From Poker Donk To Winning Monk

[Rushbie]

5 hours ago, P0kerM0nk said:

Games are just same old same old, hard to win these days even at 25NL 🙄

No they're not. The levels and quantities of different types of players at tables always changes.

No mean thoughts against you, man, but if you can not re-adjust and just keep on seeing the world the same way as usually.. 

Well, you're the one who's fucked then 😅🍻

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by Rushbie

[P0kerM0nk]

@Rushbie I don’t really mean that anyway lol, just a wee ‘frustration’ joke, games are soft as there are enough people who just button click randomly.

[P0kerM0nk]

Not played much, actually only played a bit last night and a bit today so far this month, getting more over time at work again and summer is here as well now and has been pretty good weather lately so poker is pushed a bit to the background tbh. And still don't understand what's happening as yesterday was breakeven and today managed to lose 6 stacks at 25NL within an hour, one of the first hands being KK vs AA straight away lol. Games seem so weird, every time I bluff I get snap called by random crap even vs my jams, every time I value bet all I get is folds, when I 3b I so often get 4b it's bizar. I mean it is 25NL lol, dunno what is going on tbh. I literally make the worst decision at every point in the hand in some way.

Also not gonna bother with updates anymore, maybe once a month. Last month was pretty much a skydive at the first weekend and then more or less a flat horizontal line for rest of the month. Small sample size 13k hands but I ran about -64bb/100 at NL100 / -23bb/100 at NL50 and +1bb/100 at 25NL lol.

I pretty much s#ck at poker, nothing more to be said I guess. Enjoy the summer everyone!

[Rushbie]

Getting your mind off from work- and pokerstress for a while seems pretty good idea, man 👍🙂 In fact, it's a good idea in general for everyone. But you know that.
Truly wish you a good summertime, get 'em batteries recharged properly and enjoy the break! Winter will come again way too soon otherwise 🌞🍻

Edited June 11, 2021 by Rushbie

[P0kerM0nk]

As we had the new loyalty update I started playing a bit again, ended up with €30 in my account after some 'fun' bets on the euros but have now took some money off my RIO and put it on Unibet so started with about €200 for the month. Playing 25NL for now and think I'll stick to a 30bb rule for moving up to 50NL next. Doubt I want to move down to 10NL as too many button clickers there lol. Seeing pots 4way half the time is soul destroying 😄

Still working over time at my work and it is still summer so doubt I will be playing much but the new loyalty scheme and game lab are interesting, for now at least.

Did waste money on a €500 playthrough bonus as only cleared €100 before crashing with the bankroll and having to play too low stakes to be able to clear it quick enough. Had an issue today for the 2nd €100 but you can read that in the poker chit chat thread. Basically cleared about 96% and then it expired from my account today 😔 wtf right.

Hand from a while ago and that's what I mean it can be soul destroying lol, I mean I don't have clue what is going on there 😂

 

And a hand of today, you know getting 3b to 8.8bb is a sign when you have pocket 88 right? 😛

 

Not much to add for the rest, will post the game lab stats once I played more hands and more has unlocked, interesting to see some stats for once.

[P0kerM0nk]

Played about 3700 hands so far this month, mostly this week to be fair although I'm still working overtime at work till Saturday then off for a week. Will be scorching for the next few days here in Scotland, giving up to 26 Saturday and Sunday, getting too warm lol 😛

Glad to say Andy will be reviving my €500 playthrough bonus once I've cleared my current €10 bonus, about half way now so hopefully I get that €500 back soon, nice customer service 👍

About 4k points away from loyalty level 4, not much luck with all ins this month, just won my 1st all in today, out of 5 all ins in total, so tight these games even 25NL 😁

All in of today, can't come much worse I think, 95-96% equity on flop and turn, still lose 🙄 😂

Good news is that I got 'my money' back with AA vs KK later in the session vs same fun player villain.

Bankroll going the right way but not going to focus on that for now, let's not jinx it 😆

 

 

Edited July 14, 2021 by P0kerM0nk

[Ch0p5Re1d]

Glad to see you back playing and you seem to be enjoying it a bit more. 
 

