march results

cash games
nl25 (full ring)
1495 hands for -$4.55
-0.61bb / 100

nl50 (full ring)
1043 hands for -$148.90
-14.28bb / 100

nl25 (6 max)
2255 hands for +$36.70
3.25bb / 100

total
4793 hands for -$116.75
-1.77bb / 100


full tilt bonii +$40
full tilt rakeback +$4.19

total march -$71.86

---
2008 to date +$135.76

wow, not a great month really looking at the results, but if you looked at it from a learning perspective and an overall game improvement position this month would be far ahead of all the others combined. as you may have seen i completely ripped my game apart and started again and i'm feeling really good about it. every aspect of my game has improved and from a long term point of view i should be able to substantially increase my winnings from losing so heavily this month as it really kick started me to look at my game critically.

for me, next month is hugely important. hopefully it can really be a defining point in moving up the levels. my usual volume targets stand but once i've won about $50 more i'm going to combine my bankrolls and take another, better financed shot at nl50. hopefully with my game improvements over march i can make nl50 my new permanent home.

i'd also like to up my win rate from around 3bb / 100 to more like 8-10. i don't think this is gonna be a huge problem as i feel my new style of play can sustain this, but only time will tell.

so with that said i think i'm done for march now, hope everyone enjoyed better results then me and see you at the tables in april.

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babe(s) of the month : march

its been a tough one this month, and i've actually had to settle on two babes of the month, oh no i hear you cry, two hot chicks :( sorry peeps

firstly due to her return in some awful yet sometimes lingerie-tastic tv ads i've decided that march's first babe of the month is myleene klass.

i'll probably post her infamous shower scene from i'm a celeb for your pleasure as well, but until then here she is!


secondly, there is a certain red hed out there that tickles my fancy and who sprung to mind after i saw her in an easter weekend movie, and thats the rather naughty lindsay lohan! enjoy people

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retooling - review

so i've retooled my game now and i just wanted to really review the process and share my thoughts on my game as honestly as possible throughout the process.

before retooling:
looking back on the way i played before i'm surprised i made any money! hows that! i was really tight and selective about the cards i played and i never made a move on anyone unless i was tilting and just got lucky they didn't have the goods either.

the way i played, i really grinded, waiting ages for those premium hands only for everyone to fold to my raise as it was the only one i had made. i got lucky on some instances where some donkfish would play a long with me and i'd stack him but those occasions were pretty rare and i think playing at 3bb/100 provided that point.

so why did i play that way. well probably because of slansky and malmuth! play tight, play super tight. give credit and only show down the nuts. thats all well and good but in nlh you rarely get to see a showdown so waiting around for the cards and the play to align so i could show down aces really didn't help me on a path to a steady profit :)

looking back, i really sucked, and i mean really sucked! most poker players blame the cards, suck outs, bad beats or the poker gods and i did the same. but guess what, it was me. i was just a bad player!

post retooling:
right now i love my game. i'm really happy with the way i play, my reads, my aggression, my table awareness and many many other things. the retooling process was well worth the effort and the strange feeling of admitting to myself that i wasn't a winning player or would never move beyond the micro stakes.

i will however say that since i started retooling i have run bad in places and you only have to look at the two hands i posted a few days back to see that i'm not making it up and i'm not lying to myself. reviewing the session where i lost $46 or about two buyins you can clearly see that the biggest pot a lost outside of those to $25 a piece coolers was $2.25, there were no mistakes in between, no chasing draws, no calling when i was behind, i was just playing solid grade 'a' poker and it was working.

i had another little session just to see if the above wasn't true and to see if i hadn't learnt as much as i thought and the results are as follows

nl25
106 hands at 17/16/8
+$39
74bb/100

verdict: crushed!

so with that said i look back over the last week where i basically erased everything i had learnt right or wrong and approached the game as a total newbie. i invested about 8 hours running through videos in detail and probably the same playing 2 tables and my understanding of the game has increased sooo much!

there is still so much more to learn but right now i actually feel like i have the foundation of a game that i can build on, get better and ultimately move up the levels and make a profit. the futures bright, the futures poker, hehe!

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retooling - report 4

so i've watched all of the videos on playing nl 6max as a solid tag player and i have learnt a shag load! seriously, all those hours spent on the train reading slansky and malmuth were wasted compared to watching 5 hours of solid video coaching!

after the last video there were a few more areas in my game that i in hindsight needed some work and they are

1) table selection: i was totally looking for the wrong things and now after a little experimentation i think i'm back on track.

2) slow playing: thought i was well cool, innit, for slow playing my aces. financially its not true, have had my eyes opened here.

