Back to blogging

Hi guys,

There are not many excuses why I have disappear and haven’t updated my blog. I caught up with other things (poker and non-poker related) and writing a blog post on a regular basis wasn’t really on the top of my list.

What I have been doing the past two months? I was really focusing on my game. I was studying, playing a looooot and start talking poker and strategy with my friends.

Back in October, I felt that I wasn’t playing great, I was lazy to study and pretending not to see my mistakes. So I start grinding, I made 50k and 60k months respectively which I think is a huge number considering I still got a job :/

At some point I was chasing VPPs, FPPs and bankroll peaks. I made my targets, I can’t complaint about that. However, December found me tired and all I wanted was to go on holidays.

So here I am, taking a break and being in Greece for the Xmas holidays. I am taking my own pace, and I don’t want to stress over points and targets. I have plenty of time to do that in January J

At the beginning of the month, I realised that I have a virus on my computer and this resulted to lose a lot of files, including database and player notes on stars. I tried to play without stats but it felt ugly and awful. So I emailed stars and they send me a very large part of my lost database. I have no words to say how grateful I am with stars support and for helping me out with that.

I am still missing some hands, and graphs are not as pretty as they used to be, but to me the most important thing is to have stats on my opponents and I don’t mind not knowing what my win rate was 6 months ago.

As I am not playing as much, I am focusing on my game more, try to study and review hands and also I updated my HUD (looks so beautiful now). I decided to use PT along with HEM and take advantage of what each programme does best. PT would be used for live play from now on (did I mention my new HUD?) and HEM for review. Sorry PT but I am so used to do review on HEM J

Among all the above work, I am also in some study groups on Skype. I am very happy that I have met people who we share the same passion about poker and we can talk about hands all the time.  It’s not only about poker, I am happy that we have built some strong relationship and we help each other in any way we can. I won’t get into details but I really appreciate some things these guys have done for me when I needed them. Poker can be a lonely hobby/ activity/ job so, knowing that there are people who will support you and help you it is a very nice feeling.

This is becoming a very long post, so I better wrap it up before I bore you. I will be updating you more often from now on. Enjoy the Christmas holidays and let’s all get motivated to reach our targets. J

Good luck at the tables. 

Trip to Austria and UK laws

Hello everyone,

I feel bad for not making a post for a while. I have been busy travelling signing petitions for online poker.

Two weeks ago I spend a long weekend in Salzburg, Austria. I absolutely loved that city!!! The weather was beautiful to begin with. There are a few things to see in terms of sightseeing but it is not a very touristy city. I like visiting interesting and historical places but for a weekend adventure I don’t want to spend 3 days walking all over the city and rush “to visit everything”. Salzburg has the perfect balance on that. I did a little a bit of shopping too and tried a few German/Austrian beers. I need to start looking for pubs in the UK that serve these beers now. :D

Back to poker now…the only thing that I have been focused on was the new legislation regarding the players from UK. At first, Pokestars said that from 1^st of Oct we would have to play in the .co.uk client however, we will be able to play with all the players’ pool from the .com network. So far, doesn't seem to be any problem. Along with that Gambling Commision said that in order to “protect” the players the auto-rebuy and auto-reload will be removed. So, if we want to reload in a cash game, we would have to do this manually. There was a lot of dispute over this auto-reload feature and due to that they announced that they will make their final decision in a month’s time (1^st of Nov). I read on 2+2 that GC has agreed not to force the poker sites to remove the auto-reload feature. However, there’s not an official announcement yet, but things seems to go the “right” way.  We will find out pretty soon.

I have picked up some funny hands from my recent sessions:

It was nice to have him shoving the river when I have the nutzz :D

He made a mistake betting 2/3 off my stack and he ccouldn't fold given the pot odds. But I don't think I EVER have worse than A2 there…

I was really bragging about this hand managing to get max value. :D 

Best of luck at the tables. Promise my next post to be sooner! 

