be happy!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Sweet upswing! And a lucky hand...

The last 3 session were awesome. I had an upswing before but I was lucky that time. This is the first one when I’m playing my best and the result is coming too.








And I had a lucky hand (4 outer) against a maniac opponent. I try to remember but I’m almost 100% sure that this is the first one in a month or so. Another sign of an upswing…

2nd best session ever – no problem either :-)

Last time I wrote about my worst session. Now I have a chance to talk about almost the best!

I won 4 bi yesterday (6 in the last 2 sessions). I played almost my best I think, so I gave myself a huge A++++ score.

Here are my stats from yesterday:



wosd: +$20!

There were 2 big changes these days:

1st: poker God forgets those EV-killer hands finally...

2nd: I’m much more aggressive from position

Both of them are priceless!

And I enjoy it!

Interesting hands are coming soon...


Oh, and thanks for Stamkos and St.Louis: Bolts – Trash : 4-3 (OT)!

Worst session – no problem!

Another big step! Yesterday was my worst day ever, I mean in result: - 4,5 bi. BUT: I wasn’t mad or sad at all. I played every big hand as a unique one – no fights or vendetta. This time there were some coolers and unlucky hands. But I’m very proud of myself because there were no hard feelings. I slept like a baby after all.

I’m not saying that I’m sure I played my A game but I wasn’t on tilt. That was a short session (680 hands or so). I think this could be happens with everyone sometimes.

I lost an all in with KK vs AA, another one with my flopped straight vs an agro monkey’s flush, another w AK vs QQ (board: AAJ Q T), another with flopped two pairs vs oesd + flush draw, etcetcetc…

Wasn’t a funny session but I tried my best and I’m happy with it.

Let me show you a few interesting hands from this session!

1. Str vs Agro’s flush



Honestly I think I played it good. I don’t think that I can fold this ever against a player like him. He could play like this with so many hands and only flushes betas me. Please, let me know if I’m wrong!


2. Top 2 pairs vs draws



Any thoughts?


3. AKs vs QQ - my fault I think!



Same agro! He won that str vs flush hand too. But this one was earlier. On the flop I didn’t want to give him a chance to fold, that’s why I just called. The plan was let him betting on every street then stack him off. Then Q came. Honestly I didn’t like that turn card. He is an agro guy but jacks, queens, tens are in his pre flop 3bet range too. The river gave me a straight and because of my turn check he could betting on the river with his airs or weaker hand again (flush draws for example), that’s why I called that 1/3 pot bet. What do you think?


4. Questionable fold



This one was just the 6th hand on this table and I had no history with these guys. I think I lost a lot with this type of hand a couple of month ago. I never believe them and they almost always had me with their flopped sets.

The question is that: what kind of hand is good enough to call an early raiser’s cbet on that flop then raise his double barrel to all in on that turn? Could it be just a draw or a slowplayed monster? Or this is a clear flopped sets? Then why shove it? If hi just call, he has a chance to win my whole stack on the river.


5. KQ vs 25/1’s AK



What do you do against a calling station from position with this hand?


6. And a little one finally



Is there any way out from this hand or did I play it well?

Recovery month!

Here I am! The last couple of weeks were too busy to blogging, but I’m still playing if I can.

I had a coaching session in the end of October – after those horrible days. Steve give me some advices how to recover my play.

My only objective now (in November) is to play my ‘A’ game regularly! If I can then we (Steve and me) can start making my A game better.

What I need right now is a session score chart. I used Steve’s one and made some changes. So here is mine:

Session Scores for Recovery - I try to be as rigorous as I can

E Game – Check results and continue session
E Game – More then 6 table
D Game – Check results and quit
D Game – Bluffing Calling Stations for a stack
D Game – Not respecting turn check raises (except aggro monkey)
C Game – Chatting
C Game – Folding Frustration
B Game – Lack of pre-flop aggression
B Game – Auto piloting
A Game - Use Starting Hand Charts (for my pre flop A game)
A Game – Post Flop Focus: cbetting, board textures, opponents style (preflop range, post flop aggression frequencies)
A+ Game – Reviewing Session


Yeah, I need hand charts again. I reviewed my session and I saw that I started to play too loose from early positions and not enough agro from late. Then nobody respected my cbets which could be very frustrating.

