Watched CrazyCookies video about using PokerSnowie as a learning tool to improve a game.
Seemed pretty appealing to me so this morning I downloaded it and tried to experiment.
I like the concept very much couse it gives me all time I need to very with my ranges, think it thru and bring the decision.
At first glance its not smth which might be usefull but I belive with time thinking process improves and its aplicable on online tables.
Also there is no hud so it kinda reminds on live play. And also its much easier to 4b bluff with virtual money.
Played 400ish hands so far and here are the results :




Will implement to play at least 1h a day with it thru the time of trial and see the results.If its turns out to be good tool I might consider buying a licence.

March is around and I feel I would miss entire point of this blog if I wouldnt write a re-cap of month along side with goals of new one .
In the begining of the March I was so confident in my game and so optimistic with my bankroll so close to 300, that I will reach 400$ mark by end of the month and take a shot at nl20.However things started to spin in differend direction.First I was hit by downswing , than I started to play bad to a few bis tilt spews.All of that resulted in somehow fearsome approach to the tables, which reduced my motivation to the point where every other thing was more important than poker itself.
I had to study for masters 2 days I didnt played 4, I was tired , I was this and that.Long story short my volume sux and I failed at all of my monthls goals.
Still I maanged to grind enoughg to earn 15$ from rake race ... hell yeah
Few days before end of the month I played serious session with 6 tables for 3 hours which kinda get my momentum going.
I find out quiet some leaks about my game which I wrote in one of earlier posts.
Also I have found a way how to really improve my game with pokersnowie thx to CrazyCookie and hes video.
I did my first session yesterday and could felt effect like instantly in session after.
My thinking process was sharper and decision making as well.
I am sure I will include Snowie in my dailly routine, ether by standallone study session or warmup . Will see about that yet.
So overall it was not horribly bad month , especiallly not in terms of learning few bad things about my game and the ways how to improve em.

Here are the graphs :

For March (dont laugh




Microgame all the time (2 months)




Cashier ( initial deposit was 100$ , in february)




Ok thats it for March I will write this months goals in separate post, so I can evalaute em in May.

@Sharky

Sorry I missed you're question Sharky.

Yes I have a blog/challenge here currently at 30k hands. Stop in and say Hi. I started the challenge with $50. I'm playing micro MTTs and currently at 5NL.

Best of luck and keep it up.

No worries man I will find you .
Best of luck with challenge.
Cheers

Experianced the biggest tilt in my life.
Fishes just keep hitting.Whenever I had something I lost .
In the end I just kept calling cosue I coudlnt belive they hit it all.
Made horrible 150bb spew vs some loose dude who floped set just after he called 3bet 3way with 97s and hit quads vs my fh at the river.
On other table had 71/1 fish who also kept hiting.
I was /still am so angry that I threy away my glasses and keyboard.
Dont know on whom I am agry more on loosing it all the time or just couse I played like biggest retart on the earth, convincing myself into some horrible calls.
So dissapointed atm, on everytihng pokerwise.
Just feel like want to give it up on poker and play chess.
At least I wont be throwing things over the house.

Heres the graph




Overall this poker experiance seems to me like one step forward, 2 steps back.
Every time I notice improvement, right after there are things that smacks u in the face , telling u to fuck off.

Want to post some hands up or anything strat based as we may be able to help?

Hey Jon. I have analysed biggest of those myself and altho I got very unlucky in every hand I made a mistake or 2 .
I have reliased that its easier for me to say that I ran bad than that I also played bad.
What I want to say is that I invest more energy why fish did certan things or why boards hit , than how i should proceed in those spots.

Here is the hand that buggles me the most :



co and btn are big pretty loos players with 29/20 for co and 61/31 for btn .So the questrion is should I even cbet this board, considering that they might very well call with suited connectors or one gappers?
Once he calls the flop and ott I hit full house I think there is no other way to play this hand, since he might have TT-QQ at this spot as well and probably some hands like 55-77. This one didnt went my way altho I do think that I made a mistake cbeting this board into 4.
And right the next hand was the jewl of the night , which I am really ahamed off.
It happened right after AA hand vs same opponent :



I clicked fold 2x and somehow it didnt wanted to fold, so I went to call .I was on tilt foir a bit and question in my head was, how can he be so lucky , or is he bluffing be with FD, couse hes overbet jamming.Anyways mental farts ,should have fold , intead I donated money.

