[Insert funny and witty diary title here]

[AJR14]

Hey AJ, are you gonna be playing any of the UKOPS events on Sky over easter?

This is a brag which is not the slightest bit veiled and given what I got for 5th it's barely worth bragging abuot but I FT'd the UKOPS Micro last night (got a few bounties but didn't cash in the Mini) and the structures are a lot better than normal imo.

There's no like having a nice stack of say 28xBB then the blinds go up and boom you got 14xBB. The blind jumps were smaller than normal which allowed for a lot more play.

Even if you don't play the bigger like £50 and £100 ones, there's a Mini and Micro for like £2/£3 and £5 every night

How do Lambert.

I may be playing the mini later tonight but i try to stay away from touneys at the moment as i struggle with them. I am looking to improve in that format so may try to improve in time for the next UKOPS.

Well played on your FT. You seem to be doing well at the moment in micro tournaments. Is it something you may take more serious in the future? You playing the main tonight?

Just seen one player has won 2 out of 3 UKOPS main events, both within 2 days! That is some achievement. 

[AJR14]

Lol Easily one of the funniest blow ups i have seen in a while.




With the amount of beats i suffered over Friday and Saturday, if my opponents were close by i would have been close to imitating him and using my laptop as the ball. It was easily the most frustrating 2 nights i have had for a few months.

Unlike a lot of previous updates I feel i was playing well but the bad luck just stopped any progress throughout both nights and i ended just under a buy in up for the 2 days. It could have been a lot more but at least it wasn’t a loss, even though it does feel like one.

I have decided to steal an idea from someone else for next month and put in a +/- buy in count throughout so i can keep a track on the amounts. It gets quite confusing the way i have been doing it so will give that a try.

[AJR14]

March Review & what April may bring

Before I started the Diary I had my worst ever downswing. At one point, at the end of last year, I was rolled to be taking on 100nl but decided I wanted a bit extra in the roll to take a shot. Well, through the downswing and withdrawals, that shot at 100nl never materialised which then led to me having to move back down from 50nl.

This downswing had a fairly bad effect on my mindset when it came to poker and is still something I am trying to shake off. I’m sure anyone who has read the earlier updates may have noticed I always have the negative aspects at the forefront of my mind.

Even though I have either played poor or run bad since starting the diary, I need to focus on the fact that my bankroll has increased, even with withdrawals. I ended the month 7 buy-ins up since the start of this thread. I had to move down to 20nl during the early stages of the thread which i was disappointed at but that only lasted one or 2 days. Far better than i was hoping. i hope i don't have to move down again, 20nl has changed a lot since the last time i was grinding that level. Even though the general level of play is still fairly poor by the majority, they are some of the most boring tables i have sat at. They were quite profitable though.


So, onto April, I have decided to set myself a challenge to get back to 50nl by start of June. So the targets are:

•   Increase the roll by £400. I will keep a log of the profit and loss but will round the totals up or down to the nearest quid. These won’t include withdrawals.
•   I will also be working a lot on my in game thinking and tilt. These are 2 leaks I can work on away from the table as well as on them.




I played a small session yesterday to start the month and made a small loss.

Profit/Loss -         -£15.

[AJR14]

1st hand of the month

Opponent is unknown. They have seemed poor from the few hands i have seen. they have limped once or twice.

We are all playing 100bb stacks. Villain is a quid or so light.

i have  in the CO. i open to 90p, Button calls and villain calls out of the BB

Flop                pot is £2.85

Villain checks, i bet £1.60, Button fold, villain calls

Too small?

Turn                pot £6.05

Villain donks £1.80, i raise to £4.80 they call

do we call the donk or go for value v the draws they could be looking for cheap?


River                  pot £15.65

Villain donks £5.10

what do we do, Villain has 14.97 behind. i have them covered

[Katais]

Lol Easily one of the funniest blow ups i have seen in a while.




With the amount of beats i suffered over Friday and Saturday, if my opponents were close by i would have been close to imitating him and using my laptop as the ball. It was easily the most frustrating 2 nights i have had for a few months.

If you're gonna lose the plot like that, you might as well stick one on the guys chin. It's the same punishment in game.

Did something similar in an indoor 5 a side league a few years ago, was brought down when through on goal by the last man. We were 7-3 down or something and the game was over, but it p!ssed me off. He'd been hacking away all game.  

Flipped, but instead of lamping him I got up and threw my trainer at him, which had come off with the impact of the 'tackle'.

