Fourteen Years Of Heartache In The Microverse, Is The End In Sight?

[GR1ZZL3R]

    At times it feels much longer but it is in fact 14 years since I started playing online poker. You'd think 14 years doing something would make anyone recognisable as a cut above the newbies, or fish, or recs, whatever's politically correct to call the newcomers these days, but sadly in my case time has not been so kind. Yes there have been some improvements, I actually call myself a winning player these days, albeit at a very small rate and amongst the lowest stakes it's possible to play at, but winning is winning. I've been a little over 6 years on Unibet, I never tracked my stats, deposited when losing and withdrew when winning, and although the figures are somewhat skewed to a small sample of mainly tournament wins, statistics don't lie, do they? 

   A Little Housekeeping.

 

 

   The frustrating thing today, there always seems to be one, is that though I had the best intentions I'm already falling behind my schedule, loose and fluid though it is. I've not played a hand of poker today but I was playing for an unusually long time yesterday, (thin brag incoming) in the farewell to Ukranians and Bulgarians tourneys, one of which, the UAT version, I won, and cashing in the other, (brag over.) I've also started picking a few horses out here and there, posting them on YouTube, definitely NOT tipping them. That's it for now, updates as and when but hopefully regularly, and good luck all at the tables. 

 

Small update:  Of course my number of hands played isn't for the full 6 years, only since the Game Lab came in, still a very small amount though. 

 

 

Edited April 1 by GR1ZZL3R

[SShcherbyna]

4 hours ago, GR1ZZL3R said:

one of which, the UAT version, I won

To be honest, I was rooting for Rushbie the most in that tournament, since I destroyed his AA very hard in the last freeroll, but I split almost all my starting stacks between the two of you, and luck decided 🙂

Are you studying? Even watching 20-40 minutes a day of videos from professional players can help a lot. Also, I advise you to post hands that cause you questions and in which you are not sure, and not in which the cooler or opponent just did something stupid.

Edited April 1 by SShcherbyna

[GR1ZZL3R]

   Well, how often do you go into a new project with high hopes, enthusiasm, optimism, a keenness to get off to a good start? Yes, me too, but I made some horrible rookie mistakes and paid the price.

   I was dithering about still trying to decide how to approach this, I was hungry and annoyed to be running behind schedule, even after planning for the last couple of weeks, so knowing I was going to play at least an hour I dived in and bought one €4 cash ticket. Yeah, pretty dumb, no choice of table to pick and no topping up if getting off to a bad start. Which it did. Eleven minutes, 23 hands, only the second flop I'd seen and a very badly judged attempt at a bluff saw ticket #1 bite the dust. When will I ever learn? (There's a song in there somewhere, surely.)

   I calmed down and did what I should have from the start and bought a €20 ticket. Intending to play 3 tables, my comfort zone, I can open 5 tables (pressing the sit out button immediately on the first one) then take my time picking which 3 to play and discarding the other 2. Short stacks are better, seeing limping is better, seeing stacks not topped up is better, so many better choices. I can also stay topped up as the ticket gives me €8 spare to do so, also a  much better choice I think.  

   The second session, an hour, went much more sedately, no big hands, no dramas, no bad bluffs, and a couple of euros taken back. By that time I'd had enough for the day, went and made some tea and settled down for a chill. I will play, probably, 2 or 3 sessions a day but an hour at a time before a break seems sensible. 

   The steadiness continued today and I had a good session, (I'm back in front) but I'm not going to update every day, that could get pretty boring, so the plan as it stands is to update after each ticket expires, by dying or seeing out its flops. 

 

 

16 hours ago, SShcherbyna said:

To be honest, I was rooting for Rushbie the most in that tournament, since I destroyed his AA very hard in the last freeroll,

   How very dare you? 🤬

 

16 hours ago, SShcherbyna said:

but I split almost all my starting stacks between the two of you, and luck decided 🙂

   Thank you. 🙏

 

17 hours ago, SShcherbyna said:

Are you studying? Even watching 20-40 minutes a day of videos from professional players can help a lot. 

