scraper420

Hello guys,
Soo my name is Matej i'm from Croatia and I started playing online poker in april last year (yeah 2015 is now last year, weird isn't it? )
I'm 18 years old and I primarily play cash, currently at NL5 on pokerstars.

I didn't start out with cash games tho, I started with playing microstakes SNGs and MTTs but that didn't turn out really well and my $60 (with bonuses) BR withered down to about $10.

I didn't really want to redeposit so I decided I'd grind it up to infinity with hard work and dedication.

I've been playing cash for about 4 or 5 months now and grinded it up to have a sufficient BR for NL5 and planing on moving on up to NL10 soon, need to grind up a few more buy-ins for it and then NL10 here I come.

Here are a few graphs:
Both 2NL and 5NL and a tiny shot at 10NL (a few hunderd hands, nothing noticable):
Attached Image

Just NL2:

Just NL5:

Unfortunately I don't have all my played hands here since I didn't have HM2 when I first started playing. I've only tracked the last 2 months worth of hands.

I know I haven't played much and my excuse is school and so on but I gotta start putting in some volume very soon.

I also plan to transfer on some other site in the near future. When I'm establieshed on NL10 and can spare a part of my BR just to try out another site and if I like the software and the (hopefully) soft player pool I'll transfer my whole BR there because I want RB deals and all that cool stuff.

I'll try to update the thread with new content as much as I can.

That's about it, thank you for reading and if you want to know anything else feel free to ask!

Last Post 8 years ago by

scraper420

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Hi Matej, nice to see another Croatian here
Graphs look pretty solid! I suggest you to move from pokerstars as soon as possible

Which city do you live in? Send me a message if you want to add me on skype
Sretno!

Nice man! Is that 5NL reg or zoom?

Looking forward to your journey

hello there! looking foward to your journey too.

Looks like you already put in a lot of effort, keep studying and grinding and you will have a good time in poker.

See ya.

Thank you all for replying and the kind words!

@Kasa I'll definitely send you a message sometime tomorrow

@colly191091 I play regular tables, I table select a lot and if there's not a fish at the table I'm not there, at least not for long

@Duran Thank you, I'm already enjoying poker very much and I hope that that love for the game will keep growing together with my knowledge of it.
PS I love your journey thread, awesome stuff there!

Nice! I notice you played 2NL zoom and made the switch to reg! Any reason for this?

Do you use the lobby filters to table select?

Interested to hear this, do you use EasySeat, or jump in and try and join up 1 0r 2 handed tables ? I think it's easier to find rec'l players jumping in. as that's what they do also, I've heard it said.

colly191091: Nice! I notice you played 2NL zoom and made the switch to reg! Any reason for this?

Do you use the lobby filters to table select?

Yes I tried out 2NL zoom for a while and got out quickly due to a patch of variance but more importantly because I hated how nitty everyone was, yes even on 2NL zoom.

Yes I use the lobby filters to table selecet, I select tables with high average VPIP and high players per flop stat, I also filter out tables with less than 3 people on the waiting list and get some golden nuggets in there.

I don't really like starting tables or jumping in when it's short handed because my game is not the best HU or 3 handed, that might be a thing I need to work on. I usually just join a bunch of waitings lists and stop going on tables when I have enough.

Totally agree with you on the zoom tables, I do much better on the reg tables, where I can get a few hands on people on my hud !
As for starting I tried jumping on shorthanded, on Stars the tables fill up pretty quick, and I seem to find a few more recs that way, but hey, whatever is working 4 u is good.

I also filter out tables with less than 3 people on the waiting list and get some golden nuggets in there.

Great method!

Due to the large player field at Stars, do you find it hard to get decent reads/samples on opponents?

colly191091:

I also filter out tables with less than 3 people on the waiting list and get some golden nuggets in there.

Great method!

Due to the large player field at Stars, do you find it hard to get decent reads/samples on opponents?

Not really, you can spot the recs and regs pretty quickly. My problem is that I don't put in enough volume so maybe that's the reason I don't have a lot of stats on some opponents. Also I play 6 tables at most so I try to spot what some players are doing rather than rely on the HUD too much.

Not often i am not the first person to welcome you - incredible to see how busy this blog already is!

Sick opening intro btw - like :

@Duran said it looks like you have already put a ton of effort into the game which is very needed just like anything in life.

