Posted 6 years ago
Hope you had a good vacation @cutalegoff ! Did you go anywhere nice? Any pics??

Looking forward to reading all about your staking journey and seeing how it goes!
Posted 6 years ago
So, so, so....

Holiday was amazing - perfect family time, could not have been better!

Getting back into things this week has been "interesting"...

I have watched these videos so far...

Attached Image

Most I have studied and made good notes and a couple I have watched on the fly to see if they are applicable to me yet.

So far it has been really good for me to get into some preflop stuff. In fact, although I have watched some flop videos, I am not really putting the concepts into practice yet while I focus on nailing preflop down.

I am currently playing 2 tables of NL16 Zoom. With new preflop ranges AND concepts to think about I feel that is enough for me at the moment. Also I have only just started using Hotkeys and I am also getting used to using a HUD (properly) so there is a lot going on!

This is NOT going to be enough volume though.

I need to be playing 40,000 hands per month but my poker time is somewhat restricted due to being out at work 55.5 hours per week and having a young family at home.

I am working on it, however, and I have done long days before.

I am trying to get to poker at 19.30 each evening (as soon as we have put the kids to bed) and trying to go through until 23.30 for now.

After 3 days it is not proving very easy!

Last night my wife was out and for some reason the kids were having one of those evenings where they shout me up to them every 15 minutes! (This is one of the reasons I prefer Zoom by the way - I can sit out and re-join quickly.)

The night before that our central heating system (which is only a few months old) started making weird noises at 22.50 so I ended up leaving the tables earlier than intended to investigate!

Other than that it is going really well!

I am not "winning" or anything exciting like that but considering the changes I am making I feel that I am playing pretty well.

Focus for the short term is preflop (opening, defending, 3 betting, defending v 3b etc etc) and making my HUD better and easier to use. I have made some good colour codings for abusing customers who like to fold too much!

I don't think I need to watch any more videos just yet as I have got tonnes to work on from the ones I have watched.

Coaching sessions are at awkward times for me at the moment. I am not too concerned just yet as I have got the videos to work on/catch up with.

Once I am up to speed on those basics though I will try to persuade somebody to do some sessions during my evenings (he said praying)...

Some hands for fun...

1. Miss click goes well...

Attached Image
Attached Image

2. Fish gonna fish...

Attached Image
Attached Image

3. Protection or what!?

Attached Image
Attached Image

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

I will be back with a review of my first 10k hands with BTS as soon as I get there!

Good luck with your studies amigos!
Posted 6 years ago
I have played 10,975 hands at BTS so time for a mini-review! Wink

Sample is too small to take anything from my results so I just want to look at a few stats to start with...

VPIP: 26
PFR: 20
3B: 7.3


All seems okay. Was surprised 3B is not more like 8-9 so will check my 3b ranges (and how well I know them), BB 3B is 6 and SB 3B is 8.5 so looks like I am missing some 3 bets in those spots...

UTG RFI: 20
MP RFI: 21
CO RFI: 33
BTN RFI: 57
SB RFI: 58


I like them all. Will look for spots to get BTN and SB even higher...

Fold to PF 3B: 67.6

Woah! That is quite a bit higher than recent months. BUT... I do open pretty wide in some spots AND my villains 3B super tight as a population (often seeing like 3% 3B stat) so there is a chance this is fine as an exploit. I will run some filters and make sure though and ask a coach for some analysis...

4B:3

LOL! Well in fairness this is also a reflection of playing against nitty 3 bettors. No point bluffing into a 3% range imo...

Fold BB v SB steal: 31

Nice...

Fold BB v LP steal: 48

Nice...

XF flop as PFR: 54

Too high but not an immediate worry for me - keep it in mind...

Stab flop IP when PFR X: 52.5

Really surprised at this, should abuse them more...

Raise flop CB OOP: 6.3

Too low, working on this right now...

SB winrate: -13.4 evbb/100
BB win rate: -27.6 evbb/100

Happy with these but only ~1800 hands in each...

Volume

I was on vacation for the first week of the year. Since then I have averaged ~1000 hands per day. It is not enough BUT I have been changing a lot of things. That means I have played only 2 tables of Zoom exclusively for now. If things go okay for the next few days I will consider adding a third table.