   I used to study but these days, with it getting harder and harder and too much content to bother with I content myself with the thought that this is the Microverse. I may never beat it, I'm too old and set in my ways to be more than modestly ambitious, (€25 cash games look possible) and I do have a fairly busy life. Ten hours a day 10 tabling/and/or studying would not be my idea of fun, more like an absolute nightmare despite the amounts of money that could be won, so I'm quite happy to plod along. 

 

17 hours ago, SShcherbyna said:

Also, I advise you to post hands that cause you questions and in which you are not sure, and not in which the cooler or opponent just did something stupid.

   I'm not a fan of individual hand analysis, I get bored after 2 hours of hearing discussions of the 15 different ways it could be played and how the sims proceed, but much prefer general strategy (or tactical?) discussion. Having said all that, one hand did come up that I think poses both questions, the individual hand itself and the overall strategy.

 

   Villain had been limping most hands when suddenly the others left and one went to sleep leaving this the first hand of HU. I raised, he called, on the flop he bet his standard 1BB, I called. Then he bet 2.75BB on the turn, I "knew" he had a pair, which one I wasn't sure.  Reckoning my K was good with a FD and OESD I raised, which he called. 

   Of course with so many draws plus top pair I was never going to improve, was I? He checked, my immediate reaction was "not top pair!"  

   Question:  Should I bet for value thinking he has little to nothing, or is this turning my hand into a bluff. I haven't seen many showdowns from him but am convinced he would have bet anything decent, giving up leading with his small pair because of my raise. I'll be interested to hear any thoughts, especially why or why not?

 

Thanks for reading (if you made it this far 🥂.)

 

[SShcherbyna]

2 hours ago, GR1ZZL3R said:

I'll be interested to hear any thoughts, especially why or why not?

In order not to turn this into a long discussion of how the simulator would play correctly, I will give my intuitive (perhaps completely incorrect) opinion. I'd check because we're unlikely to get paid by a worse hand (like a straight/flush draw or second pair), but there's still a good chance of a trap or a stronger king that he won't fold.

[GR1ZZL3R]

On 02/04/2024 at 16:38, SShcherbyna said:

In order not to turn this into a long discussion of how the simulator would play correctly, I will give my intuitive (perhaps completely incorrect) opinion. I'd check because we're unlikely to get paid by a worse hand (like a straight/flush draw or second pair), but there's still a good chance of a trap or a stronger king that he won't fold.

   I checked back for exactly the reasons stated. 

 

[GR1ZZL3R]

    So we find ourselves at DAY #5 already, it really doesn't seem 2 minutes since the start of this blog, but doesn't time fly when you're having fun?

An update and a few stats.

   The first  ticket was completed without too much drama but I did find myself having to rein in on a couple of occasions, something I've not done too well in the past, which has led to more heartache and self recrimination than I care to discuss. 

However...

   

   Cash in the bank 💵 is always nice, 2nd ticket starts tomorrow. 

Basically after the first moments of madness I've settled into what I feel most comfortable at, 3 tables with all the replayers stacked on top of each other, taking up all of one screen.

 

 

 I don't want to bore anyone with too many stats, I've only played a tiny amount so far and what there are are fairly irrelevant but I do want to pose the odd question here and there, so here goes. To be fair I don't always want to wade through figures and sometimes prefer a pictorial representation, so both together.