Coaching

Hi Guys,

I have been asked so many times about my coaching that I have now decided to make a post about it to sum up all the details for you guys. :)

I have started writing so many different things about coaching and I really don't know where to start. So here's how I got started:
I was listening to a podcast from Mike McDonald where he mentioned at some point that he had a coach that helped him improve his game and resulted in winning an online tournament, and I started thinking that if Mike McDonald had a coach I should for sure have one as well. I mean I am not anywhere close or as good as Mike is and this guy is trying to improve his game and learn things while I am staying idle.

I have been following Felix Schneiders for quite a while and I always liked his style and approach to the game. His #grindingitiup series on YouTube had given me a few good tips about the game already. When he mention in a video that he doesn’t like tournaments but loves cash games I thought that this is the right guy.
So I got in touch with him and we started working on my game. That's why I have decided to start my blog as well, to keep track of my progress.

Felix is a great coach and he has really helped me a lot to improve my game and create a better approach to it. Having a coach is more of a milestone in your poker progress (I don't want to say career) because it is the moment you decide to take things differently and put some real effort in your game. We all have heard winning and very successful players saying that they were losing and then they made “their last” deposit and they never looked back. This didn't happen because they went on an insane winning strike but it happened because they decided to study, put some hard work and effort in the game.

This is what a coach is going to offer you. The ability to think different, to be able to see the “right” spots and play better than you used to. Close friends kept asking me how my sessions go and if I have start crushing the game. However, this is a very wrong approach. What I have learnt so far is that Felix (and every coach) don’t have a secret recipe that will make you become a successful player overnight. It requires a lot of work and mostly a looooot of studying.

That’s what I have been doing the past months. I am playing as much as I can and I am trying not to focus on the results. I even avoid to check my balance. I have HEM to tell me if I am winning or losing. But most importantly I am trying to learn and in order to do that you have to make mistakes.

With Felix, we do a lot of review and progressively talk about different topics to improve my game. Then I am trying to put into practice what I have learnt and only focus on these topics instead of all the things that I might be doing right or wrong.

At first, it seemed really difficult and a lot of times I was feeling as a complete novice to the game. However, after a lot of hours of theory and discussion I can say that I am more confident now and more importantly I feel that I am applying what we have talked about, into my game.

Don’t get me wrong, of course I don’t believe that I know everything, there’s still a long way to go but I feel the improvement. Now, whenever someone talks about a hand that he played, all I am thinking is a matrix with his range and the hands he could be playing on that spot.

If you are interested to have a coach, I would suggest you to find a person that plays the same game as you do. Of course I would recommend you Felix if you are playing 6max cash games. He is very positive and supportive and he always there to give me some feedback on my questions, something that I really appreciate. If you want more info you can visit his site http://www.grindingitup.com/

Hope I didn't bore you with my long post. Best of luck at the tables :) 

One step at a time

Hello Guys,

After my last post where I said that I totally burned out, I think it's time to do some evaluation on that.
What happened the past months was that I was adding things to my schedule without realising that you can't do everything at once. I ended up being stressed, chasing vpps and thinking poker in times that i should be relaxing instead.

So what I did the past two weeks was to take a break. Or anyway, I feel that I took a two weeks break. I slowed down in playing online, I had a couple live poker sessions (which are way more relaxing and good confidence boost) and I didn't have any poker coaching (because coaching means volume and homework).

Beginning of the week, and of September I start grinding online again. I am not playing crazy long sessions but I play zoom and it is easier to play more hands. So far I am meeting my volume/ vpps targets and I am happy with it. I feel much better and in a clear state of mind too.
I went for shopping too, and that helped a lot.

A little a bit of bragging now.. The very first hand we reviewed on my coaching session, was a hand where I folded AAs because I got scared of a flush. I happened to have correct odds to call there and recently I found myself on a similar spot where I called and won the hand. I felt quite proud in terms of putting into practise what I have learned.

Today, I played an online "homegame" with my colleagues and I won the tournament!!It was more of a sng to be honest, but I prefer to call it a tournament, it feels like a bigger achievement.  I am looking forward to go to work tomorrow and brag about it all day :)
My Sunday grind went well too. I had a solid session but I only played for two hours as I put a lot of my focus in winning that office tournament. ;) And also I had to write this blog post.

