Diary of a MTT Grinder Wannabe

[Ant040689]

back to the world of poker. Gonna basically approach it like i have never before like a pro should and go from there. Studying, making notes, trying to win some money. Not gonna babble on, hopefully summin interesting will be happening on here soon, ie some mfckin binkages please. Also watch out, i am going to be seeping into as many threads as possible and stop being such an online hermit! Oh the irony.

[strak33]

Just approach it how you do everytime you win like $6k a night surely?

[Ant040689]

Just approach it how you do everytime you win like $6k a night surely?

I am the worst for the 'sing when you are winning' category, gonna be more transparent lol

[Ant040689]

Had a decent night of poker yesterday.

Not up by too much of any amount but had a lot of final tables and some close shaves. Realised to mix 100f turbos in with 55f medium paced tourns isn't the way to go, because yesterday I came second in the latter and it took me the best part of six hours. For the former I played about 6 of them busted them all and that ate into the profits very quickly of the 55f score. I was cashing well in the medium paced tourns and getting hurt quickly in the turbos. They play so differently which is why I am probably going to drop the turbos where I can as I am developing a liking to the slower game. Saying that some turbos stay, but i am just shifting the emphasis.

Starting to see the wonders of the metagame and yesterday I sort of was going into the unknown with a lot of 'unsafe' plays, 3 betting in position, check raise bluffing and 2/3 barrelling bluffing and more often than not accumulating non showdown chips. Plus it was fun!   

I don't think I will ever be one to sit down and watch learning videos of how others play, I am just now going to play at limits which are comfortable and go a little bit crazy trying some new stuff out then go with what normally sticks. The emphasis on being aggro and pushing the action.

Tough to play like that on any more than 14 tabs tiled and I was struggling to keep up tbh, but think its a matter of me keeping that many tables and getting used to it.

One thing that has always been a recurring theme in this blog is my undecided nature about whether to get a HUD or not and starting to think its a good bet to get one. There are some players you need to avoid getting hasty with in the lower limits because they play too tight and if a hud lets on about that it must mean it helps me make better decisions more often. However, meh. Gonna bring it in only if I am losing and fancy a change up.

All is rosy for the mo will post hh of any plays gone wrong where I can.

[Ant040689]

Just approach it how you do everytime you win like $6k a night surely?

O go on then.

Besides from needing a new computer glasses prescription, because as i go from table to table with these on they are good but just lacking that bit of crispness, i won a $22f 5k gtd standard tourn (15mins blinds ffs, took ages) for $1600 and a $109f turbo on stars for $5494, which has my prof for the night probs in the region of $6k.

Contented. Want every night to be like this.

[Ant040689]

Break even day today, loaded up about 18 tourns from 13.00 till now, and its coming to an end with my last three.

Hoping to catch the second half of the Blackpool, west ham game, wanting to see Holloway get his team through because he's a ledge. Later on i want Chelsea to win because i think it would be a shame on Di Matteo if they don't. He deserves the job full time and i think only a win tonight could secure that. If Abramovich still wants sumone else then he is a muppet.

[Ant040689]

Fading all the standard tempo tourns today in favour of turbos and super turbos, mainly on pokerstars.

Playing the 200's and the 100 cubed as well as i have already dealt two handed a 82 hyper earlier. Lessgoooo.

[Steve Swift]

Back on it i see   Gl

[Ant040689]

Back on it i see   Gl

you too, you're in the micro millions tourns?

Will be playing the 20.30 2r, sooooo many runners.

[Ant040689]

no luck in the later tourns.

[GreekStein]

you've disappeared mate.

Not into football anymore?

[Ricardov83]

Whats the script with this pal?

Any particular reason why you stopped posting?  Its just, I used to follow pretty much everything that you wrote, enjoyed it a ton and wished you immensely well and then it just stopped and restarted all of a sudden.

Hope you are well and good luck on the grind.

[Ant040689]

@Cos in terrible shape at the moment and need to get cracking on at the gym before i play football again as i will injure myself, that is under way now.

@Ricardo I took a break from playing and felt a lot of what i was writing was pretty pointless so was unmotivated to continue with it, but thanks for the kind words. Will get my mojo back for playing when i stop putting off the necessary things to fine tune my game because even though i am a decent winning player and think i have found the games, in the turbos, that i can make solid money in i can still see some glaring leaks as i am doing them which is really annoying. I don't sit down and really study the game as i am so insistent on playing instead. That has its advantages, however i think i should be doing some homework.

This homework includes in no particular order:

Knowing the maths 100% of any given poker situation - Would give me much more confidence in decision making. Obviously i am good now, but not an expert. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker_probability_(Texas_hold_'em)  Knowing these stats, as well as sharpening up on shoving ranges with sngwhiz and other programs will get me on point.

Hand history revision and comparing with successful players of different styles - Ignorance in sticking to your own winning style will mean you can't find the ultimate metagame. Need to seriously delve into the mechanics of a nlhe hand and look at the probabilities of what certain lines normally mean from a certain type of player in a certain type of format. My approach thus far has been to generalise every situation irrespective of the opponent and more so on just the tournament and stack sizes to blinds. I do well here, as i often can adapt to game flow, but i need to improve.

Expanding my knowledge of different formats of the game, different types of sngs, cash games and different types of poker like omaha. In the hope that through dogged research i may find a better hourly than playing the mtt's as I do. But obviously need to be careful here not to delve in too fast to games where i will be beaten up plus i need to be careful i don't waste time chasing lost causes. However, I do feel i need to expand my horizons. - 5 years i have been playing now and in all that time i have had my head buried in the sand instead opting for the game that gave me most enjoyment. Its a tall and unrealistic order to think i can be an expert at everything, but would be nice to ease into the games.

