Getaway from planet Breakeven and land on the Supermoon

[HardGain]

Hello everybody!

First of all let me say this is my first blog in english language, so be patient 🙂 
The title is maybe missleading as I'm on my sasonal break from trying to freeroll into the 250€ Supermoon, but for the sake of the blog/challenge I might play some qualifiers from time to time. The break is due to longer and warmer days and the kid is not going to bed that early like in the winter.

It wasn't my initial intention to open this blog, but theres absolutely nothing to lose. If i'll improve my English i'll count it as a success.

My story is very similar to @GR1ZZL3R. Years of playing, but still stuck at the micros's. I was a reg at NL10 before Unibet, the bankroll is there also for more than that, but at the moment I somehow don't feel confortable. Maybe this blog will push me and motivate me to jump and try it and see how it goes.
On the other side, I had my moments in MTT's where I had a pleasure to play buy ins up to 530$, thanks to satellites. Great experience in my poker life. I hope to live such emotions soon again 😉

To keep me focused on my game and not to be result oriented and frustrated about the money I keep my balance hidden, but for the sake of this blog i'll write down my Unibet balance at the moment

Bankroll on 3rd April:  523 EUR
Bonus points: 1007
Tickets: 10€ Supermoon, 10€ Unibet live
Gamelab hand counter: 358.000
XP: 592

So, what's the plan!? I will do what i'm usually doing. Playing 4NL (I should go for a 10NL regarding my bankroll, but swings are huge already), taking advantage of promotions, completing missions (if affordable) and all the goodies Unibet will offer. I don't exclude a jump on 10NL if I will feel to do it. Time permitting I would love to play also MTT's 1-5 EUR

Freeroll into the 250€ Supermoon strategy:
flip 0.04€ -> flip 0.40€ -> 2€ -> 10€ -> 50€ -> 250€) 🚀 land & cash it

Every quarter I'll try to reach Level2 as soon as possible, to be eligible for a bi-weekly freerolls and try to collect tickets for MTTs.

Goal: have fun and make some profit after all

Edited April 3 by HardGain

[GR1ZZL3R]

[HardGain]

Rough start yesterday, specially the evening session, when my KK was losing not only to Aces, but also 32s... I think am 5 bi down, but today we are ready to fight back!

Gardenville 🥀
I decided to revive the garden and plant new trees, flowers and vegetebles. The tulips are now in full swing, but already survived two pretty strong storms with wind.

I hardly wait for the roses to bloom in the next weeks
Last week we planted a new cherry tree - my daughter loves them!

So, now theres two cherry trees, one appricot, a kaki, two mandarine trees, one plum. There's also some grapes and a ribes bush.

Look at those daisies. 16 years old Pinky likes them too 🙂 Now I feel sorry to cut the grass..


Now I have cleared my mind with my garden therapy I am ready for the morning session. Let's crush it!

[Livertool]

4 hours ago, HardGain said:

16 years old Pinky likes them too 🙂

Looks like grumpy old fella. If this is its happy face i wouldn't want to see it angry 😱

[HardGain]

BP update
Bonus points: 3532

Usualy I use bonus points to buy tickets for games I don't play regulary as Hexapros, Banzai in order to complete missions. As I'm obviously on a downer, Im thinking the 12€ cash ticket would be a nice and welcome motivational kick.
I'm still searching for a suitable non Banzai 2€ bounty tourney, but or they are all too early or too late.

I don't know if it's me or players in the evening are wilder than during the day. More alcohol in the veins I guess, but I never seen so much aggression , so much 3, 4 betting at 4NL . 

The morning session went so-so, I was card dead for a long time, then like from the heaven above QQ! Time for some action ... 

🤡

If we don't have some special read on the opponent: 
- we bet and he will call till the river with a weak A or K
- we check and he bet, we fold?
- x?

After all the years such spots are still painful and I usualy check and maybe call once. There's also a flush draw and I have no club.

Now it's time to hit the tables again, I'm already late for MTTs, so it will be only cash game. I will also miss the first Level2 freeroll as I'm only half way there 😞

 

And I'm also late for the community centroll. Gardenville keeps me busy until the night fall

[HardGain]

The weekend is behind us, and what a weekend it was! Great, sunny almost hot weather keept me away from the virtuality. 

On Saturday I really screw it up. Beeing around all the day I started my evening session at 21:30 and after 30mins I felt so sleepy I hardly holded my eyes open and head straight. I use stimulans like coffe, energy drink wisely, but there was no help from it.
Ended the session and now Im soooo behind to reach the damn Level2 for today's freeroll.

On Sunday we went to a trip to Italy - Miramare, Triest. Great day out and we took advantage of the free entry into the castle and museum as in Italy every first Sunday of the month all the statal museums have a free entry. https://miramare.cultura.gov.it/en/

In the evening I used my 10€ tickets, for Supermoon and Unibet live, but no joy from them 😕

So, welcome Monday and a new week in front of us. It's not easy to start a session after a bad week, but I know that I have to push trough. After all, now I have the most time to play poker during the day and I if not now, then when will have a chance to play it more?

