Had a nightmare yesterday and lost virtually every big pot I was in. Sat out at my stop-loss before even 1K hands.
Reading around it seems I'm not alone, not that that is a comfort. Comfort isn't what I need, I need to find a way to come up with some results asap.

I don't seem to get tilted these days though and I really think that's down to watching Jon's coaching vids and Komododragon get his arse kicked on stream. Obviously Jon is playing with toys when he reviews us babies, but Komododragon is playing nl100 on stream for us and is a huge winner, maybe that's what keeps him calm; that and having had his arse kicked enough times by now as well I suspect.
An important concept to consider before even opening a table should be, 'Am I ready for this?' Don't just dive in, talk to yourself, get yourself focused before you sit in at a game, it's too late afterwards when 10 hands in you've done 2 BI because, 'Damn I haven't even had time to warm up.' Watch a vid, read an article, post and answer posts,review a session or a few hands but do something to focus the mind on the job.

So here I am, a winning - if not a good - player at nl5/nl10, getting my arse handed to me again and currently losing at a horrendous rate. Admittedly it's short term stuff but thee have been mistakes as ell as beats and sometimes I can sit cold-decked, lose a BI and wonder where the hell it went.

No whinging from me and no tilt worthy spewtard stack-offs lately, but I can still make the odd non believer river call although I'm getting that out of my system as well now. It can become a weird sort of masochistic 'curiosity killed the cat' type of habit if you're not careful. A true microstakes ailment as we all know! I'm more likely to make nitty folds these days.

Here's one, and this after being 2.5BI down so it wasn't a snap fold either. Does it get nittier than this?

Villain is a passive 20/8/0, no aggression to speak of so far, has no cbet at all and plays fit/fold to aggression. It's possible he over-values his pair of tens of whatever but - na I think not.




Had a lot of fun playing yesterday until I had to sit out. It's been a while since I said that and meant it, but I really do feel like I outplayed them a lot of the time and the limp/callers must have loved it when I had to go.

I have new starting hand ranges given to me so I added those to the ones missing from my own and will try those out later. Hopefully got my session with Lord Ming today so we'll see if there's anything left of my game (and me) when he's done dismantling them.

Coffee, then post some hands, then get right back on the horse.

'Just another day at the office.'

Really nice self analysis and think you put it across really well.

We all go through downswings and we all look at ourselves in the mirror and question what we are doing wrong. 2 ways to then go about this - fix it or just let it carry on and hope for the best. You play a lot of hands, post hands, reply to hands, always questioning things in the group chat and watch a lot of poker training content. Seems pretty obvious to me which way you picked and it will pay off.

The reason we are so calm is because we have literally seen it a million times before. How can a nurse working in A & E see someone dying and just be so calm and do the right thing? They have practiced for this moment a thousand times and also been in that moment so often. Also they will have also lost some lives and not been able to save someone but they get back up and do it again the next day. It is quite a severe comparison but if a Nurse can stay calm saving lives (even though he/she has not always been able to do so) time and time again yet when we lose a hand in poker on a computer do we melt and go to shit???

Got my coaching yesterday and I have to say the mingster sure knows what he's doing (but I suspect you people already knew that) ; guy made my head spin. Guys and gals, if you get the chance to have a coach rip your game to shreds in a perfectly respectful and calm way and then tell you how to put it back together properly, do it. Seriously. One hour will change your game - and the way you think about it. And he gave out so much information in such a short time I could start again just with what he told me and be a better player straight away.

Oh and check out his stream, it's not 'quite' the same guy on there! #rantsRus

Another plus is I seem to be posting more and more hands in the forums and being told I played them ok. When the consensus is the boy done good, it gives me a little ego boost and more drive to do it again. which in turn helps me to focus in-game because I like getting the reward.

So, I have to get combos learnt now and apply them to real time. Combos I can do but applying them in-game will no doubt take a little while. Definitely need to go that route now though.