So 18 and just starting out - I am jealous!!! I wish i was 18 again haha but 10 years on i can't complain to much. I guess i just miss the excitement of it all...it does wear off slightly but don't let that discourage you. Just me being a grumpy old man.

What is your impression of poker and poker players? I mentioned your blog on Twitch last night and said how different it must be for you than it was for me.

For me when i first saw poker it was

- People smoking at the table
- Wearing suits
- Gambling on everything
- James Bond lifestyle
- Stories of prison/close calls/cheating
- Dream life full of riches (no one spoke of losses)
- Anyone can win

For you i imagine it is

- Maths
- Stats
- Robots
- Young lads getting rich/going broke
- GTO
- bb/100

am i right or wrong?

Jon-PokerVIP:
What is your impression of poker and poker players? I mentioned your blog on Twitch last night and said how different it must be for you than it was for me.

For me when i first saw poker it was

- People smoking at the table
- Wearing suits
- Gambling on everything
- James Bond lifestyle
- Stories of prison/close calls/cheating
- Dream life full of riches (no one spoke of losses)
- Anyone can win

For you i imagine it is

- Maths
- Stats
- Robots
- Young lads getting rich/going broke
- GTO
- bb/100

am i right or wrong?

Hello Jon,
And yes, you are absolutely right about my impression of poker nowdays. You gave a perfect explanation for it, very funny post

.

Although I do like to play live with some friends from time to time just for the sake of hanging out and relaxation and bragging purposes, which is nothing like online poker (stats, bb/100 etc).

Too bad I wasn't able to watch the stream, I am the guy who had problems with my internet connection so I was unable to watch.

Thanks for replying and GL on the tables!

Another question on that front...who are your poker heroes and why?

Jon-PokerVIP: Another question on that front...who are your poker heroes and why?

Hmmm that's a tough one. In the sense of sharing the word about poker that would have to be Daniel Negreanu and Jason Somerville. I think they're doing a great job at that and bringing new people into poker with their work.

Not to belittle their poker skills. I think they are both amazing poker players and have achieved a lot in their careers and will very likely continue to do so in the forseeable future.

The other kind of poker heroes for me are the everyday grinders who put in tons of work into their game and improve it as much as possible in order to stay above the curve. I don't really want to say names because there are a lot of those players and I admire them all.

Sick answer and just as i imagined. I knew it would be grinder related and also yeh DNeg has stood the test of time (hero of mine for 10 years) and Somerville is kinda the new Negreanu and has a super relaxed approach to teaching and enjoying the game.

For me back then people didn't really admire fellow grinders as it was very dog eat dog and not much information was out there so it was Ivey, Hellmuth, Devilfish etc etc or just any random donk on High Stakes Poker who sat with piles of cash.

I like the guys from High Stakes Poker.
I watched a couple of the episodes on youtube, more for the entartainment purposes and just watching the greats talk to each other.

So a little update on the decisions I made in an attempt to improve my game.

I started implementing some new things:
1. I decided to work on my opening ranges and stick to them except if I'm exploting somethin obvious.
2. I started to 3bet more from all positions. (hopefully, not big enough sample yet but it seems like the 3bet % is a bit bigger)
3. Started cbetting more to protect my hand on drawy boards. (like pocket pairs with overcards on board which I would usually check on flop IP and check fold turn if another overcard comes)
4. Trying to improve my red line in general, this one includes number 3. , started check raising flop a lot more with bluffs and value hands.
5. Trying to fold more on turn and river and not be a tilt monkey and call everything off.
6. Started using steal related stats and exploiting people who don't defend enough. (There are some "regs" who almost don't defend their blinds at all, huge exploiting opportunities I was missing before)
7. Started defending more from the blinds myself, especially BB, still working on it and trying to figure it out a bit more.

I guess that's most of it, maybe I forgot something but nvm this is the general idea behind it.

Big thanks to all of you guys on forums who help out a brother in need, thanks for being here!
Cheers!

Hey nice stuff and some good goals there.

I suggest getting W34z3l to analyze your database for free Here.

Also if you need any help with ranges create or thread or check old ones Here and i will send the coaches over to help.

Thank you.

I don't really want to waste the mans time with my small sample, also I'd like to plug these leaks first and then see what he has to say if he's still doing it by then.

I have created a thread about opening and defending ranges and got a nice response.
A few more ranges wouldn't hurt as I'm open to viewing different playstyles and exploring for now and once I find the ranges I'm happy with I will settle then I guess.

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