A walk with the dog, a cup of tea and off we go! 

[Purps]

28 minutes ago, HardGain said:

A walk with the dog, a cup of tea and off we go! 

That's a cat!!!!

Just kidding. Love the pictures. Good luck for the new week and hope to see you in the community league also 

Edited April 8 by Purps

[HardGain]

@Purps that's a 15years old puppie who "already" learned that the (grumpie) one year older cat is the boss here 😄

Edited April 8 by HardGain

[HardGain]

Warning: venting post!

Im not having fun over here at all 😞

The situation that tilted me a little more:

UTG limps in, i raise 4BB, UTG calls.

Flop: we have a nice hand, right? we should bet (and I do). He calls.

turn: possible straight, but we should not be scared of it, right? I BET!, he RAISE, I call.


RIver: nasty, nasty, nasty. check/check.

Im aware it was another set up (giving me a good hand, make it great on the flop, to go down the flush at the end), but I am at the point to start begging Unibet to include NL2 stakes 😕

Few hands later


yes, yes, i'm grateful for such players, but in the same time im going broke here

But, did I die? NO! SO, tomorrow we're battling again

I bought a cash 12€ ticket with BP

The Supermoon flips went a little better:

[Estzen]

If the guy opens T7s from UTG , I mean... thats super great. Next time when you see someone like that, dont make it 4. Make it 5 or even 6 bb. Because probably - they will call anyway. On the flop, everything nice, on turn I agee that you certainly wanna keep betting, sometimes when board "complites" one option is to size down to like 33% . Probably wouldnt go larger than half tho, because we dont wanna narrow the calls into only "too strong" I think. The 2nd reason we wanna bet is also because of having a potential to make FH. So checking in many occasions there would be pretty bad because the board also can still have not just made hands but draws and we dont wanna arrive river with 18bb pot an 100 bb behind and having a full house. So your betting is certainly a good thing there. River check back is probably fine due to his re-raise on the turn, Turn aggression in these limits can be pretty nit nutty too. Cool stuff 😧 

[GR1ZZL3R]

   I saw the JJ hand  yesterday morning ( I wasn't the villain) and guessed from the alias it might be you ( I won't reveal it here as you haven't ) but I don't think I played a hand against you. I was having just as bad a time on 2 other tables, (my first bad session) and it's times like this that are going to sort out the mentally strong from the weak ( my main problem in this game.)

14 hours ago, HardGain said:

But, did I die? NO! SO, tomorrow we're battling again

Remember what doesn't kill you makes you stronger so back today and carry on regardless. 🍀

[HardGain]

Cash game ticket cleared with a little profit

and Level 2 reached

Gardenville 🥀

Next stop is the pool area, where I'll be busy for some time. A lot of invasive plants (how it's called in English? Ivy, maybe?) took over and need to be cleared off. Also a lot of waste I don't know where to put until the bio bin empty day (every Wednesday). You can sit there and see it grow! 

The old cherry blooms

 

Little apricots are already showing up!

[HardGain]

Got a 5€ Major ticket from the Level2 freeroll yesterday and I would like to play the 1000€ Tower, but it's a little bit early for that time of the year, when it's still bright outside at 20h CET. Will see, maybe the kiddo will be tired after all day out in the sun and will go to sleep early 😉

I also bubbled the 2€ Supermoon qualy for the 10€ ticket yesterday, shame! Could be a  nice MTT Saturday today. Not much to raport for the Supermoon as i'm not flipping well the last days..

[HardGain]

bubbled both, the Tower and 2€ Supermoon qualifier (again!) 🙄 Ticket status at the moment is Zero! 

[HardGain]

And it's Monday again! New week - new hopes! 
Workout early in the morning, groceries and a short study session after the breakfast to refresh my opening ranges.

After weeks of great weather, the forecast for the next days is not great (rain, wind, huge temperature drop), so there will be more poker and less gardening.

[HardGain]

I bought a 20€ 4NL ticket and now I have something to work on. 

Current bonus points status: 5422

XP: 3123

[Samba]

I'd make sure those ranges are configured to a similar rake structure as unibet since they could be way off.

The flora in your garden looks very similar to an english garden, where do you live?

P.S. Yeah it is called Ivy

[Estzen]

16 hours ago, Samba said:

I'd make sure those ranges are configured to a similar rake structure as unibet since they could be way off.

The flora in your garden looks very similar to an english garden, where do you live?

P.S. Yeah it is called Ivy

While I agree that rake is very important in cash, I wouldnt actually worry too much about it, specially in Unibet, for few reasons. 

