Solid Foundations

 

In September when i was at a crossroads in poker, either give up or pull my finger out i went back to a $500 bankroll with a 100 buy-in rule in mind, 24-tabling full ring NLHE on Pokerstars. The intention was to practise mass multi-tabling, sort my head out, and move forward with a "professional" approach.  

On my desktop i have got virtual post-it notes with a list of rules on them that i have amended throughout the last four months (sometimes after making the odd mistake) and once on the post-it note i have been sticking to them rigidly and i feel they are gonna give me solid foundations as i progress (in the correct direction this time).

I have listed them below (with my explanation as to why they are on there), and maybe some of them will help other grinders with their game.

RULES

Don't Play after a 11 hour shift from work.  (luckily i only work 29hrs per week)

When i have done a 11 hour shift in work which also excludes an hour and a half travel plus a session in the gym at dinner time, i am usually knackered when i get home and although the temptation to play is there, past results have shown it to be a negative move as i cannot properly concentrate. 

Don't look at the overall cash result (winning/losings) until the end of a session.

This took me a while to do as in the past I was too results orientated (usually due to poor bankroll management) . When looking at results throughout a session it can affect your game and decision making, usually in a negative manner.

Only play a maximum of 12 fast tables out of the 24 tables.

This has been added through trial and error over the last 4 months and anymore than 12 fast tables becomes too much for me to properly concentrate.

Play no more than 24 tables.

Although the maximum amount of cash tables allowed on Pokerstars is 24, there seems to have been a glitch recently whereby you can sometimes play more. Although tempting especially when trying to hit a VPP target, i have decided to stick to a maximum of 24 so my game doesn't suffer.

Don't play between the hours of 8.00 - 13.00 hrs Mon-Fri (UK time).

I have found the player pool on Pokerstars to be at its lowest during this period, obviously there are less fish and the games are tighter so i feel it is minus EV to play between these times. Also i want to use the time in a morning doing jobs/training and being with Baby R and Mrs R so it is also a lifestyle rule.

Turn off all chat options on the table.

It is very easy to become distracted or tilted whilst reading some of the table chat going on, so this is a very simple rule to stop that from happening.

Only play Full ring NLHE cash games.

Easy to try and change when on tilt or on a bad run, this is a big area that i have failed on in the past......not any more!!

Always buy-in with 100 Big Blinds ( and have auto-top up activated)

So i always start a hand with a minimum of a 100 Big Blind stack. I have tried shortstacking in the past (epic fail!).

Bankroll Management, based on a 100 buy-in rule.

I have fooked up in the past with Bankroll management, but i play best when i don't have to worry about the monetary value of the sessions i play. 100 buy-ins at Full ring is very conservative, but when you don't want any risk then i feel it is the way forward. 

Only move up a level (of game buy-in) at the start of a new month.

I feel moving up as soon as you hit a target for me is negative and has no structure, the more buy-ins you have (by playing until the end of the month) when you move up makes it less of a chance of having to move back down again (see below rules)

Rules for moving up/down a level:  If your bankroll drops to 90 buy-ins move back down a level. If at the end of the month your bankroll is between 95-100 buy-ins move up and take a shot at the next level at the start of the new month.

Obviously if you move up with 95 buy-ins you have less of a cushion (90 buy-ins) before you have to move down.  In the past i have tilted when i have hit say 100 buy-ins on the 20th of the month (knowing i cant drop below that 100 buy-ins for the rest of the month or i cant move up) and it has made me play differently/tilted for the remainder of the month. By being able to move up at 95-100 buy-ins cuts this out and leaves me able to play my A game until the end of the month without having to worry as much.  Plus the extra FPP value/bonus gained would make it worthwhile. If you drop to 90 buy-ins you must immediately drop down and are not eligible to move up again until the start of the next month.