 

 

 

   But, as you may see from the graph, after a few sessions of 1 hour I started going into what I call "The Lockdown Mode." Session 6 I loaded three tables, won an all in very quickly, won another smaller stack almost immediately, decided things could only get worse and decided to skip out and "protect" my profits. Similar situations happened the next few sessions, ( I was running pretty hot 🥵 ) a couple later in the same day and some the next day. Now I know poker should be regarded as one long session, it makes no difference whether you play 10 sessions of 100 hands or one of 1,000 hands, but it's hard to shift from my mind that some players target you immediately if you've bad beaten them or even outplayed them. If they're raising every hand after, 3 betting you all the time, and generally being loose and aggressive I know I should stay and fight, possibly a good situation to make more money, but I don't want them to get lucky. It's the fight or flight kicking in but too often I've stayed and fought and left with my tail between my legs, 3 or 4 buy ins down when I've been 2 or 3 up. I also get too defensive if I'm ahead but determined to see out the hour of the time I've allowed, and also don't want to play very deep stacks, so end up running for cover or playing sub optimally. The big takeaway is that the more you play the more you see how a good mental approach can be so vital, I may be getting there but it's a long hard slow process. 

   So that's it for the time being, I'm going to venture out into the garden now, not a pretty sight at the moment, and update that project next. 

Have Fun 

 

 

Coming next. Did it survive the move and winter or is it just sleeping?   

[HardGain]

If the game is good - leave you shuld not! 😉
You inspired me for cash tickets, for how much BP was that?

 

Edited April 5 by HardGain

[GR1ZZL3R]

1 hour ago, HardGain said:

If the game is good - leave you shuld not! 😉

   That's what I figured Yoda! 💯

1 hour ago, HardGain said:

You inspired me for cash tickets, for how much BP was that?

    

[GR1ZZL3R]

    You too can have a garden like mine. All it takes is a lack of desire, no forethought planning or work, and sheer laziness. 

 

   BEFORE

 

 

 

 

   AFTER

 

 

A lot of work to be done.

 

[GR1ZZL3R]

   Second ticket finished. (I'm dismissing the first ticket but it's sad demise is included in the stats 🥲)

   This one was a touch disappointing after a good start, the dreaded downswing looked about to get into operation, who knows whether it will continue. Only €7.65 made over roughly the same time and number of hands, but at least I pulled back from the brink and profit is profit. 😬

   Twelve winning periods in a row before a big stumble, doing nothing different but variance can be a b*tch when it grabs hold. Session fifteen was very short, a swift termination as soon as profit was hit, just to start the line back upwards. 🥴 The last 13 flops were seen in the early hours of this morning, not a time I usually play. Nearly 04:00 UK time but I was having one of those not getting back to sleep periods so decided to get up. There were only 12 on the €4 tables and some forbidding looking big stacks, but I managed to sit on 3 tables and begin. I'd only played for a few minutes and got no reads on all unfamiliar names, but after a pretty bad morning stint I pulled some good hands, two biggies in a row on the same table.

 

   At that stage I only need one more flop, provided by an AA deal and losing half a stack to a short stacker flopping a set of fours, so that was me done and time to quit. 😒  I haven't room for complaints really, I've had my share of run good recently, I'm just hoping for a bit more.

   As mentioned the morning shift was not very good but it did show a very rare situation. Someone was running far better than I usually do! I lost half a stack to a straight flush to a new short stacked arrival.

Less than 10 minutes later the same player really cooled off someone else that had been running well, how quickly things can change.

Ouch! 

   That's me up to date for the time being, I'll start the third run today and tomorrow go back some distance into the mists of time and give some idea of how it all began. 

 

Great expectations.

🍻

[GR1ZZL3R]

  Two reasons for a slight change of plans. The first was that I bought another ticket on Wednesday after completing the second, and despite all the warning signs, tiredness, lack of concentration, not really bothered about playing more, I proceeded to blast it off in a totally A1 Rec Whale manner and  killed it pretty quickly. I could say I ran badly, I did,  but that is a pretty poor excuse, I could have stopped at any time but the red mist and obstinacy took over. I've said it before but it bears repeating, I think my mental game is by far my biggest worry, so more steps need to be taken as a priority. The weekend off might help a bit, as other parts of the blog will come into focus.

   The second reason for a break was that my daughter has a pressure washer she thought I couldn't use because I have no outside tap, but a quick scan of Amazon (other suppliers are available) for the correct connector came up with an answer, only a fiver, as I have a washing machine plumbed in in the porch. 

