New month,...

new attitude. I said it before and I will say it again, I lost focus during the hand challenge. My main goal was to play and not be results oriented. I wasnt but I was. I wanted hands and I was focused way to heavily on that rather then playing good winning poker. My results suffered due to that emphasis.

Plan for April: Enjoy poker. Grow as a player. Win monies while not being results oriented.

This month my focus is going to be solely on playing and enjoying it. Thats why I started playing poker in the 1st place. Yeah I want money, and this is one of the main reasons, but I also enjoyed playing the game. Fuck x amount of hands. I will play what I play. I will only play 4 tables, never any more, for the entire month. Along those same lines I will play a minimum of two two hour long sessions 5 out of 7 days of the week. On the remaining two days I can play as I see fit. lastly, I will not look at my results for the entire month.

That is all.

Its done!!!!

Thank fucking god. Seriously I lost focus of the whole point of this hand challenge early on. It wasnt about the hands. but rather playing quality poker and alot of it. Thus I will never ever set a hand goal again. I simply will work on playing as much poker as I can while on my A-game. Seriously I just spazzed the fuck out at the end. Yesterday and today I was the .25/.50 donk I used to be. Thinking every one was making moves and just sticking my chips in bad everywhere. Quite sick to be honest. I am not happy with myself at all.

This graph is just stupid. The start I was 4 tabling and playing my A-game with no care of results. Then I had a tilty Friday that caused me to just spew chips everywhere back down to even. I turned it around at that point and played good poker with a major spew session around the 17k mark whihc I again rebounded well from. I was grinding super solid 8 tabling till the 34k mark where I really started going adfter regs. I was 3betting light and flatting and playing way to many pots while 8 tabling. Also I was making way to many irrational decisions based solely on my hand not what my opponent was repping. The last 4K hands were quite disappointing as I had hoped to end the month on a high and hit my 1st 10K mark but instead I went the opposite way. i did have my share of coolers but the amount of money I spewed is pretty sick.

Every mistake we ever make in life is an opportunity to improve. I feel this month was actually a huge stepping stone in my poker career. Poker isnt about how many hands you can play and what two cards you have(unless we get to showdown). Its about why your opponent is doing what he does and what he thinks your why is. God I cant fucking wait to 4 table again. 4 tables will allow me to play a more open and fun style in which I can make peoples lives hell until they crack and give me their chips. Good luck in April if you are on my right.

FPS

I have FPS, that is fancy play sydrome. I know sometimes all poker players chalk hands up to variance to easily were we actually spewed imo. I have SirNeb to thank for plugging a leak of mine today. basically villain and I have been tangling a bit but nothing to extreme(Note to self:Stop thinking everyone is after you.)I had just 4bet his 3bet and he folded. Then this hand takes place. At 1st thought I am like he is floating a medium PP, air, or he has KQ. The only other legit hand is 44 imo. Now I decide to be amazing and c/r the turn for value. In reality the value in this spot is betting, the board is so dry and I have a aggressive image thus villain may call 2 if not 3 streets putting me on a bluff. So that was my 1st mistake. Also what do I do if he 3bets? I do believe there is value in c/r this turn with air as he will fold quite often but here I have the top of my range and I need to value town him.

Now the leak. On the river we can assume his range is 55-99 and KQ. These are all hands I want to get value from and a vast majority of them he will call with but not bet. Thus betting will maximize my EV. I instead decide a c/r for value will be best again. What value? I dont think anything I am ahead of can actually call a river c/r here. Also a large part of his range should check behind as I can almost never call with worse. Thus c/c is ok if I put him on air but I dont. So instead of maximizing my EV FPS explodes in my face when my river c/r gets shoved on. I of course call without thought and he shows me 4X4. LOL!!! As played this is like the easiest fold ever. Yeah my hand looks pretty FOS imo but seriously does he ever shove with worse here? The answer is hell fucking no!!!!

