you look at this together KK is a fine river raise, it's more or less my best combo on river, OOP will not have that many Ax in his betting range, he will have some but not that many.



    Another sign of how good my game is getting came with this 98s.
    In the past I would have snap folded this combo on the river, I would be snap folding most hands on this river why because Ax and Qx is rarely in my range, most Ax I do have would not bet this river.
    Small blind vs big blind limp pots are hard to study for sure, the way I saw the call was I thought what would I have in this spot.
    Do I have Ax?
    No not really because alot of Ax are gonna iso pre, any that I would X pre are gonna be betting either flop or turn.
    Do I have any Qx?
    No again not really, I do X alot of Qx pre, and on flop I do X a number of them but once it gets to turn my Qx portion of range becomes low, I may have the odd Qx but most of them but not many at all.
    The only hand I'm really see myself have on this river is 33 98 itself is a snap call.

    The days where I was this total nit are now days of the past for sure, I can't deny their are still some spots where I can be this nit but my overall game play is far better than is was at the start of the year.

    I am gonna be introducing a randomiser into my game this month, the whole idea with this is I will become far better at being about to X value combos OOP but not to the point where I'm over doing it, the same with thin value calls IP again I can do it but not to the point where I'm over doing it.
  • craigcu12craigcu12 Member Posts: 3,960
    I updated my diary just days ago but having just had my best result so far on stars I will do an update again.

    In recent weeks I've been playing alot of Wcoop on stars and the number of times I'm registering for $55 MTTs again shows the days where only sky had middle stakes action is over.

    I came 43 in a field of over 6.2K in a turbo MTT and although that is good having won just a couple of head prizes in that run does tell you I may have been a little weak and I can't deny their was some feelings of exit anxiety the further on I got.

    One think I did tell myself a number of times was, "Bluffs were partly what helped me come 2nd and 1st in sunday major"
    I don't mean this like a person saying you should go crazy and start bluffing all the time, What I'm saying is think about your overall range, how much nutted hands you have, how strong your opponent's range is.





    Their is no denying it is horrible to pull these bluffs, get called and exit but as long as you understand your whole range they gonna be +Ev as was the case here.
    I X/R the odd QJ on flop along with alot of 7x and 6x with backdoor plus strong TP+ for value.
    ON turn the 6 inproves my EV even more giving me even more 2pair+ value, hands like any QJ and 6x are gonna become our bluff for sure because we have now go so much strength.
  • Jac35Jac35 Member Posts: 6,471
    Do you shove the turn with a 7 in your hand?
  • craigcu12craigcu12 Member Posts: 3,960
    Jac35 said:

    Do you shove the turn with a 7 in your hand?

    glad you asked because at the time of play I thought some 7x would mix and go for a shove but having just ran it on solver I've discovered no 7x is gonna shove some go 3/4 pot but non will overbet shove the turn
  • EssexphilEssexphil Member Posts: 7,958
    edited September 2021
    craigcu12 said:

    Jac35 said:

    Do you shove the turn with a 7 in your hand?

    glad you asked because at the time of play I thought some 7x would mix and go for a shove but having just ran it on solver I've discovered no 7x is gonna shove some go 3/4 pot but non will overbet shove the turn
    7 10 might shove there, but no other IMO
  • craigcu12craigcu12 Member Posts: 3,960
    I knew I hadn't updated my diary in while but I didn't realize it has been over 2 months since my last update. As far as months go it has not been the greatest of two months as far as poker goes. My GG poker bankroll hasn't changed much but over on sky stars and I poker my bankroll is down.
    The biggest loss was on sky poker but I'm too disappointed with my overall performance on sky, most of that lost came thanks to me not cashing out in the right MTTS during UKOPS. As far as poker play itself goes I actually like how I've performed overall just a case of my bluffs not working well and failing to get max value when I've got a better cooler or nutted hand against a weak opponent.
    I did do a word doc where I had put down numerous nutted hands against opponents why playing it as I did was poor what I target how much of it is blocked and what I expect my opponents to call.

    Over on stars I lost most of what was won from the Wcoop event and you could say it's not surprise, I took things a step too far really making entry into numerous $100 MTTs which had larger fields purely on the basis I wanted to move up from lower stakes without actually thinking about the MTTs I wanted, you could say that is also the reason I lost alot on I poker as well again I started having more shots at some $55 and $100 MTTs although no where near as many as I did on stars and again I witnessed my bankroll on start to topple quickly.
    GG poker is the only site where I have stuck to playing buy ins 10 or less and although sample size is still low that size I have avoided seeing my GG poker bankroll topple as quickly as the others.

