http://www.deucescracked.com/blogs/serpentile

Right I have a day off today and I realise that I need to start this challenge up again from the start.  Last night I played 2200 hands playing 4 tables and loved it.  I doubt that I ran that well but I played how I wanted to play.  I have the card manager on which gave me 20/16/7 range.  The thing that changed my play and made me think about my play is turning off the auto top up.  

This enabled me to see how much each bet / call and fold was costing me.  I would though reload at any point less than 90bb.  I then saw how much small mistakes were costing me.  It also felt like a time about 6-7 years ago.  A time when I really was enjoying poker a great deal.  Most poker sites didn't have auto reload function  and multi tabling was not all that common.

I also had my monthly calendar when I marked every 100 hands and gave each lot a colour coded rating of how well I played.  Between Red, Blue, Orange and Green.  This allowed me to closely monitor my play without being results orientated as only my VPIP/PFR/3bet was on display.  It made me want to put in just that one more lot of 100 hands and work that bit longer an harder.

So I am now on Day 2 when it should be Day 7.  I am only at 2200 hands but I am much more comfortable with this set up.  I am also going to mega busy as I am going to have to look after my sister in law as she has broke her wrist and has a young daughter to look after.  I am going to go over my hands at the end of the 28 day period on Saturday  26th May 2012.  So what exactly is this going to be:

• 28 Days "Saturday 28th April 2012 - Friday 25th May 2012"
• 60,000 hands, 6 days a week.
• Card Manager on at all times.
• Auto Reload Off.
• Marking and rating every 100 hands on my calender.
• Absolutely no checking of results.
• Never any more than 4 tables on screen.
• Thinking through hands in a logical manner and pretending to explain to a student / friend as to why I am do something (Even if Jen's going to think I am nuts).
• Leave when I stop getting low rated 100 hand slots.

Again yesterday was a big eye opener.  My main leaks were displayed in there full glory and the main points that I am not sticking to again during this challenge are:

• Playing more than 4 tables.
• Table selecting at more than 3 tables.
• Trusting gut on every hand and clearly defining players ranges.
• Autopiloting hands and using card manager.

I have had a crap evening today and relented just had to stop playing as I am tilted.  I know the real reason and that's again that I have deviated from my plan already and ended up stuck in the same spot I always find myself in frustrated.  I am going to go over the rules of this challenge again to myself.  After reading the questionnaire it is obvious to anyone where I have lost my way.  i am playing too many tables again, table selecting to frequently and not thinking about my game anywhere near enough.  There would have been a time when I would have ran away from this fact but not any more I swear it here and now I will do my utmost to stick to these 10 points for the rest of the month.  Tomorrow when I get up I am going to go over my hands once I have a clear head.

CHALLENGE QUESTIONNAIRE

I am really pleased again with how this not check my results thing is going so far.  I am taking so big suck outs and and coming out on the wrong side of too many high variance spot so I presume I am running below EV (Already 35 Buy Ins Below this year...yes you did read that right...) so I did become a bit obsessed by this.  There were a few spots which I am not overly happy with below overall I feel my play is really good and I am not finding the brutal swings of poker quite so bad since starting this.  Also should mention I normally play 200nl so taking swings at 100nl is not hurting me too much.

5 HOURS PLAYED (9 1/2 HOURS TOTAL)

9.00PM - 2.00AM

2500 HANDS PLAYED (4600 HANDS TOTAL)

£36.00 RAKEBACK (£78.00 RAKEBACK TOTAL)

Session Review

 http://www.handconverter.com/hands/1742156

9.15am  When I am playing badly I would normally make this call without much thought and pay the guy off but really I am not beating anything in my opinion, or atleast that's what my gut was telling me so I did.

http://www.handconverter.com/hands/1742160

11.10pm  At the other end of the spectrum this call was absolutely terrible.  He seemed like a station fish and knew I was beaten and I cannot for the life of me see a reason why I would call but I did.  Shame on me.

http://www.handconverter.com/hands/1742162

12.16am  This all in would seem crazy to most but this player was 71/54 with a  three bet of 29.  It seemed like a great spot to shove.  Unfortunately this time he had me crushed and the other guy had the same idea as me and he had me crushed.  Never mind, in hindsight I probably should have taken the more sensible option of folding preflop.

http://www.handconverter.com/hands/1742164

1.30am  This is such a horrible spot to have to laydown the river but it is the right laydown in my opinion.  The other player was a big fish who also folded and the all in player was a good regular who make be making a poor value shove/bluff with a set of 33 but I don't think so as he would have gotten it in on the turn when the fish is in the pot.  Good fold me.

I actually enjoy poker for once even without knowing whether or not I won a load of buy ins.  My most enjoyable session are normally where I run like god and obviously vice versa, when I am running terrible the same thing goes.  Not checking my results will free me up some serious stress.  Anyway I feel like I played much better than normal yesterday.  I was thinking through situations much more and taking lines I would not always take with mixed success.  An element of FPS did come into my game later in the evening I feel but overall I feel my play was very much improved on my robotic / tilty multi-tabling previous self.  So the Session Details...

