Climbing Mt Robusto

One of my yearly goals (which was last years goal, and year before that etc etc) was to quit smoking. I had managed to quit at the start of 2009 for a few months and then slowly got back into it and up to my usual 20 a day. Things got worse when I started working full time. I immediately made friends with the smokers and was enjoying going outside and puffing away, chatting about the daily grind. Most of my managers were smokers which allowed me to get all the inside gossip of the department whilst simultaneously charming the middle aged ladies, which made my day-to-day working much easier as I would get away with things that people who had been working there for much longer wouldn’t be able to.

Anyway, it was my first day back to work for 2weeks since my surgery and I realised that I hadn’t smoked all that time. My mum hates me smoking so I generally chain a few in my breaks at work and then don’t have anymore when I get home. I decided today was as good a day as any to make it official and despite having some cravings after lunch and during my routine afternoon coffee that I’m pleased to announce that I didn’t cave in :)

So ill officially declare april 13th as my quit date because not smoking at home is no big deal. Today was the first real test.

Results so far:
Cigarettes not smoked :10
Money Saved (Pack of 20 Marlboro Gold) : £3.20
BB’s Saved (NL$100 for easier calculation :p): 4.9

Life Upswongs are fun.

and WON :D

Normally there would be a picture of the lobby showing the “congratulations you placed 1st for $2900” but there is no way I’m going to out this site on DC (not that anyone reads this blog).

April has been quite swingy thus far. Started off good until I was formally introduced to the variance that is PLO. Its quite weird to get top set in on a monotone board and still only be 52%. A few more 52/48’s later and suddenly there is a 10BI downswing staring me in the face which is obviously compounded with some NL spew (a further 10BI’s). Now usually this is the point where I start feeling sorry for myself and wondering if I am actually just retarded at poker and this is the EV finally evening itself out. However, being overrolled and having completed DerBrain’s coaching program (highly recommended btw) I decided to grow a pair and went into serious grind mode which culminated with recovering most of the cash losses and the above tourney score late on sunday night :)

woot!

now to try and not donk it back @ NL100.

Hey. Long time no see DC. What you been up to? Crushing at the pokers? Oh really, you have!?! Thats great. Me too!

Yeah thats right. I got lazy and like 90% of the other newly created blogs around new years, I managed to last 1 month of “this year im going to quit being lazy and really learn this game and stop winning @ 0.5bb/100 over 1M hands”. I think me and lazyness are going to have a lifelong struggle. Thankfully being broke seems to be more of an upper relative to lazyness being a downer in terms of productivity. So even though I stopped the blog posting I did get some coaching, watch some vids and go through some HHs with basically anyone that would accept me on skype.

The result you ask?

NL25 → NL50 w/some shots @ NL100 with a conservative (for me) BRM.
Learning PLO (and loving it)

I know this is the point where you would typically see a brag graph. (Un)Fortunately the site where I play 95% of NLHE doesn’t support HEM and people play REALLY badly without a HUD :).

This will have to suffice

Obligatory whine about how I’m still running aiev bad.

So whats new in my life? Still working at a major UK department store for peanuts. Its the one that just had a mini documentary series. I got accepted into uni for economics + maths, so I guess thats one yearly goal [x]‘d. Ive discovered I like pink shirts, much to the dismay of my mates back in London, especially supfoolio on stars, who when isn’t mocking me for my late initiation into metrosexualville still enjoys fucking with me @ NL25 live home cash games whilst 16tabling $10/20…

Found out yesterday that I put my shure se530s through the washing machine.

Left them by the radiator on a mildish heat and gave them a quick blast with the hairdryer before gingerly plugging them in to the ipod. THEY STILL WORKED. W00T.
I think I would have cried if they didn’t work properly. The connection I have to these headphones is, i’m guessing, what a mother feels towards her children. If I had to use those godawful standard ipod headphones that I’m sure give you eardrum cancer for any length of time I would just have to give up music altogether.

:D

So just finished up a session. 4BI’s below equity in 400 hands which is a new record for me. Puts the total up to about 16BIs below EV so far. Im no slugger5x or whatever his name was on the 2p2 forums that posted some insane 70BIs below aiev but damn this is frustrating. Im pretty much crushing the competition @ NL25 now and will just have to ride out this stretch for however long it takes.

THANK GOD FOR RAKEBACK :/

So the week was all set. My manager had given me the week off from work due to a backlog of hoildays I hadn’t taken yet (irl rakeback ftw). I had it all planned.

I was going to:
[x] Watch Videos/Make Notes Review hands
[x] Put in a ton of volume 4-6 tabling
[x] Start Exercising again
[x] Get my university application in
[x] help my mum with some stuff around the house and be generally productive.

As usual, I managed to do everything I set out to do half arsed and feeling really frustrated that things didn’t go as smoothly as one would hope.

