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shagnscoob
Rock Star
Silver Level
I feel like a big part of my improvement was noticing that I'm not supposed to just follow what position to play what blindly because that's not the point. some hands are profitable IN POSITION for certain reasons that would make them unprofitable IN POSITION if you didn't notice. Like playing a small pocket pair in late position still sucks if no one else is in the pot. But playing it from late position also sucks if everyone in the pot is cold calling the capped bets.
Okay so I'm now grinding away and seeing big profits/improvement. I just went 150 hands and I'm up like 40BBs and on my bad runs I'm only down MAYBE 10 BBs.
How many BBs/hands should I be looking at as a target? My BR is $44 and I'm looking to hit $60 before I move to the next limit, .1/.2
Okay so I'm now grinding away and seeing big profits/improvement. I just went 150 hands and I'm up like 40BBs and on my bad runs I'm only down MAYBE 10 BBs.
How many BBs/hands should I be looking at as a target? My BR is $44 and I'm looking to hit $60 before I move to the next limit, .1/.2
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shagnscoob
Rock Star
Silver Level
Okay so I'm starting to set goals for different areas in my life, and here's my goal plan for poker.
5,000 hands per month minimum. So by New Years I'll be grinding the profit in on .5/1 stakes. I've got like 25 thousand hands by then if I start in september, but I can do WAY more than 5k/mo. until september so I'm getting a head start. AND that's just the minimum. That means I need a $300 BR by then too, so maybe a $600 BR is possible by March, and $1k by next June? If I hit $1k I'm done with LHE and I'm going to start playing real poker lolz
Does that sound like a realistic pace? I haven't actually crunched the numbers on BB/hands to see if I can make the BR fit like that though. What's a decent/possible BB/hands for micro stakes LHE?
5,000 hands per month minimum. So by New Years I'll be grinding the profit in on .5/1 stakes. I've got like 25 thousand hands by then if I start in september, but I can do WAY more than 5k/mo. until september so I'm getting a head start. AND that's just the minimum. That means I need a $300 BR by then too, so maybe a $600 BR is possible by March, and $1k by next June? If I hit $1k I'm done with LHE and I'm going to start playing real poker lolz
Does that sound like a realistic pace? I haven't actually crunched the numbers on BB/hands to see if I can make the BR fit like that though. What's a decent/possible BB/hands for micro stakes LHE?
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shagnscoob
Rock Star
Silver Level
I wanted to revise my plan to something more specific and quantifiable.
Hands Goal: 5,000 per month minimum, 25,000 by New Years.
bankroll Goal: $300 by New Year's.
Reading Goals: Monthly read through of SSHE, and monthly read through of Theory of Poker. That should really be kind of easy once I've gotten through ToP for the first time.
Analysis Goals: Analyze a session (300 hands dealt) at LEAST once every two weeks, preferably once a week.
I'm not positive that $300 is realistic in this time frame. It seems like I could once I start moving up limits but this first stepping stone past .5/.1 is taking a long time hahaha.
If I can maintain this schedule until New Year's and reach those goals, I'm going to treat myself to NLHTAP and PNLHE and get back to work
Hands Goal: 5,000 per month minimum, 25,000 by New Years.
bankroll Goal: $300 by New Year's.
Reading Goals: Monthly read through of SSHE, and monthly read through of Theory of Poker. That should really be kind of easy once I've gotten through ToP for the first time.
Analysis Goals: Analyze a session (300 hands dealt) at LEAST once every two weeks, preferably once a week.
I'm not positive that $300 is realistic in this time frame. It seems like I could once I start moving up limits but this first stepping stone past .5/.1 is taking a long time hahaha.
If I can maintain this schedule until New Year's and reach those goals, I'm going to treat myself to NLHTAP and PNLHE and get back to work
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shagnscoob
Rock Star
Silver Level
Okay so I just ground out about 650 hands over 3 tables and broke about 3 or 4 BB's less than even after starting out very very poorly and bringing it back in the final 50 or so.
On one table (meaning maybe 200ish hands) I saw a guy make 80 BB's, from $6 to $14 + with plays like this---
- cold calls against 3 people with 92s
- limping/calling raise with 45o
- betting an under pair all the way to the river
- calling a PF raiser all the way to river with KTo and middle pair (the T)
- cold calls 67o
- playing literally any ace
- limping with J9o in middle position
- raising J9o
It's pretty discouraging to see someone playing like this make so much money in a sitting. It makes me second-guess everything I've learned about playing low-limits, because there really doesn't seem to be a reliable strategy. Obviously that's results-oriented but that's how it FEELS
Oh well. Will post a session analysis hopefully int he next couple days (650 hands... lol).