4.5 HOURS PLAYED 

9.30PM - 12.15PM, 12.45PM - 2.30AM

2100 Hands, £37.23 Rakeback. 

SESSION REVIEW

http://www.handconverter.com/hands/1740066

10.20pm I never put enough thought into this hand as something was going on, on another table. This player does not call many 3 bets oop and when he does alarm bell should have rang off. The board is scary but my thought process was, "I don't have time, I have nothing, I'll bluff rather than lose, instead of "He doesn't call 3 bets much he has called the flop he can't be that scared of the board, why should I bet the turn?"

http://www.handconverter.com/hands/1740080

11.50pm Made a bit of a mess of this on the flop. Folding pre would have been better but I decided to do what I did. I think check calling would have been better also. I have no read whatsoever on the player. I fold on the turn thinking I had no fold equity and did not have odds to call. If I were to put them on a very narrow incorrect range of QQ+ I would need 27% so it is very close. Still misplayed and a spot I did not need to put myself into.

http://www.handconverter.com/hands/1740081

12.10am I really like this delayed double barrel. An actual hand where I was thinking clearly.

http://www.handconverter.com/hands/1740089

1.45am Super suck out against me just for good measure. This guy was so bad....

http://www.handconverter.com/hands/1740961

2.15am I think I was getting more fancy during the last hour of my session/day. This spot was a against a LAG who I had little prior knowledge of but have played with before and knew liked to take weird lines. Calling the xrr from him I think is ok but a fold would have been ok also. I actually prefer just checking back and pot controlling this board and no cbetting. He then leads half pot on the turn. I take a look at the board and think "What could he have, he would have 3 bet QQ and probably 1010 so unless he has 55 I just cannot see how he could have a hand here so I raise him and he shoves. So what he had I will never know. I think he is in hindsight likely the sort of player to slow play. Also he is not the type of player who will be bluffed off hands easily so I don't like my reraise against him particularly even though my board reading logic seemed sound enough.

FORUM POSTS:

http://www.deucescracked.com/forums/34-Small-Stakes-Shorthanded-NL/topics/513971-Strange-overbet-on-River-

http://www.deucescracked.com/forums/34-Small-Stakes-Shorthanded-NL/topics/513981-AA-vs-turn-XRR

Just joined up with Deuces Cracked (Having been a previous Cardrunners Member) and have already turned over a new leaf with my thought processes and thinking.  I have been using poker as my full time income now since 2007 and haven't necessarily improved in the way that I would want to.  From today though, all my thought processes are going to be on improving myself as a poker player, making the correct decision on every single hand and having a really strong work ethic. 

Just a little background.  I more fell into the process of being a poker player than planning it, but over the past 5-6 years poker has allowed me to not have a day job and work a fraction of the hours I would normally need to with more money than I probably would have gotten in the world of work. 

I have consistently beaten 1.00/0.50 and 2.00/1.00 for 6.5bb/100 and 3.5bb/100 over large samples.  I should though have made loads more money over my poker career.  I Have dedicated very little time to improving myself and used table selection techniques and momentum control to good advantage to win large amounts for a relatively small investment of time and just cruised along.  I have so many inconsistent eleents to my game and am becoming so weak tight, automatic, robot that I am excited about breathing some new life into my game too.  I will be working on the basis of challenges over the next few months atleast

I am going to set myself a challenge between Mon 23rd April and Wed 23rd May 2012.  To most people this will be normal but to me this is actually pushing myself but my normal grind is 6-8 tables autopoliting playing about 17 hours per week.  This month will be much more qualiy over quantity and hopefully I will learn some new stuff.



May's Challenge

1. 100 hours of playing time a.s.a.p.  Preferably 25 - 30 hours per week.
2. Play Solely 100nl
3. 4 Tables Maximum on Screen at any one time.
4. No Results Checking Whatsoever on Holdemanager or Bankroll.
5. Mark every interesting hand for review.
6. Do auto pilot any hands and switch off card manager on Ladbrokes once you have 4 tables up and running.
7. Trust Your Gut on Every Hand and Clearly Define Players Ranges.
8. Review all marked hands before Next Days Session Start.
9. Only table select when you are down to 3 tables.
10. Watch a Deuces Cracked Video Every Day.

SIDE NOTES:

• I am changing my wage now to my Rakeback + Half of my Winnings this Period.
• I have a bankroll of 66 Buy Ins so have no need to worry about my daily swings too much something I clearly see the importance of after watching WiltonTilts Bankroll Recommendations Video.
• I will leave sessions when I start feeling desperate urge to check my results / become mindlessly agro / generally tilt and exercise / take a break / do something else immediately.
• Session will be logged here every time.

 

"Lets start playing my A-Game again!"  Serpentile