So, off to find an article or twelve on that.

Ever had a hand where you're screaming for the river to hit and then go..oh...wait...maybe don't bother this time. So the dealer gives you it, for no logical reason except to take the piss. Sigh nh.

@Jon-PokerVIP that's a timely reminder and thank you for that.

So I stoplossed again yesterday and yet I dodged so many river chks when they hit their gutshot or some runner runner straight or whatever, I was very please with my play for the most part.
Got dealt very little, missed one or two cbets I think, but overall just hit nothing versus so many hits. Fortunately I spotted most of them and they didn't get paid off. You can just see their little faces going, 'go on bet again. go on!' ...and chk behind, sorry buddy. On the down side I lost pot after pot after pot... Sometimes it feels like it's becoming the way it is and will stay like that. know it wont, it just feels that way after a prolonged period is all.

I don't do the whole tilt thing much as I've said but I can do fear betting, e.g. when a draw starts to develop and the board gets wet I have up to lately been overplaying overpairs and shoving. Which of course gives the villain an easy decision which is the last thing we want. So I got rid of the scaredy pants crap and think about ranges instead. It's a much more considered and logical way of playing and suits the way I want to play. It also helps a calm thought process and cuts out the knee-jerk stuff - another ailment of which I have no doubt I as a microplayer suffer.

Just starting but In positive mood about it all.

My rock of a mrs came up with some good stuff yesterday. I don't bother her with poker talk as she has no clue, but she does take an interest anyway bless her and knows I'm losing at a silly rate. I went downstairs and she asked why so early, did I lose again. Yep, what's on telly babes.

Then she reminded me of how many of the things around the house like the washing machine/cooker/tv/bed/flooring/decorating, all that good stuff, I had paid for from nl5 over a couple of years, so I can win I'm just not winning now. She also pointed out in her straightforward manner that I've had what she terms 'loses' before - and worse than this one. I actually remember one was -19bb/100 over about 100K. I went from about $1200 to $68 and dropped from nl25 to nl10 to nl2 and it saved my ass from going broke. I couldn't replace my bankroll because we have no spare money, so BRM is and always will be, number one. The year before I had worse, went from $140 to 68c without missing a beat and rebuilt. I'm good at rebuilding, sigh.

I also have to remember I started with nothing and cashed a few freerolls to get me going so what have a I to moan about? Get a grip, get over it, get to work on it.

I also have the support of the staking group who help with things like getting started with combos. Shoutout to OloBury for his help on that one last night. Thanks mate.
I definitely have to thank @Jon-PokerVIP for his patience and his continued support. I'm a staked player and losing and he still thinks I'll get out of it a better player. I would point out that the amount I can lose is like 3bb to these guys (bow), but it's not the cost it's the principle. I really do want to repay him with success, but I feel like I'm pissing into the wind at the moment.
We've all been there I know. Get a grip, get over it and get to work on it.

As to 'downswing' I know better than to say 'I'm on a downswing.' No I am not, I was on a downswing last hand, but I haven't been dealt the next hand yet, so how can I be on downswing with no cards. Silly bugger. Of course this means downswings are just losing one hand, because a downswing can only last one hand can't it.

That was a long-bloody-winded way of saying cards have no memory, one deal has no influence on the next; it's your mindset that's on a downswing not the cards. So I reiterate, get a grip and get over it.


So anyway I'll pop off and do some combos training then hit the tables after food.

Damn that was a lot of waffle, I bet I'm the only one who read it. Sorry about that.

Have fun, be positive - and win flips!

I read it in stages

Good read, and I can't believe you've bought all that stuff from playing the micros!!

I think I have the same problem when on a downswing swing. If my green line goes down at s rapid rate, I also see my red line decline with it. I'm guessing it's scared money anyway. at least you don't bitch and moan about your downswing, like me

GL Mal!