On one table (meaning maybe 200ish hands) I saw a guy make 80 BB's, from $6 to $14 + with plays like this---
- cold calls against 3 people with 92s
- limping/calling raise with 45o
- betting an under pair all the way to the river
- calling a PF raiser all the way to river with KTo and middle pair (the T)
- cold calls 67o
- playing literally any ace
- limping with J9o in middle position
- raising J9o
It's pretty discouraging to see someone playing like this make so much money in a sitting. It makes me second-guess everything I've learned about playing low-limits, because there really doesn't seem to be a reliable strategy. Obviously that's results-oriented but that's how it FEELS
Oh well. Will post a session analysis hopefully int he next couple days (650 hands... lol).
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shagnscoob
Rock Star
Silver Level
A bit of a milestone-->
I'm officially "making money" in the sense that I'm now above my original deposit. I'm still in the middle of a session but I'm up a dollar at about $51 compared to my original deposit of.... $50.
Still important!!
I'm officially "making money" in the sense that I'm now above my original deposit. I'm still in the middle of a session but I'm up a dollar at about $51 compared to my original deposit of.... $50.
Still important!!
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shagnscoob
Rock Star
Silver Level
I'm on a sick heater right now, I was at $51 at the start of this session, lost $1.50 immediately, and now I'm up over 60 BBs, I think somewhere around $59.
That means I'm SO close to being officially bankrolled for the next level, FINALLY.
That means I'm SO close to being officially bankrolled for the next level, FINALLY.
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shagnscoob
Rock Star
Silver Level
Oh my god. I hit $60, strted playing .1/.2 and now I'm almost back down to $50.
The skill difference is just ridiculous between different players. Now there are players that are way better than in the .05/.1 but there are players that are SO much worse than anyone I've played against. It makes it REALLY hard to use any kind of read, instead I'm trying to just play EXTREMELY nitty.
The skill difference is just ridiculous between different players. Now there are players that are way better than in the .05/.1 but there are players that are SO much worse than anyone I've played against. It makes it REALLY hard to use any kind of read, instead I'm trying to just play EXTREMELY nitty.
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Adventurebound2
Legend
Silver Level
No need to worry about being down a little, overall you're ahead of the game. Maybe tighten up a little and don't fret about the maniac players too much. They will always be around, just bide your time for the right hands and they will pay you well.
Keep posting and reading FP's articles, (priceless info, imho)
Keep posting and reading FP's articles, (priceless info, imho)
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shagnscoob
Rock Star
Silver Level
Good god I'm just getting slaughtered every time I sit down. How big of downswing do you guys take before you think MAYBE you're doing something wrong?
I'm about THIS close to taking 3 or 4 days off to reread SSHE again and analyze 3 or 4 thousand hands. It's been a couple weeks.
I'm about THIS close to taking 3 or 4 days off to reread SSHE again and analyze 3 or 4 thousand hands. It's been a couple weeks.
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shagnscoob
Rock Star
Silver Level
Down significantly more. Went down to .05/.1 to see how I fared, a little below break even over a few hours time.
Will take tomorrow off to re-read SSHE. Then will decide next course of action. I think I need to go back and try playing a lot looser PF but nittier post flop. Playing too tight pre AND post flop gets me nowhere, playing too loose post flop gets me nowhere. Playing looser preflop seems like an option....
Will take tomorrow off to re-read SSHE. Then will decide next course of action. I think I need to go back and try playing a lot looser PF but nittier post flop. Playing too tight pre AND post flop gets me nowhere, playing too loose post flop gets me nowhere. Playing looser preflop seems like an option....
c9h13no3
Is drawing with AK
Silver Level
Stop being results oriented.
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shagnscoob
Rock Star
Silver Level
Damn! You're right!
It's hard to see how I could be doing everything right when I'm losing this much money. On one hand, I understand why results oriented thinking is a problem, because you play QQ and lose one time and you think queens suck. On the other hand, results are what we want, so I think if we go long enough without results we have to question our process to MAKE SURE we are doing it right. Maybe if I was phil ivey I'd know that my process was good, but since I'm still a beginner it makes sense that maybe something in my process is no good.
I'm going to go through a couple hand histories and see what I think. I'm almost finished re-reading SSHE (it's a breeze after this many times through). Plus I'm about to finish ToP as well.
c9h13no3
Is drawing with AK
Silver Level
Sure, a downswing is a good spot to pause & study your game for a bit, but its not a good time to be making drastic changes to it. Your confidence is usually shot, and your poker judgment is usually impaired. You should be reading up and refining your game as a consistent, on-going process.