My faults

There is a lot, so let see some!

1. When was my last session review? I have no idea!

2. How many hands did I review in October? Just a few…

3. Did I change something when I realized that my play went wrong? No.

Etc.

How do I want to be a better player? Good question...


If you are familiar with the Full Tilt, then I’m sure you know how their bonus system is working. I’m talking about that iron man thing. It’s not a huge amount when you are playing higher levels but it could be a lot of money if you are a micro stakes beginner. Actually I’m in the 9th month in a row. In this half year (July-September) every month is gold, which means $75 bonus after each in the next January. Why am I writing this? Because this is how I’m playing 25 days every month and 700-800 hands daily. The problem is, if I do this, I don’t have more freetime to learning, reviewing etc…

To do list for the next couple of weeks

1. review the 2 coaching video (Steve) which I have

2. review my last 20-25 sessions or so

3. try to find my leaks

If I cannot change my game I’ll go broke. I have 2 more month to crashing this level and be a solid winner on NL50. Without this I need to close the door and forget this whole poker world. I know that my whole problem sounds ridiculous and foolish for you guys, who are playing on higher levels. But it’s really not the funny here…

Oh and I take a day off from poker today. Tomorrow is coaching day. Please, cheer me on!

See you next time

Honestly I’m playing badly

No, I’m not just weak or something like that. I’m as bad as a poker player can be.

Forget that f*n EV, it’s about -10 buy in now in October. But who the f* cares about it? I’m playing like a robot, I mean my mind is empty. Sometimes I’m a calling station, sometimes a bet/folding guy. I’m losing session after session. There is no different. I’m the fish at the tables.

Today was a joke too. I played 16.76/12.88!!! Gee man, I was 18/14 or so before the coaching. The first couple of lessons were: be more aggressive! The main goal: TAG style. And now I’m playing 16/12. That’s LOL. Hurts me a lot but that’s LOL.

Yes, I started like a God after the 3rd coaching, then had some incredible bad luck in a row. But everybody has it sometimes. And this little unlucky streak was enough to broken my whole self-confidence, my style, my game. I think this means that I really didn’t have those, I just thought for a moment that I found them, but I never had.

I lost about 30% of my BR and my fear is that I have just a one way ticket at this time.

I started to use this Poker Table Ratings (PTR) site. Found a lot of weak players (funny when I’m saying this about others) and I’m using this when I’m looking for tables. It sounds like a real help, but I don’t feel that…

So the conclusion is as simple as short: I’m playing my worst poker ever. I said it before too I know but that was nothing compared to this.

Let me show you something



And there was no unlucky hands today. This is the pure bad play. And've I got what I deserved for it.

I think here are a little self-pity, anger and some emptiness. Nice mix…

Still breakeven with some faults and unlucky hands

Originally I wanted to go up to NL50 in this month. When I started to play after the 3rd coaching session everything went well and I thought I’m ready for the next step. Honestly I’m still feeling that, but my BR is so thin and I need to pay for the HEM and for the next coaching session, so this step recedes away.

After a few thousand hands I was up and I had huge self-confidence, I felt that the world is mine. Then I made some mistakes plus I’ve paid off same luckfest guys too - you can see that in my EV graph.



My river play - which was the main question in the 3rd coaching session - is still not as good as it needs to be, so I need to find the way to fix it and build it up. Sounds very easy, but trust me, it’s not that.


Oh, about the next level and the next step! I don’t want to go in the deep sea without any help and any background. When I’ll move up I’ll have a huge DB on that level, and I think the first few sessions I’ll open up just one or two NL50 tables and 3 or 4 NL25 just for the safety’s sake…

We’ll see. I need to talk about it with my coach before.

Interesting changes in my style

As I wrote it in July the pokertableratings is tracking low limits too! They found me on Full Tilt at this April, so they don’t have my whole DB but they’ve got enough hands to see what kind of player I am. I know sometimes they miss the essential hands of our sessions (I remember, my best day was 4 bi+, but PTR show -$3 in the end) but on a long term their stats are showing you the truth.

Before we started this whole coaching with Steve I checked what PTR wrote about me.