Been finding NL25 ridiculously tight myself the last couple of months so started playing Hexapro and Tournaments part time. 
 

How have you been getting on with Poker Scientist?

[P0kerM0nk]

@Ch0p5Re1dsorry for the late reply, read it weeks ago but just couldn't be arsed to come on here and reply 😂 been too busy, still working overtime at work and the week I had off was mostly filled with decorating some rooms and doing some walks, honestly the week off was worse than a week at work lol.

As for your question, I haven't really put much time in Poker Scientist at all, especially the last few months, when I bought it it was still missing some flop textures etc which kinda made me set it aside for them to complete it. They have since then done quite a few updates which look nice so I haven't forgotten about it and I will definitely pick it up again soon. Don't want to waste the money I spent on it for one although it was just paid with 'poker money' but I have to incorporate it into my study times as it will give me more to think about than just watching videos on RIO or Youtube.

And about videos, I have bought the RIO Elite sub as they had a promo where everyone who never had elite could pay for a month and get 1 month free. I've always wanted to have a look what the content would be like but didn't want to pay $100 for a month and from what I've so far watched it isn't really worth it for myself as the essential videos are more than enough for my current games. Elite seems to focus a lot on NL500 / 500 zoom etc. I'll try and watch as much as I can before the 2 months are done and that will do lol.

Then about playing poker, still haven't had too much time but will try to increase the volume more in the coming months, nice weather is one thing but also overtime at my work hurts the volume I would like to play. I do have my €500 play though bonus back thanks to @Andy-Unibet , can only applaud Unibet for this as I kind of wasted it to start with. Have just cleared the 2nd payout of €100 so €300 left but doubt I'll get them all, should definitely get the 3rd one but after that who knows, 51 days left on it 😅

Still playing 25NL, had 6 preflop all ins in July and only managed to win 1 😂 /sample size. So far this month, 4 pre flop all ins and won 3 😁

I'm currently at loyalty LVL4 with 13,378 points, 7314 hands played this quarter.

Call preflop: 4%
Raise preflop: 18%
Bet flop when raise preflop: 44%
Re-raise (3b): 6%
Fold to re-raise (3b): 54%
Showdown when flop seen:  33%

Just some random hands next:

Hand from today, squeeze limps pre and MP was jamming lots of flops. flop when 3way with SB but MP jammed when checked to and SB folded so easy call for me. Just not to be...

Idiot jamming a nut straight board for a small pot 🙄

Can't remember the action, terrible turn but dream river 😛

When you open a premium hand at low stakes and half the table calls... /sigh fold lol.

CO opens, BTN 3b, I 4b, CO calls and so does BTN, action flop, all money goes in, AA pretty much dead and we don't hold vs monster draw.

Weird hands vs button clickers, villain used to call any hand after I opened, then just does random stuff, here just 3 small donk bets, find it hard to fold the river but funny how some always seem to have the nuts.

 

I'll try and post at least once a week from now on again, even if it is to say I still don't have time 🤣

[P0kerM0nk]

Well, another week gone by and had no time to play as worked like 15 extra hours during the week, had a busy Saturday and also had my 2nd covid vaccin then, and my head has been banging all day today so can't even be arsed playing. Did play a good 30min last night around 19:30 but traffic on Unibet seemed very low, about 50 for 25NL which was good enough and the 4 tables I fired up were decent enough too but seemed a quiet night looking at other higher stakes. No real hands worth mentioning and managed a small profit.

Only 1h a day overtime next week (unless they ask me for more) so should get some poker in during the week again. 44 days left on my playthrough bonus. Tick tock tick tock 😅

Edited August 15, 2021 by P0kerM0nk

[P0kerM0nk]

Another week has passed, managed to play about 7h this week, I play 4-5 tables for about an hour to hour and half which seems to be on point for my concentration levels most of the times. Had a bit of a bankroll dip at start of the week but back up after a decent day today. Still not that many players in the pool tbh but plenty of fun players nonetheless.

2 weeks of work to go before I have another week off, don't have anything planned so should be ideal to get some volume in. 