I am NOT considering playing more hours yet. I am stretching my day as it is now and I don't want to start losing focus. If I did extend my hours it would probably go on study anyway - I have got a lot of videos I want to dissect!!!

Other

I have made considerable improvements at how I analyse hands. This is starting to show me how far off GTO I play in many spots (not that I want to play GTO). More importantly it is showing me where villains are making a lot of mistakes, and that is what I want to know about!!!

So far it is 10/10 for BTS... And I haven't even had a proper coaching session yet!!!

Good luck with your studies amigos! Keep on improving!!!
Posted 6 years ago
Really interested in this as BTS looks great from what I have seen/read! Keep updating regularly!
Posted 6 years ago
Awesome it's going well! It's good if you get a good group of people around you
Posted 6 years ago
20,000 hands done so time for quick review...

I need to be doing a MINIMUM of 25,000 hands per month and it will be close this month. I guess it is okay seeing as I was on vacation for the first week of this month. Hopefully I will be able to do 30k - 40k next month...

Study is going well.
- I am still implementing a lot of preflop strategy that was terrible from before.
- I started learning more about cbetting flop as PFR and how to use different ranges (polarised or merged) depending on board texture and villain.
- I am using the forum a lot (posted 24 hands). Replies are AWESOME!
- Still not attended any live coaching sessions but fortunately they are all recorded. I also have got tonnes to catch up on.

Some Stats (last 10k hands only)
26/21/7.4 - solid, need to learn about squeezing more.
Fv3b: 53.7 - came down a lot and I think this is a really good stat for my player pool (maybe too low as nits)
4b: 5.2 - Kinda low but probably okay at my games, I am actively using HUD to exploit
RFI: I am a couple of points above "standard" which is exactly what I want atm
Fold BB v SB steal: 33Smile
Fold BB v LP steal: 54.9 - It's okay

Summary
Very happy, game has improved a tonne just doing preflop stuff. Fingers crossed I can move up to 25 Zoom soon! Will keep posting hands and learning from great coaches!
Posted 6 years ago
Looks like you are making awesome progress! Are all of the BTS students on Stars or do you have a choice which site to play?
Posted 6 years ago
Attached Image
Attached Image
Posted 6 years ago
Jef147: Looks like you are making awesome progress! Are all of the BTS students on Stars or do you have a choice which site to play?


Hi mate, I would say most of the guys there are NOT on Stars. They do not seem strict about where we play at all (but give very good advice).
Posted 6 years ago
Attached Image


Rolling on the floor laughingMy lips are sealedWondering
Posted 6 years ago
DevilSurprisedRolling on the floor laughing
Posted 6 years ago
January Results & Review

First month at BluffTheSpot is done!

I missed the first few days due to being on holiday but since then I have worked hard (considering full time job and young family at least) and things have overall gone GREAT!

Attached Image

$163 profit!

Almost all of my volume has been at 16NLz on Pokerstars. My win rate there is 3.22bb/100 this month but the sample is small so it is "whatever"!

I played 26,221 hands in the month. I can do more than this because I missed some days (vacation) but I am not sure I can do more hands per hour etc. I don't feel ready to add a third Zoom table at the moment.

I will play some 25NLz now (before the profit sharing demon comes to get me!). As time moves forward I will to be more aggressive with my shots (30bi shot this time) due to the nature of CFP. Maybe 25bi and then even 20bi shots.

I posted 27 hands to the forum and am really pleased with the quality of the replies. A few different coaches chime in but they all have excellent knowledge and explain things really well to me.

Overall I am super satisfied and super optimistic! Of course I don't expect to start crushing just yet but the way everything looks here so far I just cannot see any reason not to get there given time and some hard work!

Good luck with your studies in February amigos! Keep moving forward!
Posted 6 years ago
I have just stopped playing for a few minutes to report that yes, after all, Stars is well and truly rigged...

Attached Image

Attached Image
Posted 6 years ago
Hi guys!

The 25 Zoom Goddess is putting my mental game to the test!

In this hand the Pokerstars client crashed on me after I made the 3bet! I came back online just in time and to my relief managed to get the money in preflop...

