Thanks Keri!!

Had my first session playing 2 tables this afternoon and won $23 on one and lost £7 on the other. I would say it took me about half an hour to get used to the speed but it shouldnt be a problem as back in the day when I played STT's I played 4 tables no problem, though in STT's not much to think about until the bubble. I am normally a big note taker and found it much harder to take notes with two tables. I can see I gotta review harder now and make notes in the reviews. I have had to switch all my client notes to HM2 as well.
I have got used to HM2 as of yet regarding filters its all so different to HM1 and mostly I am so keen on keep playing that I let it go and concentrate on playing, but of course I might never find my leaks so I will have to learn HM2 filtering at some stage.

I made one bad river call this afternoon and one good one, both times I had a flush. I got raised on a paired board river with the nut flush but as he never raised anywhere in the hand, and it was bvb, it smelt bluffy and I called and he showed J7 which was TP bad kicker! The second time was when I raised JTs and got one caller, alas the river made a four flush with the A, but I just couldn't help calling the river min raise, even though I knew I was beat. Still onwards and upwards.

2 huge moves there

2 tables and winning is awesome news man! Keep it going! One day you will be a 24 tabling genius!

HEM2 also an awesome investment and you won't look back!

The wheels fell off today in two sessions. I felt I played bad in the fist half hour but was only a few dollars adrift then as I got my game together and started playing well the wall came tumbling down and I lost 2BI in each session. I got it allin twice QQ v AKo in late v blind spots Ace came both times. I lost getting allin on flop v min donking fish, I had nut flush draw and pair and he had worse flush draw and a gutter and overs, the gutter drew trumps, I was 72/28 fav according to HM2. And then I lost with top trips when a gutter beat me on the river, variance kills you at times. So back to the drawing board though apart from early on I felt I played well enough, but still running over 11 BI below EV, which hurts. I actually hit 3 sets in my session but alas no one else had anything and I won a dollar each time!!

Unlucky! How have you been finding two tables? Do you prefer it now?

I have found two tables a bit harder for me to take notes and get reads but I will get used to it, I think, or I hope!

Yeah you will quickly get used to it, don't worry, just take your time and use your timer when it is needed, good luck

Try to ignore the hands, thinking about losing QQ v AK and missing draws is not the right way to look at it imo. Look at how the hands were played, who they were played against and did we deffinitely make the correct decision. If the answer is yes then shrug it off, if no then learn why not.

Running bad and variance is a huge part of poker sadly, we need to just keep on grinding until the horrible variance leaves us alone

I understand what you are saying Jon, and I am not worrying over my play getting it in button v blinds with QQ v AK. No matter how much I dress it up I dont know that I could do any differently, it would just be nice for the variance to come my way for once. I have been playing since January 12th this year and after losing another 3BI today( yes I got it allin pf with AKo v a fish with JJ, I got it in bad against a super aggressive short stack with 88 v AA, thats just unlucky he is just as liable to have A7, and the other losses just kept mounting up as I kept getting 3 bet, even after I tightened up my ranges, kept missing every flop, cbetting here and there and the losses kept mounting, seems to me that when you are losing you are almost powerless to halt the slide.
So I have played around 3 months now and approaching 22k hands and currently I am losing 10BI, So I am back to square 1 with an ever depleting roll and it does make me doubt that I will ever be a winner. I watch all the other players at my level who I play against and I dont feel inferior to most of them, they seem to make what I feel are lots of mistakes yet they keep winning and I cant seem to win. I am 10BI below EV on preflop allins, so in open or general play I am around break even which to me after 22k hands isnt great.
I do study my hands in replayer etc but if you dont know what to look for or what will make the difference then I could just be repeating the same old mistakes. I must make lots of mistakes or I would be doing better than I am. I try to classify my hand strength and try to classify my opponents and try to examine if I am making the right plays and i think I am playing at least as well as I can at this stage.

Which site are you playing on right now?

I am playing at Party Poker.

