Having set myself a target of earning $1k in uNL cash games for the first time this month, I’m disappointed to say I only made half of that. The good news is that I pulled myself out of a really bad patch. Well there again I only really did so in part, my game is still not what it was.
A mix of loosing confidence and trying to incorporate new, albeit standard ideas into my game has allowed my foundations to crack a little from a game I was previously very happy about it.
To sum up June 2009, I would say that it was a month where I let myself down. I’ve just ended a session early, 4 hours and 800+ hands in, I BE and that was due to running ho. Some less then stellar play throughout coupled with lots of really bad spewy call downs towards the end, made this another crappy session and unfortunately its been stereotypical for the month.
I’ve said it probably many times before, but I really can’t afford to keep screwing up like this. I need to get a grip of it, get my general aggression back and really focus on playing well, rather then drifting along somewhat playing my cards and somewhat playing my opponents.
Anyway, here’s my graph for the month:
On anohter note, I don’t believe I played a single tournament during this entire month, I’ll have to try and play a few 180 mans or get into the Turbo Takedown in July for a change.
Play online poker and casino games at the only poker room endorsed by Doyle Brunson.
July 1st, 2009
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LuckyStraights |
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I was very pleased to find my copy of Professional No-Limit Hold ‘em: Volume I
in the mail today, and I can’t wait to get stuck into reading it. Hopefully I will now no longer be an SPR noob lol.
Thank you Poker Stars 
June 27th, 2009
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Just when I was beginning to pull through out of my cold / flu that kept me away from the tables last week, my graphics card goes and dies on me, which really sucked as you can imagine.
Thankfully I had funds available, not available to spend on a new graphics card, but available and needs must. So I ordered a replacement which happilly solved my problem earlier today.
Unfortunatley to keep things stable I now also have to shell out for a new power supply, which was a bit of an unwelcome purchase, though when the bills have settled I’ll be very glad with both upgrades.
I still feel a little off it and my eyes are really sore if I’m honest, but I am hopefully to get back to grinding within a couple of days now.
June 24th, 2009
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I feel like I’m missing out huge at the moment, as I’m ill with some nasty cold / flu thing. I had planned to try and earn enough fpp’s after my book purchase to earn the 10k fpp cash back bonus before the promo ends at the end of the month. I had to give up on that, but thanks to last months promotion I have a probable one time shot at earning platinum VIP status whilst at 25nl. I need a little under 4k vpp’s, but with every day I don’t play that is going to be harder and harder to make.
I’ve done a bit of reading and watched a few video’s, but I haven’t been playing for the past few day’s and don’t plan to, until I feel much better.
I’ve got a few goals in min as soon as I’m well enough to begin playing again. The first is to kick the shit out of the fish in myself and focus as much as I can on playing better and not making the mistakes I know ahead of time I’m about to make. Then its prepping for 50nl and moving up.
As soon as I am feeling good about my game I am also planning to take some shots at 100nl to help keep me sharp, as sitting with 40+ buy in’s all the time might be keeping my c-game alive a little too long.
Happy grinding xxx
June 20th, 2009
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LuckyStraights |
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I have recently come to the end of the my “Leak Finder Service” with split suit and mpethybridgh from the 2+2 Micro FR forum and thought I’ll share my experiences with you.
Its something that I had been intending to undertake for several months and after completing 20k hands at 10nl, I decided to get it booked prior to moving up to 25nl. Prices range from $55 for stakes up to 25nl, $75 for 50nl and $95 for 100nl+, so it is very affordable regardless of what limit you play.
The process is split into two parts. The first is a thorough database analysis undertaken by mpethybridgh , I use PT3, but I believe HEM is also catered for. To begin with we hooked up using Team Viewer 4 and Skype, just as you would when doing a sweat , so that mpethy could see my database and let me know what filters to apply to isolate the required information. I believe the analysis took 2 hours and was very thorough, including a general stats checkup, how profitable I was in the blinds, win rates with specific hands and loads more. I was left with a very clear idea of what I can do to improve and it was very rewarding to have a clear indication on where to focus my energy in improving my game.
The second part of the service, was a one on one coaching session with Split , who after countless “technical problems” with skype and my internet connection displayed infinite patience with me. After the 3rd attempt of trying to navigate around my problems with the audio on skype we eventually managed some live discussion whilst I was at the tables, but with the audio still breaking up consistently we eventually accepted that it wasn’t going to work. There was however a plan b, so instead of the live session, I recorded a session the next day and uploaded it for “offline analysis”. This was my first real video I had created and I enjoyed the process, I will definitely by doing more in the future.
In summary, the Leak Finder service is a very enjoyable and rewarding experience that will almost certainly give you some return on your investment and with prices starting at $55, it is very much +EV.
Big thanks to split and mpethy!
June 12th, 2009
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LuckyStraights |
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I have been really pleased with my results over this month so far… A shame I just had to drop very nearly 2 BI’s. A quick think back to how I played the session and I was very much on my ‘C’ game.
