Winning 3rd Session

If I keep this up, I might actually be in danger of getting some confidence back. Let's not speak too soon though!

I was gifted probably $500, and I bluffed off a similar amount, but finished net of $575 so all's good.

This blog is called Dan's April. Dan's April would be considerably enhanced if I could crack this Irish satellite I'm currently playing in. I'm going to open up 3 other cash tables as well though to keep my focus. Gameplan for the Irish is simply to give nothing away, to make some hands and let go the high variance small edges.

Cash plan is again to not put any non-sd money in, to not reward the nits and to watch the PF spew.

dan

Session 2

the red line should be extremely skyward- 10
•not too many ridiculous call downs to try and affect the above (early planning)- 7
•nits not ever rewarded- 7 (nothing really came up)
•in general, just being more aware of reg 'animal types' and what this means- 6 (work in progress)
•no PF spew- JJ+ for the most part- 6, QTs nonsense
•some creative play in there.- 10

Good session. Wow, I really feel like I'm getting it back. Being aware of the non-sd element just helps an absolute ton, and means you're constantly planning the hand around the PSR.

I just need to be careful of PF spew, even though I felt he was 4bet folding a lot, I should have a much stronger idea of this before I shove in QTs.

Session 3 now. I've played over 1000 hands of 200nl, but will probably keep going until I've reached 5000.

dan

First Session Success

So, first session of the new month worked out well in terms of attitude and goals.

•the red line should be extremely skyward- 10
•not too many ridiculous call downs to try and affect the above (early planning)- 9
•nits not ever rewarded- 7 (nothing really came up)
•in general, just being more aware of reg 'animal types' and what this means- 6 (work in progress)
•no PF spew- JJ+ for the most part- 10
•some creative play in there.- 10

So, $438 won, and just pleasing that I didn't win a single stack at showdown. I did win $171 in a big pot where I was planning to shove all in at some point from the get-go.

$1/$2 No Limit Holdem • 6 Players

Generated by weaktight.com.

UTG	LIUHAMPTON	$223.85
UTG+1	MALONEYBABE1	$141.75
CO	SMELLS_FUNNY	$200
BTN	CATWOTISADOG	$467
SB	VEGAS-007	$423.75
BB	VAUN	$27

• Pre-Flop ($3, 6 players)Hero is BTN
• 

1 fold, MALONEYBABE1 calls $2, 1 fold, CATWOTISADOG raises to $9, VEGAS-007 raises to $31, 1 fold, MALONEYBABE1 folds, CATWOTISADOG calls $22

• Flop ($66, 2 players)
• 

VEGAS-007 bets $36, CATWOTISADOG calls $36

• Turn ($138, 2 players)
• 

VEGAS-007 bets $42, CATWOTISADOG calls $42

• River ($222, 2 players)
• 

VEGAS-007 bets $62, CATWOTISADOG goes all-in $358, VEGAS-007 folds

• Final Pot: $642

• CATWOTISADOG wins $638.50 (net +$171.50)
• VEGAS-007 lost $171
• MALONEYBABE1 lost $2

First of all the guy had a wide 3bet range, and then his small bet on this wet a flop for me took out tons of overpair type hands. I didn't want to raise/ fold though (red line carnage and can be rebluffed), so to play it profitably I either had to call twice then shove river, or call twice then shove over a third bet. I rep flush draws and 9x pretty well, so happy with this.

Other than that I managed to avoid losing large pots, especially non SD ones.

Second session coming up, probably just an hour or something.

dan

Dan's April

I start off every month predicting that this one is going to be different, I'm going to do $20k+, etc. This month I'm making no such predictions. Instead, I want this month to form part of the journey back to the above goals, and I'll be doing that through several small steps.

First of all, my current problems do not stem from mindset or other non-tangible poker things. I have been doing, and will continue to do going forward, things like 2 hour max sessions then a review. I've been eating before playing, sleeping when too tired, and for the most part avoiding tilt.

My major worry right now is that the technical aspects just aren't there. Or, if they are there, they're not coming to the fore when I need them most, as in when I'm actually playing.

So, technical aspects. I'm going to start this month with a renewed interest in my red line. Typically, what that means is the following:

• I don't put much money into a pot (a single call of a PF raise, then one bet on the flop either cbetting or calling a bet) unless I'm either going with the hand to showdown, or planning to 3 barrel bluff.
• I don't bluff in big pots without the right of last initiative.
• In big pots with a marginal hand and sensing weakness, then shove all in.

Now, the above can cause me problems. It can cause me problems when I find myself in a big pot, without a hand, and probably no FE. I shove all in anyway, but usually this can be spew if I'm not repping anything. What I constantly need to be aware of on the flop is the PSR, and whether calling flop/ shoving turn, or jamming flop is viable given stacks and everything else. Basically what I'm trying to say is that the decision has to be made extremely early.

To make decisions like the above easier, I need to concentrate a lot more on people's 3bet ranges from the blinds and tendencies thereafter. Do they cbet AK on a low board? Do they bet once then give up? What do they percieve as my range?

Another technical aspect to be aware of is: don't reward the nit. If TradebyDay raises on the flop, and I have AA, it's just a fold. Don't reward the fact he literally never puts in money without the goods by paying him off, ever.

In terms of PF, I need to keep up the constant pressure, but ease off from 3bet/4bet jamming 77 etc. I used to pride myself on being one step ahead of this game, and by doing stuff like the above I just play into their hands.

One last thing, I need to get more creative in certain spots. Now, I don't know what that means exactly, but I do know it means opening up my mind more in certain spots, taking weird lines with hands and repping bluffs with my big hands.

Before anything else, I'm going to play at least 1000 hands of 200nl. A number of goals:

• the red line should be extremely skyward
• not too many ridiculous call downs to try and affect the above (early planning)
• nits not ever rewarded
• in general, just being more aware of reg 'animal types' and what this means
• no PF spew- JJ+ for the most part
• some creative play in there.

Those are my goals for the 1000 hands. This will be made up of around 3-4 sessions most likely.

So, about to play session 1. I'll play then review the hands here, and grade myself out of 10 for the each of the afformentioned bullet points.

April starts here.

dan