I took a couple of days off before starting out again just to think about things, since then booked a small profit after two winning days and a bad losing day. So basically I am still in the mire regards P/Loss and bankroll.
I have to realise that I am never going to be a sick grinder, I will never be able to put in that type of volume because illness restricting how much time I can play, but I dont want to say I will just be a recreational player either as I still want to learn and still want to achieve something out of it. I am at a loss as to why after 23k hands I am still behind the eight ball. I know that it is still only a small sample in the grand scheme of things and variance plays a massive part, but still when I look around at the opposition and look at how they play and their overall results according to PTR, then it still baffles me as to how they can be winners and I cant as of yet.
For sure I make plenty of mistakes and make bad calls etc and I'm sure I need to improve in all areas of my game, but I still feel I am good enough to be a winner at these stakes against this opposition anyway( I would say Party .10/.25 plays easier that .5/.10 at the better sites).

Oh ok i see,

have you seen these new casual cash games where you can play just one table is it?

What do you think about them?

The problem I see with playing only one or two tables is that variance is going to really really hit you and you are also more prone to feel a bad beat. When playing say 8 tables if you lose a standard all in spot on one table you don't even think about it- I don't even watch the cards come out most of the time tbh if its just a flip- as you have other decisions to make and by the time you play your next hand on that table its just numbers to you. I'm not too sure how to remedy it other than to perhaps play one table of zoom/speed (if PP have an zoom variation that is).

Also (This may or may not help) most regs at micro stakes are not actually winners at all imo. IMO the field is made up of about 65% regs these days but only 10% MAX of the field are winning so even if that entire 10% are regs thenn that means that 85% of regulars are either break even or loosing players. You just gotta strive to be one of the best to make monies my friend

Check out this video >>>[url]http://www.pokervip.com/school/poker-coaching/poker-coaching-videos/view/315/[/url]

I only just heard about the casual tables so dont know there.

Stewie - I am striving hard that's for sure.

Ive hardly played this week at all for one reason or another. I am, pretty even for the week so I am going to play much more this coming week and hope to show some profit, but of course so long as I play well whatever happens, happens.

pffffff time off!

Get back on the tables and grind grind grind

Last 2 days just the same old, this hand sums up my time in poker, what can I do differently here?




[pokercube=3638a/pokervip]

http://www.pokercube.com/3638a/pokervip

Party Poker
NoLimitHoldem $0.1/$0.25
Hero's cardsAA

Preflop
Small Blind Post SB $0.1, Hero Post BB $0.25, Under The Gun Raise $0.75, Hijack Folds, Cutoff Folds, Dealer Folds, Small Blind Folds, Hero Raise $2.5, Under The Gun Call $2.5

Flop 3T2
Hero Bet $2.5, Under The Gun Call $2.5

Turn 9
Hero Bet $5, Under The Gun Call $5

River 5
Hero Bet $10, Under The Gun Raise $23, Hero All In $21.22, Under The Gun Show $23, Hero Show $21.22, [COLOR="Green"]Under The Gun Collects $1.78[/COLOR], Under The Gun Main Pot $61.32




Villain had pretty fishy stat early on but it levelled out to playing 26/22 over 119 hands but pretty passive though I felt pretty fish still overall! Flop looke pretty safe and I bet 1/2 pot which I have always thought was the right sizing as it makes it easy to get stacks in by the river, otherwise stacks get messed up by the river( I think I watched this in one of Dustin Junipers videos, maybe its old hat nowdays, idk?), Turn brings a 9, again nothing to fear so again I bet 1/2 pot and he calls, river brings the 5 and I cant expect him to have A4 or 46, calling a 3bet utg can I? So I bet again as he could have an overpair and face the raise, should I fold to the raise, I have put in most of my stack, should I just c/c river or just c/f, I just dont know anymore.

id bet bigger otf and turn

I have won a couple of BI this last 3 days, still down overall but I honestly feel I am playing okay for the level. I am still striving for improvement and am getting there slowly I feel. I still need to get 3 betting IP more off pat but I am happy with it OOP. There is so much to learn in this complex game but it is such a challenge that you just got to keep at it!
I am hoping for a good week as it would be nice to get to parity at some stage, its coming I can feel it............

Good, keep up the good work ! Keep improving and working !