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

Hero		($245.80)
CO		($91.25)
BTN		($254.95)
SB		($301.10)
BB		($212.00)

Pre-flop: ($3, 5 players) Hero is UTG

Hero raises to $7, 1 fold, BTN calls $7, 2 folds

Flop: ($17, 2 players)
Hero bets $12, BTN calls $12

Turn: ($41, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN checks

River: ($41, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $32, Hero raises to $98, BTN goes all-in $235.95, Hero calls $128.8

Final Pot: $494.60
BTN shows:
Hero shows:

BTN wins $500.75 ( won +$245.8 )
Hero lost -$245.80

POW

Yeah I am a fucking pay off wizard. God my month would be huge if I just thought a little more and made some proper folds/decisions. Tonight I make the 2nd nut straight in an unraised pot against a villain whom as 0.71 AF and he raises my turn bet. I put him square on the nuts. Rather then PC OOP and flat I 3bet and call a shove. What do you know he has the nuts. This is just a fine example of all the poor decisions I have made lately. Is it because I am 8 tabling an rushed? Maybe but to be honest I think I can profitably 8 table 1/2 in order to build a roll for 2/4.

On the 2/4 note I did 4 table a bit on AP today and it felt like things were in slow mo. It was quite nice. I am looking forward to fulfilling this stupid challenge and starting a new one in April. This time it will simply be hours. I will be looking for quality not quantity.

Here is a fun donk tard hand I played today. The crew did a sweat and we were discussing the merit of 5 bet bluff shoving. It is something I do on occasion if I feel villain is primed to 4bet me light. This was a spot where it felt like he was going to do it so I snap shoved. Woops! Ship it!

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
4 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

CO		($283.80)
BTN		($643.45)
SB		($366.90)
Hero		($203.00)

Pre-flop: ($3, 4 players) Hero is BB

2 folds, SB raises to $7, Hero raises to $21, SB raises to $60, Hero goes all-in $203, SB calls $143

Flop: ($406, 2 players)

Turn: ($406, 2 players)

River: ($406, 2 players)

Final Pot: $406
SB shows:
Hero shows:

Hero wins $404 ( won +$201 )
SB lost -$203.00



Total hands: 33878

WTF?

Played another 3k hands and was going to actually do another 1k but FTP is being strange. I decided it is a sign to not play any more today. BOOOOOOOO! Seriously I am feeling real good 8 tabling. I have tightened up semi drastically as I dont open as much junk in late postion but my ranges across the board are still pretty loose. It does suck when you 3bet QQ vs a 40BB stack and time out to his shove. Whatever. I have made several great plays and several not so great plays but it is a major learning experience. I attempt to think through every hand that goes to a flop even though it can be difficult. Definately not something I plan on keeping up but 8 tabling is fun. Today I did 2938 hands for a 6.5 BI earn. Not to shabby. 11BB/100.

Total hands: 27388

Now a super sick soul read by yours truly.Villain was obviously isoing. He is a solid TAG regular whom I may have tangled with a bit. I reiso and he calls behind the Fish. C-betting is my shot at the pot and I have repped strength pre. Now he shoves. Fuck! I tanked it long and hard but it didnt add up. I decided he was FOS and snapped him off. Also I am getting good enough equity vs his range. A high for the biggest pot of the day.


$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
5 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($75.50)
CO		($209.60)
BTN		($353.05)
SB		($109.90)
Hero		($200.00)

Pre-flop: ($3, 5 players) Hero is BB

1 fold, CO calls $2, BTN raises to $9, 1 fold, Hero raises to $35, CO calls $33, BTN calls $26

Flop: ($106, 3 players)
Hero bets $60, 1 fold, BTN goes all-in $318.05, Hero calls $105

Turn: ($589.05, 2 players)

River: ($589.05, 2 players)

Final Pot: $436
BTN shows:
Hero shows:

BTN wins $153.05 ( lost -$200 )
Hero wins $433 ( won +$233 )
CO lost -$35.00

Grinder

Been away for too long. Made a huge step forward today in the hand department and poker in general. 3131 hands in 3 1.5 hour 8 tabling sessions for a 2.75BI victory. Also had the 1st group conference with the AEJONES group. This shit is like next level. I just hope it aint above me. I will be looking to incorporate much of it into my game as soon as I settle back in to playing 4 tables. Just trying to make up for lost time today and maybe tomorrow.