To sum up on my evaluation (and a note to self) is to take one thing at a time. It is good to have multiple things to keep us busy but not to overdo it. Small steps at a time.

I keep saying that I want to make a post regarding coaching but what I have written so far will make it a very long post. I will try to tidy it up and post it soon.
That's all for now, I wanted to share with you that things got better in all the aspects.

Best of luck at the tables.

Burnt out and come back.

Hello everyone,

It’s been a rough week. I didn't have enough time to grind online (only had short sessions) as I was working on a project from work. On Thursday evening I managed to finish the project I was working on and also had very positive feedback (which is great). I came home and I was only thinking to start grinding to make up the volume I missed.

I turned on the computer and after a 5mins stare at the screen I realised how tired I was. I thought I would be fresh the next day but I wasn’t. I was also planning to go play a live tournament and cash during the weekend but I couldn’t leave home. I was exhausted.

On my previous post I was moaning a little that I can’t find enough decent games at the regular tables.

Adding the lack of volume, me being tired and not playing my A game I had a losing weekend. I was a mess, playing random tables, not thinking about poker but just clicking buttons. I had some moments of “clearance” and made some correct plays but overall I am not happy of my game during these days. On top of that HEM said that they fixed the hud problem with zoom poker but this didn’t applied on my computer. Lol

I spoke with the coach and he told me not to worry about the regular tables and that we will start working on zoom from now on, which is more fun. So I decided to drop down and play 10nl zoom as hud still doesn't work. This would only be until my next coaching session.  I am going to have to prepare and adjust my ranges for our next session too. I also emailed Hem support with my problem but their reply wasn't so helpful simply because they only told me to open hem first and then stars.

10NL zoom has been great so far, played without hud but it’s 10nl, it’s not that hard. I can easily add more volume, I save a lot of time not having to table select and also I feel people are more “creative” there ;)

So today, I opened stars to complete the summer mission. Have you seen the summer missions? I really love them. I have already cashed in one of the all in shootouts. I was reading a blog post and 1 tabling at 10nl zoom in order to win 3 hands at showdown. I wasn’t really paying attention until I checked if I had completed the mission and I saw the hud stats at the zoom table!!

This instantly made my day. I was really really happy about that. How great is that? I can grind again!! I feel so motivated! I can't believe this mood change in only 2 days. I have already start playing a decent amount of hands and I am pleased with the win rate/performance so far.I will finish my studying in ranges for zoom and play as much as possible. 

Also, EPT Barcelona just started and we will be able to watch some really good poker from the live stream at pokerstars tv.

Speaking of good poker I want to share with you one of my favourite videos. It is from the Big Game with Dani Stern vs Phil Hellmuth.

 I like all the lines that Dani Stern took in the hands and I believe he has played some really good poker there, taking full advantage of the situations. Sometimes I watch it as a warm up before a grinding session.  

I have so many things to do / follow up, all of them poker related but I am looking forward. I will keep you updated with my zoom “adventures”. 

PS. I might have missed the live tournament and the cash games during the weekend but I still managed to make a little profit out of it. I had a percentage on my friend on one of the side events. My friend finished 2nd (vwp!!) and this made up for what i have missed. 

Gl at the tables

"table selection"

Hi guys,

hope things go well with your grinding. I am still struggling to find more free time to play and the games to be good at the same time.
For instance, I had an hour spare this morning and without second thoughts I loaded stars and start looking for games.
Ermmm, yeh Monday morning, every recreational player was at their 9-5 jobs and only regs were at the tables. I did some hand review during that time but it is a bit annoying to want to play and know that you can play well and being unable to find a decent table.

That's my monthly graph so far. Volume wise it sucks i know. I am playing regular tables, and lately I find it difficult to open more than 4 good tables at the same time.

I have been told a couple of times that my table selection wasn't that great and I am trying more to find the best seats etc etc. If I am lucky enough I might find a table with 2 bad players(1 is always shorty), 1 unknown and 2 regs. Once the short stack losses their money and the other bad player double ups and leaves, the game breaks (instantly sometimes) and I have to start checking the lobby again and again to find new tables.