    Am I saying now I am someone not capable of playing MTTs that cost more than 10?
    No I would actually say I need to start treating myself more and using the money I win in poker more often for things outside of online poker. A great place to begin is do more live poker play. When I say live play I do not mean start spending loads of it on live cash I'm talking about saving up cash and treating myself to the odd GUKPT and any SPT that's on. I know already lots of fellow sky poker players go to these live events so I am certainly gonna have a nice time even if I didn't play the main event it would still be fun just going out.
    You could also say why not start withdrawing some cash to even pay for at least 1 bill each month maybe the sky bill which only bought as a treat any way.
    I said in some recent speech I was gonna focus more on I poker and GG poker knowing it enables me to study hands more easily and analyze data with my coach but even so if I am not gonna spend the money to treat myself their is no point me spending money on these poker programs to coaching.
  • craigcu12craigcu12 Member Posts: 3,960
    I should have updated it earlier but being non sky poker related I opted to keep quiet but I will confirm now I have begun doing a bankroll challange for non sky sites in a way it begun last Friday but I didn't really consider it a bankroll challange until the Monday just gone.

    The bankroll challenge itself begun as 2400 across stars I poker and GG, the goal is to turn this into 15K across the 3 sites. The main focus is gonna be GG poker where the goal is to make $608 dollars into $10K, the reason I've choosen GG above the rest is because the site itself is quite weak, has a decent selection of MTTs, allows me to download my HH into database and does not have HUDS. I have started off on MTTs with a buy in 10 or less and as the bankroll grows I will move up.

    I have to admit I should have did this bankroll challenge months ago instead it has took a down swing on stars and I poker, a GG poker bankroll that has remained similar and a gamble aware Email from Ipoker to arrive for me to do this. I must admit if we were to include the sky poker bankoll I would already have 66% on this bankroll challenge complete but the issue with my sky poker bankroll is it's just not easy for me to move it across to other sites due to gambling regulations and deposit limits and as a result I'm less happy with running bad in the stakes I'm use to playing playing in fear of a down swing continuing, I'm all over the place when playing a mixture of high middle and low stakes together and when I play just a few 10 MTTS my bankroll just isn't building up.

    The idea is to begin by playing lots of MTTs with buy ins 10 or under in a large volume and as my bankroll grows I will be increasing the buy in levels and reduce the volume level slowly. This will stop me being a player who is jumping from high stakes to micro stakes in the same session or getting worried about down swings and losing too much of my current bankroll.
  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 158,853

    @craigcu12



    Good luck Craig, I'm sure you will see it out until the Challenge is completed.
  • EssexphilEssexphil Member Posts: 7,958
    GL Craig

    Just a suggestion. Might be beneficial to play the low stake stuff during the day (GG in particular is a 24hr operation) and, on some days, play higher stakes later in the day.
  • craigcu12craigcu12 Member Posts: 3,960
    edited November 2021
    Essexphil said:

    GL Craig

    Just a suggestion. Might be beneficial to play the low stake stuff during the day (GG in particular is a 24hr operation) and, on some days, play higher stakes later in the day.

    thanks I will be doing that because I have dedicated sunday as a high stakes day and will do some on Thursday knowing I will be most mentally fired that day from the volenteeering I did on that day plus the previous I have off.
  • CarnageCarnage Member Posts: 48
    Good luck with this Craig & remember to keep streaming!
  • craigcu12craigcu12 Member Posts: 3,960
    My first week of the main bankroll challenge is over and it's been a good one. I made a person best as far as volume goes having played139 MTTS in total, the average stake for these MTTS was a buy in of 3.00 so breaking this personal best record is no suprise really because at one point I had 9 tables going at once and was having to over lap my tables on multiple occassions.

    As far as sites go 60% of these MTTS were played on GG poker and 30% of them were played on stars I poker itself was rarely getting played at all it, most of the MTTs I had on stars were ones I would play in the day time when GG lacked MTT but in the evenings I was almost entirely GG poker. As far as final tables go I managed to get onto FT twice both being on GG and I came 4th in both final tables.

    Some of the things which can be taken away from this first week of bankroll challenge is my overall poker game feels far more well structured, a player who is now consistently MTTS with similar stakes rather than jumping left right and centre into MTTS of all sorts of stakes. Their is also a noticeable difference in my game when I exit a non sky poker MTT, I use to be this person who was feeling catious every time my stack was getting short and when I replaced it with another one my confidence in that game was low, now each and every time I early exit these MTTS I will quickly jump into a different one without fuss and when I am short stacked I do what I can to double up.
    It's still early and I've seen things go bad in the past following a great start but as long as I keep myself calm and relaxed this should contine and my goal is to slowly move up.

    This picture will show a profit lower than I said but that is because these prizes are all in pounds. The bankroll on GG and stars is kept track off in dollars.

  • craigcu12craigcu12 Member Posts: 3,960
    Week 2 of the bankroll challenge is almost over and I must admit the difficulties are already becoming apparent. However these difficulties are not in any way poker related, what I'm finding difficult about this grind is managing to fit in other stuff daily such as cook, clean, exercise and look after dog.

    Living alone and grinding out in MTTS makes my overall lifestyle extremely hard. The fact I mention this issue on my diary tells you I myself do not want to give up this bankroll challenge but I know for sure grinding out MTTs from early morning is gonna be super tough, you could say I have went over board. When I say go over board what I mean is I have made a rapid jump and now register MTTS from 11am uptil 10pm most days and as a result I am becoming really disorgised outside of poker.
    As far as poker goes itself I appear to be having a good time, I may have made a loss overall this week but most of that loss came via Ipoker, having had a bad run on their sunday when I was playing the 20 euro MTTs, my bankroll on stars has also seen a low drop of $60 and as for GG well I $40 dollar from GG but in MTT poker you will get these and I myself just have to keep going. The beauty of mass volume is bad runs are no gonna be running on for so long especially not when you are playing over 20 MTTS per day which is what I am normally doing ATM but it does mean you have very little time free for other things and it's important that you use that time well.