Currently at loyalty lvl4 with 20,100 points, close ish to the €20 loyalty bonus. And just passed the 11,000 hands played.
17.65% on my 3rd €100 playthrough bonus, still a while to go, pretty slow progress at 25NL lol.

Have some hands saved but will post em probably tomorrow as it's too late now. Good night 😴

[P0kerM0nk]

30min session played as was out for a walk before so not too much time, but up 3 buy ins 😎  some run good involved but obviously lots of skills too 😂

Was going to post some hands today but will do it later, just 2 hands of today:

1st, all in preflop, QQ cracking the good old AA, better to be cracking than being the one being cracked, 😁

Next pics is of the same hand, I didn't really catch the meta game as I must be missing something, I noticed the showdown and was like whaaaat?? 

So MP opens, CO calls, BB (funplayer) squeezes and both call, MP is a reg ish reg, played him yesterday too, seems ok but obviously has some leaks, not sure about the coldcall tbh, don't know CO, anyhow, CO calls as well... 3 way flop

BB bombs the flop, MP folds and CO jams, and gets called, must be some decent value hands right?

Euhm what? Spazz vs spazz and best hand won? lol 

 

Online poker is dead, nothing to see, let's move on 😅

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by P0kerM0nk

[P0kerM0nk]

Not to be underestimated:

 

[P0kerM0nk]

Right, just going to post some hands from previous sessions

3b pre, get 4b so I just call as when I jam on BTN vs UTG my range is strong aff, no bluffs and they maybe find a fold, he cb 1/4 on flop and I call, he x turn and I bet and get jammed on, easy call, not to be. Villain gained a lot of equity on the turn there vs pretty much dead on the flop.

I 3b BTN and BB coldcalls and we go 3 way to flop, do a small cb as dry flop and I'm crushing ranges. BB calls and BTN folds, I x turn but prob should have kept betting and he 1/3 turn and I should prob jam over it, but I called and then he 1/2 riv which I found so weird and I called it as well, think terribly played from my end after the flop although with his exact hand it saved me money but all my money should go in before the river tbh.

3b K9s SB vs BTN, BTN 3x open which we should 3b more imo and K9s is a decent hand for it. Get called and flop a piece of the board, I cb 1/2 as we have massive range advantage and he shouldn't have many 3x combos. He calls flop and I x turn and he x back. I then block riv but not sure if we should go bigger with K kicker but get jammed on, I called as not sure which value hand x back turn apart from AA maybe. TT-KK should bet for value/protection imo. Not sure if I like the jam with AQo, doesn't block lower pairs and it blocks my potential bluffs? Not sure. A call seems more reasonable maybe instead of turning it into a bluff.

Got more but have to go for now lol.

 

[P0kerM0nk]

Part 2 🙃

Bit of a weird hand this, open JJ on the BTN and get 3b by SB albeit small 3x OOP but JJ is for me a 100% call as if I 4b and get jammed on I'm not in a great spot with JJ. Villain x the flop so I bet and get x/r and I call and same on the turn lol, I thought villain was just clicking buttons or something as such a weird line and it off, fancy play with the nuts I guess, suckered me in lol, doubt I can ever fold here anyway though.

 

QJ on the BTN, CO opens and I 3b and he calls, all the money goes in on the flop. Literally a flip, I'm 1% ahead with 51% vs 49% 😁 

 

SB opens, I 3b, he 4b with ATo which is a good combo and I call which is standard but he also made the 4b small as was just above 2x. SB pets 1/2 on flop which is bigger than solver says, 1/3 better but w/e and I called flop with back door FD and SD, he jams turn which is more of a x with his hand but mixed anyhow and we have an easy call here, funny to see a hand we already beat at that point. And we hold!

 

Fun player limps BTN, SB raises and we both call, good flop for us, SB bets out 1bb not sure wtf that is about but I raise and BTN calls and SB folds. I big bet turn and get raised so all the money goes in, oh well one of the few combos that we don't beat. He was one of those fun players you couldn't beat with anything, running like god.

