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