So I am still playing the satellites to the UKIPT in Nottingham . A few thing are clear though  I think and that is

1 -  I have had a shed load of variance recently . I am not sure but poker stars throws up its fair share of River action . I seem to be on the receiving end of some impossible calls . The good thing is , is that I know I have been getting it in with the best hand that's for sure . It does become a little disheartening though

2 - I must select my games more thoughtfully . I won an £8 satellite to a £55 rebuy . I didn't really wan to play this and then had to add on for £50 I went out soon after whilst in reasonable position purely due to lack of concentration

3 - I am bleeding money due to game selection . Sometimes I enter a competition through boredom and end up just throwing my chips away . I will over the next few weeks create a structured plan to play .

So I have had a few success's n the 50 / 50 sngs on pokerstars and entered a E75 on the DTD skin and came in 192nd out of 1700 just in the money . So I think the future is looing ok just need some structure . Will try and get holdem manager or poker tracker downloaded so I can review my tourney play with a coach once I have enough stats

Chat soon

UKIPT - Tourney - Update

So the Jan Tournament has come and gone - Must say I was keeping a close eye on the updates on the PokerStars blog. All very interesting.

My best result in the qualifying tourneys was a third place £300 for a £5 satellite which was just shy of the £770 entrance fee. I think I was eliminated with AK and then 4 clubs on the board leasd to my exit

The next UKIPT is at Dust til Dawn in Nottingham in April , This is my next target . Progress so far in the PokerStars Satellites has been interesting . I have managed to qualify for 2 Package Qualifiers at £162 each . Although I have been playing in quite a few. The first I got too 3rd with 2 packages on offer for a measly £166 when the package is worth £1400 . Got it all in on a re-reaise with K8 and ran into AA. Severe lack of patience and understanding in this particular situation . Then the Second I managed 5th place again just the 2 Packages on offer . HaHa 3rd place got £60 anyway got it all in with K10 offsuit against A9 suited when on the button. Not sure if this was the best play . Down too less than 10 bbs , so ill have to review this somewhere . Patience was massively improved in this game and certainly paid more attention to whom I was playing and certainly hand selection was very very tight .

Still learning too change gears at these very late stages in a these tourneys , but I am hoping that the experiences in these games will only improve my game . Looking to get Holdem Manager " onto my computer as soon as over the next few weeks

Updates will be following when Im find interesting spots or experiences

Regards   

Progress so Far

So I have been playing quite a lot  a lot in the small UKIPT tournaments
Working on the satellites . I have only made it too 2 or the main qualifiers and from there the best so far was a 5th place when 4 qualified . I was a little upset about this and then again last night I got knocked out in satellite when I went all in with AK suited against 1010 It was against the chip leader and only person who could knock me out so I am pretty sure that was a big mistake

Also looking to upload Holdem Manager asap , Security Software seems to be a problem though   

Playing Again

Pokerstars , Posts to follow

Playing Again

So after a pretty long time I have now started playing poker again .Ill go into more detail about the reasons why I stopped if I can remember , But I have now started playing in the satelites to the ukipt on Pokerstars and am enjoying it at the moment

So here we go again

Still Here - I Know its been a long time

Still Here - I Know its been a long time

Still Here - I Know its been a long time

Still Here - I Know its been a long time

July & August updates soon !!

New Coach and First Session

So last night...Sat i had my first lesson with my new coach tubasteve off deauces cracked

It was a really interesting session , First off i played 2 tables for a while , whilst steve
sort of watched , trying to analyse my play without interfering , hope that wasnt too difficult
for him

There were a few interesting spots , but i think one of the most important things , if not the
most important thing was during the discussion we had at the end of the session , Steve was just
commenting about how 2 guys with ironman markers had just played a hand pretty standardly ,
i mentioned to him that i would rarely 4 bet AK and i think he said that was a BIG leak or maybe
he said HUGE whatever the comment was that sounded the alarm bells

He kindly did me the favour of explaining exactly how it was a HUGE leak , We pokerstoved AK versus a
pretty tight range , only 6% of hands for the relevant 3 bet from villain AK turned out to be A
very slight favourite about 52 48 , assuming the 4 bet had taken place we were able to fold out over
50% of the villains 3 bet range , we did however lose 10% equity and our hand was now a 60 40
underdog , but it was at the expense of 50% of his hand range !!