   

Who knew that certain types of plastic are not frost resistant and, a bit like me, are prone to crack under pressure?

 

   Not quite finished yet but a good day's work. 

 

 

 

   Mr and Mrs came visiting, I think the same ones from last year. Mr shot off before I could snap him but Mrs enjoyed some worms I'd uncovered. 

 

   And if your grandson offers some advice based on his experiences, such as "You'll need some Wellies," then listen and take it.

 

   Tomorrow is Grand National day, so as promised, hopefully, "Great Expectations" will begin.

 

[GR1ZZL3R]

   GREAT EXPECTATIONS

      I was going to say it all started with Red Rum, one of the most famous names in British horse racing, but thinking back it actually started a few years earlier. My mum had a caravan, in reality a fixed almost bungalow sized static caravan, right on the edge of the duck pond, at an almost exotic sounding little place on the coast of East Yorkshire, called Sand-Le-Mere.

 

   Many happy family holidays were spent there, and exploring the small villages and smaller pubs were part of the adventures. I wasn't old enough to drink alcohol legally but there were many a blind eye turned, that was all part of the charm  Apparently one of the local pubs had been built with the proceeds of a terrific gamble on the Grand National and named after the horse. Whether all that was part of the local tourist trade build up or some flight of fancy I don't know, but over an hour's online search has not confirmed my memories, (we didn't have Google back in those days.) However it was a nice story, despite not knowing what gambling or the Grand National were,  that's stuck with me all these years.

   My introduction to the actual Grand National was in 1967, the year of Foinavon, quite an eventful race for my first foray into gambling. 

   I'd backed Bob-A-Job, Leedsy and one more I simply can't remember, despite looking through the list of runners, and thought it was so unfair that mine didn't win, little realising how unfair gambling could be.  Anyway it was a few years later before I picked my first winner, 1974 and Red Rum's second victory.

 

 

   It would be nice to say I backed him every time he won but it was not to be. Because he'd won for a second year and provided me with my first ever win on the horses (it was simply a once a year plunge) I had to back him again the next year going for the record but his second place wasn't quite good enough. I did however always bet each way,  two bob at a time in old money, so it wasn't a disaster monetary wise however much it felt like it was. I abandoned Rummy the next year and wasn't on his side the one after where he of course won again for the record third time, what a horse. 

   I've been reasonably lucky over the years in the National, many years picking horses because of a name or colour or even something else. Aldaniti in 1981, because he'd survived a career threatening injury and his jockey Bob Champion had survived cancer, if in doubt go for the most appealing back story. 😀  Corbiere two years later because I'd seen the trainer Jenny Pitman interviewed and knew she was attempting to be the first female trainer to win the race, always look for the best headline generating story. Since then I've moved on to less fanciful ways of picking winners, but there have been some great memories. 

   Looking back purely at the winners over the years if I'd only backed that one horse each time I'd have made a decent profit, but some of those winners weren't my first choice. I always backed 3, all each way, sometimes more than two bob, 🤣 and although I haven't done the calculations, some I can't even remember the names, I'm sure I'm a loser overall. 🥲

   It wasn't until 1987 that I branched out from the National and became a more regular punter, Reference Point in the Derby being the catalyst. I won on that race, my first ever bet on anything but the National. Top trainer, top jockey, top horse, favourite, gambling was easy wasn't it, but the great expectations of fame and fortune somehow never quite materialised. 

   For what it's worth and for whatever reason I've picked them, these are the three I'm on today. 

   10   Mahler Mission            15.00

   22   Adamantly Chosen      51.00  

   25   Limerick Lace               11.00

Good Luck whatever your fancy. 🍀🏇

        

Next time: "Just back the favourite"  

 

[Livertool]

8 hours ago, GR1ZZL3R said:

a caravan

To me most horrible memories of childhood were from this pissmobile. Liked the post cause glad that some could have fun time in it 😄

 

[GR1ZZL3R]

If a picture paints a thousand words...

[GR1ZZL3R]

Ey up.