(On another post-it note:)

PSYCHOLOGICAL RULES

All you need is one buy-in profit per hour

I usually play about 1500 hands per hour, so this is a 3.3ptbb (or 3.3 BigBet per 100) winrate, which is pretty good. I  try keep this in mind and it cuts out me doing stupid things and spewing money.

Check, Fold, Check, Fold, Check,Fold

ok to use these buttons and not spew off cash when you don't need to (see above rule)

Don't set targets you cant control.

You cant control how much winnings you make so don't make targets that will tilt you when you don't achieve them.  

Targets such as hours played, VPPs earned can be controlled and are a far better target to set yourself.

Forget about my own Stats.

I have spent years pissing around on Holdem Manger/Pokertracker with stats and took far too much notice of how someone says you should play or what your stats should be. I have wasted loads by trying to play how a forum/training site/book says you should..........so f*ck it. I have my own ideas about poker and am gonna stick to them from now on. (LOL!!)

A big pot needs a big hand.

As Dan Harrington says in his cash game books, a big pot needs a big hand. He says a big hand is set or better.  Its very easy to spew money by not paying attention to how big a pot is getting or has the possibility to get.  POT CONTROL!

 

 

Last night i had another good session and was up 5 buy-ins profit which has put the bankroll up to $920. I am gonna put in some grind this afternoon and tonight to make sure i hit Goldstar status again for next month. Hopefully i can continue to run good for the last few days of the month.

 

I

 

Bar Humbug

Merry Christmas to all the regular readers of this blog, thanks for clicking in week in and week out during the year.

Today all the fish seem to be in a giving mood and after only about 2hrs of play i was 5 buy-ins ($25) in profit.
On the last but one post i mentioned playing six-max, but have now decided after a few days of trying it out, not to bother. Playing 24 tables of six-max is too much/fast and when i "started again" in September it was meant to be a "Full Ring" adventure hoping to maybe emulate some of the success of Frosty012. So i will be sticking to that ( I've purged any six-max hands from my full ring bankroll challange).


I am feeling pretty good about my full ring game at the moment to be honest and have not had a losing session over the last few days:)  (probably speaking too soon!!). 


I went out for a meal with Mrs R and baby R this afternoon which was nice and we have got a special chrimbo day breakfast planned for in the morning before going over to the in-laws for the rest of the day. I usually go for a drink on Christmas Day with the father-in law (aka anti-social) but when i texted him the other day he said in typical fashion that he couldnt be arsed lol!!....Bar Humbug.


I am in work on Boxing day and the bank holiday Monday but I will still be grinding (at poker!) at night time.

Anyway have a good one.

 

Snow Snow Snow

Well on Friday the snow hit Liverpool and with typical luck just as i was supposed to drop Mrs R in town for her Christmas doo. In hindsight we shouldnt have even set off but as it had only been snowing for about half an hour we never gave it too much thought. 
It took us an hour to get to where she was going as the snow was coming down thick and fast, but it was my journey home again which was the nightmare. It took me two hours and the "grace of god!!" to get back home. 

The roads in Liverpool city centre were gridlocked as the snow came down, taking no prisoners. Traffic lights were completely ignored as it turned into every man for himself.  To get back out of Liverpool (in the direction of where i live) it is a mile or so of main roads all going up hill, and this was just a disaster. 

The going up hill was just terrible as cars where sliding all over the place and breaking down and it really was a case of just going for it and hoping for the best. To make matters worse i had Baby R in the car with me, dressed in pjarmas and a coat and on a couple of occasions i thought we were either gonna have to abandon the car (as some people where doing) or that the car was actually gonna give up on me.   We were reving like fook (prob about 5000 revs) in 2nd gear just to try and get the car moving (uphill on snow/ice) and the smell of burning stank the car out so much that i had to open the window!!.  