The more I learn about the game and myself, the more I realize how hard this actually is, turning pro will be no modest feat. Today I was guilty of a few c-game blunders, playing when I was too tired, playing too long when I wasn’t up to it, “chasing my losses”… rolled up with a hint of results orientated thinking. Not good lol.
June 10th, 2009
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I’ve never put much stock in FPP’s as I’ve never earned that many of them, and usually donked them off in satellites. Now with Gold status, with thanks to the recent promo and being at 25nl I am earning them at a descent rate.
I have already managed to purchase the $8 and $16 cash back “bonuses” with them this month, and then I finally realized, I can buy PNLHE 1 with FPP’s, its taken me all this time to realize lol.
So, hopefully within a week I’ll have that ordered. I need 2,100 I think, and have just under 1k, so I’m close to half way there.
June 9th, 2009
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After a video series recommendation during a thread on 2+2, I eventually directed my browser to the Deuces Cracked , DC site, and I was very excited with what I had found, the titles and brief descriptions where mouth watering on their very own lol.
I needed to get hold of some of this stuff. Thankfully, for those of us on a micro budget, DC offer a very generous 7 day free trial. In an odd way I think such a generous free trail is (unrestricted downloads) worse then a a more restricted one, because it forces the potential member to spend some time exploring the site and they are going to be more focused on comparing their offering to the competition, etc rather then just downloading as much content as they can.
I’ll confess I was firmly in the second camp, being on a very tight near no existent budget, I couldn’t afford not to grab what I can whilst I had the opportunity. I do feel a bit guilty though lol, hence the review.
I really like the layout of the site, the home page is very inviting and is easy to navigate via the menu system at the top of the page. Similar to Poker Savvy Plus, DC offers a wide selection of DRM free video’s, articles and a forum. All video’s are downloadable in an MPEG-4 format, with many also available for the Ipod. I haven’t done much beyond a test play with the video’s yet, so a review of certain video’s may appear later on, but the audio and video quality was exceptional in all that I tested.
Also similar to Poker Savvy Plus, you can view the video’s within the site (using Flash) or download them. I had one issue with the details page for each video, and also with the articles, where a “reply window” would float above the main page and forced me to scroll a lot to read the articles. I am told however that this a problem with my flash installation. Viewing the site from another computer was fine, so to get the best out of the site make sure you have the most current version of flash installed.
DC, also offer a podcast called DeucePlays with Bart Hanson, coaching (including several coaches / mods from 2+2) and rake back.
June 2nd, 2009
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LuckyStraights |
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Bit of a delayed update this. As some of you know, I’ve been experiencing problems with my eyes for well over a year, since my sng days in fact. I have now come to accept the long term problem as dry eyes, and unfortunately it appears there is no real solution.
A tilt induced 72 hour mad marathon of sng’s in the darkness of my apartment as now left my eyes permanently damaged! There is a few tips to avoid this online, I haven’t done much reading on it yet, but avoiding straining the eyes by maintain a single fixed point of focus can help, as well as giving your eyes plenty of rest and ensuring your have enough ventilation while your working long hours at the computer, to avoid your eyes drying up.
I had a “minor surgery” on them a week or two ago, where my tear ducts where “blocked” to help my eyes retain their moisture, but it hasn’t made much of an impact. The sad fact is that while I seek to use my computer more, play longer sessions read more 2+2, etc… I need to spend more time away from the screen… and that just sucks.
Look after your eyes!
June 2nd, 2009
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The trend of loosing 3 buy-in’s per session has now continued into June, and my sessions now being 2-3 times longer then previously offers no comfort from the situation.
In short my game has gone to shit… I’ve gone from 24/22, which admittedly could very easily be a bit too loose to a 17/15. The continued loss and my vpip/pfr seems to support my hypothesis that I totally suck in “standard spots”, so by lower my vpip, my game has become more polarized to these situations and consequently my wr has gone through the floor.
Maybe it was the long break in may, maybe it was a loss in confidence… maybe I was hindered by trying to play longer sessions, now 4-6 instead of 1-2… maybe it was trying to play for a living, when my game or my life isn’t ready for it. Maybe its all of the above… I’m more then a little lost.
The really irritating thing is that, I used to have almost a fear of taking a break from play, expecting my game to fall apart just has it has done… but if only I stopped playing more, and put in some study to improve my game and keep my confidence the likely hood of my game falling apart would have been drastically reduced. I mean I have access to literally hundreds of hours of video’s on poker… and I may have watched 12 hours worth!
I’ve been here once before, though that was in my sng day’s… it was really stressing then. Its still pretty devastating for me, but less so, I am in a far better position to turn things around then I was then. The most frustrating thing is perhaps even with the confidence of knowing that I can get back to where I was, their is an upsetting and obvious awareness that this is going to take time, maybe a large chunk of my summer away from uni, exactly the time I was looking forward to grinding up the limits.
I don’t know where to begin to re-build really, I’ve got a sweat with Split Suit from 2+2 later tonight if Skype decides to cooperate as part of my Leak Finder session, so I’ll take it from there. Wish I had a job, because one months wage will go straight on various coaches to get my out of shit I’ve gotten myself into.
June 2nd, 2009
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LuckyStraights |
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