Amateur Poker Association & Tour
Poker Forum => General Discussion => Member Blogs => Topic started by: Charlie44 on September 01, 2013, 17:29:38 PM
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Aha!! John Major!!
Good Luck in your goals, i will be following intently!
Dann/Tim/Bilbo
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Your introduction makes interesting reading. The path from chess to poker is one that quite a few top professionals have trod, hopefully you can follow in their footsteps.
Also it is great that you have set yourself poker goals because this is important.
All the best Mike in your poker journey.
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Gl mike, will be looking forward to hearing how u are getting on
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Best of luck with this Mike.
Look forward to regular updates on this.
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Nice reading Mike, look forward to reading more and sharing a table at some point in the near future.
Grant/Fat Charlie Sheen
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Many thanks all for the kind words of interest and support. I "ll try to keep you updated.
Had my first day online today to try and meet September target. Not very successful I"m afraid.
I plan to play 24 days per month. Converting the monthly targets into daily targets - I would need to play 1250 hands, achieve profit on showdown hand before bonuses (rakeback) of $10 per day, and achive nil profit on non showdown hands.
I actually played 10 cents zoom for 4.5 hours and played 1253 hands which achieved target.
My showdown profit was $6.42 (compared to $10) which I am not too concerned about because obviously there tends to be big variance on a daily basis.
More concerning is my continuing trend with a $9 loss on non showdown hands (giving an overall loss for the day of $2.58) . I intend spending a while investigating this, togther my big hands from todays session, early evening tomorrow, before another similar session starting about 7 tomorrow.
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Good as you wish luck with your goals Mike. I will post my thoughts, feel free to use them or ignore them as you wish :)
30K hands is a lot, are you 6-max or FR? I am always careful with volume goals, they are fine as long as you know that if you are playing badly and need to take a break (and this happens to us all) then it is OK not to hit the volume goal. I tend to just aim for Silverstar but if you have more time then a volume target is fine.
The non-showdown issue is one I have had myself, and still get from time to time. In my experience I tend to get a red line that is sliding downwards when I am playing too mechanically (AKA too tight). When I am trying to play too many tables for example or not really focusing on the game. This usually leads to me not 3-betting enough (and just calling instead), not double barreling against the correct players, not making notes, not stealing on the river when it is correct to do so and not stealing the blinds enough. I have spent quite a bit of time on this with help from better players (including Noble1 on here). To find the actual leaks it is worth reviewing a session and posting the following stats:-
VP$IP:
PFR:
3-bet:
Fold to 3-Bet:
Attempt to Steal from Button:
Attempt to Steal from SB:
Also spend some time with your Poker Tracker and have a notepad and pen during the session so you can make a quick note of hands you want to look back through at the end of the session, try posting some of the hand on then Strategy section here or the PHA on Blonde. Do this even if it is just to check on your thinking. You need to look at not just the hands with the big pots as these are not what affect your red line but spots where maybe you should bluff when you didn"t or maybe you should barrel the turn and didn"t. Also be careful not to focus too much on the red line, the green line is more important.
If you want to and think it will help I would be happy for you to watch me play a bit of $10nl Zoom / non Zoom on Teamviewer. I am not going to claim to be a great player but I have been profitable in this game although on by 2BB/100 this year.
If you have time have a read through this thread, it is long and will take a few weeks but is worth it as it has a lot of great hands from $10nl Zoom included.
http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=56559.0
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Best of luck with your efforts.
Some observations though, I"m not sure why you have broken your target up into showdown/non showdown AKA Blue line / red line. I suspect it"s due to the popular misconception that that a positive non showdown indicates you are a good aggressive player. Winning players with positive red lines are rare and the biggest factor in sd/nsd winnings is how your opponents play.
I think this will put undue pressure on your game and your focus will likely gravitate towards winning pots without showdown. Especially at 10nl where most of your value comes from getting paid when you have it rather than trying to get calling stations to fold.
The bottom line is bb"s/100 and I"ve found it useful to try and understand "what good looks like" ie: ...
0 -+3 = Good
+3 - +7= really good
> +7 = crushing
Those numbers are for micro stakes and when you play beyond 100nl you could probably halve those numbers but it"s decent guideline.
Say you play 2 hours 4 tabling a 10 cent game and play 600 hands, you win $1.80 for the session, doesn"t seem like much of an achievement and we can sometimes feel bad about that but in reality, doing this consistently puts us in the top 5% of players for that level.
(http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i274/100Ks/lolredline.jpg)
Would you be worried about this red line if you had a + $260k year?
Disclaimer: Sadly this not my graph :"(
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feel free to use them or ignore them as you wish :)
To find the actual leaks it is worth reviewing a session and posting the following stats
try posting some of the hand on then Strategy section here
I would be happy for you to watch me play a bit of $10nl Zoom
If you have time have a read through this thread,
Steve - many thanks for taking the time to post this. It looks as if you have gone through the same sort of issues that I will no doubt be going through. I will definitely not be ignoring your tips. Good ideas I think to post stats and hands and I will be definitely doing that. I will definitely be taking you up on your offer at some time to watch you on 10 nl zoom. The blonde thread also looks good and very relevant.
Be back in touch soon. Thanks again.
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I"m not sure why you have broken your target up into showdown/non showdown AKA Blue line / red line.
Winning players with positive red lines are rare.
BB/100
> +7 = crushing
Many thanks for you comments. They have been very thought provoking and have convinced me at least for now to remove the target of non showdown winnings. Winning players with positive lines are rare is certainly an interesting fact. However I still think that the continuous downward trend of my non showdown winnings is an indication of certain areas of my game which need improving if I am to be very effective at this level and higher.
I"ve been trying to think outside the box on this issue as I try and do. Consider if you had perfect information. i.e you had knew exactly your opponents cards, you may take the following strategy :
When you are ahead betting the maximum you believe you opponent would call. When you are behind only call your opponent bets if you had the odds to call. If your opponents always called your bets then clearly you would be making a good overall profit but you would be making a big non showdown loss.
You could almost certainly improve your non showdown and overall profit by betting or raising enough to make your opponent fold when he has a poor or marginal hand albeit better then you.
The point I am making is that whilst as you rightly said there is nothing to worry about with a non showdown loss there is always room to improving your game and if you are making a big loss on non showdown hands maybe that"s where the main room for improvement is.