Definitely put him in his place.

Will probably never live that down.


--------

re. the hand....

Wud be happy just calling turn and calling most rivers/bet sizes.

Think it's a fold now. But that doesn't mean I would coz it's only a fiver    

[AJR14]

Lol Easily one of the funniest blow ups i have seen in a while.




With the amount of beats i suffered over Friday and Saturday, if my opponents were close by i would have been close to imitating him and using my laptop as the ball. It was easily the most frustrating 2 nights i have had for a few months.

If you're gonna lose the plot like that, you might as well stick one on the guys chin. It's the same punishment in game.

Did something similar in an indoor 5 a side league a few years ago, was brought down when through on goal by the last man. We were 7-3 down or something and the game was over, but it p!ssed me off. He'd been hacking away all game.  

Flipped, but instead of lamping him I got up and threw my trainer at him, which had come off with the impact of the 'tackle'.

Definitely put him in his place.

Will probably never live that down.


--------

re. the hand....

Wud be happy just calling turn and calling most rivers/bet sizes.

Think it's a fold now. But that doesn't mean I would coz it's only a fiver    

Lolol. Please tell me you missed with the trainer? Or even better, you threw it with your ‘wrong’ hand and hit the floor before it even reached him?

Think it’s a 3 game ban for that but then, if i remember right, Barton got a 3 game ban for when he punched Pederson.

To be honest though, Pederson may have deserved that punch for this dive!!


--------------------------------
To the hand.

When he donks the turn he only has a 10 or draw imo, maybe some weird 6 or a bad bluff but doubt them 2. When i raised the turn i was expecting to check back most rivers, get the value on turn unless a none heart above a 10 hit then i may have gone for thin value v a draw that just paired up. We think that is an ok plan or flawed? Trying to work on my in game thinking/plan building.

I called the river, which annoyed me because i was planning on not putting anything more in the pot especially if the 3rd heart dropped. He never bluffing that river is he? Turning a 6 into a bluff etc? Always a 10 or flush?

[AJR14]

Fairly good session yesterday even though my motivation levels are dropping a bit. All pretty standard situations. Starting to get my game back on track. I feel I’m playing pretty well, still little mistakes but far less than previous weeks.

Just had a quick scan through the HH’s and happy with how I played. Lost a few big pots but that was down to bad luck rather than poor play.

Yesterdays results -   +£117
Total Profit/loss  -      +£102
Target -                     £298

Good start to the month. Already ¼ of the way to my target for the month.

[Lambert180]

Hey AJ,

If you'd rather not say then that's fine but I'm just interested to hear what your BRM guidelines are.

I imagine you must have a pretty aggro BR strategy with a good amount of discipline because you seem to have no issue with regularly moving up and down levels. Have you ever considered staying @ say 30NL for a longer period to give yourself more of a chance at 50NL without having to step straight back if things don't start off well?

When you say move from 30NL to 50NL, how many BIs do you allow yourself to drop before you'd drop back?

Any info on your BRM would be good, but as I say, if you don't wanna talk moniez, that's fine.

Also, do you multi-table various levels at once or always try to stick to one level?

[AJR14]

Another Hand. I realise these hands are fairly standard but i want to put more hands in the diary and most are pretty standard at 30nl.


I have  in the bb. UTG min raises who has 50bb. Button and sb call, i call. I have 100bb and the sb has us covered

All players i would describe as very inexperienced.

Flop            pot £2.40

 sb checks, i check, everyone else checks

Should i be donking here or looking for the c/r or even the c/c

Turn            pot £2.40

sB checks, i bet £1.80, UTG calls, sB raises to £4.20. 1 fold, me and UTG both call

Easy call or raise?

River          pot £15.00

sB bets 7.50,

Opponent behind had about £9 left

[Eso Kral]

Fairly good session yesterday even though my motivation levels are dropping a bit. All pretty standard situations. Starting to get my game back on track. I feel I’m playing pretty well, still little mistakes but far less than previous weeks.

Just had a quick scan through the HH’s and happy with how I played. Lost a few big pots but that was down to bad luck rather than poor play.

Yesterdays results -   +£117
Total Profit/loss  -      +£102
Target -                     £298

Good start to the month. Already ¼ of the way to my target for the month.

Hi AJ
Nice diary but wondered why you set a target? and what happens if by April 10th you have hit the target are you then going to stop till May?

Would it not be better to keep making the correct decisions and the ££ will keep coming in.