Yesterday I was really ashamed of my childish, irresponsible behaviour. Literally I behaved like 7 years old boy.
At least I tookl responsibility for it and pride myself enough that I admit to myself I had a night where I allowed myself to behave like total idiot. LEssion learned.I also said to myself that I wont be backed up couse of that slip and hit the tables yesterday as well.Played on pokerstars, couse they dont allow me to se my roll for stakings otherwise. Played nl10 zoom and was very happy with my play.I made decent folds nad also guessed few hands spot on, which gave me confidence boost and belive that I can make this happen no matter what.
I have participated in group buy for Upswing poker.com package, so waiting eagerly today to receive first package of study material.
Cant remember when I was so excited about something I am on this.
Gonna write my thoughts on this when I get my hands on it.

Glad you liked my video with whatever you find go study you have to do it full on, don't do it a bit and think you've got it because you won't.

Few points in regard to menal game:

So you have say a skill that when you are talking about poker makes total sense and you can explain it well. This is level one difficulty. When you play at your stakes, you're running well and fully focused it is also easy to explain and use. This is level 2 difficulty. You begin to run "normal" maybe playing 5 tables so you are stretched but no more than a normal session. You can still use the skill but maybe need to think about it a bit more, double checking logic etc. Difficulty 3. Then you run bad, get in a tough spot or have 4 action spots at once. Your mind goes blank. What is a skill you think you have learnt to a high level is gone and you end up clicking a button. This is level 4 difficulty and shows that you can only use the skill in level 3 situations and easier. Level 5 is running bad at higher stakes, taking shots, playing on the final table of your first big tournament etc. You have found that you probably have a lot of skills that at 3 you have to think about and at 4/5 aren't there. This is the learning process and you need to turn the conscious competence at level 3 into unconscious competence then move it to level 4 and then 5.

Example:

When you first learn why you should cbet. You can explain it at level one and put it in your game when it is working well and you are running good. Then you run less good and doubt why you are cbetting. You forget the reasons and stop. Over time you learn more and play more and that skill is now probably natural to you in level 4 and 5 situations. Also if it is at unconscious competence in level 5 it will be in your game when you tilt.

The mental game is, in my opinion after enlightenment over the past month, probably the biggest edge at microstakes and you will double your winrate if you improve it.

Do you prep for sessions? Do you write down how you feel/play at different stages if your session, when ur in different moods etc? Do you know the first signs you're playing your c game? Do you even know what your c game is? Your a game and your b game? These are all huge to crushing any stake and the lower the stake the bigger edge to be had!

Only just seen this thread. Awesome graphs. Subscribed!

Very nice post there from @CrazyCookie . Looking forward to seeing your reply to it!

@jongordon84 Thank you mate.
Its much easier to keep posting when someone else except you is reading .
If you have a blog of your own please post me a link and I will subscribe as well.
Cheers

@CrazyCookie
Thanks for a great and insightfull post bro.
Here is what I have to say about it :


Example:

This one is spot on, but do you have any specific ideas on how to improve those things and push them towards unconcuous competence?



Intuitivly I know when I my play differs from my A game .Its like when I am afraid to 3b bluff and 3b also hands like AK vs guys who call a lot .
My overall game confidence drops alot and I start to feel missreble.Also mind becomes blank and I begin calling just couse I cant believe this guy is hitting so much. Or when I fold I feel I am getting messed around with ppl.
i guess this is C game, the rest is unkown to me.
also what I find out recently is when I am running bad its so much harder to sit an play a session.Like fear of loosing even more or smth like that.

To improve you have to repeat it. If you can repeat the skill about 1000 times at level 3 you will get it pretty solid, or about 200 times at level 5 (estimates from MGOP 2). You just have to track it in your sessions really. So for me I'm working on thinking about board textures and if they are going to get a lot of folds OTF, if OTT/OTR villain is capped etc. Right now in level 3 situations I'm thinking about it at a conscious competence level without much effort. It is probably quite close to UC already for level 3 BUT today in a few level 4 spots that skill wasn't there and I had to really think hard before I got it.