By the way my +8 BB/100 may be a bit ambitious then !! I"d rather be aiming high though !
Thanks again.
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I dont think its too bad....i used to play 4 x NL5/NL10 Zoom tables (6max) and over 30k hands had a win rate of 11bb/100 hands (~$250)
You"ll get there, just make sure you review, review, review and take advantage of your HUD etc.
Lower stakes, be aggressive. :)
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I dont think its too bad....i used to play 4 x NL5/NL10 Zoom tables (6max) and over 30k hands had a win rate of 11bb/100 hands (~$250)
You"ll get there, just make sure you review, review, review and take advantage of your HUD etc.
Lower stakes, be aggressive. :)
Thanks for the advice - REVIEW, USE YOUR HUD, and BE AGRESSIVE - I think I need to need to have that as my motto.
Having an amazing session today so far 858 hands played $39.65 up including 15$ up on non showdown hands. Apprecaite I should not be results orientated and will be reviewing tomorrow how badly I played some hands. Just had a satisfying hand - raised to 3BB co with 77, looked like a reg with 50 bbs on button 3 bet to 9bbs. Looked like he was taking advantage of pos so I just shoved and he folded like a baby - felt good !!.
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Promise I wont report every day but very pleased with the days results.
1098 hands played on 10cents zoom.
$39.58 profit including $15 non showdown.
Yesssss!
Hands played slightly down on target because I took a break to watch the first episode of the new series of Doc Martin. I"m not normally into sitcoms but the wife and I really enjoy this. She"s pleased ( I think) because at least she"ll see me for 1 hour in the evenings every week !!
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Post as often as you desire ;D
Don"t pretend to understand all the figures 8) but it does interest me and a lot of people on here, keep it up...
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Just looking at my poker tracker and it says 7.85 bbs/100 (blatant brag) in the 2 days for September. I assumed this was big blinds. However if I look at amount won which is $37.00 and number of hands all of which played at 10cents big blinds which is 2357, I calculate big blinds won per 100 hands to be $37/23.57/0.1 = 15.7 bbs/100(another blatant brag), which is double the PT reported figure. On closer inspection the bb/100 means big BETS(not blinds) per 100. This presumably refers to the size of the big bet in fixed limit and therefore the calculation is based on 20c big bet not 10cents big blind.
Does anybody know please which is the normally reported figure. So in earlier post when 7bb+/100 reported as crushing, at 10cents Big blind level NL level do you need to win 70c per 100 hands or $1.40 ?
Also wondering about peoples thoughts on the decision when (if ever) to leave a zoom table and immediately rejoin in order to "bank" your big stack. Yesterday I decided to do this whenever I increased my stack to over 200 big blinds ($20) My reasoning was I felt I have an edge against fish or most abc players on the tables but probably not against the regs, and it tends to be mostly the regs I will playing against with my increased stack. My reasoning as well if I feel I have an edge against regs as well shouldn"t I just be playing at higher stakes ? Clearly I will sometimes gain less out when I have monster v big hand but also will lose less when outplayed. What are peoples thoughts - am I just playing scared ?
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It goes back to the days of limit poker - bb/100 = Big Bets/100, not Big Blinds/100..... and a Big Bet = 2x Big Blinds.
Explained better HERE (http://www.pokertracker.com/guides/PT4/tutorials/bb100-versus-bb100)
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It goes back to the days of limit poker - bb/100 = Big Bets/100, not Big Blinds/100..... and a Big Bet = 2x Big Blinds.
Explained better HERE (http://www.pokertracker.com/guides/PT4/tutorials/bb100-versus-bb100)
Many thanks for you your repsonse.
The guide seems to be saying that the figure should show big blinds per 100 for NL, but it seems to be showing the amount of big bets per 100 as if I was playing Limit. Have I found a glitch in my PT ? If I want the big blinds per 100 stat I guess I just look at my PT reported figure and double it. Wish I could do that with my profit !!
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Just had a search round Google..... found the following quote from another forum....
PT2 and PT3 used the Limit BB/100
PT4 uses No-Limit bb/100
So, if you"re on PT2/3, then you"ll be using winrate of big bet/100, and on PT4, you"ll be using big blind/100 (apparently)
I just checked my HEM2 stats - and they use big blind/100
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Just had a search round Google..... found the following quote from another forum....
PT2 and PT3 used the Limit BB/100
PT4 uses No-Limit bb/100
So, if you"re on PT2/3, then you"ll be using winrate of big bet/100, and on PT4, you"ll be using big blind/100 (apparently)
I just checked my HEM2 stats - and they use big blind/100
You"re a star. I"m still on PT3. I guess I know what to do with my first months profit - fork out on PT4 !!
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As Steve suggested I post below some stats from my 2 sessions to date on full ring 10 cents zoom with 100BB.
Hands played : 2357
Amount won : 37.00$
VP$IP: 11.88%
PFR: 8.36%
3-bet : 3.44%
Fold to 3-Bet : 83.87%
Attempt to Steal from button 32.14%
Attempt to Steal from SB: 12.24%
I guess I"m risking apat members trying to manipulate my game, but I"ll take that risk especially as it is a relatively small sample and I"m sure my game will develop a lot over the next few months.
I know stats can be misleading, but any obvious leaks from the published stats. ? I have made some conclusions myself but any comments appreciated.
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As Steve suggested I post below some stats from my 2 sessions to date on full ring 10 cents zoom with 100BB.
Hands played : 2357
Amount won : 37.00$
VP$IP: 11.88%
PFR: 8.36%
3-bet : 3.44%
Fold to 3-Bet : 83.87%
Attempt to Steal from button 32.14%
Attempt to Steal from SB: 12.24%
Open more hands, 3bet more hands, fold less to 3b.
Whats your 4b %?
I guess I"m risking apat members trying to manipulate my game, but I"ll take that risk especially as it is a relatively small sample and I"m sure my game will develop a lot over the next few months.
I know stats can be misleading, but any obvious leaks from the published stats. ? I have made some conclusions myself but any comments appreciated.
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You"re a star. I"m still on PT3. I guess I know what to do with my first months profit - fork out on PT4 !!
I used to be a PT3 user, and joined the Beta test group for PT4. When it came to pay for the upgrade, I decided to have a crack at HEM2 and actually decided to give them my money instead. Very happy with HEM2, and given the choice, would not switch back to PT4
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As Steve suggested I post below some stats from my 2 sessions to date on full ring 10 cents zoom with 100BB.
