Session 2

Played well for the most part, lost a few flips, and got sucked out on. 3 biggest losing pots...........

$2/$4 No Limit Holdem • 5 Players • PokerStars

Generated by weaktight.com.

UTG	$400
CO	$410.44
BTN	$400
grogheadflow (SB)	$996.10
BB	$400

• Pre-Flop ($6, 5 players)Hero is SB
• 

UTG raises to $12, 2 folds, grogheadflow raises to $38, 1 fold, UTG calls $26

• Flop ($80, 2 players)
• 

grogheadflow bets $36, UTG raises to $84, grogheadflow goes all-in $958.10, UTG calls $278

• Turn ($1,400.10, 2 players, 1 all-in)
• 

• River ($1,400.10, 2 players, 1 all-in)
• 

• Final Pot: $1,400.10

• UTG shows
• 

• grogheadflow shows
• 

• UTG wins $801 (net +$401)
• grogheadflow collects $596.10 (net -$400)

I thought about checking here, but I was a little unsure and so betting is obviously the default play. I don't expect much FE at all on the jam but don't need it, he perceives me as spewy bad probably and would expect AK AQ etc to jam.

€2/€4 No Limit Holdem • 5 Players • PokerStars

Generated by weaktight.com.

UTG	€550.55
CO	€425.01
BTN	€400
grogheadflow (SB)	€400
BB	€259.79

• Pre-Flop (€6, 5 players)Hero is SB
• 

2 folds, BTN raises to €10, grogheadflow raises to €38, BB calls €34, BTN folds

• Flop (€86, 2 players)
• 

grogheadflow checks, BB checks

• Turn (€86, 2 players)
• 

grogheadflow checks, BB goes all-in €221.79, grogheadflow calls €221.79

• River (€529.58, 2 players, 1 all-in)
• 

• Final Pot: €529.58

• grogheadflow shows two pair, Queens and Jacks
• 

• BB shows a flush, Queen high
• 

• BB wins €526.58 (net +€266.79)
• BTN lost €10
• grogheadflow lost €259.79

Villain big fish. He snap checked flop which lead me to believe Tx was much less likely, but then I wouldn't have expected to see a flushdraw either. He got there.

€1/€2 No Limit Holdem • 5 Players • PokerStars

Generated by weaktight.com.

UTG	€207.22
grogheadflow (CO)	€207.96
BTN	€200
SB	€184.75
BB	€200

• Pre-Flop (€3, 5 players)Hero is CO
• 

1 fold, grogheadflow raises to €5, 2 folds, BB raises to €20, grogheadflow raises to €42, BB goes all-in €200, grogheadflow calls €158

• Flop (€401, 2 players, 1 all-in)
• 

• Turn (€401, 2 players, 1 all-in)
• 

• River (€401, 2 players, 1 all-in)
• 

• Final Pot: €401

• grogheadflow shows a pair of Tens
• 

• BB shows two pair, Tens and Sixes
• 

• BB wins €398 (net +€198)
• grogheadflow lost €200

This guy doesn't fold to 4bets. As such, I don't 4bet bluff. Range VS range I win, but whatever.

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem • 4 Players • PokerStars

Generated by weaktight.com.

CO	$176.75
BTN	$205
grogheadflow (SB)	$201
BB	$216.08

• Pre-Flop ($3, 4 players)Hero is SB
• 

2 folds, grogheadflow raises to $5, BB raises to $16, grogheadflow calls $11

• Flop ($32, 2 players)
• 

grogheadflow checks, BB bets $18, grogheadflow raises to $46, BB raises to $74, grogheadflow folds

• Final Pot: $152

• BB wins $149.50 (net +$59.50)
• grogheadflow lost $62

This guy 3bets BvB 18%, which is obviously a lot. That said, I'm still not happy 4bet calling it off and so that leaves flatting. His range is wide, my perceived range is strong, that I CR given I have the backdoor NFD and there's a lot of turns I can jam. 

Session 1

So first session in the books (click on it). Here's my 3 biggest losing hands ........

€1/€2 No Limit Holdem • 5 Players • PokerStars

Generated by weaktight.com.

UTG	€246
CO	€215.46
BTN	€201
grogheadflow (SB)	€227.96
BB	€470.67

• Pre-Flop (€3, 5 players)Hero is SB
• 

UTG raises to €6, CO calls €6, BTN calls €6, grogheadflow raises to €30, 1 fold, UTG folds, CO raises to €75, BTN folds, grogheadflow raises to €222, CO goes all-in €140.46

• Flop (€451.46, 2 players, 1 all-in)
• 

• Turn (€451.46, 2 players, 1 all-in)
• 

• River (€451.46, 2 players, 1 all-in)
• 

• Final Pot: €451.46

• CO shows a straight, Ten to Ace
• 

• grogheadflow shows three of a kind, Jacks
• 

• CO wins €441.92 (net +€226.46)
• grogheadflow collects €6.54 (net -€215.46)
• UTG lost €6
• BTN lost €6

Pretty standard, although villain was incredibily nitty. Basically not happy when he squashes like this but I'm priced in. One of those I'm not too thrilled when UTG shoves either, but squeezing ranges are perceived wider than 3betting ranges I think and I'd get it in either way. UTG raises 18% folds 66% overall.

