KowboyCa

Thanks, lots for me to think about here.

Nice video Henry and I like your lessons on how you can miss-use solvers. Common sense and great fundimentals.

Awesome mate.

Did you feel something changed in your game around the two thirds point into the graph?

Noticed your red line changing direction.

FULL END OF MONTH UPDATE - SEPTEMBER 2020

Seeing as my last post was posted before I'd put in my final late night session of the month, I'd like to post this to keep track of how things went. I've been playing the regular 5nl tables on GG.

Starting roll was $252
Ending roll is $331
Profit = $79
Hands = 22k

These aren't exact down to the cent of course. And includes all money made from big hand bonuses and the rake leaderboard. Probably about 12bi on the tables, which could have been better for sure if I'd played better in specific sessions but hey. I'm 4bi from the 10nl shot so let's keep things going!

Take care!

I wouldn't consider doing anything else than playing it the way you did mate. Especially for 65bb.

If you run into it then sigh and move on.

Hey there everyone!

I did say I would post an update at the end of the month didn't I?

Good news is I'm feeling awesome and having a lot of fun playing, but the bad news is I'm not at 10nl yet (sad face).

It's all good though. I made it to my aim at getting to $350 at one point but within the same session that got me to the threshold of moving up... I then went on a 9 BI downswing. But I'm on my way up again.

I'm currently at $319.76, having started the day at 304. In all seriousness though, I've not always played my best and I've had sessions loaded with coolers here and there that haven't helped my mindset within those very sessions. I've just let them be what they are and then moved forward.

I've not put in big volume this month overall but I've done what I can and had big sessions after missing periods due to not being at home. I've probably put in maybe 21.5k ish hands this month. It's ok considering at the start of this month I was decorating my room and moving the grind area. Also I've mostly been only playing 4 regular tables at a time, but last session I've upped to 6.

5nl PokerCraft Graph

Hope to have a good update for you all soon when at 10nl.

Take care!

I mentioned that Kd eliminates KQd type hand and also KJd, which is a bad thing. However opponent might not even be flatting KJs there, you don't see it often these days. I really think at most the Kd takes away a max 2 combos of hands overall as AKs would have 3 bet anyway. But that doesn't invalidate the other points as players won't be exactly replicating the solver in reality. Depends how you look at it.

Passive station fish makes this annoying, especially for 4x pre then decent flop size.
I think you can call flop fine. Not sure if I'm a fan of raising flop because although there are draws, this feels like all pairs AA to TT mainly because of pf 4x and then donk bet a drawy looking board for him.
In this scenario I think turn fold. Call Jh maybe and decide river if it's a heart and how much he bets.

Getting JJ in OTF seems bad as we are beat by practically every pair he'd get in. And draws mostly have a shit tonne of equity. Can't say you played it badly, just an annoying spot in game.

Here's what I think...

With Kd I don't think you can fold flop. Also Kd eliminates KQdd bluff. If you turn a K you have great implied odds vs set. If you turn a diamond, say Ad or 9d then it may even cause opponent to shut down with a set. So you could literally end up seeing a river for free too with the possibility of added SD with this hand holding Kd. Also a 5 could be good for you vs JT. However if a 5 came and opponent jams then it's a clear fold on turn as opponent should never jam with JT on that turn given your range.

And yes you can fold bad/brick turns to double barrel IMO.

Without the Kd maybe this may become a fold though it's possibly close.

I think both are fine, maybe it's a very fine line as you said to do with the blockers if opponent has less AT, KT, QT, JT types to 3 bet than when you hold 89o, that would be my guess as to why they are viewed differently. However you could treat them similar and maybe not open vs aggro 3betting regs.

You could argue 89 is slightly more playable, but I think it's possible that the blocking value of 8T outweighs the tiny bit more playablilty 89 might offer in todays world of SB mostly not playing a flatting range, and we always fold to 3bet.

Vs fun players both of the hands seem great to open when those players flat more and play bad weak postflop games OOP.

Just my logical guess though.

Hey again.

My original aim for this grind on GG Poker was to move up to 10nl at $350 starting from the original $250.
However seeing as I'm nearing the end of this month, I will probably extend my play at 5nl even if I pass the $350 threshold. And if I do pass it then I will just start at 10nl from 1st of October with possibly a bigger cushion for stoploss if I need it. I'm very close to moving up as it stands so hopefully that will be the case. I just think it will be cool to possibly add a few pennies on before my moving up. Maybe next month can be a good one where I'm able to do the same if I win 20bi at 10nl.