At one point there was a narrow gap to get through as cars had broken down and this gap was quickly closing as a car was sliding back down the hill towards us. It was foot on the accelarator, wheels skidding, car schreeching like fook, the smell of something burning, me praying and Baby R making car engine noises because he loves cars and thought it was great........  one time, one time............ Thankfully we got through it and left bigger cars than ours (i was in Mrs R's 1.2 hyundi i20) broken down and skiding backwards.
Nearer home we even got pelted with snowballs (makes a change from bricks!!)  by a gang of hoodies, but by that point we didnt care.


Baby R (20 months old!)  loves cars, his first word was "car" and all his toys are cars and every time he passes or sees a car he goes wild. Now most toddlers his age love watching Cbeebies etc etc but Baby R's favourite video is this 3 minute clip on youtube and every meal time he insists it is put on about five times over and absolutely loves it!!



Here is Mrs R's trusty car that didnt let us down, and to Baby R it is every bit the same as the cars in the above video!!

Here was my attempt to get off the drive in my car. I didnt get very far and at this point the car was stuck and needed the neighbours to push it !!

Baby R's outside toys are out of action but who needs them when he is now a "rally" star.

 

Mid-month review / zombie grinder / a french plan!

I'm not sure where to begin (long post alert!!).

I had a slow start to the month because of a night out/recovery time and a few long shifts at work, but i have managed to pick up the pace a bit and also had a change of direction (dont worry I've not broken any rules!!)

The month so far: (as identified in the above graph)

1.  grinding NL full ring and not getting anywhere really, actually getting boring lol

2. I had a nightmare session where i lost about six buy-ins over only about 1500 hands, this included 4 times AIPF with KK when i came up against AA.  After not getting anywhere playing full ring last month and then the same thing happening going into this month i decided i was sick of loads of full ring,nut peddling nits so i had a brainwave (lol).  I decided to have a go at playing six max (24 tables).
Now this experiment has gone well so far, and i am amazed at how much easy money there is to be made at six-max as opposed to full ring. Now i am only talking about NL$5 for now but the difference is almost unbelievable.  People are trying to bluff with AIR alot of the time and getting AIPF with a wide range (as opposed to AA all the fricken time!) and also chasing draws left, right and centre.
Obviously playing 24 tables of six-max is harder than full ring due to there been more hands per hour on the table (approx 100 as opposed to 60). However all the practice i have had so far playing 24 tables of full ring with fast tables thrown in has left me in good stead, and i am manageing it without any problems (no fast tables included yet at six max).

3. The pink 'x' marks when i started playing six max and so far (although as yet a small sample) it has gone well. It also means i am earning far more VPPs per hour than i was at full ring which also means more bonus's :)
It equates to well over 2000 hands per hour ( zombie grinder i think is a term used!!)


I should easily acheive Goldstar again this month, but i have also set myself another target which i think i have a 50/50 chance of acheiving. I have currently earned 1300k VPPs of the next 5000 VPP stella reward which would give me a $50 bonus. All VPP counters on Pokerstars go back to zero on January 1st so if i didnt acheive it before the end of play December 31st i wouldnt earn any bonus.  
If i can do this and manage to run good there is an outside chance my bankroll could hit $1000 and i could move upto NL$10 on January 1st which would be awesome, but i am not counting my chickens just yet.

Due to legal restrictions in France, and the government there being greedy (more tax) they ammended their gambling rules so that French players can only play on French pokersites.  Pokerstars responded to this by opening up a French verison of its pokersite,  www.Pokerstars.Fr  which is a stand alone site/player pool that the French can play on.


However yesterday whilst reading BurnleyMiks blog/RTR forum i found out that players based outside of France can open an account on the site providing they are in the EU and have a validated bank account.
The French site doesnt have as many players/games as the main Pokerstars site but still gets over 100k players at peak times. Your pokerstars.fr account is seperate than your normal pokerstars account and any VPPs earned would be just for the .FR site.  


So yesterday i opened an account on the pokerstars.Fr site and am in the middle of validating my bank account with them.
What is attracting me is the €500 first deposit bonus. I have decided when i move upto NL$10 i am going to try earn this to help with my bankroll building.  NL$10 is going to be a particularlly hard level to move up through as to get to NL$25 (100 buy-in rule) i would need to increase my bankroll from $1000 to $2500 which is 150 buy-ins at NL$10, as opposed to having to earn 100 buy-ins to move up through most other levels.

