how i got a good winrate (8bb/100+)

during this time i played nl50-nl200, with probably 75% of the hands raked in at nl100 as a 12-24 tabler

at the summer of 2010 i decided to stop fuck around and try to improve my game. blogpost can be found here about it: http://www.liquidpoker.net/blog/viewblog.php?id=890165

where i basically posted a cry me a river graph about running under EV, and that i was doomswitched etc and i was close to giving up on poker.

After this blogpost i took a break, and then grinded out the last hands to achive my next 100k VPP milestone + FPP bonuses

after that i cashed out my roll from stars, i finally started 4 tabling on bossmedia and ipoker and found myself beating nl100 and nl200 at a pretty good rate and it felt good to feel like a winner again, and not a rakebackwinner. then i started to grind alot of my volume at a swedish site where i play alot today. (if u seen some of my hands lately/blogposts with graphs they are mostly posted with the swedish currency SEK, as the tables run with SEK on the swedish site svenskaspel as i speak of)

I started taking more notes, play more pots with fish, pound on weak regs and had more time to look through stats, even though im not really a stats guy. The biggest thing i done so far probably is started thinking on my own, reading hands and ranges from simple logic breaking it down from start to finish what my and villains ranges were instead of just looking on 2barrel and riverbet CBet numbers and trash like that

i pretty much removed my hud except for the basic vpip/pfr/3bet/fold3bet from haveing a shitton of numbers befor as i felt a need to have that while i masstabled to get an idea on the villain even though it only made it worse pretty much.

all i look at nowadays is what ranges people open from different positions (the raise 1st in stat) it tells alot about peoples ranges, some 23/19 regs open different ranges, notable positions is EP BU and SB especially, i guess the steal stat pretty much is the same as this, but pound on these guys who open alot in the SB, dont give up position

the biggest thing i came to realise for REALS is how important position is, position is everything, especially the deeper u get.

pounding on people who open wide in the CO and SB from BU/BB is something u really shouldnt skip just cuz he seems tight, look through his stats, u will find that even the ones with nitty stats opens wide enough in the SB for example for you to call and 3bet more from the bigblind

and ofc be prepared to adjust to his adjustments, if he starts calling more 3bets oop or if he starts 4bet more etc and adjust ur 3bet range accordingly

for my results after the 3rd of july i was really not expecting these kinds of concistent results, as u play fewer hands/session it feels like u have more swings then u actually have longterm, its sick really :D

i havent done a complete database check for a very long time and im happy to present it soooo

here it is: (after leaving the rakeback grind on july the 3rd)

+ Show Spoiler +

winning at almost 10bb/100 with close to 0 swings. it has taken me many hours to rake in 340k hands obv 4-6 tabling, sometimes 1-3 tabling even, but in just 8-9 months ive moved from a retarded breakeven 100NL player to a big winner on 2/4 3/6 and probably 5/10 aswell (dont have as big sample there yet, but so far so good)

it has made me sooo much better, i cant really push enough on how much playing less tables have improved my game and as u see the results speak for themself.

ive moved up from 0.5/1$ to 5/10$ in less then a year by 4 tabling.

As a tip to all of u out there who struggle at lower stakes, cut down on tables, play more heads up, take a shit ton of more notes, always try to rake in as much quality volume as possible

and seriously, playing heads up and 3 handed with good regs will not hurt u if ur a 100nl 200nl or 400nl player that want to improve

obviously it all comes down to what kind of goals u have as a player, but if u wanna get good, playing good players will get u there and not bumhunting.

but if u are happy bumhunting the lower stakes without much stress, without any ambitions on getting better at the game, go ahead

cuz exactly what gave me the opportunity to move up stakes this year is playing more deep tables, playing more heads up, and not to instasitout as fast as its 3 handed with 2 good regs

play, and improve, and u will be rewarded. there are no shortcuts in this game : ) except for MTT luckboxes obv ;D

to results, the graph with 300buy ins in 330k hands after july 3rd 2010 is played on 6 different sites, € $ and SEK, but i made some fast calculations and it ended up being about 85 000$

if any of you made it this far in the post, seriously, if u wanna get better u need to challange urself, dont be a bumhunter, crush the souls of every reg, they all suck, no one is good under 5/10 (no offence), some decent 200NL grinders, and alot of solid 400NL grinders out there for sure, but if they really were good they would have played higher already, and the good ones, that plays lower probably 16+ table to maximise their hourly so they are all just solid nits whom are not much to fear