I haven't put in loads of volume this month for lots of reasons (16k hands so far) but I'll try to finish it off with a bang if I can!

I’d like to leave another thought here that I think is very important after tonight’s session. I feel kind of silly to admit this, but admitting your faults is something you really need to do to improve. To succeed in this game you really have to have a lot of self awareness, and there’s been a part of my game, well not so much game... but mindset that has always held me back.

The thing that has held me back that I’ve found it hard to accept, is that I’ve always been someone who does not like to accept a losing session/day. I really think that it is the main thing that has fucked up my previous chances at any success in this game.

I’ve always tried to push that bit harder to make back my losses, even if it meant me playing ridiculously tired and tilted. Or I’d win some, then lose some back and be determined not to end the day less than where I was at the height of the day. It has always eventually lead to me tilting off hard and demolishing a chunk of my roll and along with it... lots of confidence.

Today I booked in a small loss on the day. I did play a little longer than I should have. But I realised my ego had kicked in and wanted that few more hands, then that few more again just to possibly stack a fish and get back to b/e or a small win. This time and from here on out I am being in control of my ego and making sure I get out of that shitty mindset that has held me back for so long. I’m happy with the day, I stopped and accepted the day for what it is. I’m excited to study tomorrow and put in my next session feeling more disciplined and in control.

This my friends, is how I will finally crush.

The 88 hand you posted, I wonder really if that river 4 is just underbluffed? You could still have JJ and QQ in opponents eyes. He's trying to bluff you off of TT or 99 mainly it feels like. Your range seems rather condensed by river to be those hands of 88+ and maybe 77 occaisionally and JTs type hand. AJs could be there but I guess most are 3bet or folding pre from this position. I think turn peel is decent due to your added GTSD but river we might have to make a tight fold as annoying as it is. Unless villain is a known aggro. Even so I think on that river AK/AQ often gives up more often. Not sure how relevant an 8d blocker in these positions if we don't see many 8x hands 3betting anyway from this spot pre. 87, 89, A8 but even so it's not helpful. I don't dislike the call, but I just wonder if people underbluff too much. This river makes people generally feel real confident with their overpairs when you don't have a 4 and maybe hence the big bet.

This analysis is from a micro player though so take it with a grain of salt. All depends on the villain at the end of the day, vs some I can see this being a decent call.

The overbet jam also could just be because he wants max value in a spot that looks so safe for him. He has uncapped range and you're far more capped. If we always check call our smaller pairs to the death here every time then we have to always end up going broke to big pairs a little too much I feel with a marginal hand. Maybe you could randomise your decision with an RNG at the end if you're unsure vs an aggro reg haha.

Just going to give an insight on the way I've been studying when watching videos. I think it works well for me at least.

I like to watch as the coach plays, and then when I see a spot that I am not quite sure on... I stop the video and think through the spot and say out loud what I might do and why, going from things I've learnt. Then I use my screen recorder to record the spot and what the pro did. I get to save all of the spots I know I have had problems with in a single file which I label all of the videos relative to the situation so I can always watch them all back and train myself. I try to pick up mainly the way of thinking about the situations more than anything.

Also when I'm watching the vides on here I pause on a specific situation and talk my way through the opponent's range, ask my self whether I would take X or Y action and why I would do that taking in all of the variables and when I have fully talked my way through it I watch the pro talk it through and take notes of anything I missed or that I didn't think of. I just try to drum in all of the reasons for making each decision.

I think after all ofthe years playing, I have built up a good fundimental knowledge from all of my experience but it's all very rough around the edges and I forget simple things in game that I need to train myself to think of as habit. So that's what I'm doing right now. My mental game has been decent in the last few sessions even though I've had some swings, and that's a great thing.

I would just like to say that I will post my results from the month on the last day of each month. Although this month I'll be including the 31st of August as that is when I started this grind.

Anyway, until next time... goodbye for now.

Nice work, seems like youre doing pretty well. Noticed you commenting on my journal and just realised this was yours. Hope you crush dude!

Just going to put up some random thoughts seeing as I’m not at home and lying in bed not able to sleep again after waking early.

The other day when I had my bad session, I quickly realised I had played poker not being in the right frame of mind, which lead to me reacting badly inside to coolers and therefore compounding any errors. This for me is one of (if not the main) things I’m focusing on improving on.

My last session I played so much better and felt so much more clarity in what I was doing. Not feeling I have clarity during a session is more frustrating than taking a cooler or bad beat. Because I can work on my game and clarity, but you can’t control a cooler or bad beat. I feel like when I’m on my game, I’m really able to put in some great play, but when I’m off... I compound far too many errors.