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shagnscoob
Rock Star
Silver Level
I took a look through some hand histories for the past couple days. Seems like this downswing is more like a REALLY tough run of luck. I'll go a hundred hands without anything playable, get queens and and raise/reraise PF, only to have a king and an ace come. So my confidence is restored a little because it seems like I'm not making too many errors as much as just getting unlucky. Like the pot will reach 15 or 20 BBs and the river puts 4 to a straight giving the gutshot his card when I had a set or something.
I'm STILL taking today off to re-read SSHE and patrol the strategy articles here. And of course continuing to look through hand histories for any sign of weakness.
I'm STILL taking today off to re-read SSHE and patrol the strategy articles here. And of course continuing to look through hand histories for any sign of weakness.
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shagnscoob
Rock Star
Silver Level
Okay a few things I'm pulling out of my hand histories:
- Inconsistency preflop. I'm folding hands to raises that probably can cold-call (AQo and KJs come to mind here, just SLIGHTLY looser than "Tight" recommendations in SSHE), but playing hands that SHOULD NOT cold call (QJs for example). Furthermore I'm calling with low PPs (22-66) up front, but folding KQ from UTG. Also not pushing my equity edge with hands like AJ and AT by not raising from the button (Much smaller mistake). I need to clean this up bad.
- On at least one hand I check/called with the nut straight. Who does that?
Plus basically just.... TONS of hands like 42o J6 K5 A3o.... Oh well. Analyzing is really refreshing. Every time I do it I feel like I pull A LOT out of it. I just posted a hand in the ring hands that I couldn't figure out.
- Inconsistency preflop. I'm folding hands to raises that probably can cold-call (AQo and KJs come to mind here, just SLIGHTLY looser than "Tight" recommendations in SSHE), but playing hands that SHOULD NOT cold call (QJs for example). Furthermore I'm calling with low PPs (22-66) up front, but folding KQ from UTG. Also not pushing my equity edge with hands like AJ and AT by not raising from the button (Much smaller mistake). I need to clean this up bad.
- On at least one hand I check/called with the nut straight. Who does that?
Plus basically just.... TONS of hands like 42o J6 K5 A3o.... Oh well. Analyzing is really refreshing. Every time I do it I feel like I pull A LOT out of it. I just posted a hand in the ring hands that I couldn't figure out.
kidkvno1
Sarah's Pet
Bronze Level
I know it may be hard to push with high cards or even call, i know if i had bet bigger i would of kept them from seeing the river.
i call with low PPs to if the bet is not high, so playing PPs can pay off when you hit trips or a full house.
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shagnscoob
Rock Star
Silver Level
Re: Playing Nitty
Not as smart as it sounds at .05/.1 or presumably at .1/.2 LHE. Or at least how "nitty" I was playing. Folding WAY too many hands worth playing past the flop, playing WAY too many hands not worth playing past the flop. Specific trouble with overcard hands -- playing nitty I'm essentially folding ALL overcard hands, which is definitely poor playing. The way I've been playing nitty is SO weak-tight it's pathetic.
Seeing improvement.
Not as smart as it sounds at .05/.1 or presumably at .1/.2 LHE. Or at least how "nitty" I was playing. Folding WAY too many hands worth playing past the flop, playing WAY too many hands not worth playing past the flop. Specific trouble with overcard hands -- playing nitty I'm essentially folding ALL overcard hands, which is definitely poor playing. The way I've been playing nitty is SO weak-tight it's pathetic.
Seeing improvement.
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6bet
Enthusiast
Silver Level
(Moved thread to LP)
Random thought that popped into my head - feel free to heed or ignore as you wish.
Review a session or two and try separating your hands into three different categories.
1) "I'm certain I played this correctly"
2) "I think I played this correctly"
3) "I had no idea what to do at all here"
Post some hands in category 2 and explain your thought processes. If you get dozens of dissenting voices, take it on board. If you post a few category 2 hands and are consistently opposed by others analyzing the hand, it's likely there are fundamental flaws in your game. So next, take a step back and post some category 1 hands. If you are certain you made the right play in a hand and people are still disagreeing with you en masse, it's probably time to go study for a while.
As you get more and more 'agreement' with your category 2 hands, then move on and start posting category 3 hands. Don't be afraid of saying "I had no clue what to do here" - every single poker player has no clue what to do on occasion. Just provide all the information you can and let others (and yourself in absorbing and questioning the information given to you by others) take care of the rest.
This is a great way to look at this. Thanks for the idea, I'm going to go thru an SNG I played today and do just this
carlosnuno
Rock Star
Silver Level
In order to win in poker it is not necessary to learn advanced odds, but it is convenient and even essential to have a basic knowledge of odds. You should only have knowledge of poker and mathematics, enough being learned in school. With this and a little luck, anyone can succeed or at least win