Swingy Sessions and Tilting

Hi there,

as mentioned in the last blog entry, I started to play NL50 after running pretty good the last days on NL25.
Actually I played now a little bit more than 12.000 hands on NL50 and first it looked that I was still running good.
After I had a break-even stretch of 7.000 hands just to fond the boost button which helped me winning 6 stacks in two sessions.
I was pretty confident and thought that reaching the next limit would just be a matter of time, but then last Thursday and Friday came. In these two days and 5.000 hands I dropped nearly 8 stacks which leads me to something which I usually rarely experience: TILT.

There was actually one hand which tilted me because of two reason:
1.Villian and myself had several blind battles where he tried to bluff me with garbage and this time I thought it would be the right spot to stack him
2.As good as my idea was, as bad I played this hand.

No-Limit Hold'em, $0.50 BB (6 handed) - Hold'em Manager Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com

Button ($50)
Hero (SB) ($126.20)
BB ($72.10)
UTG ($50)
MP ($80.70)
CO ($50)

Preflop: Hero is SB with 9, J
4 folds, Hero bets $1.75, BB raises $5.50, Hero calls $4

Flop: ($12) 3, A, 9 (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets $7, Hero calls $7

Turn: ($26) J (2 players)
Hero checks, BB checks

River: ($26) 4 (2 players)
Hero bets $17, BB raises $59.10 (All-In), Hero calls $42.10

Total pot: $144.20

Results:
Hero had 9, J (two pair, Jacks and nines).
BB had K, Q (flush, King high).
Outcome: BB won $141.20


I am still asking myself why I did not bet the fucking turn when I hit my 2Pair.
After this hand I mad two other pretty bad turn calls which cost me two stacks and therefore I am seeing myself with three stacks down on NL50 at the moment.

I am going to watch Schalke playing in Munich today and will play another session this evening. I have more than three buy-ins for NL50 left, if I drop them it is time to rebuilt the bankroll and regain confidence an NL25.

Cheers
Scots75

Next Limit

Hi there,

I did not had the chance to play many hands in the last two weeks but it was enough to gain confidence and reach the next limit. I took shots at NL50 over the weekend and I am slightly above break-even.

I started to post hands on the DC forums but I am still not able to find the time to watch more videos, so it will be tough to finish the Real Life No Limit Hold´ Grinder series by end of october. Therefore I am going to create a theory tuesday. Usually the tuesday was a day during the week where I was able to play app. 1.5 hours. Now, I will spend this time to watch a video from DC.

Overall I am pretty happy about my game at the moment. The graph looks brilliant and I more confident since I am able to apply the some of the topics from the DC vids, especially from Tubasteves series "From the Ground up".

I am not really good in setting goals as it is hard for me to predict how much time I am able to spend with the game, but I was convinced that goals are necessary to keep the track.
Therefore my goals for the rest of the year:
=> Still be able to play NL50
=> Watch two more DC video series (Babysteps and Road to Robusto NL)
=> Review each session

In addition to play NL 6max cash game, I thought about mixing some tourneys in between but I decided to stick to the cash game. Nevertheless I would like to congrat Fuzzi124 for making his way to the PCA tourney in January after beating the Step tourneys. Good job mate!

Cheers
Scots75

Running good,...

...very good.
It is now a little bit more than two ago, that I decided to give No Limit Hold´em a chance and forced myself to take this try seriously.
I played a little bis more than 11.000 hands and made nearly 9 stacks which makes it to 15bb/100 hands. :)
Pretty good results overall and I am really happy about the way I am playing at the moment. Most important for me is the fact that I am playing with a lot of discipline lately. Two more stacks to go and it is time to take a shot at the next limit.

But there definitly some things I have to improve in the future. I am still a little bit to tight preflop with a PFR% of just 12,9%. I also need to post more hands in the DC forums.

Beside poker I am pretty much into the NFL and the NHL at the moment. The Bears and Blackhawks started quite good in the season and I am really enjoying these sports.

Talking about sports, it is quite nice to have a little bit more time over the weekends after stepping away from the german soccer. I did not miss many Schalke games in the last couple of years but in the last year I started feeling uncomfortable with it. I know that a lot of people are feeling pretty disappointed about me and my decision but I am feeling really good at the moment.

I am enjoying my job and the time I am able to spend with my girlfriend and poker started to be good again.

It could be worse....! ;)

Cheers

Scots75

It has been a while...

...since I updated this blog. I deleted my old blog posts after coming to the decision that I need a complete restart in my poker game.

Actually I completely stopped playing poker the last two weeks in September. I used this time off to talk to various people about the game, read the DC forums and started watching the NL Hold`em Microlimit Grinder series with WiltOnTilt.

But I guess the most important fact that I am back in the game is the DC series “The Eightfold Path to Poker Enlightenment” from Tommy Angelo and Wayne Lively. The series is about creating the right mindset for this game and it actually helped me concentrating on the game again, playing my A-game more often and take breaks whenever I need them.

I think this series alone is worth a DC membership. You can find more information about the 8 episode long series here or you can follow Tommy on his blog on http://tommyangelo.com/

Before I actually started to play, it was time to set some goals. Actually this was something which I did not do consequently enough in the past although this is an important factor for me.

Therefore I put a couple of goals on the line:

1. Stick to NL hold´em 6max
   
   
2. Finish the Real Life Microlimit Grinder series until end of October
   
   
3. Review key hands of every session
   
   
4. Blog updates at once a week
   
   

After getting this motivation I started playing on the 27^th of september with 25 buy-ins for NL25 and what shall I say, I played the best game I ever played.

I made good decisions in trouble spots, played aggressive against weaker opponents and made lots of value bets on turn and river without the fear to lose the pot. I guess, I am still too tight preflop but I need to verify this after I played more hands.

Finally, I am pretty happy about my actual situation and it was the right decision to move down two limits to recover.

Cheers

Scots75