They have this Grader which is very interesting. Now I show you what it said about me before the coaching and how it looks like now, after 3 sessions with Steve. Don’t forget that the new report card includes my old hands to. This means about 48k old and 54k new hands?

Here is my old report card



And my new one



There are still a lot to do, especially with my river and showdown play, but this one is a very good feedback for me too…

So when Steve is telling me that I’m on the right direction and I already made some huge steps he is not just talking but he is right.

"Welcome to Valuetown!"

We had the 3rd coaching session with Steve and he found two huge and coherent leaks in my game - again.

The first one: my betsize is usually too small and because of this the pot couldn’t be enough big to stack my opponents off on the river when I’ve got the best hand.

The other one: I miss a ton of value on the river with good hands. For example I have an overpair, I (raised pre flop, then) bet the flop and the turn. After my opponent called me all of these streets I have no idea where I am. I think if I bet he will call me just with better hands, so I check – in position too… Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? And a lot of times (especially because of my shy betsizes) they’re calling me with TPTK or weaker hands.

We reviewed my hands where I made these mistakes. Man, those mean minimum a buyin in every session that I played. And that’s the minimum.

When you can’t win enough with your huge hands, but lose a lot when you are behind that could be very frustrating. I didn’t find the reason on my own. Now I know what the key is.

Here is a very good example – I’ve played this after the coaching



Without Steve’s advices I bet smaller on the turn then check that river (or bet a 2/3 pot, maybe…if I brave enough) and win a medium pot.

So the difference is huge: you win 30-40 BB or you win 100. It’s not the same!

I’m still too result oriented but honestly my stats are much better then ever before. My aggression has grown up, my cbets are much higher so I can say that I’m on the right way and everything depends on time. If I’ll be patient the result will come too.

Steve is giving me the basics session after session, so the ball is on my side. We can build something big on these if I’m growing up for my dreams.

Since the 2nd coaching session

The main goal is still to improve my aggression, especially my cbetF! But you can see the growth already.

Just to remember: my cbetF was under 50% before the coaching intro session with Steve. Right now it is 76% and there is still some room to make it better - I had session where it was 94!!!

My WSF was under 38% all the time, right now (last 10k hands) it’s about 42%, which is my best I think. There are a lot of details but I don’t have too much time to talk about it right now (I’m working actually).

Instead of my clever, useful and blessed words here are some data of my play :-)







The only thing that I couldn’t change is this roller coaster. But I know sooner or later the result is coming too…

CBetF – there you go!

Just a few stats from today

- I played 21.08/17.45
- steal: 26.10
- wsf: 43.36
- w$sd: 63.34
- afq: 49.72, af: 5.50, 3bet: 4.67

- cbetF: 87.93! - hi Steve! :-)

After the 2nd coaching session

Yesterday was The Day when Steve tried to make the next step in his impossible mission: teach me how to play some good poker :-)

My biggest problem is still the aggression: I don’t have enough. My AFq is a little bit better then before, but not enough, just as my cbets.

AFq

PT3’s AFq is not equal with HEM’s Agg so I don’t know where I am in that, but it must to be better too.

Before the first coaching AFq was 41.10, between the two sessions this number was 47.15, and yesterday - after the coaching - it was 51.37!

CBetF

Before Steve: 49.65
Between: 65.01
Yesterday: 81.25!

CBetT: 42.40 - 47,81 – 50.00

WSF

And thanks for the level of my aggression the W$WSF can be better too: 36.93 – 38.80 – 43.86


Here are my stats from yesterday – I know it is incredible short term, but look at these numbers (not the result!) - actually my steal wasn't enough...



I’m hopping that I can play like this ‘till the next coaching session, not just right after this one. I need to learn the way how to not loose that - after a few days - what I already build in my game

Oh, and finally I was very lucky in one hand!

I had some outs but I really don’t like my play here – this hand is going to the group to discuss

Conclusions

My downswing has finally ended with that horrific day. Since then I played some okay sessions with small winnings (actually I lost another KK pre flop ai – 3rd in a row – this time vs AQs, and I lost with my set vs an overset which is okay – more then 2 buy ins again).

I reviewed that 3,5k hands long “streak”, the table selections, the stats of my opponents etc. I can tell you that I already found some leaks and made some conclusions.

