Doin' the job

I've reached that magical milestone of 1000 posts on the forums, so to celebrate, I lay my soul bare here:

My 1k post

Hope you get a lot out of it.

After my good start to 2011, things quickly went south.

Time and time again, I was frustrated in my attempts to move up to 100NL. There was definitely some runbad in there, but a good portion of it was just epic spew. My head just wasn't in the right place a lot of time.

And looking back over the past 18 months since I started my online poker journey, there has been a significant negative correlation between the amount of time I've put into poker, and my uni grades. Poker has definitely harmed my academic performance, which obviously isn't a good thing, as I have my finals coming up in May and essays/dissertation to write before then.

Then a couple of days ago, the decision was made for me. My backer needed his money back, so we settled up and I sent him back his stake money.

So now, it comes down to the fact that I don't have the time, money or desire to play any significant amount of poker.

I'm not quitting for good - I love the game too much for that. But for a good while at least, I won't  be playing poker, at all.

I've thoroughly enjoyed my time at DC, learnt a lot, and have talked poker with some really cool people.

If anyone wants to keep up with me, I'm still blogging over at andrewlynch.net.

GL to everyone. Whac 'em good.

Andy

Running pretty well so far in 2011:

Roll has recovered from my -$900 session 2 days before christmas and is now back to approx 3.5k. Time to start playing 100NL again I guess.

This is just from a short session of 25NL I played on Stars while I try and grind up a roll there.

Wasn't even trying to play loose aggressive or anything. I think it's just a function of aggression and the slightly nittier games that you get on Stars. Anyway, I think it looks pretty hot.

Went on a pretty epic downswing at the end of December, so this was a nice comeback. Feel really good about how I'm playing, and obvs it's pretty nice to run this good.

Hi guys. My name is Andy, and I'm a tiltaholic.

Following my latest downswing, I started listening to Tommy Angelo again. It's so clear to me that my biggest leak isn't 3betting too much, or double-barreling in the wrong spots, or playing too loose or too tight or too aggro or too passive. It's tilt, in all its forms. it's being emotionally attached to the results of my play.

I think it's necessary to implement some rules to help reduce the chances of such a ridiculous, crippling, soul-crushing downswing:

1. I will instantly sit out if I am down 2 buyins, and take at least a 30 minute break.
   
2. I will instantly sit out if I feel even slightly emotionally affected during play, and take at least a 30 minute break.
   
3. I will not play more than 4 tables for longer than 5 minutes or so (in order to table select).
4. I will always have at least 30 buyins for the level that I am playing.
5. I will never play for longer than an hour without taking at least a 5 minute break.
6. I will not check the cashier more than once a day.
   
7. I will self-exclude for at least 24 hours if any of these rules are broken.

Hopefully this should be a good start towards lopping off my C-game. I wish these rules weren't necessary, but they are. Maybe the day will come when I don't need these rules, but for now, they're essential.

My roll is now approx 33% smaller, yay!

I'd post hands but it would just depress me. Basically, every time I got it in with an overpair or two pairs/sets vs any sort of draw, the draw got there, and every time I got a combo draw in vs top pair or better, I bricked.

Also, people at 100NL 3bet like fucking maniacs.

I've now completed 20k of the 50k hands, so 40% of the way there. I'm fairly pleased with how I've done so far:

I think I'm going to mainly play 50NL for the rest of the challenge. Although according to this graph my roll on Stars should be 340, it's actually about 400 due to a couple of bonuses etc. Although they don't count towards the challenge, it's still nice to know they're there, as part of my motivation for this challenge was to help me grind up a roll on Stars. I feel OK about playing with only 8 BIs - I plan to move down very quicky, and I'm playing with a 2BI stoploss so I don't tilt off my whole roll at once.

Fingers crossed if I keep playing well and run OK, I have a decent shot at taking down the challenge. 30k hands of 50nl @ 10bb/100 = $1500. If I can earn that I think I have a VERY good chance of winning. Not sure if I can achieve that winrate, and obviously a lot depends on how well I run, but it's something to aim for anyway.

Good luck to everyone else in the challenge.   

I blame Grindcore and grogheadflow. This is from my last 4 or 5 sessions of 50NL and 100NL 6max.

Playing poker this way is so much more fun. 

Just finished one of the most fun sessions of poker I've ever had. I started this session just after watching a grogheadflow video on Leggo Poker (free 7 day trial IMO). For those who don't know, grogheadflow plays incredibly loose and aggressive and, like DC's own Grindcore, wins predominantly in NSD spots.

Stats from the session:

• 759 hands
• VPIP: 39.0
• PFR: 30.4
• 3bet: 10.1%
• WTSD: 19.3%
• W$SD: 48.6% 

And graph of the session:

 

It felt odd to be playing so loose and get in so many weird spots, but it was great fun. Swingy, but fun as hell.