Freaky Styley

Hey Guys,

so finally decided about blogging at DC. I was hesitating a lot about it, but finally it was a natural decision to document my overall progress as a poker player. I'd like to have a framework where I can write down my thoughts, feelings; where i can review my overall results from time to time.

About myself. Started playing poker cca. 1,5 years ago, when saw on the net continously how many young guys are earning a lot of money with it. I thought that I should give a try as always was good at maths as an economist and started playing at Stars FR NL25 as a real fish. Didnt know anything about the game, about rakeback, bonuses etc. In the meantime started reading books, forums, threads. After the money burning at NL25 I went down to NL10 and started playing as a nitty fish. Didnt like Stars software and the lot of shortstackers at that time, changed to Full Tilt.

At FTP I always felt home myself, the software is the best IMO, there's rakeback (however I played at the beginning without RB as a rookie didnt know about it, but luckily i could get RB afterwards) and the game selection is pretty gross. But i was just struggling and struggling at FTP, too. I finally found DC, bought a subscription and started watching vids. But I was BE at FR NL10, started multitabling, but i was owned always.

I met a poker buddy at DC and he helped me a lot with my game. He played at Bodog and I gave a try also to Bodog at the end of 2009. It was the first time that I could start winning. Not that much, but could make a small BR there. Watched more and more videos, improved my skills. Bodog is an interesting place, full with fishes, the overall level is very-very low, but it needs nerves to hurdle with stupid play by fishes. There are only few tables, it's like a little family. As a european it was difficult to find tables during the day, as mostly US guys were playing there. So at the end I was fed up with the poor game selection and went back to FTP. Started multitabling and it was just a disaster. Simply couldnt win, couldnt find the winning strategy there.

My buddy always told me that i should give a try to 6max and finally decided to change to that this summer. It was a good decision, 6max fits me better and started enjoying the game much more. However, I had to change my game a lot, i had to rework on my hand ranges, read new stuffs, watch new vids. Started playing NL10 6max at FTP. It was not a success story of course and went back to Bodog, but now at 6max. I was destroying the limit there and it was an easy money, stepped up to NL25. I started playing much less aggressively, there were a lot of regs and was only BE. At the end i was very frustrated there, there were few tables, on a table there were 2 tough regs, 1 maniac, 1 solid reg and 1 fish. So decided to leave Bodog.

As you could see i tried everything, because i had the approach that i should experience everything to be able to make the right decision what fits me the best:) As a new try I tried Ongame network, but it as a short story, software is a tilt source in itself, 5max structure was a nightmare for me and didnt like the idiotistic play there. It could be an easy money at the beginning, but felt that I dont improve as a poker player there. And the variance is very high there, what i dont like that much.

So. In September I made the final decision to concentrate on 6max only at FTP. I cashed out from everywhere and made the deposit to FTP. As said earlier it was the place always where I liked to play, so now it's the time to really play and winning here. Started playing at NL25, had a good start, but had a nice downswing and was forced to step back to NL10.  I realized that with insufficient BR you cannot play your A game and the lost AIs affected my game badly.

So now at NL10 and would like to grind up from here. Would like to grind enough money to have a coach. That's where I'm at the moment. I'm not running that well at NL10 and hope that blogging could help a bit. I'm working a lot on finding the ideal strategy and really believe that when i find then i can really crush.

I've got a lot of leaks to cope with, but I realized lately that mental stability is the most important factor at my game. Accepting hands like this and not affected:

Full Tilt Poker $0.05/$0.10 No Limit Hold'em - 6 players - View hand 996514
DeucesCracked Poker Videos Hand History Converter

MP: $12.90
CO: $12.50
BTN: $16.90
Hero (SB): $10.00
BB: $13.77
UTG: $16.62

Pre Flop: ($0.15) Hero is SB with Q Q
2 folds, CO raises to $0.35, 1 fold, Hero raises to $1.15, 1 fold, CO calls $0.80

Flop: ($2.40) Q J 2(2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $2.20, Hero raises to $8.85 all in, CO calls $6.65

Turn: ($20.10) 6(2 players - 1 is all in)

River: ($20.10) 3(2 players - 1 is all in)

Final Pot: $20.10
CO shows Q A (a flush, Ace high)
Hero shows Q Q (three of a kind, Queens)
CO wins $18.76
(Rake: $1.34)

So it was my first post. I'm planning to write on a regular basis. Any comments are welcome. I'm also opened to any discussion about poker, so if you are playing perhaps at the same limit pm me or if you are looking for a poker buddy. GL