really enjoying reading the diary John found it very helpful to me to see someone playing at these stakes i will be playing at 25nl 6 max when i start playing seriously in September in Nottingham what problems have you found playing these limits?
what site do you play on now? (only up to page 45
)
Has the staking deal minus the coaching helped you? or did this put pressure on you?
(All done on a phone, chilling in a bath... so sort your act out pilonope)
hi, sorry for the ridiculous delay but I've been pretty busy putting a certain lady first in most things recently...
Enjoying life, trying to sort out a bicycle on a cycle2work scheme, attending some social events with the friends non - poker that I haven't completely estranged and working out how to rebuild in a way that will help secure I never go 'pokerbusto' again.
In answer to your questions above Polarization -
● I found the biggest losing plays at this level were ones that involved certain lines taken by the regs or the fish (different for each) that generally indicated strength and either I didn't 'listen'; or I had a 'blocker' or similar and I tried to win a hand that at best will only ever win a small amount even if it is +ev.
THESE ARE NOT THE STAKES TO CARVE OUT MINUTE EDGES
● I also found that there were times when I could be completely unbalanced and so so few people either noticed - or did anything about it if they did.
● I agree with comments from early in this blog from Pleno, TK, Tighty, Alex, Honeybadger, Lil'D and so many more.
THIS STAKE IS ABOUT LEARNING WHEN TO VALUEBET (they don't bluff raise enough - fact) AND WHEN TO FOLD.
● A slightly awkward one is the staking... at the time I thought it was a fantastic thing for me. I thought it would solve my problems and that with Patricks coaching I would be at 100nl in no time. I hope Pat doesn't mind me putting this here, if he does ill happily remove it (would message to ask him but he is notoriously poor at responding to pm's - mine at least).
The deal with Pat was to ensure x amount of coaching from him for x amount of hands from me.
I never once received him keeping his word on the coaching side and almost immediately after we began I realised that I was more of a punt to him than an investment.
I think I only once failed to put in my required hands/month, even when I did travel with my work. I grinded 10nl as instructed despite so many poker people saying they thought it was insane.
And I needed it!!!
I needed to learn a little humility, to better understand the grander sense of the 'game' and I needed to realise that trying to bluff people off a pair is generally a bad idea - the ones who can fold will try and bluff back sometimes as well.
Pat is a great guy to chat to when you can get hold of him... but he is somewhat like a genius level hare, covered in grease and given some very big mushroomz......
He's so busy doing so many things - being a bf, working a 50hr week, playing midstakes, coaching 3 or 4 or 5 different groups of players, posting on goodness knows how many forums....
And fairly and justifiably so - getting John Black through 10nl just wasnt priority number 1. #shock,horror!
When I did get hold of him though, and when we had group sessions (worked better than youd think) he was so knowledgeable, thinking different to so many others, respecting the stakes and adjusting accordingly... I remember seeing so many people say "its 10nl/25nl theyre idiots, just stack off... we're definitely good here enough". But because of his PS.com role he was just more aware and willing to accept that they do think... just not like you.
The gems I picked up, applied correctly (nothing worse than taking a new hammer and trying to pick your nose with it) went well and I became less and less of a losing player. Eventually I became a slight winner....
I think in retrospect one of the key things to any deal is great and honest communication...
I know he didn't ever shrug me off deliberately, just because he fancied going for a walk.. he did however misunderstand how I would factor into the rest of his schedule #sosuehim.
Would I work with him again? YES, but I might be more careful... however I think id be more careful with anyone.
Did the stake make money overall? No.
Did I work my nutts off trying? YES.
Am I a better player because of him? YES.
- final point... did it put pressure on me? Hmmmmm... I dont think so, I think like many poker players I have a little bit of a disconnect between live poker and online poker.
#computergameinnit
#justnumberz
However, I don't think I ever mashed in some money without thinking I could/ would/ should be +ev.
Only one coming to mind is 4bt/calling 4 high figuring that I have to call $4 into 14 or something and if he puts in the big broadways we probably have to go with it. The biggest mistake in the hand isnt the call imo, its the aggression with a poor hand in the first place.
hope this helps......
next - stuff..............
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