With that mindset you are constantly looking at your game and where new skills are, what situations you are able to use them in and which you can't, and if you are thinking this way you will be trying to access this skill in lvl 4/5 situations which will improve them quicker.

For the second bit, define your A-C game. Start with what you are like int eh zone, your feelings, energy level your skills etc, anything you notice that makes you play your A game. Then do the other extreme when you are on tilt or in a really bad frame of mind. Then get closer and closer between the two extremes to get your B game. You will probably see your C game is MILES from your A game. This i a huge problem because a) we play our c game probably 20% of the time, and that will likely be loosing us money. Emotionally we hate ourselves when we have a bad session because we feel we have taken huge steps back. We haven't. We are just playing our C game. and C) We improve more on our A game than C game because it is mroe fun, C game is mostly mental game for most people. Therefor the range gets wider its tilting as fuck and we can in theory go from a 100nl crusher to a looser at 20nl.

Your C game is where you lose the most money and has the most potential to make you money, so probably worth looking at

THx a lot CrazyCookie.
Your gave me some really good things to think about.
The offtables game is deffo something I need to work more on.
My very next thing to do pokerwise is to define those A B C games and try to find some stuff to improve.
Gonna put them here for the record and review so you could give me some advices .
thx again man, much appreciated

Havent deal much with the poker thurout the weekend.
Lot of distractions and other stuff to do so it was very hard. Tomorrow I have another exam for my masters comming so, priority of weekend was study.
Still managed to pull 4hr session on friday, where I made few bad moves, which I will analyse and put in tomorow after exam, but overall I was satisfied with my game.Won 5bi or so, which was nice confidence boost from last spew fest I had.
Also I changed room.
Previouly I have played on StanJames, which I really liked, however my rb deal was only 30%.
So despite liking site and support very much I couldnt resist 70% rb deal on PokerLocco.Its basicly same software/network, just other skinn.
I like this one as well, perhaps theme suits me even more than SJ .
Now I am looking forward to become ultimate rb grinding machine .
I feel pretty bad about not playing as much as I could .
I am busy dude with school and job running but depsite of that I still could squeeze 2hrs /day to play , which I dont, so feel kinda bad about it .
Its deffo a part which needs to be adressed somehow soon with a proper game plan .
Especially now since I am 2 bi close to my 400$ mark which is my aim to take a shot at nl20.
Perhaps I should wait a bit with that until I improve my game bit more and put some more hands under my belt, so its somewthing which I will think about it and perhaps wait till my roll is 500e, with new rb deal and some more hands in I should get to it soon.
Ok that s it for now, I am back to the studying for tomorows exam.
Good luck to me

Another exam thicked, schools over for the week, its time for some weekend grinding .
Played short 1.5hr session last night with some interesting spots. for reviewal.
I have played only 3 tables so managed to get only 400ish hands in session, but didnt failed to made lot of questionable spots :).
Heres interesting hand :




Villain is opening 38% from co and folds to 3b 75% of the time.So I decided to 3b this hand , since I belive its just too weak to call.When he calls there are lot of pocket pairs in hes range like 88-QQ,AK, suited broadways and perhaps some suited conectors like 87-9Ts .Hes 4betting only 3% and hes afq is 33.
I know I wont get almost no folds on this boardf when I cbet, but its what I aimed to hit when I 3bet, so I can continue with my agression, so I decided to cbet.
Hes range doesnt change much when he calls.
Turn is Kh , which completes my flush, so I decided to bet in hope that he hit hes Kx and get a call.
Otr I am in dilema, should I just check or should I fire another bullet and try to get him to call with hes AK, or should I check couse he might have better flush with Ax or Qx.
I went for a betting option.
I went for most agressive option in this hand,but I am not so sure I made best play, couse I might valuetown myself vs better fulsh or FH.
IF anyone is reading this and has opinon of hand please share with me .