Hands played : 2357
Amount won : 37.00$
VP$IP: 11.88%
PFR: 8.36%
3-bet : 3.44%
Fold to 3-Bet : 83.87%
Attempt to Steal from button 32.14%
Attempt to Steal from SB: 12.24%
Open more hands, 3bet more hands, fold less to 3b.
Whats your 4b %?
I guess I"m risking apat members trying to manipulate my game, but I"ll take that risk especially as it is a relatively small sample and I"m sure my game will develop a lot over the next few months.
I know stats can be misleading, but any obvious leaks from the published stats. ? I have made some conclusions myself but any comments appreciated.
I meant to mention the fold to 3 bet stat in PT3 is flawed. It counts even if you are not the raiser, so if UTG raises and the button 3-bets and you fold the BB it adds this to your fold to 3-bet stat.
This issue is resolved in PT4.
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As Steve suggested I post below some stats from my 2 sessions to date on full ring 10 cents zoom with 100BB.
Hands played : 2357
Amount won : 37.00$
VP$IP: 11.88%
PFR: 8.36%
3-bet : 3.44%
Fold to 3-Bet : 83.87%
Attempt to Steal from button 32.14%
Attempt to Steal from SB: 12.24%
Open more hands, 3bet more hands, fold less to 3b.
Whats your 4b %?
I guess I"m risking apat members trying to manipulate my game, but I"ll take that risk especially as it is a relatively small sample and I"m sure my game will develop a lot over the next few months.
I know stats can be misleading, but any obvious leaks from the published stats. ? I have made some conclusions myself but any comments appreciated.
I meant to mention the fold to 3 bet stat in PT3 is flawed. It counts even if you are not the raiser, so if UTG raises and the button 3-bets and you fold the BB it adds this to your fold to 3-bet stat.
This issue is resolved in PT4.
Cheers Steve thought it looked very high. PT4 it is then !!
Just finished session for tonight. Started well but I think I lost agression as the night wore on which definitely affected my red line. Small overall profit of $4.95 though on 1239 hands played. Will review tomorrow. Going to watch poker on TV now to see George Clyde Smith progressing to the late stages of last years PCA. Anybody else beeen watching the series ?
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Just finished session for tonight. Started well but I think I lost agression as the night wore on which definitely affected my red line. Small overall profit of $4.95 though on 1239 hands played. Will review tomorrow. Going to watch poker on TV now to see George Clyde Smith progressing to the late stages of last years PCA. Anybody else beeen watching the series ?
It may be worth watching your session length, four tabling can be pretty intense and most players need to break up their volume into 2 hour sessions. I have noticed a losing pattern in my own sessions once I play beyond the 2 hour duration.
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Just finished session for tonight. Started well but I think I lost agression as the night wore on which definitely affected my red line. Small overall profit of $4.95 though on 1239 hands played. Will review tomorrow. Going to watch poker on TV now to see George Clyde Smith progressing to the late stages of last years PCA. Anybody else beeen watching the series ?
It may be worth watching your session length, four tabling can be pretty intense and most players need to break up their volume into 2 hour sessions. I have noticed a losing pattern in my own sessions once I play beyond the 2 hour duration.
Thanks for the advice Snapper. I do take 5 min breaks every hour but I def need to keep an eye on it.
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Very disappointing session tonight. Did 1263 hands but loss of $24.10, making overall profit for the month down to $17.85, 3.6BB/100. Non showdown I actually broke even but losses mainly due to 3 big hands. 2 wrong calls on river and 1 bad timed bluff. Plan now to take a short break from on-line cash for a couple of days. Review all my play tomorrow which I have neglected so far tbh. - Sorry S4ooter :-[ . So will be posting a few hands. I then plan to play £15 tournament in local casino Friday night, and then back to it with renewed vigour Saturday.
Went to the cinema earlier today to see About Time. Has had bad reviews but we enjoyed it. Was a feelgood Richard Curtis movie - I found quite witty, thought provoking, and with a few twists. Well recommended from me anyway. Also plan to see 2 films coming up - Rush - about the F1 duel between James Hunt and Nikki Lauda,
- and Dianna which is obviously about late life of Princesss Diana .
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Good update Mike keep them coming.
Obviously we don"t worry about losing sessions (so much easier to say than do though). They are going to happen though and if we just won all the time I am pretty sure it would be less enjoyable. Best advice I was ever given by some of the great players over on Blonde was to follow their mantra of accept the results and just #lovethegame and long term the results will take care of themselves. I know you don"t need to be told that but sometimes just being reminded of it helps anyway, or at least I find it does.
Due to reading this blog I decided to play 1000 hands on the FR Zoom table just to see what it was like and to try and be constructive in discussion with you (and not sound like a total donk *lol*). I will update result on my thread later today after I finish work but based on what you posted above here are my observations. As always I am no pro player and when I talk to a pro player I am alway surprised how much of the game I don"t understand so I would never claim to be 100% right on anything but am pretty confident in these points.
1) Playing 11/8/3 you are probably going to have a negative red line and I agree with Brendan entirely in that the red line is unimportant if the green line is going up. There is nothing wrong with trying to get it going up though. What I have done is just played a few sessions of single tabling where I really focus on picking great spots to pick up pots without showdown and ensure I am value betting and stealing enough on the river. Continuation bets seem very effective, a lot more than they are at six max. Double Barrelling seems somewhat less effective. If you get checked too twice in position with only one or two opponents just bet, you get so many folds it has to be profitable.
2) Stealing the blinds is very effective. In the FR $10nl game I would more need a reason not to be doing this than a reason to do it. If I am in the Cut Off, On the Button or on the SB and it comes to me unopened I am opening with a WIDE range. Could I recommend a small session where you try this. Just open every unopened button and SB to 30c (or less if it works). I think your steal % OTB is too low and you SB steal % is definately too low.
3) 3-betting light against button raisers when you are in the blinds still works. If you get somebody who your HUD is showing you is opening a lot of pots opens from the Button or the Cut Off then it is profitable to 3-bet them wide from the SB or BB. If you get called c-betting the flop is profitable a lot of the time, although there will be some flops we don"t want to c-bet. If I get called on the flop in a 3-bet pot I proceed with more caution than I would in a 6-max game.
So I would suggest a small (maybe 500 hand) session where you try to do the following.