but just get out of the mindset of getting xx$/hour on low/midstakes, as i did i calculated and only cared about the rakeback i could make. strive towards improvement and constantly try to move up and play thougher opponents, and if ur smart u will do just that

but obv u can make good money playing under 5/10, but imo alot of u guys should strive just as me to be the best possible player u can be, and for that u need to work really fuckin hard


cliffs:
-dont masstable if u wanna improve
-put down more quality volume try thinking about ur and villains
ranges in all spots instead of looking at stats clicking random
buttons
-u need to realise that u need to work hard to improve in this game,
be the best player u can be
-dont be a bumhunter unless ur happy playing the stake ur playing, then go ahead and maximise ur winnings on this stake or w/e even though bumhunting is kinda anoying

over and out! piece

0 votes

Sick. Solid brag. Right here.

Well done. Admire your ethics here alot.

Can I ask what sort of bankroll management you are using?

On March 29 2011 12:55 Chewits wrote: Can I ask what sort of bankroll management you are using?

well im retarded in that way, i always tryed moveing up as fast as possible, so very aggressive BR management

in the future im gonna buckle up alot more on 2/4 and 5/10 before trying to go higher since it starts to feel in the stomach haveing huge $ losing days.

for example i recently lost 30k$ live (whined about it in my last blog) and it hurt me alot, i havent been able to play much/nor good in march but im back crushing again finally : )

so something im gonna have to improve alot on is more solid bankrollmangement if i wanna move up more since even though ive moved up really quickly the last 9 months or so i still have had alot of failed shots that hurt me too, that probably could have been avoided by grinding bigger rolls for the shot etc, probably gonna start with atleast 50+ or even 100 buy in rules from now on!

Wow, very fucking good job, really inspiring,
but dosen't this also tell us too that the games are much harder on stars, than on bossmedia and ipoker? and what is this swedish site? SWE allowed only?

On March 29 2011 13:10 doriipoker wrote: Wow, very fucking good job, really inspiring, but dosen't this also tell us too that the games are much harder on stars, than on bossmedia and ipoker? and what is this swedish site? SWE allowed only?

im not sure, i havent played on stars since i left in 2010 due to i want to play taxfree poker (in sweden that is not the case on stars/ftp) it might be so that stars is alot thougher then the EU sites

the swedish site is called svenskaspel and its only for swedes yea, the higher games are full of regs, but the lower games are very soft there i think.

so if u play like nl25 or something, nl50 and are swedish, maybe u should check out svenskaspel as there are alot of good microgames there, running tons of games aswell, but action on higher isnt very good, only runs a few tables above 2/4, and only at night time

ongame is really sweet though, they run a ton of tables

i really are looking forward to the bwin/party merge

Hey Longple, great post, do you think you can answer some questions?


Whats your daily routine like?
How many hours, do you play in bulk, play sessions with short breaks or just spread out poker throughout the day?
Do you take any days off and do you think it's important to do other stuff than poker and schedule some time off every week?
Is eating and exercise and e.g. good sleep important in your opinion? Are you ripped?

How do you review your sessions and get feedback on your plays, do you do it yourself or do you have some buddies that help you review hands( I don't see you post hands here much)?
Did you train yourself to feel good after good plays that lose and not praise yourself for bad plays that did work?

How do you study, do you still watch vids and post in forums, do you read books or do you just do self-study? What would you say is the
PLAY:REVIEW/STUDY: PROCRASTINATE (at LP, watching live shows, posting on forum, chatting about hands but just to chat about them...) ratio?


Thanks for answers

nice read, but the word masstable is hard to read correctly, or is that just me?

that's exactly what I needed, thanks a lot for writing it all down man I do bumhunt too much, gotta start crushing those regs finally !!!!!!!!!!

On March 29 2011 13:17 LemOn[5thF] wrote: Hey Longple, great post, do you think you can answer some questions? Whats your daily routine like? How many hours, do you play in bulk, play sessions with short breaks or just spread out poker throughout the day? Do you take any days off and do you think it's important to do other stuff than poker and schedule some time off every week? Is eating and exercise and e.g. good sleep important in your opinion? Are you ripped? How do you review your sessions and get feedback on your plays, do you do it yourself or do you have some buddies that help you review hands( I don't see you post hands here much)? Did you train yourself to feel good after good plays that lose and not praise yourself for bad plays that did work? How do you study, do you still watch vids and post in forums, do you read books or do you just do self-study? What would you say is the PLAY:REVIEW/STUDY: PROCRASTINATE (at LP, watching live shows, posting on forum, chatting about hands but just to chat about them...) ratio? Thanks for answers

okey, hm

normally i try to wake up somewhat early and i always eat breakfast while watching GSL (starcraft 2 league on gomtv.net), normally i used to sit and try to start up tables during these times, but ive come to the conclusion that i autopilot to much when i watch stuff at the same time as playing, so im trying to stop that bad habit of mine.

also i used to play superlong sessions, but i try to be honest with myself since i tend to lack focus after playing these superlong sessions, but some days i play for like 14 hours straight when i feel good.

