Cosimo
07-02-2004, 10:08 PM
Going Amateur Journal #2
Previous Post (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=micro&Number=782895&Forum= All_Forums&Words=&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Main=78133 5&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=3878&daterange=1& newerval=1&newertype=w&olderval=&oldertype=&bodypr ev=#Post782895)
I finished out the month, playing every day since the 7th. Just over fourteen thousand hands. Up 152.1 BB, for a win rate of 1.07 BB / 100 h. In real dollars, I'm up about $300, although that number includes bonus money. All of my play was at UB, and the vast majority was at ten-handed 25c-50c tables. No no-limit, tournies, or short-handed tables. Usually 3-tabling. I could be playing at Empire, what with the fish and all. My goal right now is to get better, though. Winning an extra $100 a month won't make a big dent in my budget--I've got a decent day-job. Also, UB offers frequent redeposit bonuses. So, for the short term, I plan to stick to UB.
The biggest change I've noticed over the month is that I recover emotionally from bad beats much more quickly, and I have an easier time getting back to the tables after a losing session. I frequently see posts about "I am on a bad run, how do I motivate myself to get back to the tables?" I don't really know how I motivated myself this month; I just did it. I didn't think about the bad run; I thought about the only way I was going to learn to play better was by playing. I wrote off any losses as inexperience, and resolved to sit back down. What's the trick? There is no trick. I just sit back down.
My worst day was -57 BB at the 50c-$1 tables, which hurt mostly because I was about to withdraw that money and not having that extra $100 was a blow. That night really sucked. I went out with some friends right after leaving that table and got drunk. They told me what I already knew: swings will happen. After that night, I had less than $25 in the account.
That served as my motivator. I only had $24, but there was over a hundred bucks in bonus money waiting to be paid back. I knew that if I played hard, I could win my way back up. I also knew that the only way to win that bonus money was by playing. I had to play.
Three hours every night put bad beats into perspective. I've had a chance to come back from a bad start, as well as to bleed money away after a good start. A -30 BB session is no longer a big deal. Part of this was helped by stepping back down to the 25c tables; the money is so insignifigant that it's hard to feel bad about losing $15. A second big factor is that I've played so much that I gained confidence in my own play. It's no longer gambling; even though 1BB/100 isn't a strong win rate, it's still positive. I've played about 100,000 hands in the past year and I'm ahead for that 100,000.
Let me emphasize that: bad beats don't hurt because I know they're just swings. I know it's just swings because I have confidence in my play. I have confidence in my play because I've played so much. I can look at a table of my daily results and see the fluctuations; see that the down swings are matched by a bigger upswing. I guess I'm also lucky to have not run into any mind-bending 300BB downswings, too, but I know that I'm better prepared for that, too.
Yet I still suck. /images/graemlins/smile.gif When I play, I'm also reading these forums. I've learned a lot in the past month. Playing and reading then playing again is far more constructive than just reading. To that end, here's a hand. As a warning, I think I played this poorly; that's why it's here.
Hand 1
Ultimate Bet 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (10 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)
Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with K/images/graemlins/heart.gif, A/images/graemlins/heart.gif.
UTG calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, MP3 calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="CC3333">Button 3-bets</font>, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, BB calls, UTG folds, Hero calls, MP3 calls.
Flop: (13.40 SB) 9/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, K/images/graemlins/spade.gif, K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">BB bets</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, MP3 calls, Button folds, <font color="CC3333">BB 3-bets</font>, Hero calls, MP3 calls.
Turn: (11.20 BB) 8/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">BB bets</font>, Hero calls, MP3 folds.
River: (13.20 BB) 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">BB bets</font>, Hero calls.
Final Pot: 15.20 BB
Results in white below: <font color="white">
BB shows 9s 6s (two pair, kings and nines).
Hero shows Kh Ah (full house, kings full of eights).
Outcome: Hero wins 15.20 BB. </font>
I won't try to justify the turn call. I was playing scared; I thought for sure, he had K9. I knew I was just dead and calling just to see what he had. In this case, I think my leak is not paying enough attention to the game. If I was watching the tables instead of surfing the forums, I could take notes, and I might realize that this guy was a loon. That, and not being scared of the case king.
Sadly, I don't have many good hands recorded for the past week. I tried saving the high-suited-card hands, but usually they folded when I hit, or I folded when an A flopped and there was a raise in front of me. Of the hands that I played poorly (and saved), it's easy to see where I went wrong.
This month (July), UB is offering a huge potential bonus for playing Sit-n-Gos. So that's my plan this month: two tables of SNG and one ring table. 180 table-hours of SNG practice should do wonders for my game.
Next update in a week.