Need an effective noting system while i play - Only goes as far as noting the colour of green for a player who is a fish and red for an out and out shark. Find it difficult to put descriptive notes in while playing too many tables and need to think of a way around this - Possible noting in shorthand with a pen and paper and going back to make notes after the session? Will trial and error here.

Need to search across all available poker sites for any games that i may be missing that are juicy, so bumhunting basically.

Get the HUD in, fully operational and make sure that the stats up are relevant to the games i am playing. Maybe different stats showing for cash or turbos, or the normal mtt's etc. Need to ease into playing with one and trial here to even see if i need to do it. The set up of one of these things has always been tilting but thats a nonsense excuse really, just going to spend time here again making sure i get this working.

Go across sites on the same network and look for any promotions others may not have picked up upon. These can be small holiday packages to small buy in tournaments, but often you can find gems on the lowly networks who hold their own promos and have once taken advantage of a network on the ONGAME network for a trip to Malta which was fantastic. NOTE: With the recent collapse of poker sites, i need to be very careful about this. I have been stung hard by the closure of Purple Lounge recently and that was most definitely my fault with all the warning signs they were showing up until their closure. So need to be careful here.

Need to study the availability of games and when i can play them - So i can and will try to create a log for the availability of the softest games available for each of the 24 hours in a day. This is in any format as well, cash, sng, tournies and i need enough experience in all of them to realise what will be best worth my time. Also includes listing the tournaments i regularly play and could at different times and recording, if i can, how well i am doing in each game. So that i can then think to myself if i am doing well in a particular structure with a particular starting stack size and speed of blind increases, i can then look to do similar in other tournaments and apply the same strategy there. But even with this i would have to account for different styles of play across different networks.

Will watching pro videos help out?

Using satellite tournies in themselves as a source of income?

Ultimately a big revamp and am going to really hone in on how to maximise profits in a game that is getting increasingly tougher to beat.

So, I am starting to approach the game like i always should have been, instead of on a whim. Gl me. Will be careful not to go too gung ho, burnout and not bother doing any of the things listed above, and more if i think of any others. So it will be a process of ebbing away at it while i play the games i already know i churn a nice profit in.


 

[dreenie]

Yo, just read this ^^ and here are my opinions fwiw.

Maths is an important part to the game, I never really bothered with it but since having hold em manager think it's always good to know, and it will do you no harm. HEM is great to have on specially when u get down to 3 tables out, and stacks are awkward, it can help u to determine what players to re shove light on etc... I have the task manager on 1 screen, I UN-tick each individual box for the tourneys, which removes all the numbers everywhere on the screen, then when I need to use it I tick on which tournament I need, all the while it is storing your hands.

Having HEM will be beneficial to you, as you can load a said tournament into the hand re player and go through it like that, which is easier to see. Talking to lots of good players about hands that have been played will really help you too, it can never hurt getting different peoples opinions on the way they would play a hand and can only ever help u to improve as a player.

Imho I would suggest putting in lots of volume in the games you are playing at the moment, and work out how to beat those ones you play for a long period of time, before trying to learn other games, if your serious about being professional, u can pick up on other games later. Someone once told me that there is no shame in being good at one specific game, I would rather be good at one type of game, than be a losing player in everything I play.

Colour coding is useful, I find just jotting down how certain hands play out is also good, what lines they take in hands is helpful and can help u make better decisions about that player in the future. Defiantly worth putting notes in, easiest way is to put it into the hold em manager box for each player, that way if u play on another skin of that network then u will still be able to see the note. Also shark-scoping your opponents if your deep is also helpful, if a player is a 'fishbowl' on shark-scope, it will be useful to you, as you will have a better idea of what they are capable of, also it shows you what there avg buy ins are, so you can see if they capable at the level you are playing. You can get this as a subscription, which is well worth the $$ imo.

With regards to HEM, you can go on the hold em manager forum, there is a lot of good information about it there. I'm sure someone on this forum would be able to help you set it up over team-viewer.

A couple of months back I started watching some videos by 'Jason Somerville'. He talks a lot about post flop play and how to use it to your advantage etc. I found it really interesting and it has defiantly helped me improved my own post flop play. I used to just want to get it all in pre flop, now I see so many advantages to not doing so, and I tend to go much deeper in my games as a result of this.

I would say that using a set amount for satellites is a good idea, but I would not get carried away with it, as before long you will be over-spending and there really is no need, playing satellites are all about getting in for cheap, so look for the value.
I would suggest writing all your tourney's down in a spreadsheet, and also how much it cost (total for re-buys etc) and how much u cashed for (if any), try to play the same ones for a month or so, see how it goes and then u should be able to determine which are most profitable for you. You can always adjust it, add in take out ones you feel like playing. It should only take you a hour or so to do.

I think overall the key to being a professional poker player is Discipline, without it, doesn't matter how good you are at the tables, you will never be able to keep playing the levels you want, as consistently as you would like. Even if you have to start smaller for now, is it not better to have the chance to climb the mountain, than never get the chance to climb at all?, However long it takes, it's about getting to the top of that mountain and trying to stay there as long as possible.

I could carry on and on, but will stop now in fear of boring you looool, just wanted to give my advice, I myself have been given chance after chance, and there really is no point in saying anything anymore, I just have to put it all into action.

Hope it works out for you.

GL

Dreenie

[Steve Swift]

Great post Dreenie, Blonde at its best, free advice which we can all learn from.

 'Jason Somerville' videos, which site was this from ?

Steve