Hi Bodster, thanks for popping by! Ye, I do tend to waffle on a bit don't I? You must be on shore leave to have had time to read all that bollox fair play.
I mean, why would I use one perfectly good sophisticate word when I can use 400 baby ones eh? And I used commas and stuff to give people a break to breath!

I now have yet another mistake to fix; preflop ranges misread. I've made a couple fo mistakes lately that had I not, I would have been in the green for the day.
Here's how it goes:

Preflop: Villain (recreational) raise utg, gets folded to me, nice easy call.
Flop: Nice flop for me, let's go, villain chks I bet, whatever, villain calls. Villain's range from utg would normally consist of...mistake! Warning Will Robinson, Warning! Do not assign ranges to villain utg that you would play, villain isn't you!
Turn: what's his continuing range Mal? Well, from utg I can assume he got this far with.... mistake! Warning Will Robinson, warning! Do you never learn? Continuing range of fishy player who raised isn't yours! Got it yet?
River: I can shove this, villain can't have....because of his raise and ... so surely he doesn't have....and there's only like one or two hands he can have that beat me so I'm all i ...aw fk!


The prosecution submits exhibit 'A' M'Lud,

River
2$73.5BBK
Hero goes all-in72.8BB, Player 6 calls 72.8BBFinal Pot $219.1BB


And we all know the result of that one. So who did we say the fish was again? Oh ye, right, got it now.
I'm getting better so I'll post a couple of hands where I know I got it wrong for sure as a reminder to myself is all. They're probably very obvious to most of you but sometimes not to me.

So the new rule is; 'Don't project your thinking onto a recreational player, it does not compute!'

I'll get it one of these days as they say, I will, honest I will!





That'll do for now, you must be tired so I'm off to town yet again.

Keep working hard at it but make sure it's fun. I fit's not fun you wont learn so good.

"Preflop: Villain (recreational) raise utg, gets folded to me, nice easy call.
Flop: Nice flop for me, let's go, villain chks I bet, whatever, villain calls. Villain's range from utg would normally consist of...mistake! Warning Will Robinson, Warning! Do not assign ranges to villain utg that you would play, villain isn't you!
Turn: what's his continuing range Mal? Well, from utg I can assume he got this far with.... mistake! Warning Will Robinson, warning! Do you never learn? Continuing range of fishy player who raised isn't yours! Got it yet?
River: I can shove this, villain can't have....because of his raise and ... so surely he doesn't have....and there's only like one or two hands he can have that beat me so I'm all i ...aw fk!"

LOL to this one, that resonates with me very well We should assign no ranges and just hope for the best I guess GL Mal!

Range for utg shall henceforth be known as,'random' until further notice.

Games have been a bit scarce in the daytime last few days. Like only one or two tables. Superusers obv, with inside knowledge I'm back on form.

Anyway, it's a bit frustrating because I want to play a lot this weekend. I expect it'll be like last night and all the casual ones will turn up after a few beers later tonight though. It would be good to recoup some losses for the month, then maybe rakeback, win the rake race etc. ye that and 30bb/100 should nearly do it...(emo)

Nl25 next month then instead of this one.

Here's a guy I just doubled up the hand before, apparently with a bad call for his stack according to the mighty hand judges.

I'll take their word for that if they'll take mine for this:




So what did villain think when...erm, sometimes, it's best to just not even ask.


Walk dog, eat curry, play poka, drink Vin De Asda. Oh I found out what Vin means btw, - short for Vinegar.

Have a fun weekend guys and guyettes.


No idea what she's on about but a cracking voice:

Bodster is one of my many nicknames lol we also have Bodling, Bodwiser, Bodingtons etc.

Hahaha that hand, I'm sure we have all been there at some point in our poker lives I know i have anyway.

Have a good weekend, and take it easy on the vinegar.

We sincerely apologize for the recent dearth of good games. This was mainly caused by us replenishing our fish stocks and introducing a few new exotic breeds into the pool.