Let’s talk about them a little bit!

If you can show some big hands and win with them then your opponents will respect you, so your cbets, 3bets, 4bets can works and makes you a very good money. Poker can be so easy... But when you have nothing, or you have big hands but loosing with them, your opponents see that and nobody will give you credit anymore. In this case you need to change your table or your style. If you don’t do it you are dead.

Maybe 3.5k hands are not that much but it seems to me incredible long to have nothing. Of course I had some monster PPs, sets, fulls, straights, flushes, but there were no action on them. I won all of them pre flop or on the flop. Everybody saw that I couldn’t win whatever what I had so they didn’t respect me. They reraised me all the time and I folded, or I’ve got 2-4 callers and my cbets were already dead.

My biggest fault was that I didn’t change anything just played like a robot. And of course after a few loosing session like these I lost my ‘A’ game too and I did not cbet (3bet, 4bet) where it would have been needed (just because the voice in my head said: why do you put more money in it when you have nothing and you are sure they will reraised or call you…).

The funny thing is: when I had that unlucky day and lost that much with my showdown hands my boring downswing has ended. I got the control back and it feels much better.

Maybe I didn’t play as bad as I thought so, but I never had a streak like this before and I couldn’t handle it.

Cheers,
rotyi

ps: sorry for my bad English but I’m too tired to correct this post now…

Ups and downs and downs and downs...

Hi guys!

My last update was a long time ago… Since then I played my best day ever, had a beautiful streak then something happened and now I’m sitting in the middle of my worst downswing ever.

Here it is









Looks like I just couldn’t win a hand, whatever what do I have. I’ve already learn that how to fold my TPTK or monster PPs against good opponents. But I still double up maniacs day after day with these type of hands. In this “streak” I’m in red with straights, sets, pairs etc.

I tried to play my positions, cBets when it’s possible (maybe a little bit less then before), double barrels too. Just didn’t worked, they always 3 or 4beted me, so I folded a lot without SD, I think that’s why my wsf is so ridiculous.

And a little extra: my best starting hands

AA: 11 times, win: 100%, amount won: $10.93
KK: 11, 73%, -$24.08
QQ: 20, 75%, -$2.93
JJ: 14, 64%, $0.30
TT: 22, 45%, -$28.75
99: 28, 46%, -$9.41
88: 20, 45%, -$6.66
...
AKs: 11 times, win: 55%, amount won: -$18.67
AKo: 36, 64%, $8.24
KQs: 12, 75%, $17.28
KQo: 34, 56%, -$9.75
QJs: 9, 44%, -$28.27
QJo: 53, 26%, -$37.61
JTs: 15, 60%, $2.75
...
AQs: 11, 55%, $0.18
AQo: 34, 59%, -$1.18


Four hands from today (I played 656 hands) – these are typical in this downswing

1st: QJs two pairs vs a regular's KK



2nd: KK vs maniac's AA



3rd: another KK vs maniac's AA (two in one day - little bit unreal)



4th: after this you will understand how do I feel myself

Another session – same way :-)

I played a session today too. The start was “brilliant”: in the 20th hand I went all in pre flop with my Aces and last my whole stack against Queens. But the EV was beautiful... LOL

Anyway I felt that I can come back if I’m playing my A game (I mean what I call "A") and I was right. I didn’t care too much about the result, just looked for fishy opponents and tried to win their money.





I know, it’s just another short term, but I’m happy with my play and that feels really good.

Maybe I started to play the way I need to...

After my horrific day I reviewed my game again and tried to learn from my faults and more about TAG style. Actually (at this time) I don’t worry too much about results ‘cause dollars should be secondary ‘till I can’t play the correct way.





I had only one huge (buy in) SD loss which was a KK vs AA pre flop ai (about the 2500th hand).

I started to play less from oop and more from late positions. I fold more KQ, AQ etc type of hand when somebody re-raises me from position. I realized that this one is saving me a lot.

If I can play this way in the next couple of weeks then I’ll be ready for the next coaching session I think and (if Steve says yes) maybe for the next level (NL50) too. We’ll see...

I still have a lot of leaks so need to working on them.

What a day!