3) value betting: i was either missing value or looking for it in the wrong spots.

so my final retooling session went pretty well and i think i plugged the holes from the last session

nl25
235 hands at 11/9/9
+$28.05
24bb/100

verdict: crushed once again! really felt on fire today. my play was solid, i kept putting the donks on hands, picked my spots and crushed anyone that tried to play back at me! think my stats were a little low but really wasn't picking up anything and as the videos said, forcing it at the micro stakes usually back fires, which is pretty much what happened last session.

key hands:
did i lose value here?

so with that said, i'm pretty pleased with how following the video series turned out. there is still a ton more to learn and there are loads more videos to watch but am pretty pleased with where i am. i think once i practice this style a little more and get really comfortable with the plays a good next step for me is to see where i can open up my range a little more. will let you know how that goes.

gonna watch rounders now and critique matt damons play...donkfish!

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hurting a little at the moment

was completely motivated, fighting to get at the tables, ready to apply everything i have learned and then this happened. feeling totally dejected now :( did i play either of these hands wrongly?

i know that its variance and making donkfish calls keeps the donkfish coming back but come on, could i not have scooped one of these? all my hard work for the day gone plus more, meh

sat down, very first hand and this happened, total cooler

pocket snowfish

then after going on a little raising with nothing run and enjoying a little 3 betting i get this hand and i was praying the donkfish had seen me being aggressive so i could stack him

pocket cowfish

and to round it off, do i have any beer in the house, course i effing dont!

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retooling - report 3

so i've watched the 4th video in the five part series i'm following and again its pulled out some seemingly obvious points that i need to tweak in my play

1) table image: i always thought that this was something only the high stakes players needed to worry about but as the micro players get better the more attention you need to pay to your table image.

2) hand reading: i also need to define peoples range a little more and use the turn card as the defining point in the hand where i can really narrow down a holding.

3) timing tells: again not something i have ever really looked at in detail but its another weapon in my armour.

so after watching the vids i hit the 6 max tables again but didn't fair as well this time

nl25
363 hands at 12/11/6
-$32.90
-18bb/100

verdict: overall i felt i played ok, there were some big holes in my game as i was trying to put 4 hours worth of videos in to practice and it backfired in places. i was also playing at some massively loose aggressive tables which didn't help my game at all, and i was defo not getting the help of the deck. however i think i learnt a lot from this and it will help me put down some stronger foundations as i move forward from here.

key hands:
why did i slow play this? stupid mistake
felt my aggression here was fine and just got unlucky

so yes, it was a loss, but i have identified my leaks and can move forward from here with them plugged. one video to go now and i should be back on track.

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retooling - report 2

so very happy with the results of my first session after erasing everything i had learnt and starting again. i then watched the third video in the 5 part series and pulled out a few more areas i need to address, as follows;

1) flop texture: harder to read then i thought, spotting the nuts is the easy part but evaluating it with your oponents range was something i wasn't doing often enough, or i just gave them credit far too often.

2) continuation betting: simple right? i thought so but continuation betting when you have missed or are out of position combined with the flop texture is tricky.

3) building value in a pot: get the money in when you are ahead! easy to do when you have poc aces but i never considered their range vs mine in any given situation. for example maybe a/q off is massively ahead of their range, so build value earlier!

so after my second retooling session my results were as follows;

nl25
150 hands at 11/11/26
+$10.05
13bb/100

verdict: very happy. the tables i played at were a lot tricker this time, with the majority of players playing full stacks and having decent lag stats. it kept me on my toes but i still owned the hands i played. the reason for the massive aggression factor above is that not one hand made it to showdown, in fact i don't think there was one hand i played that i didn't take down on the flop! and i picked up some decent hands to 3 bet a fair few time. again, played near 11 vpip and 11 pfr, this may be where i net out at, only time will tell, 300 hands just isn't enough.

key hands:
much better aggression from me here
my aggression pays off

so although its only 2 sessions i already feel my game has improved hugely. really highlights the massive leaks i had previously. the first hand posted above is a prime example, i would never have 3 bet just 48 hours ago! two more videos in the series to go and i'm very much looking forward to continuing this upward momentum!

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retooling - report 1

right, so i have watched the first two videos of a five part series on cardrunners to help me play in a more optimal way and exploit the fish-er-roos that swim down at the small stakes to micro stakes.

after the first two videos there are a number of areas that i have identified that need to be addressed pre-flop to improve my game. these areas are;

1) opening up my range: looking over my stats i am defo tight nitty. its why my big hands get paid and why my stack slowly but surely dwindles and i'm easily exploitable. i need to open this up more.