[AJR14]

Hey AJ,

If you'd rather not say then that's fine but I'm just interested to hear what your BRM guidelines are.

I imagine you must have a pretty aggro BR strategy with a good amount of discipline because you seem to have no issue with regularly moving up and down levels. Have you ever considered staying @ say 30NL for a longer period to give yourself more of a chance at 50NL without having to step straight back if things don't start off well?

When you say move from 30NL to 50NL, how many BIs do you allow yourself to drop before you'd drop back?

Any info on your BRM would be good, but as I say, if you don't wanna talk moniez, that's fine.

Also, do you multi-table various levels at once or always try to stick to one level?

How do 180! Is that a darts reference btw?

Yeah I don’t mind discussing it. My standard is 20 buy ins and I stick to that as much as I can. There are sometimes when I want more buy ins to take on a level but normally as soon as I hit the 20 buy in mark I’m firing up tables at the next limit. However, at the moment, the target I have set myself above is a lot more buy ins than I normally would want but I have struggled the last couple of times moving up so I want more this time.

When it comes to moving down it differs from each level. Once i have dropped below the 20 buy in mark I have no set strategy, it depends on other factors at the time I’m playing, for example the standard of tables, am I making correct decisions etc. I may be more inclined to stay at a certain level even if it drops quite a bit below my normal threshold if the tables are poor in standard and I’m making good decisions. But if the tables are tougher and I’m making little mistakes I may drop down a level as soon as my BR indicates I have to. 

Moving up and down the levels when needed is just good poker strategy imo. Getting hung up on having to move levels is just letting your ego dictate your decisions which will ultimately damage other aspects of your game imo. It can hurt at times but once you realise you’re making a sound strategical decision by moving to the lower level you realise you have created another little edge over a lot of the other opponents at the table.

As for playing different levels at once I do it fairly regularly. At 30nl I add some 40nl tables in. If I’m playing 50nl I don’t mind opening up lower tables if I see the usual maniac players splashing around, but that’s pretty rare as I do like to stay at the same level for most of the tables.

If I’ve missed something out or you have more questions just fire away!

[Lambert180]

RE: the hand....

I probably donk the flop, but as played, I flat the turn and ship the river. Think he'll show up with sets alot

[AJR14]

Fairly good session yesterday even though my motivation levels are dropping a bit. All pretty standard situations. Starting to get my game back on track. I feel I’m playing pretty well, still little mistakes but far less than previous weeks.

Just had a quick scan through the HH’s and happy with how I played. Lost a few big pots but that was down to bad luck rather than poor play.

Yesterdays results -   +£117
Total Profit/loss  -      +£102
Target -                     £298

Good start to the month. Already ¼ of the way to my target for the month.

Hi AJ
Nice diary but wondered why you set a target? and what happens if by April 10th you have hit the target are you then going to stop till May?

Would it not be better to keep making the correct decisions and the ££ will keep coming in.

Hey Eso

Tyty.

The target I’ve set is the amount I want before I move up levels so when I hit the target I will move up to 50nl straight away.

I decided the other day that I wanted about 400 more before I step up so decided to put it in here rather than just writing my normal ‘I lost one buy in etc’ as that can get pretty boring to read. I agree setting targets can have a negative affect so if that happens i will just stop it and go back to normal

[AJR14]

Just been reminded of this sketch and thought i would stick it on here. if you haven't seen it yet you can thank me later

Ive been to see Rhod Gilbert live tour of 'the cat that looked like Nicholas  Lyndhurst' and it was really good, his stand up is quality at times. However i don't think he is that good on panel shows etc. The complete opposite to someone like Milton Jones who i find really funny on panel shows but really disappointing with his stand up.

Ive only ever seen 2 comedians live, im not the biggest fan of stand up. the other was Lee Evans on his XL tour which again was quality. Lee Evans is probably the only comedian i find funny on all his tours.

Rhod also did a work experience programme which is quite funny,  i would definitely recommend searching it up over the internet.

[Lambert180]

Great video, I remember seeing that years ago before I knew who he was/he got famous. I know you just said you don't like stand up but if you haven't already done so you should give Michael McIntyre a chance.

RE: Bankroll stuff...

Guess you must think I'm a massive BR nit then? lol. I'm playing 30NL atm, with some 20NL when I have trouble getting games going but won't be taking any 50NL shots til I get to around £1500 ish, and even then probably just the odd shot depending on how good the games look. Looking to be on 2-2.5k before I start having a serious go at grinding 50NL.