EV is +$2, result is -$95! All in luck: expected +$38, actual: -$65

I try to be not so result oriented :-)

I know I need to learn and learn and learn much much more…

Now I’m angry

Today is different. I played 415 hands and lost 2,5 bi. I played okay except one hand I think.

First of all I lost a huge pot pre flop ai with my Aces vs Queens. Then (20 minutes later) I made a very big (130 BB) mistake.

Two pair vs …



After the BB just called pre flop in a 3way pot then called again on the flop I thought that he has just a pair or a draw – worst case a str with Q9s and I didn’t care too much about the short SB because we played for the side pot at least. But I was wrong and after he 4bet shoved me I should fold my bottom two pair – especially because we were both deep. I have no ideai why did I call him. There is no excuse :-(


And here is another beauty from the end of this session



I was ready to go all in on the flop but I didn’t want to scare him off. That’s why I just minraised him and waited for his shove to call. Actually he surprised me with that bet/call move...

What do you think about this hand? I was almost 80-20 favorite on the turn...


I will play another (half) session tonight and I hope that that one will be better

Cheers

Donkey’s day

I’m sure you all know how is the day when nothing goes your way and fishes hits their few outs hands after hands or calls your double barreled draws with bottom pair (trash kicker) all the way down…

Today was THE day for me. I didn’t play bad at all I think just couldn’t beat these guys. I played aggressively my hands (especially my draws) then saw how fish can call me with 2nd or 3rd pair (with 64o for example) on a draw heavy - high cards board. I’m not angry or anything like that. I know this is good for me on a long term. These guys will pay my bills, my cars, my new home and my children’s school so I still love them.

Here are the graph and the stats of this day





I think I need to win some showdown hands in the future :-) My wsf and w$sd are too low but have the reason

I forgot to upload hands expect this one. I’m working now so I have no chance to show you more…

KK vs A3o




I wasn’t happy with that ace on the flop so I tried to control the pot with my half pot bets and it worked, but he had that ace of course. He is one of those guys (86/39/1.3) who call you with almost everything if have a pair at least. This time he had me. That’s all.


“Stop being so focused on short term results”

Here I am!

“Losing a session should not make you feel so bad because you will lose almost half of your sessions as standard!”

Yeah man, that’s what I’m talking about. I feel fine at this time, really! And I’m going to play some ice hockey tonight. So if I have any hidden frustration then there will be some hard shots. Did you ever imagine that the hockey puck can be a face of a fish? Just kidding :-) I’m happy with my plays and don’t care the results too much.

Stats, graph and three huge (?) mistakes (?)

Since I start to work harder on my play - here are my stats, graph and other interesting pics

Stats





The last few sessions



And the graph



The first fault – you can see this on the graph above (this is about the 2900th hand)




The short story is simple: this guy sat down just a few hands before this. I wasn’t happy with him at all on my left ‘cause he is an aggro bully – I decided to leave this table in the next round. Actually he was silent ‘til this one and I was the active player who won the last couple of pots with raises and check/raises.

I raised from SB after the short stack fish limped from the BTN and he reraised me from the BB. After the history of this table he can do this with a lot of hands so I put him on 88+, ATs+, AQ+, KQs. The flop wasn’t bad at all, I decided to ch/r him (and normally fold if he shoved). His weak bet on the flop confused me a little bit but I still ch/r him and of course he shoved. Here I thought that his range is TT+, ATs+ (if he has 88 or 99 why does he go ai here?). Maybe I was wrong with this… He called me bluffer in the chat and I was as stupid as he liked it and called his shove.


The next one - 72o vs 33 – I’m angry a little bit (this is about the 3740th hand)



Normally I never played a hand like this, but I was BB and the flop was perfect for me. He is so passive pre flop and just limps all the time (almost never raises pre flop), so I put him on PP (33-JJ) or high cards. When he min4bets me on the flop I thought for a sec that maybe he has that 3s (or A2)… I think I played badly this hand. With an overpair he just calls my 3bet - maybe… Any thoughts?


Another bad play vs a maniac – he bluffed me out with T7o



I was very weak here in every street. I missed a 3bet pre flop (‘cause whatever his position he is a maniac), I missed an open bet (or the check/raise) on the flop and my bet on the turn was weak too. On the river I tried to control the pot, but this is weak vs a guy like this. He smelled my weakness and bluffed me out when I was the nuts… (He had T7o)

Opened my eyes - again!