Previous Post (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=micro&Number=782895&Forum= All_Forums&Words=&Searchpage=0&Limit=25&Main=78133 5&Search=true&where=bodysub&Name=3878&daterange=1& newerval=1&newertype=w&olderval=&oldertype=&bodypr ev=#Post782895)
I finished out the month, playing every day since the 7th. Just over fourteen thousand hands. Up 152.1 BB, for a win rate of 1.07 BB / 100 h. In real dollars, I'm up about $300, although that number includes bonus money. All of my play was at UB, and the vast majority was at ten-handed 25c-50c tables. No no-limit, tournies, or short-handed tables. Usually 3-tabling. I could be playing at Empire, what with the fish and all. My goal right now is to get better, though. Winning an extra $100 a month won't make a big dent in my budget--I've got a decent day-job. Also, UB offers frequent redeposit bonuses. So, for the short term, I plan to stick to UB.
The biggest change I've noticed over the month is that I recover emotionally from bad beats much more quickly, and I have an easier time getting back to the tables after a losing session. I frequently see posts about "I am on a bad run, how do I motivate myself to get back to the tables?" I don't really know how I motivated myself this month; I just did it. I didn't think about the bad run; I thought about the only way I was going to learn to play better was by playing. I wrote off any losses as inexperience, and resolved to sit back down. What's the trick? There is no trick. I just sit back down.
My worst day was -57 BB at the 50c-$1 tables, which hurt mostly because I was about to withdraw that money and not having that extra $100 was a blow. That night really sucked. I went out with some friends right after leaving that table and got drunk. They told me what I already knew: swings will happen. After that night, I had less than $25 in the account.
That served as my motivator. I only had $24, but there was over a hundred bucks in bonus money waiting to be paid back. I knew that if I played hard, I could win my way back up. I also knew that the only way to win that bonus money was by playing. I had to play.
Three hours every night put bad beats into perspective. I've had a chance to come back from a bad start, as well as to bleed money away after a good start. A -30 BB session is no longer a big deal. Part of this was helped by stepping back down to the 25c tables; the money is so insignifigant that it's hard to feel bad about losing $15. A second big factor is that I've played so much that I gained confidence in my own play. It's no longer gambling; even though 1BB/100 isn't a strong win rate, it's still positive. I've played about 100,000 hands in the past year and I'm ahead for that 100,000.
Let me emphasize that: bad beats don't hurt because I know they're just swings. I know it's just swings because I have confidence in my play. I have confidence in my play because I've played so much. I can look at a table of my daily results and see the fluctuations; see that the down swings are matched by a bigger upswing. I guess I'm also lucky to have not run into any mind-bending 300BB downswings, too, but I know that I'm better prepared for that, too.
Yet I still suck. /images/graemlins/smile.gif When I play, I'm also reading these forums. I've learned a lot in the past month. Playing and reading then playing again is far more constructive than just reading. To that end, here's a hand. As a warning, I think I played this poorly; that's why it's here.
Hand 1
Ultimate Bet 0.25/0.50 Hold'em (10 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)
Preflop: Hero is UTG+2 with K/images/graemlins/heart.gif, A/images/graemlins/heart.gif.
UTG calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, <font color="666666">2 folds</font>, MP3 calls, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, <font color="CC3333">Button 3-bets</font>, <font color="666666">1 fold</font>, BB calls, UTG folds, Hero calls, MP3 calls.
Flop: (13.40 SB) 9/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, K/images/graemlins/spade.gif, K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(4 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">BB bets</font>, <font color="CC3333">Hero raises</font>, MP3 calls, Button folds, <font color="CC3333">BB 3-bets</font>, Hero calls, MP3 calls.
Turn: (11.20 BB) 8/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="blue">(3 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">BB bets</font>, Hero calls, MP3 folds.
River: (13.20 BB) 8/images/graemlins/diamond.gif <font color="blue">(2 players)</font>
<font color="CC3333">BB bets</font>, Hero calls.
Final Pot: 15.20 BB
Results in white below: <font color="white">
BB shows 9s 6s (two pair, kings and nines).
Hero shows Kh Ah (full house, kings full of eights).
Outcome: Hero wins 15.20 BB. </font>
I won't try to justify the turn call. I was playing scared; I thought for sure, he had K9. I knew I was just dead and calling just to see what he had. In this case, I think my leak is not paying enough attention to the game. If I was watching the tables instead of surfing the forums, I could take notes, and I might realize that this guy was a loon. That, and not being scared of the case king.
Sadly, I don't have many good hands recorded for the past week. I tried saving the high-suited-card hands, but usually they folded when I hit, or I folded when an A flopped and there was a raise in front of me. Of the hands that I played poorly (and saved), it's easy to see where I went wrong.
This month (July), UB is offering a huge potential bonus for playing Sit-n-Gos. So that's my plan this month: two tables of SNG and one ring table. 180 table-hours of SNG practice should do wonders for my game.
Next update in a week.