But lately i tend to play for like 3 hours during the day, take a solid break and maybe another 1-3 hours in the evening.

i def think taking breaks while being kinda autopiloting, playing halfish bad to get the motivation back is the best thing to do after a downswing. normally i just lose more when i play alot during downswings and failed shots, taking breaks for a couple of days is really good and helps me alot.

i try to train and eat healty, im not ripped, and in the last 3 years ive gained alot of kg's, im not fat but i used to be pretty "athletic" before i started pokering fulltime.

i even got a dog 5 months ago to get better with the daily routine since he helps me get up at a decent hour, i tend to feel kinda depressed while sleeping whole days.

i dont review sessions much, but i talk alot alot alot of poker with 2 pokerbuddys of mine who plays the same stakes as me, who are not LP'ers, so normally i use pokerhand.org when i post hands to talk them through with them. but ye i talk many hours of poker with good pokerplayers who share the same kind of experience as me over msn on a daily basis.

i still watch videos since i think its fun, compared to alot of players sometimes i can lay in sofa and watch like 5 videos in a row just to spend time instead of watching random tv shows ^^ ive always been like that.

nowadays though i get kinda anoyed at the same time as i feel better about myself watching alot of coaches making 2/4 and 5/10 videos thinking that they suck pretty much.

the videomaker i enjoy the most is aejones for sure, he is the best videomaker out there atm IMO, he always goes through all the possible scenarios instead of just talking about the actual action he took, he breaks down WHY he choose this line against THIS villain, and alot of coaches suck at that.

bluefire is good too, giggy and galfond vids are golden

ive pretty much watched every middlestake+ video out there on every site, and from those i dont learn alot from i still gain confidence since i can disagree with their plays or add something towards why i think its a good play when they dont go through everything in the hand it makes me feel good, and its still interesting imo to see poor decision makers thought processes aswell =) i just love watching videos

so a normal day for me would probably be go up early, get some good solid breakfast, watch GSL with tastless and artosis, workout (atleast 3 days/week) play some poker and then make lunch, or make lunch/play poker, chill in the afternoon get some dinner and play some more.

on sparetime i smoke alot of weed with friends though, wich might not be to good i guess -_-

ive played alot of sc2 and got pretty good at it, normally in the top 100-200 ladder in EU masterleague almost every week but 2 months ago i decided to quit sc2 all together as a player and focus more on poker as i really want to get to the 10/20 and 25/50$ stakes in the future.

also something that keeps me motivated right now is with these 2 pokerbuddys of mine, we have planned to move to malta after the summer and live there for 6-8 months during wintertimes and just play a shit ton of poker and have a ballertime in the sun

so right now i have motivation of building a sick good bankroll for the winter in malta, start playing more live there and also just try to establish myself fully on 5/10 on different networks with a sick solid roll so i can play it confortably, and after my 30k$ loss live im stuck playing on 2/4 atm on ongame and svenskaspel, wich feels good, i feel comfortable in these games and im gonna build a really solid roll for malta =)

good job man... but like mentioned i'd bet the stars/fulltilt games are much much tougher

keep getting that money though

hopefully when living in malta taxes on poker will be different, and im very interested to play the stars and FTP deeps games with antes

maybe EU sites are alot softer, not sure!

but im pretty sure there are less nits on EU sites atleast, so many SNE grinders on stars

you're a smart guy

i liked everything i just read ... im trying to do the same thing you allready have done. great job man ! i hope i will be there soon

Good read

/jealous

I downloaded this site, and avg plrs/flop is like 50%+ at the 5/10 and 10/20 games, which is like 0.75$/1.5$ and 1.5$ / 3$
pretty sick over 8 tables running, well I would like to try play there hehe

On March 29 2011 14:51 doriipoker wrote: I downloaded this site, and avg plrs/flop is like 50%+ at the 5/10 and 10/20 games, which is like 0.75$/1.5$ and 1.5$ / 3$ pretty sick over 8 tables running, well I would like to try play there hehe

they are 5max tables also, and plays alot 3-4 handed, so ye games playes very loose

im assuming 8bb means 4BB, or else my mind is truly blown, but im gonna keep reading :S