The Dream

“THE CAKE IS A LIE”
(Portals)

Having finished a very subpar month where I did manage to increase my bankroll through some VPP heads up sitngoes 1K buyin and the winner gets €20 – That’s a lot for a nl4/nl10 baller as myself! In other games I simply crashed and burned. A 15 buyin downswing in PLO killed my confidence and caused me to tilt, and one thing I can say; Tilt and PLO do not go well together. I lost a bit in NL also, but also in Fixed Limit.

Then I transferred my roll to the Cake network. There was a good deal in a Danish poker forum and I figured the player pool might be softer, since there is no hud. That point exactly has actually shown very useful to a once hud-grinder like myself. I’m forced to not think about results (I haven’t set up HM yet – why would I?) and I’m constantly forced to pay attention and write down useful notes – or I’ll be completely shooting in the dark.

I already feel a difference, and for now I’m playing a lot better than just one week ago.

I’m up about 6 buyins playing exclusively nl10/plo10 – I’m going to stay on this level for a bit longer and hopefully grind myself up over 20 buyins for the next limit before I take a shot.

I did run well today, flopping tons of sets in PLO and having my hands hold up against their boat draws. They don’t really deserve to hit it when they decide to gamble a stack on T89 w/naked TT.

Hoping you are well,
Chris

As per my previous blog post I’m in the process of restructuring my entire game. This means that I’ll be trying to play 1 hour sessions without any distractions. I somehow managed to do that, but after a sick tight fold:

http://weaktight.com/2297351

I found myself in a heated debate on the DeucesCracked IRC channel (come visit us sometimes.) Which kinda violated my rules of not doing anything while playing. My plan with improving my focus and reading did go alright, at the end of my session I had pretty extensive notes on the players in the game. Perhaps too extensive, but you gotta start somewhere – right?

I was a slight bit tired from work, having had a bit less sleep than I require, which meant that I was a bit impatient, coupled with 1-tabling this led me to do some pretty sick bluffs once in a while that almost always got shoved on.

I really had to stop myself opening up browsers, msn or skype whilst playing – really shows how horrible my attention has been previously.

I ran pretty poorly I think, every time I had a hand I got close to zero action. This meant that I found myself about a 1 buyin loser in the end, but when I do my 1-tabling sessions the actual results really don’t matter too much. I’m considering to do 2 sessions af day of one hour. One where I play 1 table and focus entire on developing reads and staying attentive, and then one session of 3-4 tables where my aim is to try and increase my multitabling proficiency, hourly and ultimately my bankroll.

Regarding the AQ hand the bb was obviously a nit, but AQ does seem quite strong. Raising to get shoved on seems like a crap spot where we’re going to be flipping or behind most of the time whilst calling, with an unpaired hand oop against a nit who’ll most likely c-bet 80% of flops, leaving us forced to fold on quite a few flops, also sucks.

I debated the various options in my head and ultimately folded, I told myself that I would gain some more information on the player before getting my feet wet oop with AQo against a pretty tight 3betting range.

I’m using reciprocality a whole lot more now, and I totally believe that its a pretty sick concept to grasp. Its obviously linked to the Theory of Poker, but it seems to be working for all aspects of life.

Rakeback is due within a week’s time, and I’ll most likely take a shot at nl€20 when that happens, hopefully I’ll run like god and crush everyone’s soul.

Hope you all run well
Chris

PS. Thank you so much for your comments, it makes me happy to see that someone are enjoying the results of my finger-tip-twisting efforts!

Alright, I’ve been playing micro/smallstakes NLHE for what seems like an eternity now, but I have never really been able to “crack the code.”

This means that I have been busting rolls going from NL2-100. Always the same story, grind well and build roll, then encounter negative variance, go on tilt and finally bust my roll on some higher stakes, or even blackjack.

Luckily I got rid of this problem not too long ago, so now I never limitrush. The tilt is still something which I need to work on, but listening to The Eightfold Path of Poker Enlightenment certainly helps me in that area.

I decided to write up this post, to try and illustrate what things have been keeping me from breaking through and crushing small/midstakes NLHE.

1) Dedication, motivation and mindset
I was never a good grinder, I remember the busiest month in my entire career I played just shy of 50K hands. That’s probably what most regulars play in 2 weeks! Getting more hands in means that you step away from the short term results and focus on the long-term instead. I’ve found it difficult to grind when the game has been rough, the fear of losing too strong in the back of my head.

2) Focus, laziness and lack of overview
I remember it very clearly, back in the day when Gus Hansen had his own pokersite. I would put money on and try to 8-table right off the gate, not doubting my own skills at any point I slowly bled all the money from my account, not that I had any clue about BRM at this point. Then I joined CardRunners where every instructor had a HUD and relied on them a lot to make reads, this was interesting and I’ve since then played with a hud.

This meant that I never really bothered to make reads, never really bothered to take good notes – I was so sure of my own ability that I would just play 8 tables whilst chatting on msn and listening to a podcast or even watching a television show.

3) Going with reads, and being ballsy
Sometimes you are on your A-game you know when you can get your opponent to fold, and when you can get them to make bad calls with third pair. But for the most part I’ve suffered following through on my reads, relying too heavily on HUD stats and being money scared in general. This is in spite of decent bankroll management.

4) Adjusting ridiculously bad
After watching a lot of movies on CR and DC I quickly learnt to be FPS, I would go crazy 3betting the same guy 4 times, watching him fold – and the fifth time he jams over my 3bet and I somehow level myself into calling with AQ. Now, there are times when this call would probably be correct, but players at micros don’t automatically adjust, so unless you’ve seen any evidence, do not adjust.

5) Just FxxxING fold
You KNOW that that passive fish, whom you haven’t seen raise the river just once in the one hour you have played with him, has it. Don’t try to be an idiot and make a call with top pair – when passive players suddenly attack it’s like the nuts. Again this links to adjustment, where you overadjust by calling too much, when villains are not really just adjusting like that.

6) BRM is everything
Without a bankroll you cannot play, but most people underestimate the sense of security by having a solid roll. Losing a few buyins should not affect at all. Therefore having at least 20 buyins per level is a minimum, particularly for me.

So, what’s the conclusion of my ramblings? I’m going to 2-4 table NL10 with my €300ish bankroll and this time, it is serious. I’m going to not do anything while I play, never play more than 1hr pr. Session, observe hands I’m not in, quit if I’m feeling tilted, take good notes to obtain reads, fold more when facing agression from passive players, valuebet more when playing against stations, barrel more with the right reads and run good.

I hope you enjoyed my first post, I promise the coming ones won’t be in the style of this one.

Best of luck at the tables,
Chris