If you remember I wrote my first post after the coaching intro session about Steve’s job, I mean how he opened my eyes and showed me my weaknesses etc.

I played thousand hands just after that session and I played the style what he asked me for. And that was so cool. I really loved that type of play.

But after that I started to change to my old weak style and I didn’t know why. Session after session - step by step - I went back to my full of fear and passive game and start to lose again. So I closed my eyes...

And when I felt “that’s enough I’m weaker then every before”, I wrote a mail to Steve again to asked another coaching session. Then he answered to me this:

“I really think you need to stop being so focused on short term results. Losing a session should not make you feel so bad because you will lose almost half of your sessions as standard!”

You know what, he is right again! I’m still too result oriented but there is something else which he has no chance to see. Honestly I did a bad job, after that first 1k hand I felt that, “oh this is easy, I already know how to play in this way” and didn’t work enough hard on my play. I didn’t reviewed my whole sessions just the huge losses.

After his mail I thought that I need to make a huge step. If I don’t then poker will be just a hobby for me and nothing else...

So I reviewed my first session and realized that how different I played when I remembered Steve’s advices. So I made some notes about that and tried to use it. And it works! Okay, I know it’s just another short term (2,5 k hands) but I don’t let it go away - again.

One more thing: I’m reading Schoonmaker’s Your Best Poker Friend (thanks for pocketfish007)! It’s simply awesome! I hope that this book will be a huge help for me, because I don’t want to be my worst enemy anymore.

Cheers guys!

ps: stats and hands are coming soon

Weakness and… weakness

Since my first coaching session I played 6,486 hands. Not too much. You can say that it’s just short term. Yes, it really is. But I show you what my problem is.

My stats are relatively better then were before we talked with Steve



One of my exercises was: open up a little bit more from late positions and I did it. And the main challenge was: be aggressive, not passive, cbets much-much more. I try to do that.

- VPIP/PFR is 20.94/16.88 now and was 17.59/13.86 before. The gap between VPIP and PFR is still huge I know.

- cBetF is 67.01 (was 49.65 before) cBetT is 55.29 (42.40 before) - big changes I think

- Att to steal is 35.99 (was 29.66)

- AF is 4.35 (2.90), AFq is 46.66 (41.10), 3Bet is 4.63 (4.52)

I know these are not the optimal numbers but I’m still working on them.

Actually there are numbers which didn’t change and that makes me sad. Especially my WSF which is almost the same then was before. I thought that if my aggression is rising then my WSF should do the same thing but it doesn’t.

- WSF is 37.49 (36.93 before), wtsd is 18.08 (22.47 before), W$SD is 53.16 (58.53 before)


Other changes are in my position play – good and bad too



My range is wider from any position (actually utg, mp and bb are too wide maybe, co and btn can be wider) but the result changed to worse - except from SB


My wosd play is horrible




In the first half of these hands, I didn’t have any problem with it but after that… I don’t know what happened. Looks like I’m weaker then ever before.

And I still have problems with over pairs and TPTK hands. So my (miss)understanding is the same I think.


Now I need to talk about these with Steve then maybe we’ll do another coaching session where I’ll play and he can catch my (new and old) leaks. Anyway he is the coach so he’ll choose what to do and I’ll try to do that.

Emptiness

I have a streak but not a good one. Today I lost again, another -2 bi day. I’m not angry. What I’m feeling right now is a huge emptiness. Looks like I’m playing my worst poker ever. When I’m cbeting the opponent calling or raising almost every time, so my aggro style doesn’t works yet.

By the way my stats are not that bad but the result is horrible.

Today's stats



Positions



Graph



Anyway we are visiting my wife’s relatives at the weekend so I’ll be back at Sunday night. Then I’ll try to talk with my coach about another session. Maybe he can find my brand new leaks

Another 'perfect' session…

I don’t get it. I’ve tried my best. The fist part of the session I've played against tight, nit guys, where I’ve tried to be aggressive. That’s not worked for me. Then I changed and started to play vs fishes. I'm still loosing. Lay down when I’m ahead, call or raise when I’m not.