Normal service has now resumed...



...have a nice day.

Glad to hear it!

End of the month looms large guys. It's a good time to recap how October went and what I need to do to progress through November.

JonVIP was going to shove me up to nl25 and I was soooo looking forwards to it.

Truth be told I'm glad I didn't move up, I wasn't ready this month anyway, although I'd have given it my best as ever. I had loads to learn and played some shocking stuff as well. Leaks, don't talk, I needed a new boat and I lost just under 99,431 buy-ins.

What this has done is give me a nice motivation boost to keep working hard at improving, but I couldn't say if I'm ready to move up or not; not out of modesty, I think we know I don't bother with that one, just from not knowing what it will take to not get owned. Losing is one thing, getting owned is not being good enough.

So, we'll see how November goes, init!?

In general, this month has been far from linear as far as learning has been concerned. I think I've moved on a bit and become less of a microstakes spewtard who thinks he's a nitreg and more of a nitreg who spews less; gg Mal.

Oh, nearly forgot the bloody competition, how could I forget that! I can't see me winning but it's been some fun, although I still don't answer many HH posts, I just don't like posting spam which most of my answers are, let's face it. It's been tiring to, especially when playing and losing, playing and losing, which is really draining. Maybe we can have a shorter version if there is a next time, give the old fart a chance to lag not so far behind.

Yes I got my ass kicked in October but it's been a lot of fun to. It helps when I have the group and the bossman in the background. That's a double ass kicking when I fk up!

My immediate task is trying to remember those combo things but I keep forgetting stuff which is frustrating, I didn't used to. Whatever, I'll just stick at it until it sticks to me.


So never mind the results, I hope you all had a good October and noticed some improvement, or at least got out of the game what you wanted -

- and it was fun, it has to be fun.



Cute as a button but I'd skip to about 1:10:

Well since it's the last day of October, I'll post my graph, I doubt one day's play will make a lot of difference to it's shape now.




As you can see, I experimented a fair bit early on with mixed success I'd say; sometimes it didn't work and sometimes it didn't work spectacularly. Included in that is that I ran like shit in a bottle as well and my confidence was getting knocked. My confidence was getting knocked because I thought I was playing well given my ability, obviously I wasn't playing well in the accepted sense, just for my ability.

Can you tell where the always awesome mingthemerciless gave me a coaching lesson yet? I played differently after that, stopped the spewtarding, got a few things right, made some more mistakes, graph moved upwards, just a little bit. It's been kinda zig-zaggy for the last few K but at least I've cut my minus 84000bb/100 winrate in half!

Huge shoutout to mingthemerciless and Jon for arranging it.

I was going to say I'll be happy if I can get my graph up to miinus 150e by tonight, but that would be just stupidly naive. I'll actually be happy if I can play better than I have all month, winning or losing is just meh.

Learned some new stuff this month to, check-raising flops, checking back 2nd pair, a little about combos, that sort of thing so ye, still having fun. I still get totally owned by the 85/65/45 loonies though, so an area I need to get right, there's just so much free money there and playing versus those guys is a hoot.


My pride and joy had some nice news this week. She's getting a pay rise up nearly £2 from the minimum wage to £8+ an hour. Apparently the place she works is trying to compete with other supermarkets. If you'd ever met my mrs you would agree she's worth 10X that amount.
She's 55 and 4ft 10 with a bad hip and a damaged foot she got from falling under the lawnmower and yet she walks 3 miles to work in any - and I really mean any - weather all year, runs back and forth in a cafe serving tables for 4 hours then walks home, often in the dark. She's done this for 8 years this month without being late or having a day off once. It saddens me to see her do it but she loves just having a job even if it is part time. I should be happy for her, not sad.
She hadn't worked for 20 years before this job and it took me - not me sorry us - nearly 3 years to get her education up to a level where she could apply for jobs and not get insta-rejected for interview. We worked from dawn til dusk, literally every day, at english, numeracy and her confidence and she got there and got the first job she applied for.
The confidence issue was a huge one, she used to talk to people looking through her eyebrows.