 

172bb deep - CO limps I raise, SB aggro ish reg re-raises and I call, boom hit a set, he bets 2/3 flop and we call, bets 2/3 on turn again and I call and he jams river and I call again. Board runs out pretty ugly even the turn and I was on the fence of raising or just calling it off, me raising would also just fold out his bluffs so just called it, bit ugly being this deep. But because he was aggro and he kept betting on a board that's actually better for my range especially the turn I find it a bit bizar. He should do a lot more small betting flop and checking turn so... thanks anyway 🙂

 

Still a few more hands after this... do you guys even like these hands getting posted or is this just a waste of time? lol 

 

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by P0kerM0nk

[FreedoM]

@P0kerM0nkKeep Posting!👍

Edited August 28, 2021 by FreedoM

[P0kerM0nk]

Posting these hands also helps me though as I invest some more thought in the hands and go through poker scientist etc. And also want to add some entertainment value with weird hands lol.
Another batch of hands here:

Those weird passive fun player types are hard to pinpoint a hand range on at times, here I open and get 3b like 2x ok so we call. Flop goes x/x and he x the turn so I just put a 1/3 bet out for value? Not even sure lol, seems weird checking down after he 3b pre, he calls and riv goes x/x again... ok nice AA 🤔

 

This was a weird preflop hand, I open and BTN 3b and BB (40bb stack) coldcalls so I re-raise to 21bb to isolate the shortstack and the button calls me 😲 then the shortstack jams lol so I just jam over it, BTN cold calling is worrying but with already 80bb in the middle I don't think I'm ever folding. BTN folded... weird stuff and we get there vs 22 😁

 

Nothing fancy here, just heaps of calls so I squeeze and would get it in vs BTN and/or SB as they are short stacks. But they all folded, thanks 12bb extra 😃

 

135bb deep, 3b KK pre, bet 1/2 on flop and 3/4 on turn, then get donk jammed on on the A river, pot is 100bb and I have 86bb behind, hey I'm a fish what can I say 😂 can't remember exactly but villain is or a fun player or a reg fish so that's why I called. There are some Ax that could end up at the river like Ax of spades but not sure what the donk would be fore as I would also have a lot of Ax in my range although maybe not on the river. So yeh, weird spot again.

 

Same villain as previous hand, ok making more sense now as he does play a bit splashy. I 3b pre again and he calls, calls 1/3 on flop and he x/r AI on the turn, easy call, NH getting there 😂

 

Next 2 pics of the same hand, just some madness going on again, I open and CO open jams for 28bb, SB calls lol and so does BB half his stack what... then SB bets him AI on the flop and BB folds...

Oh yeh best AQo play I've seen, deserves to lose that one!

 

Last hand, more random madness, UTG opens, BTN and BB call, UTG x and BTN bets 2/3, BB calls and UTG folds, BTN bets 3/4 on turn and BB calls, BB then jams riv and BTN calls... hmm okay K5dd makes some sense but J7o... I dunno lol

 

Just passed the first bonus between lvl 4 & 5 so that's another €20 waiting once I've cleared the €500 bonus or part of it anyway, guess I could get it extended again if necessary but feel like donk if I have to keep asking for extensions lol. Just past the 25% for the 3rd €100 pay out of the €500. Takes aaaages at 25NL.

 

I should calculate how many points/hands etc I earn/play per hour played to see how far I can get or how long the playthrough is going to take. Would be nice to get to lvl 6 as you keep the multiplier for next quarter (if I'm right) but that's pretty much impossible for me at 25NL... ah well, once we move up next quarter right? Bit of 50NL who knows 😁

[FreedoM]

And they say poker is dead. 🤩

[P0kerM0nk]

That's August over, we are getting back on track, slow and steady. Still grinding our way through 25NL and games seem to be more than fine, enough fun players around and weaker regs. (me 🤣) Were some instances where the player pool seemed awful small but last few days it seemed fine again, not sure if I'm maybe playing on strange hours some days as I have the impression more people play during the week and less at the weekend 🤔

Bankroll went from €240 to €584 which includes a €100 playthrough bonus so €244 actual profit from playing. Have requested my stats so will see what the actual profit from the games are as not exactly sure if there is any other bonus included which I forgot. Think I played about 18-20h so not exactly much imo.