    One of my goals for poker this week could be as simple as setting myself an alarm clock, Normally I tend to stay in bed until 10am each day but if I got up just an hr earlier I would be able to start getting some house work done and maybe cook myself a meal which I will then micro wave come tea time.
    I do plan on making Wednesday and Thursday both days I am fully away from the table and these can be days when I have super great early nights to recover any sleep.
    My main goal over the next week is to become more well organised overall and build my routine well, if I am gonna become a proper grinder I need to be super well organised for sure especially in MTT.

    here is a graph showing my bankroll challenge total overall


    here is a graph showing how I am performing on GG in perticular

  • Tikay10Tikay10 Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 158,853

    @craigcu12

    Well done Craig.

    Are you enjoying it?
  • craigcu12craigcu12 Member Posts: 3,960
    edited December 2021
    Tikay10 said:


    @craigcu12

    Well done Craig.

    Are you enjoying it?

    Thanks

    I'm loving it and just can't stop, it's like a new step in my poker, finally I am playing non sky MTTS without having any mental poker issues.
  • craigcu12craigcu12 Member Posts: 3,960
    I just thought I'd give a brief update on my bankroll challenge.
    What happened was I opted to fire the $72 worth of cash only balance I obtained via some special invite AI MTTs. The way I got this was from bubbling a few MTTS. To my suprise I won a 4 way and 3 way AI on PLO and as a result I have won an extra $300

    As you will see from my graph I haven't obtained much more from MTT poker but this lucky $300 I obtained could give me a good boost allowing me to start playing more $10-12 MTTS.

  • craigcu12craigcu12 Member Posts: 3,960
    Just to confirm that $72 I punted was cash table money I won from these daily flip outs I get entry to when I have bubbled MTTs and since I'm unable to withdraw it and have so little time to play cash I just opted to punt it in some PLO rush and cash.

  • craigcu12craigcu12 Member Posts: 3,960
    I have reached the end of week 3 as far as bankroll challenge is concerned and the way things are going it could be a really long time before I actually reach my target. I am 169 above my starting level ATM but when it comes to MTTs alone I am lower than I was at the beginning


    On poker stars I am going nowhere ATM, I am $172 worse off ATM although you could say I haven't put in much volume, I have played 88 MTTS on poker stars so far and it appears I am just not haven't much fun at all. You could say alot of this comes from the amount of multiway pots and the fact I am consistently playing extremely tight and just waiting for hands. When I do get the hands I am not having much luck either, the problem now is I notice myself struggling to get value when I am ahead whether it be as value bets or traps. It's time I stopped being this super nit who doesn't bluff at all based on the words " don't bluff weak players" I have seen in the database whenever I've cbet the flop with 2nd pair or weaker OOP my WR is 207 (162 hands) yet when I have X these hands OOP mr WR is -85( 533 hands). It would be far better for me to just stick to what I think is a +EV bluff in theory and keep track of every showdown hand where I've seen my oppoent over call.

    As far as GG poker goes I have gone a step up and started playing more $10 MTTs. I had my first shot at these MTTS today and it's begun badly. I am already becoming quite annoyed and results orientated. The main cause of this results orientated mind is when I have been making these massive over folds against opponents who then flash their bluff at me. Most of these spots are spots where I am folding over 70% of my range or spots where I fold against opponents I know will have as few a 10 better combos than my value hand but don't expect them to have bluffs purely based on "people under bluff this spot" It would be far better to see a showdown hand first make a note on these people and ajust from their rather than play guessing games


  • craigcu12craigcu12 Member Posts: 3,960
    edited December 2021
    Hands like this explain what I mean about waiting for showdown

    This here was one horrible spot where I struggled big style to give my opponent a range I decide to fold based on the idea people under bluff but TBH even if he doesn't underbluff I could still beat value like AQ which he might play crazy and ever since I did fold I have been left thinking about my fold


    I remember over folding this spot as well again on the idea IP under bluffs and when my opponent went on to show his Jx I was left thinking about my hand non stop again I only really lost to AA and KK, JJ is a maybe and if I were to give him hands like TT then I should expect him to have something like AJ which he could play crazy




    Now here was a hand where I was a bit results orientated but that results orientation went away in no time. As far as I was concerned although I lost this hand I have gained valuable infomation on my opponent and know he will not have as many flushes in his B/C range and is not super nutted when he fires a reraise.



    This hand was a sick loss when it happened but again I was able to quickly put it to one side and move on. I again managed to obtain valuable infomation on this opponent telling me he is someone who will not over fold and might over call.

    The overall point I'm making really is if I'm gonna over fold stick to over folding pure bluff catchers I just know will not beat any value at all, make notes on my opponents play and ajust from their because it will make thinks much easier than playing a total guessing game.
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