€1/€2 No Limit Holdem • 6 Players • PokerStars

Generated by weaktight.com.

UTG	€106.08
UTG+1	€258
CO	€278.79
BTN	€135.67
SB	€105.60
grogheadflow (BB)	€220.28

• Pre-Flop (€3, 6 players)Hero is BB
• 

UTG calls €2, 3 folds, SB calls €1, grogheadflow raises to €10, UTG calls €8, SB calls €8

• Flop (€30, 3 players)
• 

SB checks, grogheadflow bets €22, UTG folds, SB calls €22

• Turn (€74, 2 players)
• 

SB checks, grogheadflow goes all-in €188.28, SB goes all-in €73.60

• River (€335.88, 2 players, 2 all-in)
• 

• Final Pot: €335.88

• SB shows two pair, Tens and Eights
• 

• grogheadflow shows a pair of Aces
• 

• SB wins €218.20 (net +€112.60)
• grogheadflow collects €114.68 (net -€105.60)
• UTG lost €10

Villain was a fish, standard whatever.

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem • 4 Players • PokerStars

Generated by weaktight.com.

CO	$266.42
BTN	$209.39
grogheadflow (SB)	$200
BB	$100.48

• Pre-Flop ($3, 4 players)Hero is SB
• 

CO raises to $6, BTN calls $6, grogheadflow raises to $24, 1 fold, CO folds, BTN calls $18

• Flop ($56, 2 players)
• 

grogheadflow bets $24, BTN calls $24

• Turn ($104, 2 players)
• 

grogheadflow bets $56, BTN calls $56

• River ($216, 2 players)
• 

grogheadflow checks, BTN checks

• Final Pot: $216

• grogheadflow shows
• 

• BTN shows
• 

• BTN wins $213.50 (net +$109.50)
• grogheadflow lost $104
• CO lost $6

So I squeeze AQo, BTN is a loose reg with a weak range in this spot. My plan on the flop is to cbet like always, then follow up whenever I turn equity. So K,T, diamond, 5. My bet on the turn threatens his whole stack and would fold out 88 amongst most people ....... my mistake though is to bet to small to really ram down his throat 'fold mid pairs fool'! I know my frequencies are controlled and balanced here so I'm certainly not burning money, KQo I would cf turn for example.

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem • 5 Players • PokerStars

Generated by weaktight.com.

UTG	$287.16
CO	$79.18
BTN	$270.98
grogheadflow (SB)	$205.16
BB	$350.21

• Pre-Flop ($3, 5 players)Hero is SB
• 

2 folds, BTN raises to $4, grogheadflow calls $3, 1 fold

• Flop ($10, 2 players)
• 

grogheadflow bets $8, BTN calls $8

• Turn ($26, 2 players)
• 

grogheadflow bets $20, BTN calls $20

• River ($66, 2 players)
• 

grogheadflow bets $50, BTN goes all-in $238.98, grogheadflow folds

• Final Pot: $354.98

• BTN wins $351.98 (net +$81)
• grogheadflow lost $82

Finally, a leading spot. I lead in this spot a ton these days, those board that smash my range and provided I can turn some equity. Although turn looks like it should hit his range, in reality OTB he just has a ton of of 97o, A9, A4 etc that folds turn.  I turn equity and bet again, and on the river my range is so strong that I think I have to go 3 streets. He shoves which is a bit weird, but I can never have AK so I guess he's shoving Kx to make me hate life.

Overall, happy with how I played. Onwards and upwards !

Worst Day Ever!

Hmm. This is not what I needed right now. Basically my worst single day in well over 2.5 years. I am struggling to comprehend how I going to regain my mental composure and ever get it back.

I guess the trick is to forget about it. Hmm, but forgetting might mean it happens again. It seems absurd, my brain is telling me I was smashed in the face by the deck time and time again, but clearly I'm not thinking straight and I must've tilted and played horribad to lose this much to the regs and fish I was playing, all worse players than me.

So I'm stuck $7.9k on the month, but still have a bankroll which wouldn't always have been the case! Not on Stars.com alas, I only had $4k on there anyway as I played so few games, but the deep 600nl games were extremely unkind to me today. I transferred the rest of the roll to someone, as I'll explain in a second. My current roll then after this episode is 8808 Euros, or $11,628. I have a few pending bonuses but best to forget about them.