 

On 13/04/2024 at 20:02, Livertool said:

To me most horrible memories of childhood were from this pissmobile.

    I thought ours was a very nice pissmobile, except it wasn't very mobile. 😀

 

   Maybe size does matter. 😉

   In those days the site was privately owned, by a typical tight fisted unwilling to spend grumpy old Yorkshireman (reminds me vaguely of someone 🤔.) I've read a few reviews just now, some not very flattering and it both amazes and saddens me how the site has changed, much larger and far more facilities but seemingly a little dilapidated and below par for cleanliness etc.

   As it happens Mum bought a proper static after two or three years of mobile holidays with her second husband, firstly in a "proper" caravan then a mobile camper, a Winnebago, I don't have any original photos of that, it's sad how many photos get lost over the years, but this is a 1976 version which I drove and would do so again today given the chance. 

 

 

   My mates and I had 2 distinct great adventures in that, but once started the memories come flooding back and there are just so many tangents I could go off on. 

   Anyway Mum eventually put her foot down after a close call by the roadside involving a flat tyre, deciding touring was not the life for her, so statics were decided on as a viable compromise. Nearly every site on the east coast of Yorkshire was checked before Sand-Le-Mere was settled on, a plot next to the duck pond (fishing lake)  becoming available probably sealing the deal.  Mum not being one for half measures chose a static that had everything going and  about 3 years later another plot next to it came up and she bought another. These were strictly for family and close friends use, privately owned and not hired out as many were and I do remember many happy family times there, with aunts and uncles and various cousins in one and us in the other, most major holidays and some long weekends or even weeks spent there. 

   I'm finishing each thread with a teaser for the next but somehow diversions crop up and another memory seems to hit the override button. I love a long read, that probably being my favourite hobby or pastime, but it seems these days attention spans are becoming noticeably shorter and shorter, so not knowing when to stop once I get started is going to take some trial and error, therefore I'll wrap up for now with some basic poker stuff.

   Having had a rough couple of days on the tables(mostly self inflicted) I once again (how many times now?) decided to go back to one at a time. One single ticket, one single table, no topping up, survive or die. I had a steady time of it, over €10 on the ticket, only 7 flops to see and I still somehow managed to blow it, losing a buy in (self inflicted bad bluff) before cashing out. 

 

Will I ever learn? This and other pressing issues will (maybe) addressed tomorrow. 

 

   Ta-ra for a bit. 👋

 

[Samba]

I fancied limerick lace in the grand national too. So did it's owner! He picked it over his other horses in the race. Didn't even get any excitement from my punt since it started in the back 2 off the line. Rigged!

GL on the grind

[GR1ZZL3R]

   Ow do.  👋

 

   The jet washing is more or less complete but my grandson wants his gear back so minor parts will have to wait a while. One more tip, when it's windy try to avoid standing downwind while spraying. 

                                                               

   One thing that really pleased me, though I thought the Fuchsias had not survived the winter I spotted this.

   A touch of green has appeared. Actually I was focusing too much on the minutiae and not on the whole picture, zooming out revealed it was even better.

   Cut all the deadwood out (like 93o and 82o) and prune it back a bit with a little trim here and there (along with my pre flop ranges) and it may well become a feature along with the Scarborough Lillies that are all being repotted today.

   As for the poker, I haven't played any more this week but managed to get my playing stats from as far back as possible. I'm working on converting the data to some sort of graph, which to be honest is going to look pretty bad, (probably even worse than even my most pessimistic guess) but I've already decided to embrace the negatives and make them part of the future positives, so a busy weekend ahead, digging both through the dirt and the data. It could get messy. 🤓

 

   A'hll si'thee.  👋

 

   

[GR1ZZL3R]

 

  

   After weeks days hours a couple of minutes negotiations with a deep undercover contact in the back office, henceforth to be known only as S, the X-Files, those highly prized personal statistics, were released. The negotiations were all about how this extremely sensitive information would be used, the files falling into the wrong hands could be disastrous, not only on a personal level but for the very foundations of the Microverse. Well, maybe a bit of exaggeration there but it could severely bruise a sensitive soul's ego, especially someone masquerading under the assumption that they might, maybe, possibly could  be a winning player, however unlikely that seems. 