1) Steal more from the cut off, button and SB. Just for that session try to steal every tie it is unopened (everybody to act before you folds) to you in any of those positions.
2) Look for good spots to 3-bet light. If you are in the blinds and get raised from the button or cut off consider 3-betting
3) Try to steal pots on the flop in good spots. For example if you have called a raise pre, the flop comes ace high and the raiser checks to you bet it. It will work a lot.
Review the session and see if these tactic were profitable. See what difference it makes to your VPIP, PFR and 3-bet stats.
Again, if you want to do a Team Viewer session and watch my game you are more than welcome to do so and I am sure you could give good feedback on it as well.
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Open more hands, 3bet more hands, fold less to 3b.
Whats your 4b %?
Just saw your Q. Answer month to date 5.88%.
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Obviously we don"t worry about losing sessions
If you get somebody who your HUD is showing you is opening a lot of pots opens from the Button or the Cut Off then it is profitable to 3-bet them wide from the SB or BB. If you get called c-betting the flop is profitable a lot of the time,
So I would suggest a small (maybe 500 hand) session where you try to do the following.
For that session try to steal every tie it is unopened (everybody to act before you folds) to you in any of those positions.
Try to steal pots on the flop in good spots. For example if you have called a raise pre, the flop comes ace high and the raiser checks to you bet it. It will work a lot.
Again, if you want to do a Team Viewer session
Cheers Steve. I can see you have gone to a lot of time effort here. It is much appreciated.
I do appreciate the advice - please keep it coming. I probably won"t take all of it as you would expect but some of your comments will be very helpful to my game. It is very useful to discuss issues with players who appear to have gone through the same issues as I have gone through.
I know you"re are right when you say I need to be stealing more in LP. However my game has been in the past all about having the best hand in most cases and getting value in showdowns. It is a big change to be playing pots more regularly without real hands. I now I need to do this but I think it has to be a steady change to develop my post flop skills . I certainly don"t want to be cont betting and giving up on the turn too many times, or going to showdown with inferior holdings too many times.
Currently when in late psoition I tend to be more selective with my stealing and try and identify and target the less able players in the BB, by looking at stack size and HUG stats, and even then not with total garbage. By indiscriminately increasing my stealing in late position I think think its the regs who will notice and when I am 3 bet it is these I will tend to be in more hands with - which is clearly not ideal. Also by making a such and immediate and very significant change I won"t know what hand histories oppos have against me, and what image they ahve of me.
Also I am already 3 bet folding too many hands and I think I probably want to resolve this issue before increasing my steal percentage too significantly.
I am currently c- betting about 78%, which seems about right what do you think ?
Thanks again Steve. I hope you dont feel rebuffed at all. I very much respect your play and I think you have a lot to knowledge which can learn from. There were many good ideas which I helped and I and certainly got me thinking a lot.
I will be postings some of my hands later which I would appreciate our views on. I will be in touch re this team viewer session which I think would be very helpful.
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Very good reply, don"t worry about me feeling rebuffed. I been posting on various Internet forums too long for that *lol*. I reckon you got it right, it"s you game and if you are not comfortable with the suggestions I or anybody else makes you are under no obligation to take the advice. You are totally right that not all of it will suit you which is fine. I"ll keep posting it (as hopefully will Brendan who is great that this kind of thing) and hope that some of it comes in useful but don"t try and work into your game anything you are not happy with.
Would look forward to a Teamviewer session for sure.
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Loving the feedback on the hands posted on the strategy pages. I am definitely learning a lot. Please keep them coming. Hope you don"t mind that I am not replying to every response - I tend to respond only when something requires further clarification or has generated further issues. I assure that the responses are very much appreicated and am digesting them all.
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Lol just noticed your sig.......hope it helps!!
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Lol just noticed your sig.......hope it helps!!
Certainly does - please keep the advice coming.
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tell you what Mike. You have really re engergised the blogs and PHA boards. Top work, keep going, you will get what your hard work deserves :)
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tell you what Mike. You have really re engergised the blogs and PHA boards. Top work, keep going, you will get what your hard work deserves :)
Thanks Stu - much appreciated.
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tell you what Mike. You have really re engergised the blogs and PHA boards. Top work, keep going, you will get what your hard work deserves :)
+1
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tell you what Mike. You have really re engergised the blogs and PHA boards. Top work, keep going, you will get what your hard work deserves :)
+1
And this is only a good thing, keep it up mate. I can see prop bets in the near future :)
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Thanks again for all the encouragement and advice. - much appreciated.
Went to local casino last night. Played $15 tourney. Out in 14th. Thought I played well - starting to play more in good spots rather than waiting for good cards. Won"t bore you with bad beat but suffice to say went out trying to get value from AA with about 10BBs (average about 18Bbs) .
Also played a bit of cash for a couple of hours, which I enjoyed and hadn"t played for a while. It was Omaha £1/£1. Lost 3BBs over 2 hours. Played tight as normal - just won one hand which basically paid for the blinds for the night. Find that many players overrate their holdings, play very weak hands pre and therfore rarely have the nuts or drawing to the nuts. It is a strange fact that the general standard here is probably not as good as $10NL online.
I have had chance to develop my thoughts and at the moment my long term goal is :
$25NL ZOOM, 2 tables, 100 hrs per month, 6BB/100. If I can achieve this together with the rakeback this would supply me within enough income to supplement my pension. I am hoping to achieve this from the new year. I appreciate that there will be variance but as long as I achieve this on average that"s fine.
I have identified that my Poker Tracker PT3 is out of date and needs to upgrading. I have also considered changing to Holdem Manager. I would be grateful you hear from you about the merits of both packages (especially anybody who has used both.). The characteristics I think I need from a package are - Easy to use , useful, accurate and clear information.
I think also HEM2 would need to be significantly better to justify the time and effort to learn to use it.
What would you do in my position HEM2 or PT4 ?.
More on-line this afternoon followed by casino tonight for £20 tourney. How does the wife put up with me ?
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I"m on PT4 at the min and it is easy enough to use, but then all I am using it for is the HUD lol.
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Generally heard better things about PT4 over HEM2, though I"ve only used the latter (it"s pretty buggy imo, not impressed - don"t use it heavily though and they"ll work through the bug list over time).
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PT4 is a lot like PT3, so if you"re familiar and comfortable with PT3, when PT4 would be the logical move.