If you have a poor work ethic, try some of that attitude! Indescribably proud.

My own journey to here is rather more diverse, so I wont bore you with that (he said, trying vainly to appear wndswept and interesting).

So anyway,looking forward to putting in even more work if that's what it's going to take, see how we do with that init?

You all have a nice weekend.

Wow congrats to your wife man and she sounds like an absolute trooper! Accident sounded pretty nasty and all that walking well damn what a hero!

Your right hard work pays off and we can relate that to everything in life. Just gotta keep on doing the correct things and moving in the right direction and one day everything will just start slowly falling into place.

As for your month we have a saying "we never lose at poker, we only learn" so this month you have learnt a ton and i am super happy with it all. It was my pleasure to get you the coaching setup with Ming - you really deserved it for all your hard work and it is nice to see the results change there for you. I have also just made one of your recent reviews which will be launched in a week or so which i hope helps you as well.

so lets now make some November goals:

Thank you for popping in Jon, yes she is all that, seriously and i tell her so every day. Far, far too good for me and that's the truth of it.

Well, if you're happy so far - and yes, I really do believe I've moved up a peg or three - then my November Goals will include the obvious:

0 Post hands, post hands post hands. If anyone isn't doing this because they can't find two worthy hands a day out of 1000, please may I apply for you to coach me, thank you.

0 Try to evaluate hands - without just spamming, so don't bother with the nl50+ guys, at least yet anyway.

0 Make another review vid to see if I really am progressing as I think. We fishies can get ahead of ourselves sometimes, as we can see in the October graph.

0 Combos, combos combos and how to apply them in-game. Combos I understand, but at applying them I am a bit slow.


Don't want too many or my little brain cell will get confused - yes I said get not is! Rotters.

There will be no monetary goal or the usual, oooo I think I'll try to move up to nl50 by next Wednesday and turn pro by January 1st for my New Year Resolution, type stuff.

Keep it realistic,
Keep it achievable
Keep it challenging

But Keep it fun.

Run good and laugh at those suckouts!

Graph going up and down like a porn stars arse again this month, but generally better so far apart from a hammering I got for 4BI a couple of days ago which went in a blink. Sigh.

Came third in the competition for October but my excuse is that I had so many stoploss days I had nothing much to post except rants. I do like a rant now and again to be fair. My other excuse is the guys are bots and deserve the prize. I so wanted to harness some w34z4l power for an hour to. Just try again, it's all good.


So I've been trying stuff out again but with less of the spewtard element this time, like shipping 80bb on the river with nothing, because I think I can get them to fold a X or Y and they don't...and they don't again...and...

Here's an example of what a reg can do at nl10 if you can underplay your hand. It's this weeks new trick for me to try. I was listening to MingTheMerciless talk about flatting his whole range versus unknowns preflop, so I thought I'd try it out for a bit, see how it goes.

I'm also letting regs bet two streets postflop then chk, which seems to happen a lot. The question then is simply one of, are they chk/calling, chk/raising or chk/folding.

I'm not sure what I'm doing with the under-repping part yet, but...



...it does seem to be going quite well so far!

I'll post a couple up and see what people have to say about this.


Wanted to take the mrs to the cinema this weekend but found I couldn't afford it.

Tickets: £16
Film in 3D add: £4
3D glasses: £2
Upgrade to better seat as a treat: £4
And that's without the sweets and drinks.

Total: Don't take the piss, I'll wait till it comes out on telly or buy her the dvd, it'll be £7 by Christmas.

Got the forum comp to attend to, the rake race - I got $25 last month - and the small stakes thing on BV which just looks like just turn up, play and get some free moneez to me. See if I can score in all three and maybe we can go anyway - and get the coaching win of course. Unlikely but it's fun to try.