I have been basically splitting my off table study to playing by maybe about 50/50. I’m not actually calculating that though. But for right now that’s how it is and I’m enjoying the study which in turn is helping me have a lot more fun playing and trying to apply what I’ve worked on.

GG Poker for me just feels super fun to play on anyway. I think it’s a mix of the pools being pretty soft and the fact that I actually really like the software and what they do to make the games better for everyone. Btw I am no shill for them, I just feel like they’ve put a lot of work in to making the games good for both recs and regs alike. Something which Stars has failed miserably at these days, although the software is top notch.

It’s says something for me to know I’m looking forward to my next time studying and playing. To know I’m motivated and excited to improve and play as much as I can. I still have a lot to work on health wise, to get myself into shape again. But I will definitely be making the effort.

With that said, I’m going to try to get another hour of sleep... if I can.

Just finished up a session which I'll post the latter end of in video form with commentary at the end of the post. Overall today I've won back a majority of what I lost the other day (5.8 buyins). I was feeling a lot more chilled today and didn't make some call downs that I could have otherwise. Helps that I didn't get the coolers happening that I did the other day. But I felt I played a decent game, although in the vid I did make a hero call which worked out well, so they still happen, but more so when I really feel like something doesn't make sense, or if I purely beat enough missed draws/bluffs etc. I think last session I was overly focused on my blockers, and less on common sense. Anyway, it was a fun session and GG Poker is super nice to play on IMO. I love the features that keep the recs happy and at the same time they manage to keep regs happy. Here is the end of my sesh. Cheers guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gj0vgMKNS4

Had a fairly big session for me tonight after work and got completely battered by coolers and running into hands every hero call I made. Back to just under my starting roll after losing over 8bi from my top amount. Is what it is, I tilted a couple of stacks off being a none believer I suppose, I couldn't see a win even if I played mega well but I feel I lost more than I should have. Just finding it difficult to face rec guys that rarely have shown up with a bluff, but at the same time I've had sessions where I've crushed by making hero calls. Mental game still not up there, but this is mainly because I'm just still unable to apply the things I've watched. The concepts seem clear when watching a coaching vid but as soon as I play the tables I seem to just be losing any ability to apply correctly. The spots I feel I tilted off, was because I felt I had a reason for a call off but then it may have been a completely miss-applied reason that just doens't make sense in the real world of micros. Gonna need a lot of help with this, but I can only help myself at the end of the day. Been here a million times in the past, so just got to get on with figuring this almost impossible seeming task out.

Hey there people.

So just thought I'd leave an update. I haven't played a crap tonne or anything since my deposit but I joined RIO Essential and have been watching a fair few videos and taking notes. Particularly like Henry Lister at the moment. I already know of the awesome Peter Clarke from some twitch streams, so it'll be nice to delve into more solver related stuff and check out the other pro's vids.

Also I had a broken monitor until today as I have purchased a new one, so I was only really able to comfortably 2 table until this evening and have only put in a couple of thousand hands. GG Poker graph doesn't show the rake as we all know but I'm currently at $273.90 which includes a busted $2 tourney and a $6 bonus for getting quads in my first 20 mins of play haha.

I'm only really playing the regular tables right now, as opposed to the Rush and Cash. I'm really enjoying the games though. Just trying to take my time to focus on my way of thinking more than trying to crush the rakeback leaderboard. I really don't enjoy that type of play where you're trying to put out as much volume as possible to chase a rakeback prize.

When I start to feel more comfortable with a good train of thought, knowing how to tackle common situations much better with confidence; that is when I'll start to pump up the volume, but I don't think I'll ever go overboard. I've had days where I've grinded 7k to 8k hands a day on Zoom in the past but quickly got burnt out after a month or two. I'm not going down that road again.

Anyway, until next update. Take care!

Great video. Can I ask what your bluffing lead range is at 37:10 table 2? I'm thinking of a range that doesn't x/r flop, but may lead turn. All I can think of is some A5 of diamond type.hands personally, but not sure.

Thanks :)
My goals at the moment are more in the way of building a better fundimental way of thinking about the game. I'm not going to make my goals to be a set number of hands a week or month since my weeks aren't set out very consistently with when I work and will be at home.

But I wan't to maintain a good mental game/approach. Go to bed earlier (which I have been doing for a while now), exercise frequently and eat healthier. All to keep me feeling good and more motivated.

I'll be recording sessions and trying to work on areas I feel unsure on. Going back to fundimentals and trying to work out how to best play vs specific opponents. Or at least making sure I'm conscious of not going into auto pilot.