So that was the HUGE leak explained . Later in the evening i was in the cutoff with AK obviously raising
the 16/12 button 3 bet me , so after the session with Steve i waited a little and 4 bet
the button went all in , i called and was up against KK , luckily an ace came on the flop and
i won , im not sure if that was how it was meant to be and ill post the hand to my coach later
but that was how the hand turned out .
We touched on a couple of other things and i realized i am a book buyer but not a book reader as i had all
the books recommended but had only really glanced at them , anyway i am straying from the subject a little

The point of the post was really to illustrate how important it is to have somone able to pont out
things such as the AK situation . I mean i just would nt of ever 4 bet unless Steve had picked up on it

Not sure if this is exactly how i should have played it

www.pokerhand.org/?2953265

Anyway later all

Update

so its been a short while since my last post so ill try and update everyone on whats going on

the repair to my pc is taking a little longer than expected so i have to use my laptop

this means i can only play realistically for me just the 2 tables so i have only played around 3500 hands although its at 3bb for about $100 so thats not too bad

on the studying side of things i have read the first 5 chapters of poker mindset
and its pretty cool to say the least , i really am developing the habit of trying to
make the right decision , and am less aware of the results

i also have been revisiting my pre flop play and have hopefully got the right mix
my post flop is improving too so more good news

and i have a new coach , yet to start my first lesson but thats too come

anyway , trying to keep up with all the blogs , will post some hands soon

later all

Just Posting

Ok so its been a little quiet the last couple of days

Worked out that i can read a book whilst cycling at the gym. Awesome !!

It wasnt that i was allowed , just that the bike i was on had a suitable
handlebar rest , So i can study whilst at the gym now , and it was the poker mindset i was reading , so after reading the chapter 2 i immediately re read the part about studying , my weak spot . Sadly after getting back to the office i went on Lost Book Tilt !!! No kidding !!!

However although i lost about a buyin during the evening , i was very conscious of the fact that i was having a bad run of cards and that most of my decisions were ok
i think , tilt had ended by then

The following day , i found the book so i was well pleased ,
When i got home in the evening my computer had stopped , so i had to take it to the computer repairman

Thnakfully the laptop is ok so i can play a little , although there is no hud

Anyway , trying to keep the momentum going with the posting on my blog , and have even made some comments on others

Feeling good at the moment , about the game

Later

Help Wanted and Needed !!!

I have recently been trying to open up from the cutoff and button, the problem is I am a little unsure of my preflop range from these positions

Here’s a few things that I am not sure of

Suited hands in the cutoff or button . What is the range here , would I raise a hand like Q7 in the cutoff or do I do it on the button or at all ?

I know it is player dependant but if I am going to open up I will have to raise more regardless of the players

How about J2 suited on the button , I would raise k7 suited from the cutoff and the button , but is that correct ?

The next area is when I have these hands and I am going to raise but get raised first , for example K10 suited I would normally raise from the cutoff and the button and depending on the table utg+1 but what if I am on the button and get a utg+1 or cutoff raiser ?
do I fold ? do I call ? What do I do ?

As well as the suited hands what about 1 gappers or 2 gappers and how far down do I go , currently I will raise 56off and up from the button in an unraised pot , is that correct ?

Then what about the higher cards when in a raised pot ? how about A10 or KQ do I fold raise or call , it is these marginal hands that I stuggle with

On the C betting side of things , what sort of percentages do you C bet against , I used to C bet all the time , but now I try for somone who folds over 70 percent, is that too high ? , should I go lower whats the right percentage

Sorry about the length and number of questions but I need answers

Later All

Graham

Question ?

www.pokerhand.org/?2852869
www.pokerhand.org/?2852926

just confirm that i shouldnt be doing this sort of thing ?
i mean ive been playing long enough , i think !!

Poker Thoughts and Reflection

So at the end of May the plan was to Reflect and comment on the year before . In true style that didn,t materialise So a little later than originally planned and more a reflection on my learnings and shortfallings and some general ramblings here is something

During June I got to realize that I call too much , particularly large turn bets when I am on a draw , looking back through June I can see this is a big leak !! Hopefully someone can confirm this

Another thing that I felt happened apart from the usual bad beats was I got involved with short stacks to much and my play against them was pretty much to feel they were committed and just get it all in at some stage , again I fell this is a leak

Whilst reading the blogs I came across an entry from Greg all about results and being results
Orientated , as with most things I sort of don’t get them straight away , they sort of slowly filter into me , and at some stage during June it finally all filtered through

So now the important things for me whilst playing are the decisions , I am less worried about the results or the variance to a degree and far more concerned with the decisions I am making
So that is a good point

I will high light some week points in my poker life and hopefully this will stimulate my brain a little . Firstly I don’t really study , I play , don’t ask me why but I just do , id much rather play than pick up a book or watch a video , I have and I do both , but not as part of any plan , and maybe theres a thing there , NO PLAN !!