   The file came as bare figures, a quick perusal and hope surged briefly as some weeks showed some good gains. However it soon became apparent as the totals were transferred onto an excel sheet and a graph showed a baseline only going one way, that harsh reality was beginning to bite, and each new row brought more unanswered questions. Could it really be that bad, was I really a wreck of a rec, why is a best run ever immediately followed by a worse run ever, and if I put my right sock on first instead of the left could it really change my luck?

   For four glorious weeks I was making profit, admittedly on a very small sample size, but who cares when you're winning?

   

   But then the downturn hit, and hit hard, and despite some all too brief respites the slide continued. 

 

THE GOOD...

 

THE BAD...

 

AND THE DOWNRIGHT UGLY.

   

AND THE RUNNING TOTAL

 

   Not a pretty sight, the figures for €10 don't look much different but I'll come back to those much later, and it's hard to find anything positive to say. Except... I can win sometimes. My worst losing week was €45 but my best winning week was exactly the same, and it's only €300 and I've made far more than that back on the few lucky tourneys I've somehow managed to cash, despite that formula not being my favourite. Anyway that's all irrelevant, it turns out I'm losing about 4.33 BB/100, by no means as bad as some, but I don't want to be not as bad as some, I'd prefer to win. There was one period in 2023 where I went 15 weeks without playing a single hand of poker, after a sustained bout of getting my Aces cracked 43 times in a row (what's the record for this sort of claim anyway?) That maybe a slight exaggeration but sometimes that is what it truly feels like, a dread of turning up to play and the first big pot your flopped set gets beaten by runner runner flush, your KK is out flopped by 22, your flopped OESD and nut FD never ever gets there, and the bank roll just withers and dies. 

   All these years playing poker and I think I have a pretty good grasp of the basics, but undoubtedly my biggest drawback is on the mental side of things. When things go well everything is sunny and rosy in the garden, but when I'm running bad, or more precisely everyone else on the table is running good, then the demons force their way in and compound the misery. To become a winning poker player, over a reasonable sample size, no matter how small the stakes, my mental habits have to change. I've known this for a few years now but never really done anything about it, a swift reading of 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                  didn't really help basically because I didn't take it in properly and never really tried to put any of it into practice. Also being a big fan of Tommy Angelo I'd bought his "Elements of Poker" and "A Rubber Band Story" both highly recommended, so eagerly looked forward to the publication of his latest,

                                                                                                                                                                                  I was disappointed but the fault was entirely mine, the subject matter was not what I was expecting or wanted. Going back to revisit it however I found it had somehow disappeared off my Playbooks app, so I contacted Tommy and explained the situation. Almost immediately he sent me another copy and also a copy of

                                                                                                                                                                                    asking only that I might review his books on Amazon, which of course I was happy to do. Top man that Tommy. ❤️

   So that's my reading list for a while, in an effort to get the mental game back into some sort of working order. Sadly neglected though it has been I still have hope some of it may be recovered.

   I'm not one for setting targets, they tend to be harder than first imagined leading to disappointment and neglect, or maybe too easy leaving to undeserved feelings of achievement, but this exercise has led to a somewhat obvious target for the time being, namely win €300 at NLHE €4 cash games. The time frame is unspecified but seeing as I've lost that amount over four and a bit years and this is a Blogger of the Year thread I suppose by the end of the year if I'm not in the black I'll have to consider it a failure. Here's hoping Tommy and Jared can help to finally turn things around. And as I write and click around Tommy's website a new article has appeared.