Enough spam from me, have a nice weekend. I hope the weather is dryer where you are than it is in Whales.

lol up and down like a porn stars arse haha love it!

That hand is pretty epic - gotta love the guy attempting to rep quads. Easy game easy game!

How much does the rake race play into your months grind?

Well actually it's in play more sometimes than at others. If I'm being a happy winner IO forget about it and it'll take care of itself; if I'm losing I check it every 4 seconds to see if I'm dropping or climbing. Yes, I do know it's not updated til next day. And anyway, checking it is fun and less swingy than checking my graph.

I've never been in a rake race before, there didn't seem much point when you're up against crushers playing 49 gaziilion hands a day at plo400 zoom or whatever it is they do and you're at nl5, 4 tabling v nits playing 12/10. So I like being in it and part of it is the fun of watching it go up and down...oh, that reminds me...


Tried to join the OPL this week and totally fucked it all up. Registered for every site in the known universe via the wrong links, so now I'm making a valiant attempt to rectify it by contacting said sites and begging for forgiveness. managed to get two sorted out from 10 so far, but the others aren't looking good; Unibet and Stan James are out for sure.

Seriously Mal, you are a fish at internet, seriously.

Problem; bet365 shows a blank login/register screen at start up so that's a bit fucked and Tiger Gaming gave me the message it can't connect to the server. I don't want served I just want to register. Oh and Full Tilt won't even uninstall from my pc so I can try again to make an account.

It's all just sent to try us isn't it? Yes Mal and you've been tried and found guilty of being an internet Muppet.



Pokerwise, I've been studying hard and cut the tables down a bit to 4. I can do 6 ok but I want to be more attentive and make more notes. Let's face it, my hud is only for checking out player types quickly anyway on anon tables.
Course I haven't then had the hand count to post in the HH forums so lagging behind in the competition a bit. I'm not sure how I feel about that actually.
I like the comp and posting and evaluating hands is great practice, but I also like to study quietly in the corner without all that sometimes to.



Well my brother-in-law is poorly in hospital and we're not sure how that will go yet so just waiting. He's a super ex-army guy to, taking a role in the Special Olympics for years and paying for it himself. His adopted son was given 3 months to live when he was 10 months old, he's 10 years old now and a bit of a lump, thanks to the care and attention they give him. He can't walk, talk, see or even communicate except for wriggling or the odd murmur and he gets fed through a tube straight into his stomach because he can't eat or drink. My sister has to carry him everywhere and never a moan from her in 10 years.
This and their own son is 19 and wheelchair bound. No wonder he got ill.

Anyway, enough drivel from me, you all have a great week and I'll try to get my graph to go up a bit.

Again:

Had one of those strange days when you're down 0.5BI for like 3 hours and just can't quite get it going, then the no-foldem-holdem gang turned up and put the kybosh on it completely.
And when I say no-foldem:



So he got the do not bluff tag and so it went on.

There was also a guy with nearly 90euros, limp/c everything and never folded before the river, except once - when I iso'd with aces.
So he got the godmode tag and so it went on.

I blame JinxVIP anyway for saying how well the team had done the last few days. I mean, it couldn't be my fault could it? Don't even answer that.

Competition finishes today but I've been slow this time round which is a shame but sometimes life interferes. Looking forward to the Online Poker League starting next couple of days however. Take a look guys, join in, it'll be lots of fun!

Not much else to say except I had hoped my graph would be climbing by now. The forums seem to think I'm doing it ok mostly and yesterday was a runbad day. I don't bother pumping my gums about runbad but what makes it worse is you don't need many bad plays to exacerbate it. And playing without mistakes isn't what I do, it's what I'm aiming for.
Personally I think I'm getting there albeit slowly.

So run good, win flips and when they raise the turn, just fold. Easy game.

Which OPL events are you playing over the next 7 days bud?