14,513 hands played this quarter # 15,755 bonus points total # 25,967 loyalty points total

30% cleared of my 3rd €100 playthrough bonus, 27 days left with 2 more €100 to clear after from the €500 bonus, think I'll need another extension 😅 Will keep it to €100 instead of €500 bonuses from now on.

Think I play about 525 hands per hour / 2.1% playthrough bonus cleared per hour / 1100 loyalty points per hour / 50 bonus points per hour (playing 5 tables of 25NL)

Plan is to keep playing 25NL for now anyway till I get to €1000 and then maybe mix in some 50NL again and drop down when I lose 2 stacks. If I ever move to 100NL again it will be with 30 buy in bankroll but that's still far away. Keeping the focus on table selection when moving up and only play when it's worth it. 

All in list of August, just for fun:

AA- NO ALL IN PRE WITH AA 🙃 (call 3b/4b pre)
KK-AK 1-0
KK-J9 1-0
QQ-AA 1-0
QQ-AK 1-1
JJ-AT 1-0
AK-KK 0-2
AK-QQ 2-1
AK-AK 1-0 (1)
AQ-JJ 1-0
AQ-AJ 1-0
KJs-K7o 1-0

Was going to post my game lab stats again but being the 1st of September they have reset again and won't be playing today so I'll post them later again, they haven't changed much from the previous time I posted them tbh. Will post some hands again later on as well. And if there are any questions, just ask.

Let's make September a good month as well with a bit more volume! 😎

[Merenitsu]

@P0kerM0nkHow can you play at 5 tables? Wait ace king queen jack. Everyone teaches me, but your strategy is weird too. You don't raise 99 or 88. Are you just folding?

And marketing. Each nickname is difficult to search if it contains numbers. 🥰

[P0kerM0nk]

@MerenitsuI don’t understand much of your post tbh, what’s the question? 😅

[KrustyTheClown]

On 8/28/2021 at 7:04 PM, P0kerM0nk said:

Part 2 🙃

Bit of a weird hand this, open JJ on the BTN and get 3b by SB albeit small 3x OOP but JJ is for me a 100% call as if I 4b and get jammed on I'm not in a great spot with JJ. Villain x the flop so I bet and get x/r and I call and same on the turn lol, I thought villain was just clicking buttons or something as such a weird line and it off, fancy play with the nuts I guess, suckered me in lol, doubt I can ever fold here anyway though.

Always good to read through your hand histories Monk.
This JJ hand is an interesting one. As often said, it's one of the most difficult hands to play.
Mostly calling 3bets in position seems good, but I think at some frequency we should 4bet/call.
Especially btn vs blind.
Not sure what those frequencies should be exactly but something like 70%call/30%4bet maybe.

Yes we get a lot of worse hands to fold but then again we deny them tons of equity with hands like 78s for example.
Getting a fold and picking up 10-12bb with no rake is obv a pretty good outcome.
And as you well know you can get in pretty tough spots post with JJ.

GL

[P0kerM0nk]

@KrustyTheClownThanks for the reply, some hand histories are just a short summary as there are other factors at times that influence the way a hand is played and there will always be a more in depth view as well which is pointless typing all out on a forum imo. I do agree with your low frequency 4bet/call strategy and the only reason I don't really apply it in these games is that once the money goes in I'm often behind as games seem tight especially vs regs. Vs recs it's a bit depending on how they play, often I don't have enough information on how they play as for example in this hand I got 3b small which should see me call with more hands, but then again having JJ I should maybe 4b it anyway vs a non passive rec as JJ is a decent enough hand. The more passive the fun player is, the less likely I would 3b JJ I'd say. QQ+ I'm still happy to get it in.

It's always good to keep an eye on how people play and to see hands that go to showdown as you can figure out if people ever bluff on rivers or never bluff. Some fun players only bet with made hands and some bet all the time lol and I try and use the hands replayer on the table if I get to a spot like this to see if I can find a hand they played recently that went to showdown to see if they are capable of bluffs or just bet with strong hands. Of course it's a small sample size but it's something I include when making these pre-flop decisions. 

Also had my stats back for the month of August, €164 rake paid (Unibet getting rich here 🤣) 8934 hands played and €247 profit aka 11.075 bb/100 if I'm right. Small sample obviously.