That said, I suggest that before you buy, you download and take the 30 day trial with HEM2. Unlike PT trial, you aren"t restricted to 1000 hands.... so you can load up all your old HHs and have a play.
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I"m on PT4 at the min and it is easy enough to use
Generally heard better things about PT4 over HEM2,
PT4 is a lot like PT3, so if you"re familiar and comfortable with PT3, when PT4 would be the logical move.
Thanks for the advice. PT4 it is then.
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2 sessions since last reported
Saturday - 740 hands $13.04 profit
Sunday - 1293 hands $17.73 loss
Overall for month - 7,026 hands, Profit $16.90, 2.40 BB/100.
Disappointed with result today. :"( Initial analysis - A big chunk of the loss coming from AA being beaten by quad Queens , Should I have got away from bet on river ? Also some big laydowns when I had top pair. was I right to fold them ? And my red line loss $12 is there a problem there ? These questions and more will be investigated tomorrow !!. :-\
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2 sessions since last reported
Saturday - 740 hands $13.04 profit
Sunday - 1293 hands $17.73 loss
Overall for month - 7,026 hands, Profit $16.90, 2.40 BB/100.
Disappointed with result today. :"( Initial analysis - A big chunk of the loss coming from AA being beaten by quad Queens , Should I have got away from bet on river ? Also some big laydowns when I had top pair. was I right to fold them ? And my red line loss $12 is there a problem there ? These questions and more will be investigated tomorrow !!. :-\
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You said you had to make some big laydowns so the $12 loss is pretty much to be expected in this case. I would not be too concerned, it sounds to me like you are going about this the right way and have just not run that well but are still up, which is excellent. Would need to look at your hands in more depth of course to be sure. Volume is pretty good as well for just over a week into the month.
Try not to beat yourself up over losing big hands like AA vs QQ. Sounds pretty standard but even if you do identify a mistake that is still good as you will learn from it. If I see a hand where I think I have made a mistake I am much more likely to post it on my thread (when I am actually bothering to update it) than one where I play well (although I am not above the odd brag post *lol*). I find this helps us learn and I have definitely found your posts in the Strategy section most insightful and helpful so please keep them up.
Read Brendan"s signature to his posts - good advice that.
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This is a long thread, but John Black has gathered a lot of advice on the levels you"re aiming for from a lot of very good players. Worth spending some time on.
http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=56559.0
cliffs - bet until you meet resistance and then fold
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John Black blow ups ftw :)
Great thread though
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Thanks to all recommended PT4. Took 5 hours to convert 500k hands, but boy does it seem worth it. First impressions so much better than PT3. Only one problem my hud doesn"t seem to be working at the moment. Anybody any ideas ? Enabled zoom on stars config but still doesn"t appear to be working.
Its ok got it working now !!
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My wife says I "m like a kid with a new toy at Xmas at the moment. She wanted to go out for a meal earlier on and I wasn"t happy.
From what I have seen so far - PT4 far superior to PT3. Standard huds much improved so is the data analysis. Playing 2NL zoom at the moment just to get used to the huds. Loads of info - just need to get used to where to look.
Anybody still playing PT3 highly recommend upgrade. If you can"t afford currently put on your Christmas list ;D
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Read Brendan"s signature to his posts - good advice that.
Cheers Steve for the interest and support. Yes read Brendan"s sig. Very thought provoking. :)
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This is a long thread, but John Black has gathered a lot of advice on the levels you"re aiming for from a lot of very good players. Worth spending some time on.
cliffs - bet until you meet resistance and then fold
Yes Steve pointed this out as well previously. Had a quick look. Definitely intend spending time on it when I have chance. Your advice sounds just about spot on at this level.
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Hi Mike
Good read so far.
How did you get on at Les Croups on Saturday night?
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Hi Mike
Good read so far.
How did you get on at Les Croups on Saturday night?
Got to FT - out in 9th. Didn"t find many spots. Down to 3 orbits (about 7bbs), the big stack suddenly became very loose and pushing almost every hand. I then realised he had had phonecall from home and needed to go. He pushed again ep, folded to me, I had K5s in the co - good enough. Everybody else folded. He turned over 92hearts. Of course the flop came 3 hearts. Sorry about the badbeat story - but as you asked :D
How did you go out ?
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Hi Mike
Good read so far.
How did you get on at Les Croups on Saturday night?
Got to FT - out in 9th. Didn"t find many spots. Down to 3 orbits (about 7bbs), the big stack suddenly became very loose and pushing almost every hand. I then realised he had had phonecall from home and needed to go. He pushed again ep, folded to me, I had K5s in the co - good enough. Everybody else folded. He turned over 92hearts. Of course the flop came 3 hearts. Sorry about the badbeat story - but as you asked :D
How did you go out ?
Lol. Who was the chipleader there?
I just lost a race with about 17 left. AJ vs Tens. Standard really. Had been in shove mode for 2 levels.
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Lol. Who was the chipleader there?
Good player. Usually wears headphones and cap - Dan ? (not Carpenter)
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Shall I watch the football or play zoom :-\? Doing both is probably not recommended but can"t decide. ;D
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Shall I watch the football or play zoom :-\? Doing both is probably not recommended but can"t decide. ;D
Which team do you support Mike?
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Cardiff City of course :) but been watching the England match tonight on ITV.
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I was Happier when City Scored at DTD than i was 30 mins later :(
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I was Happier when City Scored at DTD than i was 30 mins later :(
lol ;D
Just had a good session - for me anyway.
Zoom 10NL 1168 hands $31.55 profit 27bb/100.
What do the football managers say - dont worry about your losses too much but don"t celebrate your wins too hard. I"m off to have a beer whilst watching PCA on c4.
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I am finding that i"m not having enough time to give justice to my reviews etc. i.e everything apart from playing hands. So I"ve decided to reduce my target playing time by 1 hr per day and use that time for extra poker related activities. My current target will therefore reduce to 24k hands per month from 30K. The things I"m currently doing are listed below and I would appreciate"s everybody"s thoughts and what activities will most improve my game. I need to prioritise my very significant but somewhat limited time available.