                                                                                        It may be fate, I'd better start now. 🤔

 

 

🍻

 

[HardGain]

What to say? I feel you! 
Its really like watching/listening to my other me 🙂 Once again, a lot of similarities regarding our poker life. The mental part is for sure one of the key points. Mental game of poker helped me a lot when I was reading it. And I did it twice. Maybe it's time for the third. Because, when I was reading, specially the bad stories of people the author was coaching, I saw myself, the struggle. It makes you realise, that the down will come, no matter what, it's just about how you will handle it. 

Your bottom line results comes as a surprise to me, but knowing how can it go, I really can't be that surprised. Would like to read comments also from more competitive community members, but I don't see other way to keep going, studying and dont feel too bad if you get your good cards in and lose. 

We should grind it off the grave now 💪

Edited April 22 by HardGain

[KrustyTheClown]

Kudos for sharing those results.
In order to improve the first step is to analyze your results and to try and determinate where your game has leaks.
I think improving your mental game is much tougher than improving your technical game.
Just try and improve both I guess 🙂

I estimate you paid about €400 in rake in those 169K hands.
So maybe it's a bit of comforting thought that you'd be a winner without rake.
Anyway, good luck getting that graph into the green 🙂

[Samba]

I watched a couple of your youtube videos and joined your stream a couple times and I feel like your mental was pretty strong, you seemed stoic.

You don't 3b enough (Bluff and value) or x/r flops enough, especially vs late position.

All of that + showing down your hand too much means anyone trying to be a thinking player will gain insight into your game fast and overfold to you.

I know this is 4NL and those players are few and far between but they do exist.

Tommy Angelo has advocated open folding AA as a mental experiment just to see if you can disconnect yourself from the game entirely. I've read some of his stuff a long time ago and have done it.

How about instead of open folding AA you 3b the button with A5o, K6o + the hands you're supposed to 3b with.

Rake is very high at micros. Winning preflop means no rake.

One last thing, experiment with some bigger bet sizes, like really big bet sizes for the flop and river. Especially bvb.

Wishing you the best.

[Stubbe-Unibet]

Big 👍 for sharing that data! Obviously A LOT of players with far worse or similar data, but it's rare anyone will share it, as everyone wants to look like crusher 🙂

1 hour ago, Samba said:

Rake is very high at micros.

On other sites, definitely (+5% generally). Not here though. 2% with 0.5 cap at NL4 🙂 

[Estzen]

I would say, if you wanna work on beating micros, it really comes down to few simple things. 

* Not punting with random hands. 

* Knowing your Opening ranges, and opponents calling ranges. 

* Fliping with premium hands with no hesitation - because playerpool calls wider than they should. So all value just prints. (In cash tho, need to assess that AQ and AJ is not the same hand as in MTTs)

* 3betting is benefitial already for isolation and avoiding multiway pots. 

* Out of Position is where you loose most of your money. Look up what is cash game Big Blind defence ACTUALLY. <- and defend it rigorously like that with almost no adjustment, worry about adjustments when you get better , adjustments only confuse focus if you wanna just get over the curve. ... What happens from there is... you pay less rake and you lose less from the BB defending which in overall boosts your winrate. 

* Small Blind is super tight.... and no there is no suited connector calling like in tournaments. Only Broadway related 9x suited+ 

* Dont call from the Small Blind, only 3bet.(IN cash ) 

* Learning to understand Pot Odds and MDF. Not necessarily always counting them, but already having a grasp of ... is a benefit. 

 

I think the usually thing is very nitty straight-forward game in the player pool. Afraid to loose and tryng to double up from good hands. Playng very passive ways which miss EV from passive players who dont bet themselves. Having a strong top pair and betting 40% or 60% when turn has gone check check. These super afraid river bets where players dont understand that if someone wont believe you he will call pot+ with 3rd pair.. instead of betting small betting larger - no1 will build the pots for you, you have to do it yourself. 

The other guys are the maniac punters who open 23o from UTG cuz why not, and call 54s vs a 4bet because "I feel it might be coming" . <- Against these we can take even more advantage off. 