Heres another one,bit more straight forward :




Villain is 45/15 guy over 70 hands. Hes 3b is 11, but sample is too small to make it worth.
Hes stack is also 86bb deep, so we can assume he is a fish.
When he 3b me I think the best option is to call, takken into account that he might be leading more towards value side. Flop we hit top pair so I belive calling once is mandatory.
When he overbet showes turn I decided that I just dont beat anything and I should just fold.
I was proud on myself htat I was able to make such a fold, but shadow of dobut still remains.
Should I call this or not?

Trial for snowie expired, so I am at the cross roads.
Should I make another trial or just go for it and buy a licence.
Its still a boggling question
Off to play a session .
Gl

Word of warning: this is not a productive post, I had a bad session so kinda one which serves for vent outs or cry outs however you want to call it.
You have been warned

Another rough day at the office.
I am starting to think that guys are microgaming have something against me .
Running so bad, that my head is just spinning .Even worse I made 2 really bad spew, couse I just cant belive these guys hit every hand .
Trying not to be discouriged and mad at poker, but its getting harder and harders, I feel like I am running in circles here.

some hands form tonights session :



I dont think folding is ever an option here, especially vs the fish.
Somehow dont feel I need to even explain why I called here.It just feels right and unlucky as well.

Heres another beauty :



How can I ever fold this ???
I was thinking to 3b preflop, but my head was at bad place and my confidence as well so I called . Now I wish I didnt.

And for an end my masterpiece.



Villain is total idiot , same dude with J7s hand above.
I was potting every street and overlooked the flush otr.
I was like ok he has A , which he cant fold so now I am gonna jam and win the hand.
When he showed J7s I was like , what an idiot and when I saw chips going hes way I realised I was one who was idiot.
Funny thing is that he won 200bb of mine with same hand in like 5 hands time.


And the graph :

I think you need to work on your mental game a LOT. The only hand here that might be played poorly was the AQ as I don't think even fish call a shove here without a straight at least given the FD got there.

Other than that it's just varience. That isn't bad play and you get pissed off at it will make you play bad and lose more. The mental game is where your biggest edge can come from as your worst becomes better than the other regs and you play at your best more often and for longer. Longer sessions at higher level with higher Resilience go tilt. It's simple and what you should study more than your cthal game ATM.

I am seriously starting to think I am just too stupid and game is unbeatable for me.
I cannot make simple folds vs biggest fishes couse I am so frustrated how good the hit.
Also these for every up session I have 3 or 4 crazy sessions where I lose a bunch.
I am starting to lose faith that the game and NL10 is actually beatable for me.

Played decent session today wehere I ran like shit and lost a bunch but it didnt bothered me almsot a bit.
What bothered me was how much ppl hit on every call the made(GS, 2p ), but I got over it and resume playing.
Was proud on myself and won some.
Wanted to take a break and the last hand of the session I got AA vs big fish, who was 160 bb deep.
IMO I played hand horribly and spew 100 call which got to me and I sort of ruined every good efford I made before it .
Feel like stupidest fuck on the earth where evereone can hit vs me regardless of what they call with , and I will just pay them off.
I feel more and more disspointed by myself and my game,almost want to cashout and give it up on all.

Heres the hand :



And graph:

I feel the pain buddy, but rather than blame the fishies for hitting everything I would suggest you think a little before hitting that call button. Just take your finger off the mouse and chill for a bit. Just because they are bad players doesn't mean they can't have the hand does it? And when they do shove their stack in the middle like this they usually have it, especially if they tank/shove, that mostly means they're making sure they really do have it!

So, two suggestions,
When you have a sneaky feeling they might have you beat, click fold and move on like the hand never happened. The fold button is your friend at these limits, seriously.
If it affects you in any way, like you go ggrrrr when they suckout or whatever, or you're still thinking about it while playing the next hand, sit out - but not when the blinds come round, sit out NOW! Click, click, click - out! Take a break until you're not thinking aboutit, then wait some more.

These two things at least will win you more money than clicking 'call' without the best hand when they shove. You'll get used to it honestly, you will then it gets so easy to do you don't even blink at it. And yes, folding is a viable play

Have fun.