[x] Watch Videos/Make Notes Reviews Hands

This one gets a [x]. I watched quite a few videos and made pretty solid notes. Went over a lot of theory vids here on DC. Namely the “Hand Readers” series. I don’t know why that series isn’t rated higher than it is. Maybe because the presentation comes off a little bit dry but there is some good info in those videos that I think all Micro and SSNL players could either learn/relearn. Also listened to a few eps of EPTPE. Hopefully I can finish that series by the end of this week as im still struggling with many aspects of my mental game. Some late night clicking led me to find out that my account at another training site with a VERY respected nosebleed player was still active and watched quite a few theory vids from there.

Put in a ton of volume 4-6 tabling

[?] Half marks for this one. I did put in quite a few hours. I did stomp all over the competition in the middle of the week. I felt like I was on my game. All lines were going in the direction I would have liked them. However, both the first weekend and the second weekend were abysmal. Both started of the usual way. Few beats here and there at the start of the session and before I know it im approaching -10BIs for the session, its 7am, I want to chain a pack of cigarettes and kill a few kittens. I don’t know whats more frustrating. A million c/c c/c donk shove lines from 50/5’s or the fact that all my hard work for the week is eradicated because my software doesn’t have a fold button against this line…

[x] Start Exercising again

[?] Half marks again… As I’m still a bit too busto to go and splurge all the non-BI’s im making at micros on a gym membership, I figured some morning jogging/pushups/crunches would suffice until I get paid for the month. I was very suprised at the pace and distance I could maintain despite not doing any exercise since September last year. By mid week I was running ~4miles in the Scottish snow narrowly avoiding slipping on the ice and breaking something a few times. Unfortunately, my old running shoes didn’t want to comply and I found myself with the most god awful blister along the side of my foot making it impossible to put pressure on. yey. Maybe im being a bit too hard on myself perhaps I should get a full [x] for this one :|

[x] Get my university application in [x]

[x]!!!!!! Economics @ Aberdeen Uni. Third time is a charm right?

[x] help my mum with some stuff around the house and be generally productive.

[x] Saved my mum 650 quid on her gas & electricity bills. Nuff said really

Garph

:(

Fun hand vs 55/10 w/ 45% donk bet over 250 hands (the big downward spike at the end of the garph)

Full Tilt Poker $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold’em $0.05 Ante – 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

UTG: $34.64
MP: $25.12
CO: $142.92
Hero (BTN): $56.16
SB: $34.10
BB: $67.79

Pre Flop: ($0.65) Hero is BTN with K T
UTG calls $0.25, 2 folds, Hero raises to $1.40, 1 fold, BB calls $1.15, UTG calls $1.15

Flop: ($4.60) 8 T J (3 players)
BB bets $4.60, UTG folds, Hero requests TIME, Hero raises to $18.40, BB raises to $66.34 all in, Hero calls $36.31 all in

Turn: ($114.02) 7 (2 players – 2 are all in)

River: ($114.02) K (2 players – 2 are all in)

Final Pot: $114.02
Hero shows K T (two pair, Kings and Tens)
BB shows Q 9 (a straight, King high)
BB wins $111.02
(Rake: $3.00)

On to week 3 !

So week 1 has been pretty awesome poker wise and lacking any other type of goal I set myself. I have a week off from work starting Sunday so I hope to start getting my butt to the gym and start doing starting strength program again.

Anyway here’s the graph.

Mainly 4 – 6 tabling NL25. I’m obvious pretty pleased but its a small sample size so its not all that significant yet. However, I have felt really on my game and removed a significant chunk of autopiloting.

I have done a lot of things away from the tables to do this. Ive started keeping a little notebook next to my desk and writing down a session review. Its an idea I saw on ep3 of real life no limit grinder: pro edition (i think). I pretty much copied WHS format but it definately helps me be focused on mistakes I made during sessions and thoughts about how to stop them from happening again in the future. Definately something I would recommend to other players. It will certainly help me with the mental aspect of my game by forcing me to be accountable for my play.

Hey all,

Like most people ill be using this blog to track my progress with the pokers and to ramble about things that interest me.

Firstly a little about where I am in poker and where I would like to be.

Currently grinding 25NL which is a little bit gay because last summer I was grinding NL400. Long story short I tilted off pretty much everything in vegas on drinking, strippers and live donks limp re-raising me and me paying off w/ 2nd pair for 200BB pots :D.
I am now working full time for $10/hr in a department store because I also got kicked out my university and couldnt get anything else in terms of work. Oh and I had to move back in with my mum because I couldnt afford rent in London anymore :(

Despite all that, I’m determined to get back to the top of Mt Robusto. Ive managed to beat MSNL for a small winrate over a significant sample and support myself with poker. I CAN DO IT AGAIN. This time however I am much more focused on improving and crushing the games rather than just putting in a ton of sub optimal volume. Im especially excited about DC’s Mt Robusto series and Ill certainly be contributing as much as I can.

Goals for 2010.

25NL → at least NL400
Remain in control of my emotions as much as possible on and off the tables
Get my ass back into the gym and tone up for the summer :D
Quit smoking for good
Get back into University

All attainable I think, but its going to be tough.

Here’s to a great 2010