A. Playing on-line hands (obv)
B. Playing live tournaments.
C. Reviewing hands played and identifying where I could improve my profit.
D. Placing any poker hands on APAT forum which I am not sure about and responding to any posts.
E. Review other people"s posts on APAT forum especially strategy posts and responding to them.
F. Using Poker Tracker to identify other weaknesses in my game.
G. Educating myself on best use of Poker Tracker to improve my game inc. development of huds etc.
H. Reading poker books - Currently Theory of Poker ( suggested by Noble 1 and the Snapper).
I. Watching relevant videos - currently Stars tips on playing zoom tables.
Anything else I should also be doing ? Advice welcome.
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Initial feeling quite happy with my performance again tonight -
1011 hands played $6.93 loss.
MTD 10,098 $45.19 profit 5.42 BB/100.
2 big losses
KKvAA pre which I cant get away from.
AK v AA with case ace on flop and SPR of 1.0 ( which I will have to review but I think played ok.)
I keep telling myself important thing is to play the hand well and the rest will take take care of itself in the long run. :-\
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Another session complete. Not much happening today I think I"m not making it happen enough. Red line like a sinking ship again.! Very small profit for today.
Month to date - 11,101 hands, (on target) $45.74 profit, 4.98BB/100 ( compared to 8BB/100 target.)
Really need to review agression and stats I think.
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Did a bit of mannual investiagtion with my session yesterday.
Very surprised to find that of the $8 loss on non showdown hands all of it related to preflop hands - with $7.20 won and $14.95 lost on pre flop hands. Even though this may be an extreme example I am sure the pattern is similar throughout a lot of my sessions.
I think its feasible still to make a profit because you are then regularly playing with better hands post flop and at showdown. However having to overcome the handicap of the preflop loss plus the rake , totalling perhaps 12BB/100, before you can start making a profit, it is less likely that a long term good profit rate can be achieved.
So I need to address the problem which I plan to start doing straight away. Does anybody who uses PT4 know if I can easily pick up my preflop profit/loss (as opposed to non showdown profit) for each session, so that I can continue to monitor progress.
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Just an update on progress.
After identifying my leak with preflop losses, I have now developed a hud which I am comfortable with and gives me the info. I need. I have started 3 betting players who appear to be raising light in late position, but only where I have feel my holding is beating their range. Also as recommended by Brendan I am calling in positon with a reasonable holding against a player who I think I can outplay postflop. Also I am stealing blinds more often against players who fold too often, but again only if I have a playable holding.
My stats below compare Fridays session to the overall stats for the month. The increase in agression can easily be seen which I am happy with. The loss on Friday was due to other issues not as a result of the extra agression.
Friday Month to date
Profit $-14.89 $69.57
Hands 794 13,885
BB/100 -21.31 6.85
VPIP 16.07 13.23
PFR 13.15 10.11
3 Bet PFR 5.30 3.79
2bet/fold PF* 52.94 60.41
4 bet pf ** 8.51 4.70
Att to steal LP*** 40.32 34.82
Att to steal SB 45.45 24.40
*I have use the 2 bet/fold pf stat as opposed to the fold to 3 bet, as the latter of course includes those where you fold to cold 3 bet.
**The 4 bet pf figure of course includes in its population those occassions where I am facing a cold 3 bet. I could have used the raise/4 bet stat but this probably hides the lost opprtunities for 4 betting cold.
***Also I couldn"t see the "attempt to steal button" but I think the "attempt to steal late position" is a good alternative.
The MTD hands played are above target and the MTD BB/100 is close to target (6.85 compared to 8 ). So overall I am very happy with progress made to date. I am learning a lot and enjoing it. What more can I ask ? :)
My progres to date has I am sure been all the more because of apaters" help and advice. So please keep it coming. Further observations and advice very welcome.
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Doing a bit more digging today on my stats. Looking at results from 10th September. The preflop loss of $6.85 on first glance again seems a concern. It was interesting however that of the 139 pre flop raises only 38 appear to have resulted in a gain of blinds unopposed. 73 of them saw a flop. However for those 73 hands I made a profit of $19.96, which is more than the $10.95 I would have gained if the raises resulted in everybody folding. Of course if they had been folded my preflop result would have become $4.10 profit, but my overall profit for the day would have been less. Confused ? so am I ???
My late position attempts to steal of 44% (37/83) and SB steal 47% (9/19) are fine now I think, but I definitely need to increase my 3 bet rate of 3.3% (14/418) .
Any observation or advice welcome.
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Felt the session went well today with results below :
Today Month to date
Preflop profit -$2.70 -86.92
Overall Profit $0.57 48.13
Hands 816 15,272
BB/100 0.70 4.54
VPIP 15.88 13.41
PFR 12.78 10.32
3 Bet PFR 5.02 3.90
2bet/fold PF 61.54 62.10
4 bet pf 2.63 4.38
Att to steal LP 46.88 35.34
Att to steal SB 52.94 26.02
Whilst the profit wasn"t great, there were a number of things I was happy about -
As the stats show I am becoming more agressive in position. This is having the effect of reducing my inherent daily preflop losses.
My allin adjusted result as was actually 10.49, as I got it all in on the flop with the nut straight but got outdrawn.
I generally felt I have improved this month but the main thing I"ve learnt about poker over the past couple of weeks is that there is a lot I don"t know. :-[
Reviewing previous forum discussion I came across these comments from Brendan today -
Preflop.
Look for reasons to choose your best option. In this exact spot my thought process would be...
Does villain open too wide in this position, if so, 3b will turn a profit.
Does villain play well post flop, does he cb either too much or too little, if so, I"ll flat knowing I can win my fair share without hitting.
It didn"t sink in really at the time. But I really believe you need to get players away from their strengths, and into their weaknesses. Against the regs you would probably be happy to 3 bet them preflop and get them to fold and winning 3bbs or so , but somebody who is weak you probably want to be playing them post flop especially in position, with a good chance of winning more from them. Does this make sense ?
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Not a good start to the session. 10th hand AK, A high flop, villain has ... AA. Hunderd hands later AK, K high flop, villain has ...AA. Hey ho :"(
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Just been stacked again with AK. Have given up for the day otherwise I will be playing on tilt. I think I should have got away from at least from some of the hands - will review and post later.
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You get days like this though as you know mate. Well done on leaving it for the day as we can all end up a little bit tilted when that kind of thing happens. Just coolers though by the sound of it nothing to get concerned about. Sounds like you have done well so far this month loving the way you kept working on the stats etc and been ready to take the good advice offered. This is a winning trait.
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Had a good day all round today after the disastorous day yesterday.