I think I’m missing something. Or I’m just not enough for this whole game.

Very sad feeling…

Stats and graph



Today's last hand - just like my whole day

Very bad call on the river... especially after that raise on the turn :-(

Without the 2nd 7 on the river the call can be reasonable I think. But now I only beat K3, K5, K6, middle pairs or dead flush draws. So this one is a horrible call...

Same mistakes...

I really want to kick my ass before Steve does it. I'm making the same mistakes over and over again.

I think I can play the way what I need vs nits, cr types and passive fishes, but I always try to play against aggro maniacs... I can't handle them, I'm just not ready to play against this type of guys. When I have AK, AQ or middle pair type of hands I put a lot of money in the pot then play like a calling station and fold on the river when this 92/19 guys goes all in. So my typical passive line. But you know it seems to be so easy money... then I lose my profit again and again.

I'm very angry with myself because of this. Steve has no chance to teach me if I'm an idiot.

My first aim is to learn the TAG style. I think I need to choose table where are no aggressive players just nits and passive tours. I can exercise the agro positions plays and cbets there.

Maybe I need a DONTPLAYvsAGGROGSTREAKOMETER

Here are my 'post coaching sessions' stats and graph



I'll show you a lot of loosing hands later

Since the coaching session

Finally I’m here!

I played some sessions since my last (stats) update but I don’t want to talk about my pre Steve hands. Forget those times! Today I’ll give you some details about the eye opener coaching session and my play since then.

First of all Steve found my biggest leak: the aggression - which I didn’t have. My pre flop play was OK, but after that? Oh God, hard to talk about it… If I had nothing, I ch/folded, I played so passively post flop - you’ll see my AFq and the other stats immediately. And when I had something I bet and the opponents folded, except when they had me, in those cases I loose my whole stack.

And that was the reason of my frustration. With my 17-18% VPIP I’ve played good hands (usually better then my opponents) and wanted to win as expected, which is great but I couldn’t fold them when it was reasonably. Then I felt myself really unlucky and start to hunt the enemies which means I made more and more mistakes.

So I need to go back to the basics, learn the TAG style, especially with the “AG” part of it. But I need to take the control on it and not going to be an aggro monkey. Anyway, “an aggressive fault is always better then the passive one!”

Let’s see the old stats!



(Interesting - there are some differences between the PT3’s and the HEM’s stats… and I don’t know why)

As you can see, these are not the optimal stats, especially the steal, af, wsf and cbets. All of them are too low. The AFq is interesting, that was less then 30% in HEM if I remember correctly.

My old graphs



This is a typical break even player’s graph. I hate it…

And my old positions play



I played too tight from late positions and so bad from the blinds.

That's enough. I don’t want to see them anymore! The stats already told you everything.


The old rotyi has gone. Welcome the new one!

Stats



Actually I had only one and half sessions since then, so it’s a very small sample size. That means exactly 999 hands. But you can see some changes. I still have many-many faults of course, but I’m trying to focus on Steve’s advices. Just step by step.

Positions



1st: cbets every flop from positions!

2nd: steal the blinds more often!

3rd: don’t make fancy plays!

I think if I’m using my table and seat selection method which is not that bad and working on these 3 points I’ll be the guy who nobody likes at the table on this level.

Graphs



By the way I had only one huge SD loss ($27.12 = 108.48BB) with KK from the BB vs AA (BTN) and A2o (SB) pre flop ai…


New sessions, observations and hands will come later today or tomorrow – I hope so! :-)

Cheers guys

The weather made my day…

Sorry guys, I know I said that update is coming today but I worked all day long and this idiot weather messed up everything. I had a lot to do, so didn’t have enough time to blogging.

By the way I’ve played a satellite for the 80K GTD MTT on Full Tilt, but wasn’t so lucky. I had only 17 opponents, first 2 got an entry, and I finished on the 3rd place, Actually I won $34 with that (that means $19 profit).

Last hand was 77, my M was somewhere about 6 or so, I went all in from the BTN, BB called with KK, flop comes 7xK… C'est la vie

After the coaching intro session

Just a few thoughts ‘cause I’m working!