I have been calculating  how much earning that €500 bonus would be worth, here are my workings out. (actually carry on and earn 12500 VPPs to get the goldstar 25k FPP bonus)


+€500  first deposit bonus  (10k VPP needed to clear it)
+€120 stella rewards  (first six upto 10k VPP milestone)
+€240 FPP value  (goldstar bonus for 25k FPPs)
                                (you need to earn 2160 VPPs to clear this bonus earning you another 
                                  4320 FPPs at goldstar level)

+€50 torny ticket  (purchased using the above 4k FPPs)

€860 ($1145) gaurenteed in bonus's.  plus a €50 torny ticket.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


I think playing NL$10 i would get all this in about two months (you have six months to earn the first deposit bonus anyway).  I probably also would still be able to acheive goldstar on the main site.  
On the main site in those two months i would earn $100 in stella rewards. Plus on both sites they may well also do a new year deposit bonus.  So in two months i could potentially earn over $1500 in bonus' playing NL$10 and be able to move up again, even if it took 3 months it would be a result.

I left a comment on the RTR forum discussion about the .FR site     forum discussion




On with the "Zombie grind"  (grinding thousands of hands like some kind of zombie lol)

Hangover = Behind VPP pace!!!

 

On Friday i went out on an all-dayer into Liverpool for our work chrimbo doo, and have been suffering ever since!!

The amount of ale supped was ridic, we started on pints of bitter, then bottles of lager and then about 6.00pm (it seemed later!!) we hit the redbull and vodkas. I was in a round with my brother who these days cant drink as much as me, and every time it was my round i bought him a single vodka instead of the double that i was having (he thought he was on the same as me). It helped him last the duration and he was gratefull, but it did me no favours at all!!

Saturday and Sunday were a complete write off, and by Monday i was still a bit ropey, and now i have started to come down with a sore throat/cold....doh.  So hardly any poker has been played and the next two days i am on 12-hour shifts at work so I  wont be playing after those which will put me about 5 days behind VPP pace to hit goldstar status again.  On a positive note though i am off work for a fortnight after Saturday (apart from one shift before chrimbo) so I  should be able to hit the tables hard and make up any lost time.  

I have currently only played 13k hands so far this month and am 2-buy-ins in profit, plus i also got $30 paid directly into my Pokerstars acccount for some blog advertising so things are looking ok. 

Off to find some sore throat sweets and sympathy (lol none here!!!)

November review

I have just finished a session at 11.30pm tonight and finally acheived Goldstar status for next month. I have a 12 hour shift at work in the morning and would have preferred not to have had to play as late, but i do leave things to the last minute.
92000 hands played for November which is a record for me, but it has been good practice setting myself a VPP pace to aim for.

Anyway I am too tired to write much, so here are the stats.

Overall stats for November:

The graph:

The bottom line:

-$61 table winnings (91898 hands)
+$50  Stella reward (25kVPP milestone)
+$50 Stella reward (30kVPP milestone)
+$49.53 FPP value (3002 VPPs *1.5FPPs/VPP * 1.1c/FPP)
+$16 blog prop bet.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+$104.53 total profit  (+£67)

I was a bit gutted about been 12 buy-ins down on the tables but couldnt string two winning sessions together for the second half of the month. I was about 2 buy-ins under EV overall, but about 6 buy-ins under EV at the euro tables. When cashing in my stella reward (30k VPPs) i noticed (how i missed it last month i dont know!!) that i hadnt cashed the 25k VPP milestone bonus so having them both this month helped with overall results.
Hopefully i can acheive Goldstar again in December, i start the month on Friday with an all-day session in Liverpool on the christmas doo from work which will no doubt be a messy affair lol. When i finally recover the grind will start.