From the ground up

After some thinking I thought I might as well play vs as many fish as possible, and as i'll be 2 tabling max traffic really isn't an issue for me so I've decided to give Bodog a whirl. Software sucks, and traffic is low but I aim to ignore that in favour of more profits (whilst still not being results orientated).

It means learning to play vs calling stations/loose players which is fine with me, I get a higher rakeback equivilent there than at Full tilt also so in my eyes I will be able to move up with more ease.

The lowest limit they have there is $5nl, which i'm rolled for with 40 buy ins so i'm fine starting there.

I love full tilt software and part of me wants to play there, but it makes sense to play vs more fish than regs to me.

My main focus is 100% on becoming a better player, and not on making money. I can still become a lot better playing on a softer site, taking notes exploiting opponents etc.

OK so recently poker has been very frustrating for me, having played 55k hands at .25/.50 6max LHE beating that for just over 2BB/100 then moving upto .50/1 and breaking even for 30k hands I couldn't stand the varience anymore. Or at least I thought.

The problem was I was trying to make as much money as possible instead of focusing on becoming a better player, sure I watched a load of training videos specific to the game I was playing and overall implementing what I learnt (as far as I know) pretty well, but my mindset was in the wrong place.

I was seeing how many tables I can play instead of more useful things in my early poker career like taking notes, evaluating sessions etc. I had the right motivation but the wrong work ethic. I think a lot of aspiring players make this mistake, they put potential $'s an hour before learning and long term that's only -EV.

I also need to work on my confidence, when I read posts on 2+2 people saying that they games are virtually 'unbeatable' these days and that all the fish have gone, it's a reg fest etc etc it really got me down as I like many others really want to do this. REALLY want to, because due to various personal circumstances I couldn't stand working for someone else again, I would rather be broke than in a job I hate.

Moving on, my main goal is to become a high stakes player. I'm transitioning to No limit and going right into 6max. 6max NL holdem is by far the most popular form of cash poker online (so it seems at this point in time) so it makes sense to me to work on that, so I have a good understanding of how to read opponents, nl concepts and the fact that I have some experience in 6max Limit i'm sure it will help me along the way.

I'm going to start at the very bottom, and work from the ground up. I'm going to single table $2nl and really focus on reading players, putting them on ranges and taking good solid notes. My aim isn't to make money at this stage, it is to become a great player. I'm bankrolled for $25nl however I tried going straight into that and lost a few buy ins and I tilted so hard I said to myself 'I suck at nl, stick to limit' which as any nl grinder will know, loosing 4-5 buy ins at 25nl 6max is very standard. It hit me hard though, and I was playing scared money to be honest as i'm trying to eventually play for a living.

I've decided to go with Full Tilt for my grind, great site with loads of traffic plus I got rakeback there - even though i'm from the UK I would rather play on FT because 1.)Software is miles better than Euro sites 2.) Traffic around the clock at 6max nl and 3.) Fairly decent opponents as I move up so my learning will be solid.

So here we are, starting afresh at poker with the correct mindset at last. No more trying to earn as many $'s as possible, just good, solid learning. I'm enjoying it a ton more already, I feel I can go quite far with this.

As I will be spending a lot of time on 1 site working my way up I thought it would make sense to pimp the graphics a bit, so after much choosing I got the tables looking like this:

 

Which i'm sure you will agree, looks quite tidy and easy on the eyes :-)

Regarding study, i've started watching the +EVolution of poker series here on DC - which i'm really enjoying. It goes into learning poker the right way which is exactly the kind of thing I am looking for right now so thanks DC! Another great series for me to watch.

I've also invested in HEM small stakes and leakbuster, once I have a decent sample size I will be looking for potential leaks in there to help me improve my game.

So, without further ado i'm off for some poker study and playing!

E.