The only way from here is to improve. My technical game is at the point where any improvements are going to be fairly small, so I must focus on the non technical side. What I lack at the moment is structure, I'm sitting down to play, telling myself to stop at 60 minutes, but then continuing if I'm stuck and then getting even more stuck! And despite it seeming so, I clearly don't have my A game enough.

On a technical sidenote, I've been way too loose PF both in my UTG raises and getting it in preflop. To lower my variance I have to go back to flatting 3bets more, and there's just no excuse for my lazy JQo utg opens.

So anyway, see above. I've transferred my remaining Stars roll to a friend of mine. If I don't meet the terms of my structure prop then he will share it out amongst all you readers of this blog. To be in with a chance, just comment on the blog. This is being done under 'gamblers honour' terms, meaning if I don't complete my structure prop then you can go raise hell on 2p2 and Leggo and stuff about how I owe you money. Basically, I WANT to be forced to give it away if I don't complete my tasks, so you're actually doing me a favour by asking for a slice.

The Structure Prop, Tasks

The prop will run until and including February 29th. On each day until then I must post a blog here. The blog will contain the following:

• A screenshot of my session screen in HM. All my sessions played since the start of the prop will be visible.
• A review of 4 hands, my 3 biggest losing hand, and a fourth hand where I felt I had a problem.
• A review of my current session goals, and possibly marks / 10.

I must post a blog after every session. The fact I have done this will be verifiable from the session screen. Each session must be less than 90 minutes long, as recorded by the 'minutes played' column. My own timer will be set to end the session at 75 minutes, so this gives a 15 minute cushion. If a session is randomly ~ 5 minutes over or something this will not compromise the bet.

Bleh, so that's it. I guess this blog is just therapy so I don't go and do a Gary Speed, giving me some hope and some goals and a direction. There will be no more talk of the month, or of this day. I'm setting the HEM filter to be after this session, and refusing to dwell on it.

Above all, it is now my firm belief that by carrying out all of the above I'll have success. Short term results don't matter, approaching poker in the proper way does. Roll on the rest of the month!

dan

New Month

With 4 days to go in January I was up ~ $22k. I lost $4k on that day, and so snap quit for the month on $18,633. Woohoo.

Hmm, except it doesn't really tell the whole story. I did much better at higher stakes, and ran a full $12k over EV. My EV bb/100 for the month is only 2.93, 55k hands played.

Whatever, I'll take it. I'm a big believer in money coming to money, and my complete lack of bankroll was hindering my confidence and ability to play 400nl+ comfortably. After a withdrawal to cover essential bills and debts (I always pull out a month like this just when I need it) my BR stands almost exactly at $20k.

I did play pretty well for most of it until some leaks started to creep in. Those leaks are kinda intangible though and so fairly easy to fix:

• Playing without fish. I got so cocky that by the end I was just trying to destory every reg, starting 4 new 400nl Euro tables at once. I do think it's important to start the odd table, but one the whole having money across 3 sites (Will Hill imminent, got a good RB deal from Matt) means I can afford to be choosy when I'm happy to play only 3 through 6 tables.
• Lack of intensity. The money stopped mattering. Something Ashton said to Galfond the other day on twitter, something along the lines of 'you must completely convince yourself that the money REALLY matters, that it's SUPER important to win.'. I remember Aaron saying about playing Ashton HU back in the day, he just got the feeling that Ash wanted it so much more than he did, and that he just had this intensity about him. I have that intensity when playing well, I need to keep it up in Feb.

I've had a bit of an epiphany about balance again, but it's important I don't overdo it. The first thought should always be to exploit, but then think about how to do this in a balanced fashion. Example, player X folds a ton to 3bets. We need to exploit this, but we're dealt J3s. Fold it, wait for J8s. We've expanded our bluff 3bet range to exploit, but we should still be letting the cards randomise our actions.

I could harp on about balancing forever, but I feel like it's one of those things I understand better in my head now than I could put into words. It's main effect on my play though is to ensure I'm never making bluffs without actually having enough identically played value hands in there as well. So when I'm about to bluff, it makes for the amazing habit of thinking the hand through and realising 'oh shit, I would've done X with a value hand there, I can't bluff'. I'm also never sizing my bets for value or bluffs VS regs where my sizing wouldn't be identical with the opposite type of hand (when betting, I decide on a value bet size, then I decide a bluff size, then I average the two in almost every spot).

It basically keeps my aggro side in line, whilst allowing me to get completely out of line in spots where I previously never did.

So in summary, gameplan for Feb:

Play VS fish.

Have intensity.

Exploit, be mindful of balance, don't overdo it.

????

Run over EV again.

Profit!

Hope everyone is well. People should talk to me on skype more I get poker lonely.

dan