2) open limping or over limping: i just get nothing from these plays, i don't get any information, i don't take control of the pot and i give myself a weak image on the process.

3) never reraising: even with my monster hands i never reraise pre-flop. don't know why, i need to get more money in the pot when i'm ahead and protect my weaker hands by controlling the pot more often.

4) position: yes i knew how important position was but i never applied having position in the correct way.

so to my first retooling session, stats are as follows;

nl25 6max
149 hands at 12/11/8
+$20.55
27bb/100

verdict: crushed! big word for only 149 hands but i played exactly the way i wanted to and got the result i wanted to too. i think my stats of 12/11 are good, i think they will naturally go up as i was getting a lot of trash hands in the session and will probably net out at around 15-18 vpip with a pfr of 14-17.

key hands:
biggest pot won
biggest pot lost

overall i was a lot happier with my play, i felt i was controlling the pot and the table when i wanted to and pressured other players a lot more therefore causing them to make mistakes such as the big hand above.

i also felt that my pre-flop game was a lot more natural and effective. i played correctly in all the spots i was put in and the end result was a winning session. there were a few occasions where my post flop play was a little weak but the videos haven't covered that yet and i don't want to continue to play the way i was before so in instances where i wasn't sure or they were marginal i folded.

next stop is post flop play so hopefully i can improve that and make better judgement calls moving forward.

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retooling my game

i think my recent horrid run at nl50 has really opened my eyes to where my game is at. i was out of my depth at times, making stupid calls, playing weak and generally doing the total opposite of crushing!

with that in mind i've decided to totally retool my game. there is a great selection of videos on cardrunners that will hopefully reset my head and get my playing in the most optimal way. to do this i need to drop back down to nl25 and also swap to 6max. now is probably the right time to do this as i'm very motivated and don't see any long term winnings coming from the way i am playing at the moment.

what i'm going to do now is watch and internalise a video at a time and then play a short 60min session, 2 tabling only and see where it gets me. after each session i'm going to share my results and thoughts and hopefully further ingrain the thinking and play into my subconscious. i'll combine the first 2 videos together as part 1 is very much an intro so there should end up being 4 'reports' on how my game takes shape.

so watch this space, the first report should be later today and hopefully it will have a positive return on investment!

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question?

anyone else hate 6/3 off suit, i do...aaaaa lllooottt!

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nl50, the drama continues

still taking a shot at nl50 and the differences are coming through and i'm starting to adjust my natural game. so far i've noticed the following;

1) tighter - the games have tightened up a little i think, not by much but i would say players ranges are a little tighter so you need to be playing hands that can withstand a little pressure

2) aggression - this has shot up from nl25. players really push marginal hands on the flop and also play their draws aggressively, especially flush draws

3) floating - never really noticed this at nl25 but have certainly seen players floating and pushing on the turn

4) shortstacking - geez, its everywhere, really hard to find a game with all players sitting on a full buy-in. funny thing is, players seem to be shortstaking with 50-60bb or so but aren't willing to commit as easily as they do in nl25. think this is defo -ev

still looking for more differences and no doubt i'll continue to spot them as i play there but the good news is that i've managed to wipe out the disastrous start i had at nl50 and turn the month around to be in profit...just :)

also still unsure what to do with my first rakeback. any suggestions would be helpful!

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my first rakeback

so woke up this morning, saw i had a few emails in my inbox, rubbed my weary eyes and noticed they were both entitled full tilt poker fund transfer. panicked, screamed a little that someone was trying to hack my account, ran in circles for a few minutes, before discovering it was a transfer of funds into my account!

(this is leapfrogs 'my first computer' and my killa setup, bo!)

happy that money was going in rather then out i read a little more and saw it was my first rakeback payment of $4.19. i double checked to see if the decimal place should actually be one space to the left, and then when unfortunately sure it wasn't i still felt rather pleased with myself.

the question now really is what should i do with the money, i can't let my first rakeback payment just slide into my account unnoticed. i feel i should take a risk, stick it on a 180 sng or try and satellite into a bigger satellite, into a bigger mtt into the main event maybe?

suggestions welcome as i only ever play cash games so if people know of some small tornies etc that i can buy into on ftp then please let me know.