Attached Image

Would have been cheaper to time out!!!

I am not "on it" 100% at the moment (didn't even play Sunday which is really rare). My full time job has gone bad again and I am losing a lot of sleep over it. I just need to get out of there now and move on...

Still, I am just about hanging in at 25z at the moment, I just need to keep my head straight to play my best...
Posted 6 years ago
Hi guys! Times are tough at the moment.

Or let's put it a better way. Life is testing me!

BUT... I have a quick look at the rest of the world and realise thet what I am going through is total BS and actually I am so lucky in so many ways that I just need to STFU and get on with improving myself, improving my life and giving value to the world in whatever way I can...

Work is totally **** right now... I won't give all the details as I don't know who is actually reading all my blogs but it is a horrible atmosphere to work in. I have to get out of there and I have to do it in the way that is best for my family and for me...

I can't quite afford to just walk away right now. I do have income from my property portfolio that would help me but I need another £1000 per month to carry on living my current lifestyle Wink

So, on the positive side, I believe I can make another £1000 a month selling ice to Eskimos so the money is not really a problem.

The trouble is, I work long hours at the moment so it is a little bit tricky for me to retrain in anything! And I am definitely not qualified to do anything! Also I cannot imagine my current boss giving me a glowing reference as he is absolutely full of hate!!!

So, all this going on is affecting my sleep at the moment, I am waking up after 4 hours sleep thinking about what to do and how to go about it.

This is transferring to my poker... I am simply too exhausted in the evening to play anywhere near my best! And study is totally out of the question... Every time I try to study I start to drift off to thinking about my future.

There is a bright side to this... I am shooting 25zoom at the moment...

Attached Image

Small sample but it is going pretty well! Of course you can guess why I don't show the actual money graph!

Point is, I am running pretty **** BUT, considering all the IRL crap going on at the moment I am handling the runbad pretty well. It is not just AIEV runbad I have been card dead a lot of the shot too. So there is definitely positives to take!!!

All in all, I am going through a period in life where it is my mindset that is being tested (even in poker!)... I actually get a kind of masochistic enjoyment out of it (because I believe that when times are tough we make the most progress and grow the most).

I spent a lot of my life in "a dark place", wasting my life away and bringing negativity to the world. Hopefully I am past the turning point now.

Hopefully this is just another chapter in my self improvement journey. I am praying, in fact, that this is the next "growth spurt"!

So in summary...

Not studied much this past week and not putting the volume in (around 800 hands per day) but even if I did it would be wasted time...

I just need to sort my job out and redirect my life. I have got about 6 options all spinning around in my head and I need to take some time to make a good decision.

When I make that decision I will go all guns blazing!

Until then, keep studying and keep making progress amigos!!! Love you all!!! Heart
Posted 6 years ago
Holy underpants Batman!!!!

The 25 Zoom Poker Goddess really got her knickers in a twist with me! I think I may have been unfaithful to her or something! Wink

I had around 3 buy-ins to play with this morning and it was going fine until three hands in very quick succession (2 minutes maximum) killed me off!!!

HAND 1 - Versus Fish

Attached Image

=================================================

HAND 2 - Tagged as probable reg small sample

Attached Image

=================================================

HAND 3 - No reads

Attached Image

=================================================

So yeah, that was pretty fast finish!!!

Here is the graph of all hands of 25 Zoom shot...

Attached Image

The mindset is getting stronger in this warrior...

Attached Image

P.S. I hope the 16 Zoom Poker Goddess still loves me, she was crazy for me 10 days ago!!!!!
Posted 6 years ago
Wow! That is some sick runbad!

I'm sure you'll get it back at 16s in no time
Posted 6 years ago
The 16 Zoom Poker Goddess is definitely being kinder to me than that moose at 25 Zoom was!!!

Attached Image

Couple of $ more (or coins) and will test the old girl at 25z out again Wink

P.S. Volume bit crappy and work is still pretty yuk!!!
Posted 6 years ago
Now that's a sexy looking graph! No doubt you will soon crush that 25.
Posted 6 years ago
orkaans: Now that's a sexy looking graph! No doubt you will soon crush that 25.


Thanks! I sure hope so!!!