Wow I just realized another really important thing , I seldomly review hands !! how can I have forgotten that !! that’s a nother thng I need to work on !!

“And One More Thing “ !! in the words of Jackie Chan’s Uncle ( you have to watch the cartoon !! )

I don’t sweat or blog enough !!

So at some stage of the month I intend to formulate a plan or timetable for my poker playing
And studying and try to work it into my lifestyle

Although the above doesn’t run in a particular order within this entry it should be way way at the top . This is a big leak , Lack of Discipline , like I said I play more than I study

Please comment with ideas on the above !! and how you do these things

Edit …man I need to make a plan…a proper plan…

PS… any tips on hand reading

Ok .. This entry probably reflects my poker life , Unorganised… that’s probably the best word to use

July Goal - ORGANISATION

June

Ok ...A couple of things ... At the end of May i had been playing 50NL
for a year... The plan was to reflect and see what i had an hadn,t learnt
and where i feel i am at present regarding this game...

First the results ...

12 months at 50 nl

Yep thats how long ive been playing 50nl now

Im going to take the weekend off and try to make some sense of what ive learnt
over the last year !!

Whilst i appreciate that i could probably do this at any time , it does seem like a suitable time to do this

I will try and evaluate my strengths and weakneses and work out a strategy
for the coming year

One thing i am sure is that i lack discipline in my poker life and this is one area that is a leak for sure and one area i really need to work on

Later all

May - And 12 months at 50nl Cash Games

Still a long long way to go !!!

Ok I have finished for May , I am on a downswing so although my results seem good i feel like shit !! Honestly !! Feel like losing when i am winning !!

Here is the evidence !!

May Goals - Of Sorts

This month i want to try and consolidate from my April performance
One thing that stands out in May already is that i focus better when playing only 2 tables .

I find it easier to pick out the weaker players ( although my hud stats indicate this anyway , its good that i can pick them out from ther play too )

I also find it easier to pick spots to isolate them and am prepared to make riskier decisions against them.

It obviously also gives me more time to put players on ranges too

So that sort of the first goal

The next goal is to try and get more sweats conversations in with players
This is one of my weak spots but i had a short conversation recently and it gave me a couple of hints / ideas

One was , whilst reviewing top winning , losing , tricky hands , to try and put yourself in your opponents position , so play his hand as opposed to yours , this was a new idea for me so i was quite pleased

Another little pointer was about limpers who limp after a raise and a limp
ie i raise 4x say the sb calls and the bb calls , obviously if the bb has a premium hand then he should be squeezing , so if he doesnt squeeze maybe we can give him a more defined range ( maybe )

So thats the second goal

Later

April In Words - of sorts !!

Well after the results the previous month i was alittle worried about April
and as has been pretty much been standard i started off with a losing run

I could not really put my finger on anything in particular although i know for sure that early in April my small blind completion was horrific easily beating my button play

I continued to study my excel spreadsheet desperately trying to find the leaks and then thought the only answer was a session with my coach. After a few days of trying to arrange a lesson he sent me an email suggesting that i was a little anal about my spreadsheet ( my words not his ) and that it may be distracting me form the real task which was playing poker and focusing on the hands more .

After a few minutes deliberation , i had to come to the conclusion that he was right
It pretty much coincided with my upswing and therefore felt his theory had strength
around this time i also reduced the number of tables to 2 or 3 and tried to focus on playing against the weaker players more if possible .The combined results seemed good
and i went on a 10 buyin run which for me is quite good ( unheard of actually !! )

Then a small downswing when i got it all in deepsatcked with the Ace high flush only to run into a royal !! . The remaining 3k hands i think was spent watching people fold as i was dealt AA after AA and KK after KK many any times , i am surprised i didnt tilt on lots of ocasions but just concentrated on the hands . I did in fact quit on a few occasions when i had been dealt AA twice And KK twice and people just kept folding . I couldnt bear it . I finally managed to grind it out to $500 dollars and stopped as i was feeling pleased