Total hands 24450

Now I have a fun hand. This was something I saw in the last BT vid and something my game can use. Villain is like 20/16/3 and we have tangled a little. He saw me sqz and showdown a marginal hand as well as he has 3bet once or twice up to now. DB probably gets a fold here most the time imo but then I miss value. If I can get a C/R in I pick up some valuefrom his floats, possibly gain FE if he bets marginal made hands, and I have a ton of raw equity if he decides to jam.

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($434.05)
Hero		($251.75)
CO		($200.00)
BTN		($200.00)
SB		($201.00)
BB		($222.65)

Pre-flop: ($3, 6 players) Hero is UTG+1

1 fold, Hero raises to $7, 1 fold, BTN calls $7, 2 folds

Flop: ($17, 2 players)
Hero bets $12, BTN calls $12

Turn: ($41, 2 players)
Hero checks, BTN bets $31, Hero raises to $120, BTN folds

Final Pot: $103

Hero wins $189 ( won +$50 )
BTN lost -$50.00

Slacker

I havent played cards in 3 days due to school/St. Pattys/school. I had a big test tonight and therefore spent most of today and monday studying. Tuesday was mainly spent recovering from getting destroyed Monday night. In poker news I have taken a major leap in the right direction imo and signed up to take part in a MSNL/HSNL grroup lesson from AEJONES. The guy is super sick and understands the why 3000 times more then me and I feel this will be such a hugely +EV investment even though it is expensive. 4K+. Interestingly enough it appears BertKC will be part of the group which will be super fun imo. Also, Dodgy has decided to join which kicks major fucking ass too.

To date I have played 18778 hands with a profit of 2.6K which is pretty sub par imo. I lost focus after my 1st week and startd worrying about hands more then poker. I am still focused on playing 40K hands but my main focus will be to play the remaining 21222 hands on my A-game. I have no school starting after 12:30 tomorrow for till the 31st which I believe will allow me to dedicate most of my days to grinding. On average I must play 1768.5 hands a day to reach my goal. Because poker will be the only thing on my agenda everyday for the remai8nder of the month this will be cake.

Yeah poker, I am back!

ABC Tag poker...

owns. Seriously I keep having to tell myself this over and over as I continue to fall into the old FPS. I hate it so much. I stacked off with 73o today and 87o. Wooooot. I mean seriously until a player is just getting stupid out of line I dont think there is any reason to make high variance plays. When I am focused and playing solid poker I have perfect timing. The problem is when I am out of tune and start making moves just because thats when shit goes bad. Here is a fun hand.

Hand: Villain is 60/10/5 and the reason I am at the table. I have seen him make an overbet shove with the nut straight on a flush board. I have picked off a few bluffs already and they were small. Now I got AA stupid deep OOP and I decide to go into check/call for value mode as this guy is one of them donks who cant help but bluff. Its so sick as his overbets have been trong so far. I tanked the river and said well you induced and poker is sick. if he has a Q gg.

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem
6 players
Converted at weaktight.com


Stacks:

UTG		($159.65)
UTG+1		($204.20)
CO		($484.85)
BTN		($197.00)
Hero		($447.75)
BB		($438.00)

Pre-flop: ($3, 6 players) Hero is SB

2 folds, CO calls $2, 1 fold, Hero raises to $12, 1 fold, CO calls $10

Flop: ($26, 2 players)
Hero bets $18, CO calls $18

Turn: ($62, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $28, Hero calls $28

River: ($118, 2 players)
Hero checks, CO bets $176, Hero calls $176

Final Pot: $470
Hero shows:
CO shows:

Hero wins $467 ( won +$233 )
CO lost -$234.00


Total hands: 18778