You know my English is very bad so I’m not sure to find the correct word, but that was f*n good! I mean that 2,5 hours inspired me and opened my eyes very well. Steve’s explanation was so clear. He is a good teacher, a perfect educator. I think he knows what the student needs.

I’ve got what I looked for, so I’m very happy.

Oh and my first short session just after our talk went really well. And I’m not talking about results, I’m talking about style, stats, details – especially my post flop aggression. There were guys who left two of my tables because of me, and that’s the feeling what everybody needs I think, the positive feedback. I know that 350 hands is nothing of course, but you can got the feeling in that anyway…

I’ll post details about my last few sessions, especially about this one and the coaching intro later today or tomorrow.

Be aggro but not a monkey! Aggressive fault is so much better then the passive one, so cbets every flop in position and regulars will hate you, others will pay you (off) :-) And that’s good..

Cheers guys!

Here I am!

Wow, the pokertableratings is tracking low limits too! They found me at this April, so they don’t have my whole DB but they’ve got the essence of my play.

Let me introduce Mr Rollercoaster!



And an interesting report card!

Thanks for pocketfish007 who found me on this!

Eh, where are my cBets?

My last session was quiet. There were no big pots or all in moves. But I had some interesting hands and I think I made some bad plays.

My stats are here

.AF and 3bets are not that bad
.WSF is too low
.cBets are terrible

Horrible lines



What do you think about these hands?



After 10 hands he was 90/10/2.0. Actually this one was my biggest loss yesterday.


99 vs AJs



I called his 3bet pre flop because we were both deep, I was in position and I had setvalue too. I missed the double barrel maybe, but I think he couldn’t fold his hand if I bet that turn.


Anyway, I lost too many middle pots (between 1 and 4 dollars), so my post flop play was terrible.

Two days off and an acceptable comeback

We had two days off and we travelled a lot with my wife. That was a great time - have fun and 'notthinkingaboutpoker' or everything else. I think that was necessary for me after the last few sessions when I messed up everything.

Anyway, I came back with fresh mind and I feel that I’m re-energized.

I played last night again and after several 23/19 type of sessions (with a lot of random aggressions which I couldn’t handle) finally I played tighter and calmer again. I tried to focus on myself and find my game again. Something maybe happened on our weekend ‘cause I was well relaxed and satisfied – thanks for the beautiful places and for my lovely wife. No, she is not behind my back… :-)


Here are my general stats from this session.

I’m not happy with all of them and I know this is not the way how I need to play in the future if I’d like to make my dreams, but I need the coach to build my game up. I’ll write a mail to him tonight, right after this post.

Actually my vpip and pfr are too low, just as my steal attempts (this one was 40+ in the last 2 or 3 weeks) – but I can say that: this is just short term :-P

I think the aggression and the 3bet were both enough.


And here are the graphs


Honestly I don’t like them too much. There is no consistency, it’s just another rollercoaster, but I didn’t lose at the end. There were losses and wins where my move were correct and others where weren’t. I’ll show them immediately.


AJs vs ATo



Bad move pre flop – he bets from MP not from UTG. I was too passive on that street. This is a ‘must to raise’ hand. On the flop, when he called my raise I realized that he has some kind of hand, actually I put him on AT+ or TT+ and 88 (remember, I didn’t 3bet pre flop). On that turn I didn’t want to let this hand go, that’s why I’ve bet again. Maybe the 2/3 pot was too much. I don’t know. I’m not so proud of this hand.


AKo vs AA



I think I didn’t have too much choice here. He was 60/20 (okay, I had only 10 hands from him at this point). After his light 4bet (not an all in) with that stack I was sure that he has JJ+, AQs+ or AK. And I think that after I already invested $3.25 in this hand this call was mandatory.


My lucky one - AKo vs QQ



PokerStove says everything: he was the favorite 69-31… By the way I’ve made some notes about that pre flop call with QQ from SB…


And I’d like to introduce yesterday’s weirdest board



He was a 93/21 drunker and I was just 4/4 (because of him on my left) at this table.


One more thing!

I stole a couple of ‘meters’ from pocketfish007 and Mr Fickle… So my 4TABLESMAXOMETER is 1 just as my NOLOOKSTREAKOMETER. I’m very happy with these results right now.