I might sound like I am complaining but I am not really. Just I don't like that my free time doesn't sync with the good games all the time.

On Friday I decided to play Zoom and I asked for some advice from a 25nl zoom reg. He gave me a couple of tips and bad players names that were playing at the time. I loaded 2 zoom tables and soon I found out that my HUD wasn't running. He said not to worry as I don't have stats from the zoom pool anyway. But honestly, I was feeling clueless. It was folding to my button and I couldn't check the blinds fold to steal stats and I was like "now what to do???"

I know that you have to have stars running as an admin to make HEM working for Zoom and I have already set that. I don't know why it wasn't working but I just decided to stay at my regular tables that I am more comfortable with. After all, I have stats on these players.

Mental..intrusion! 

 I want to make a reference to something that happened last week and it did really affect me. I had a conversation with a poker player (experienced but with "old school" thinking) about ev and how ev evens out in the long term. I don't want to get into details but we end up having a decent disagreement that day.

He managed to convince me that I am wrong ( when in fact I wasn't) simply because he was strongly supporting his opinion. And I went home feeling terrible and that I am a really bad player that I will always be losing. I spent that day searching math theories, messaging some math-wizards poker friends only to have them verifying that I was right.

I am only mentioning the above story because it is really important to find the right people to talk with (lesson learnt). I don't mind that I wasted a day to search and learn some math theories.  But I do mind that I didn't play poker that day and I do mind that I was feeling that all the effort that I have put in poker is not worth it. Everybody is not an expert in every topic so next time I ll find myself on a "similar spot" i will not get involved. Talking with the right people is as important as the table selection I mentioned before.

There's always a "but" and the good outcome of all that is that recently I have been introduced to some people that play the same stakes as me, we think quite alike and so far we have a very healthy discussion over hand histories and lines.

Sorry for the long post :) I have to run to bed as I have to be up early tomorrow.
Gl at the tables.

Trying to grind

Hello everyone,

I started witting a post yesterday but I was too tired to finish it.

Even though I finished the session in profit yesterday I was sooo unhappy of the way I played a hand. I opened JJ, get called from the BTN and sb squeezed. I decided to call, btn folds.
The guy cbets a 9high board and I kept saying to myself "i dont think he does that with 1010s, i am behind" and then I raise! He obv didn't do that with 1010 and I end up losing a stack.

I need to find something to do when I am making these bad plays. I am thinking maybe 50sit-ups for every hand I play bad.  xD

Flopzilla
On my previous post I wrote about Flopzilla and Notecaddy. I was thinking which one would be better to buy.
I finally bought Flopzilla. I love it! I think it is really really useful. Even though I am only using it for a few days now, it has been proven to be a nice tool. I use for every hand I am reviewing and trying to adjust what I have learned in my play.

Past week, in terms of poker was okayish.  Weekend was really good but the weekdays weren't that great. Most of the hands were unlucky. I have doubled up all the short stacks with every possible hand.
AK vs KQ  on an Ace high flop or AJ vs A10 aip. and the best of it was AK vs 106
I will play all day with this guy who shoves with 106 but losing in all of these spots is a little a bit annoying. I start getting a bit moody for losing all my all in/ flips and yesterday I was surprised when I won with AK vs QQ. I was like, how come??

The August just started and I already know I will not probably be able to put some volume online. I have to prepare some presentations for work and also next week I want to play a live tournament.
Have I said before that I don't like tournaments? So, in between the sessions and my reviews I will also have to prepare my slides. Not stressed at all about that but it is time consuming.

For those of you from the UK, I ll be playing the Goliath in Coventry. I ll probably end up grind the cash games all the weekend, if the games are good. Last year I remember that the majority of the cash players (that don't seem regs) were all tight and playing "scared money". Hopefully, they will loosen up a bit this year.

I will definitely post updates from that, there would be some interesting hands for discussion.  
gl at the tables :)