Went to the cinema today and watched "Rush". Very absorbing film about the duel between James Hunt and Nikki Lauda in formula 1 during the 70s. A must see for any F1 fans and very watchable storyline for those who are not.
Late back from this so decided just to get straight back into playing hands, and give the reviews a miss. And it paid off with a good session today. Decided to play more my normal game today to get confidence back. Just tried to concentrate on the fish and and it paid off, even if it did reduce my agression levels,and preflop profit.
Today Month to date
Preflop profit -7.20 -106.20
Overall Profit 21.95 35.16
Hands 1,009 16,470
BB/100 21.75 3.52
VPIP 14.44 13.48
PFR 10.43 10.32
3 Bet PFR 1.83 3.75
2bet/fold PF 57.14 61.34
4 bet pf 6.52 4.44
Att to steal LP 30.86 34.93
Att to steal SB 33.33 26.61
Will carry out the post mortem on yesterdays hands tomorrow (or should that be later today ???) to see if I should have got away from them.
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Well done Mike great job to get straight back to winning ways. Volume also looks very good what VIP level will you achieve this month? Will you get Goldstar. What will you do with the FPP you are earning?
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Well done Mike great job to get straight back to winning ways. Volume also looks very good what VIP level will you achieve this month? Will you get Goldstar. What will you do with the FPP you are earning?
Cheers Steve. Thanks for the support.
Will pass silver status level for this month in next day or two. Think I will need to be playing 2 tables or move up to 25NL to be achieving gold star. Though I do expect to get $50 stellar award soon - perhaps later this month.
I plan to take out half of the total of my profit and bonuses at the end of each month and build up my bankroll with the rest.
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Reasonably solid session but with small profit today though again lacking aggression. Def. need to bring that back in to halt these preflop losses.
Today Month to date
Preflop profit -7.86 -113.95
Overall Profit $3.01 $38.17
Hands 1,007 17,477 (target 24k for month)
BB/100 2.99 3.49 (target 8 )
VPIP 13.01 13.50
PFR 9.98 10.30
3 Bet PFR 1.84 3.64
2bet/fold PF 58.33 61.20
4 bet pf 2.63 4.35
Att to steal LP 28.17 34.58
Att to steal SB 42.86 27.84
On schedule to hit hands played target for month. Plan to go to local casino tomorrow, so wont be playing on-line.
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I know I shouldn"t harp on about bad luck and its all down to variance but now I"ve had KKvAA twice in a 355 hand session. Should happen one in every 250 sessions of this length according to me. Oh well off to casino tonight see if I have better luck !!
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I know I shouldn"t harp on about bad luck and its all down to variance but now I"ve had KKvAA twice in a 355 hand session. Should happen one in every 250 sessions of this length according to me. Oh well off to casino tonight see if I have better luck !!
Les Croupier"s Mike? Is their Saturday night game any good these days, might come and join you one week.
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I know I shouldn"t harp on about bad luck and its all down to variance but now I"ve had KKvAA twice in a 355 hand session. Should happen one in every 250 sessions of this length according to me. Oh well off to casino tonight see if I have better luck !!
Les Croupier"s Mike? Is their Saturday night game any good these days, might come and join you one week.
Yes - Be good to see you there Steve. About 40 players there for £20 tourney,unlimited re-entry. No luck yesterday out in about 14th.
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Good result today of $18.33 profit after after yesterday"s setback of $17.81 loss. Thought I played well generally but again a preflop loss of $7.13, mainly I think due to lack of agression. Definitely need to get that sorted. Will concentrate on that tomorrow before another session.
Still well on course to reach the hands played target for month of 24K (currently 19.4k). The $won of 8BB/100 looks out of reach now (currently 3.2). But certainly not despondent - am learning and I think improving all the time which is the main thing that matters. Onwards and upwards!!
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Had a reasonably uneventful session, played reasonably well I think but again lack of agression (see below). Stats as follows:
Today Month to date
Preflop profit -5.90 -130.53
Overall Profit 1.45 40.70
Hands 1,005 20,400 (target 24k for month)
BB/100 1.44 3.12 (target 8 )
VPIP 17.34 13.84
PFR 13.62 10.64
3 Bet PFR 3.18 3.56
2bet/fold PF 72.73 61.94
4 bet pf 1.85 4.10
Att to steal LP 38.64 35.41
Att to steal SB 31.82 28.86
Been looking in detail at the preflop losses again. Looking specifically at Sundays stats I had net loss of $7.13 in hands that did not see a flop compared to overall profit of $18.33. I lost $11.45 through folding my blinds. I raised 118 times in the session. Only 43 times did I win preflop winning $8.02 and 12 times I folded to 3 bet losing $3.72. The success rate of 43/118 at first seems concerning. But looking at the 63 times I raised and saw a flop I actually won $35.54 which is much more than the $9.45 I would have won if everybody folded. So on the face of it perhaps I shouldn"t be so worried about my preflop losses.
However looking at my stats I win 1.2BB per hand on average everytime I raise and 2BB when I 3 bet. So it makes sense to try and increase my agression. Clearly there is a saturation point where any extra raises don"t win any more profit, but I don"t think I"ve reached there yet. I am currently winning 3.12BB/100 compared to target of 8BB/100. I appreciate that there will be variance but if we assume for a moment that the result would have been expected from my performance to date, I think I will find some improvement from better post flop play, but also I can achieve better results from increased agression. I think if I should attempt to increase my average PFR to 14% (compared to 10.64% month to date), most of which will come from more 3 betting and stealing. However clearly this needs to be well targeted and not indiscrimate, and the majority I want to be playing with position.
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Had an awesome session today $54.57 profit. Was really agressive (for me) and it seemed to pay dividends. Must expect the regs to play back at me but Ill bask in the glory for now. Had a few lucky breaks but I think I was due a few - Another KK all in against AA but this time hit a King and alos my up and down straight draw got there to stack someone.
Winnings for the month now looking much better - surprising what one good session can do.