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nl50, thoughts

well took a much postponed shot at nl50 today. didn't really go to plan but have to say the play at this level isn't really that much better then n;25, or at least the tables i was sat at weren't.

i did find that draws were played a lot more aggressively which put me on the back foot a little and meant i lost some pots i should probably have won if i was a little more aggressive.

i'm happy to say the random pots are still present, for example i got myself into a battle of the blinds with a/5 on a a/j/3/4/5 board...i wonder what the small blind had, ace two of course, you couldn't write this stuff!

anyhoo, although i'm slightly underolled for nl50 i'm probably gonna take a few more shots before i decide if i need to drop back to nl25. i certainly wasn't blessed with any hands and i know where i went wrong and those leaks are easily plugged. hopefully i can run well and make the move a permanent one. fingers crossed!

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the end of high stakes poker?

so after losing and watching some card runners videos i decided to try and rail some pros on ftp. i didn't expect any big names on there as the timing wasn't right but as per usual mike matusow was there...he's always online!

he ended up switching to play some stud from the omaha game he was playing and must have run into a friend of his as they started chatting, and then the subject of high stakes poker on gsn came up. the thread was all very cryptic and i've included below in its originality, spelling mistakes and all. my only editing is removing all of the dealer and ftp updates that come up in the chat box as well.

what do you guys think, could high stakes poker really be over?

Dealer: Mike Matusow mucks
Dealer: Mike Matusow wins the pot ($600)
Dealer: Hand #5528221137
Dealer: Mr_BigQueso antes $100
Dealer: Moish5 antes $100
Dealer: Mike Matusow antes $100
---
Moish5: mikey baby
Mike Matusow: sup baby
Mike Matusow: weeeee
Mike Matusow: how u been bud
Moish5: good
Mike Matusow: cool
Mike Matusow: u home
Moish5: mikey you should get ome on high stakes
Mike Matusow: i will
Mike Matusow: loooks like no more hsp
Moish5: what hsp
Mike Matusow: its gonnabe pad high stakes cash games
Mike Matusow: on nbc
Moish5: not no limit
Mike Matusow: yes
Mike Matusow: and hu challenges
Moish5: high stakes limit games
Mike Matusow: but be nl caash
Mike Matusow: nl
Moish5: i want to play with you helmuth
Moish5: victor
Mike Matusow: ok let me callmori
Mike Matusow: illtellhim u alot of fun and see if we can ge tu
in
Moish5: ok
Mike Matusow: i think it be great
Moish5: sammy eli
Mike Matusow: lol
Moish5: i need the fame you need the money
Mike Matusow: dont want to loose or be tough to win need
some nits
Mike Matusow: lol

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meh

just had a horrid session, dropped 2 buy ins in an hour. nothing went right, no cards, no flops and any move i made got called down. even when i had a hand which was twice, somehow my donk of an opponent would play some random hand and get smashed in the face by the deck!

feeling rrrreeeeaaaallllyyyy tilty at the moment and want to jump back on the tables and try and win it back. musn't though, am gonna watch the other half of the muddy waters vs green plastic head up match on card runners to cheer myself up.

farking donkeys, aarrgghh

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does it get any better then this?

has been an eventful start to the month so far. i'm hoping march will be a turning point or at least a stepping stone month for me with only positives coming from it. so far three good things have happened

1) it is roughly 6 months before the lovely christina milians birthday, so even though i'm clutching at straws here is another looooovely pic of her


2) i've taken the plunge and joined cardrunners, have started to watch the videos and read the forum. seems to be a wealth of info out there, plus its quite enjoyable just to watch some of their pros crush the higher stakes even if its way out of my reach for now

3) just had another profitable session which gives me a little buffer in my roll and i'm thinking of taking a shot at the next level. i'll probably play a few more hands at 25nlh just to clear the next bonus level on ftp but then i'm thinking i'll take a shot. if i lose then i'll drop back down and start again but am feeling good about my game at the mo and if confidence is high its worth a gambol. watch this space

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hhhmmm, cardrunners

so i've decided to take the plunge and get a cardrunners sub. i've only ever heard good things about it but have always been tentative about what i could actually get out of watching the videos, i mean surely reading those light hearted and easy going slansky books is as good as it gets, right?

the tipping point came on thursday when i had some spare time and watched a taylor caby heads up sample video. now i don't even play heads up but just watching and listening to his thought process totally blew me away. i mean you always hear about playing the player and not the cards, and you always see the pros on shows like high stakes poker playing, what looks like, some random two cards, but watching this video actually demonstrated how little cards mattered and what the pros must be thinking when they play.


yes, he wins some big pots with his big hands, but watching him call a 3 bet with 10/8o then floating the guy before taking the pot away from him on the turn with total air was amazing!

so hopefully i'm going to sign up today and get going with the coaching videos as well and becoming as active as possible on the forum. then it won't be long before i'm crushing ivey on the $500/$1000 nlh heads up table of death on ftp!

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