@Samba While the 3betting is very important, we are for sure not 3betting K6o region in cash ever. Thats more of a 40 BB slivers vs BTN in MTTs. We generally dont wanna put much effort to Offsuit combos in cash cz they mostly suck deep stacked. Most 3bets come from Suited connectors, Suited aces and Kx suited. 

With offsuit can just light money on fire. 

In overall - I dont play cash much at all, but I certainly know something about it. I dont like the grind of it, despite the swings are smaller. Also to me it seems, in MTT starter could get few hundred up in  week. While in cash someone could play a month and still have almost non significant up, or like to get up to 200 with 4NL ... I have no idea how much would it take.  But its everyones preferences, MTTs take time. Everything has its benefits.  Now @GR1ZZL3R start reading this post every time. 😄

[Estzen]

150k hands is also showing, that right now you are just not beating that game. This is not varience. So it would be very important to actually gain more understanding on these things written above. Also looking some materials about these and to advance your knowledge, because if you dont - nothing will change, the going down the trail just continues with few winning ups and some break-even lines... 

In order to win, you need to: make less mistakes than others,

and know more than others. 

Otherwise, you make more mistakes than others and know less than others - by which all your money is flowing towards others not the otherway around.

Cheers!

 

[GR1ZZL3R]

    Ey up everyone 'ows tha doin'?

    Thanks for all the replies and comments, there's a fair bit to unpack here and as I feel there are some quite important points to answer I'll do my best, but over one or two threads. Who knows what the optimum thread length is, personally I don't mind a long read but these days it seems the shorter or quicker the better. 🥴

 

12 hours ago, KrustyTheClown said:

Kudos for sharing those results.

  Fair play, you showed yours so I showed mine 😀

 

1 hour ago, Stubbe-Unibet said:

Big 👍 for sharing that data! Obviously A LOT of players with far worse or similar data, but it's rare anyone will share it, as everyone wants to look like crusher 🙂

🍻       

This morning's session.

Half an hour later...

Proof that I'm a crusher? 🤔

   

 It's like the Hendon Mob data base, to be honest who knows whether the guy that's "won" $7,000,000 is a winner or not. I left the table with 214 BBs, how much did I win?   99.99% of poker players are "a bit up," "a bit down," "about even" or indeed "crushing."  

 

    Somewhat connected tangent.

   My mate M, (not James Bond's boss but he would have liked to have been) was an expert in everything gambling or betting related and could sum up any race card within seconds. "Favourite'll win" was his mantra and became somewhat of a catch phrase in those days, and indeed he was often correct, about a third of the time in fact. (Statistical joke.) The thing was though that despite the huge majority of favourite backers being losers M somehow bucked the trend and regularly declared a winning day, impressive to casual passers by but not quite so for the inner circle.

   I and most gamblers would tot up all outgoing, tot up all returns, subtract one from the other and declare profit or loss, but M had a slightly unorthodox accounting practice. Mine would go "Four bets at £5, outgoings £20, one winner at 4/1 returns £25, profit £5." M would be regularly heard in the background muttering ostensibly to himself. "Winner at 6/4 wins £12.50." "I won fifteen quid on that one, it was obvious." "Another £17.50, easy."  This would continue all afternoon until the last race was over and we retired to the pub (we had popped back and forth between the pub and bookies during the day, a not very arduous 15 yards between doors) then the totting up procedure would begin. I simply declared "about" (exactly) a fiver up, others would mutter "a bit down" or slightly louder "a bit up." M with great authority would declare "I've won £65" or other equally impressive amounts. It was sometimes a week or two before the casual members of the group would cotton on, that like the Hendon Mob results, only winnings were being added up, in M's world losers didn't count so were not included. He bet in 12 races at £5 a time, buy ins, and was in the money 3 or 4 times, collecting £65. In my book he'd won £5 and we were level, but in his own book he was a decent winner. He absolutely was not doing this to fool anybody, not even really fooling himself, he knew what he was doing, it was simply his way of accounting, and nobody called him to task because, "Well, it's just M." 

 

   Time to do some more potting (plants.)

   Ta-ra.

   🫖