Next a few more hands: 

3b pre and BTN calls, 1/3 cb flop he calls, I c/r AI on turn, unlucky. Poker Scientist prefers 40% cb on flop but 1/3 is fine imo but turn they bet big again and never really x this combo. Money goes in on the turn either way.

 

Weirdly enough this hand isn't on my All In list of last month, went all in pre, 44 nice...

 

All in pre. Everyone likes a split pot! No I don't 😂 

 

Open TT on BTN, again face a small 3x 3b so just call here, not the best flop but flop x through, face a 1/4 bet on turn easy call, x/x riv... boooh!

 

Limp limp ok I raise, oh no here we go again 😂 2 callers...

Dry flop, just went bet bet bet, ignore the button on pic below as that's taken from hand history and shows it wrong, I'm in SB as above. BB folded on the flop and UTG called twice then folded river. Think I always jam here, having K of clubs deletes a few club combos in his range so maybe we want to check back KK without a club but vs this opponent probably still shoving it. Not sure what he called twice then folded. Other reason for jamming river is he might call with a hand like A9 which he would probably check back when we check river.

 

This is some hand lol, UTG opens and I 3b, he calls, I smash that flop so 1/4 cb and I get x/r so I call. He x turn and I bet 1/4 which he calls and then he donk jams river lol, another one of those weird plays thinking he has AA or something but can't see me folding AK here. Also not blocking spade or club draws although this is obviously irrelevant when you see what he showed up with /doh 😅 well played, especially the 3b call pre lol.

 

Nothing too special, a reg 2x pot bet on river.. bit greedy like? I folded...

 

Random hand of the day, limp pot, SB donks out, I fold obviously, MP calls, SB donks turn and river and then gets x/r 2x pot ish by MP, interesting play with 32s.

 

Quads on the river! Rare spot, villain was fun player type I think, I jammed the river, you never know if they call it off lol, guess it's worth the punt.

 

Crap hand from Thursday 😛,  I call pre, could 3b sometimes but weaker players behind so rather call. I raise flop after he cbet and he calls, I bomb turn and he calls and I jam river and he calls... ffs... imo he should jam the turn with all the draws still out there and he doesn't block clubs and wins over QTs.

 

Call pre, call flop cb, x/r turn and he calls, bomb river and he shoves. Hoping it isn't AJ and it wasn't, AK not even a heart blocker, bizarre play. Just call is probably standard although I wouldn't be happy with AK in that spot lol.

 

 

And one of the last hands last night was my KK vs AA to finish my session, not the way you want to end a session although standard 😛 

Hope to get some poker in today in the afternoon somewhere probably as have to dogsit later on, have my own dog (15y old Lhasa Apso) but also looking after 2 other Westies (2y and 4y old) till tomorrow morning, will be interesting aka mayhem. Hope I get some sleep tonight 😆

[P0kerM0nk]

40min played today and won't get more in today I'm afraid, but session was on fire up 3+ buy ins with no all ins pre 😲

 

What's up with these small 3bets OOP? Did I miss a new strategy or something? And they are supposed to be reg ish 🤨

 

Open QQ, get min 3b by funplayer and I 4b to 15bb he calls, 2/3 cb on flop he calls, turn goes x/x so decided to shove river. Solver shoves turn already, maybe I'm too 'afraid' of flushes here, as a general rule I always x back flushes as they are supposed to be in both ranges but then again this is a fun player. Idea was I x back and when he x the river he will never have a flush here as he would bet / shove that himself.

 

Even cashing it in with 52o 😂 limps pre then pots flop and big bets turn, x to me on riv, just made a big bet as he was pretty random, might check a deuce back being afraid of the flush maybe and I would have folded to a jam tbh. Block bet is maybe better in this situation as I don't have the best kicker.

[Merenitsu]

I see you increased the range and the results came. But ... but ... but ... your initial strategy was more winning. Simple advice from me - if you have patience - a wider range. if there is no patience - already a range.

[P0kerM0nk]

Yup my range now is everything from AA to 52o just leaving 62o and 72o out of it 😂