Today Month to date
Preflop profit -7.45 -137.98
Overall Profit $54.57 $95.27
Hands 1,008 21,408
BB/100 54.14 5.52
VPIP 17.55 14.02
PFR 15.28 10.86
3 Bet PFR 6.94 3.73
2bet/fold PF 73.08 62.80
4 bet pf 6.00 4.20
Att to steal LP 45.00 35.86
Att to steal SB 43.48 29.59
Obviously some areas to still work on. like the 2 bet/fold %age. However the preflop loss I am not now worried about. Of the hands that I raised we saw a flop 87 times. If they had folded I would have won $13.05 and I would have had pre flop profit of $5.60. However for those hands I actually won $61.18, so I want them to continue making the error of calling my raises and maximising my overall profit.
So my conclusion providing I continue to hit my target of 14% PFR and I continue make more profit than 1.5BB per hand when I raise and get called I won"t be concerned at all with any preflop losses. The only proviso is that I need to get my 2bet/fold %age down to 60% average.
Also been looking at finding the best time to play to maximise my profits. I have started looking to some indicators including volume of players ( the more players the more likely there are fish!? ). Looking at what %age of players are playing only one zoom table (again fish -including me!! - tend to play only 1 table). Also looking at spread of players from different countries and the time zone there. - I guess about 11pm local time you"ll get the most amount of drunks ?! Theres a good graph on PT4 which shows personal profit by time period. Currently I seem to make most profit hours commencing 7PM and 11PM. One thing I"ve noticed also that surproisingly there is only about 10% of players from UK playing on tables.
Anybody got any other tips ?
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Hit one of my monthly targets today - over 24k hands for the month. ;D. Have a couple of bad results over the last few days but managed to pull some of the losses back today - It"s becoming a bad trait to report on the good days but not on the bad days - need to correct that ;)
Today Month to date
Overall Profit $16.30 $56.47
Hands 1,008 25,102
BB/100 16.17 3.17
VPIP 16.37 14.22
PFR 13.76 11.13
3 Bet PFR 4.00 3.73
2bet/fold PF 83.33 64.36
4 bet pf 2.50 3.97
Att to steal LP 38.89 36.22
Att to steal SB 40.91 30.09
Will give summing up of the month after tomorrow"s session.
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Dispappointed in my play today especially in 1 hand when I misinterpreted hud stats for villain. I had JJ got 3 bet by apparent aggro villain, and ended up stacking off on T high board, and he showed QQ . After, I realised that I had only 38 hands on villain and his 33% 3 bet rate was actually 1/3 :-[ Very expensive silly mistake. Todays result and for the full month as follows :
Today Month to date
Overall Profit -$4.69 $51.48
Hands 1,003 26,018
BB/100 -4.68 2.86
VPIP 14.52 14.24
PFR 12.10 11.17
3 Bet PFR 3.30 3.71
2bet/fold PF 56.52 64.02
4 bet pf 4.44 3.99
Att to steal LP 31.33 36.06
Att to steal SB 34.78 30 28
So I achieved my target number of hands (24k) but way short on BB/100. However I am not discouraged. The main thing is that I feel I am learning a lot and improving. I have very much appreciated support and advice from apaters.
Whilst I am spending time reviewing and learning I don"t think its enough. So I intend again to spend less time playing hands this month and more time reviewing hands posting on forum getting feedback, investigating my leaks, think about strategies, watching videos, reading etc. I think in this way I will improve more quickly, and I will increase my hand volume again at a later date. So my target this month will be 18K hands per month. I will stay at 1 table of $10NL with a profit target again of 8 BB/100. Hopefully by end of October I will feel ready to start introducing some 25NL play and/or 2 tables.
Thanks again for support. Bring on October :)
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Hadn"t reported for a while so thought I would today. Always easier after a good session :). Results as below. Month going well at moment. Feel I am improving and I think avoiding dubious spots. More ready to lay down top pair if appears I am beat.
Today Month to date
Overall Profit $30.71 $74.95
Hands 755 5,947
BB/100 40.68 12.60
VPIP 16.42 15.61
PFR 13.48 12.60
3 Bet PFR 2.96 2.08
2bet/fold PF 72.22 75.23
4 bet pf 0.00 1.18
Att to steal LP 34.38 41.10
Att to steal SB 34.78 35.97
I still need to get more agressive in certain spots e.g. I def. need to increase my 3 bets. However I feel currently the most profit has/will be generated by getting value from weak players and folding second best hands.
I am just about on target for hands played and way ahead on BB/100. I have just cashed my $50 stellar reward and close to my $25 reward bonus. So all"s rosy in the JM garden at the moment - but I am sure there are a few surprises round the corner. Poker has the knack of doing that to you ;D
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As I haven"t reported lately thought I"d better update my blog.
On the poker side things are definitely going well. As well as good results I feel I am now making much better decisions and mainly maximising profits on good hands and minimising losses on 2nd best. Whilst I haven"t been logging hands on the strategy forum I have been analysing them and looking for improvements.
I have found a very useful tool called Flopzilla. I dont know how many have seen this but it allows you to set likley ranges of oppos and showing how hard that range has hit the flop, what equity you have and what cards on future streets are likely to be good for villian"s range. It can"t be used during play but is good for analysing hands after awards setting strategies e.g against player types or for continuation betting. Cost about £20 and I think its paid me back already . Defintely recommend it.
Current state of affairs :
Today Month to date
Overall Profit $33.60 $148.66
Hands 777 14,136
BB/100 43.24 10.52
VPIP 15.00 15.54
PFR 11.32 12.54
3 Bet PFR 2.12 2.36
2bet/fold PF 61.54 72.76
4 bet pf 2.94 2.23
Att to steal LP 38.03 40.53
Att to steal SB 47.06 39.22
So well up on hands and BB/100 targets for the month currently. My agression still leaves somthing to be desired but I am not too worried about that at the moment. I think I have now played enough hands to indicate I am profitable at 10NL so I am going to start dabbling in 25NL and see how it goes. Anybody any feel about the increase in abilities between 2 levels?
In any case will give it a try. Wish me luck !!
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The difference, you will face more 3b"s and more flop floats but the standard is not that much different.
The biggest problem is the amount you lose on losing sessions, good bankroll management is essential to nullify this effect.
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Had some session losses since I last reported, though had winning session today. For 10NL finished month with 19,808 hands played, won $135.78, - 6.85BB/100, which is short of target but I am relatively pleased with.
Had a short couple of sessions on 25NL which went badly with loss of $24.35. - but mainly due to my bad play rather than being outplayed I think.
I intend moving up this month but will do in stages bankroll allowing. So I will target - 10NL 9k hands 8BB/100; 25NL 9k hands 3BB/100.