Most people play very much out of line from the charts, that means that the calling ranges they get into the pots with are mostly -EV plays and way wide. In tern, that also means that sometimes even wider than a chart that would be with 0 rake implemented would overperform vs populations, because the opponent responses are going to overcompensate the theory. If anyone is consistent with those in these games, unless he punts hard post flop, there is absolutely no way to not come out in profit long-term. In fact, to some tables, these could be sometimes even too tight..  but I wouldnt speculate much on that, because with widening too much, its rather easy to start exploiting ourselves while thinking we are exploiting... so its usually easier to just adhere to the baseline. When more experienced it becomes easier to understand deviations, but I wouldnt recommend it to people who really just try to get their stuff together at first, it just wont work most of the time and just confuses the in-game actions to think about. 

[HardGain]

@Samba now you got me 🙂 I confess I never tough about the rake in corelation to the opening charts. You now made me think about it and, yes, I have to say it's quite logic.  Anyway, my opening ranges are a little different, more on the tight side for sure. 
So, if i'm understand right, as the rake on Unibet is lower the on other sides, we can see more flops
I'm from Slovenia (Adriatic coast). Maybe it was missleading, because I didn't posted the typical Mediteranian part and plants. So, here it is, the olive tree 🙂

 

@Estzen exactly what I was thinking and not bothered about the perfect GTO and opening ranges that much. I play tight, maybe way to much. I somehow try to adjust. Sometimes the games are wild also on NL4, 3-bettin, 4-betting every or every few hands... and here I really don't feel to call even with AKs, or jam with JJ-
Maybe a big mistake, but I have a feeling im losing so much 

Cleared the ticket, not happy how it went the last 60 flops, but I take it!

...and I bought another 20€ one 

 

I also flipped my first Spring community league ticket


but not even a bounty to complete the mission

Roses are ready

Edited April 18 by HardGain

[Estzen]

"even with AKs, or jam with JJ"

I mean , JJ maybe to some - jamming can sure be bad vs uber-nit who has 2 or 3% 3betting overall... , but if you are folding AKs or AK to 3bets <- thats out right crazy. Also JJ should still be looking flops. You certainly shouldnt be Tighter than the charts as they are already very tight, most people never play like this. ... Now I wanna point out on key thing for you:

As a caller, sure there could be some adjustments vs some players. But it shouldnt be thought about one individual line, even if you lose that 1 or 2 or 5 times in a row every single time, from these times... it doesnt prove that you lose by making these calls. It just shows that you lost these times. If you are very tight, you may also project in some situations "what would I do" to the players,  but that doesnt work . Because players are all over the place really.. by making so nitty folds, only makes you win a lot less money, because usually these spots print. ... Probably a lot of results oriented thinking when you try to clear a ticket. If some ticket busts, it should be actually okay, if the overall theory actually is solid. Cannot underestimate how big the varience tree can sometimes be... but by avoiding not to go bust by avoiding plays, is really shooting to our own foot. Making some of these mistakes, is certainly something that will hold down real growth and getting better at the game. 

Also a note, 3betting in cash is very important. However, people 4bet tighter than they should. 

A good question to ask your own self too, is how much 3bets do you have yourself ? 

Looking forward getting it much better, if you have started, you can do it much better! 😉 

 

[Samba]

Rake will affect open raise sizing + frequency + it also lets you spot the fish faster since you know all the ranges. I don't stick to ranges either but def think having the correct baseline is important otherwise u could be viewing people as fish when they're actually making a correct play. Knowing if someone is a reg or a punter based off of 1 showdown might help u next time ur in a 4bet pot with JJ xD

[HardGain]

thanks for all the explanations guys! I should read those comments before every session. 

I was reflecting these days on it, and I can say that also if I know how I have to react in some situations I don't implement this, knowledge (lets say) in my game. And thats my one of my biggest problems at the moment. It's almost incredible, but seems i'm playing money scared at the lowest limits possible 🥴
Maybe i'm too focused on building stacks and the bankroll and seing going down instead of up is kinda making me play this way. I have to accept this or at least remember how i did it in the past.

I did a little better with the last ticket


Probably should buy another one as I see that's the best way to use my bonus points (3432 BP left)

another 5€ Major ticket from yesterdays Level2 freeroll. Looking forward to play the Tower or the Brawl tonight 🤞

Edited April 21 by HardGain

[HardGain]

It's Monday again and it's week 8/10 i'm on the sick leave from work. I was expecting i'll took advantage of this time to play more. I did, but not that much I was expecting. I was hoping to put in more volume, to see if it will ever turn around on the long run. And to play more MTTs as they take a lot of time. I still have time and is still work in progress, so I will not conclude anything yes. It's only 10 weeks, after all, and not that much volume eather. The balance is still hidden, even I was accidentaly looking at it, when I logged into the main Unibet site, to see if theres any scratch card in the Bingo lobby 😄 
So, yes, the volume is a bit higher than usual, I'm enjoying the cash tickets for BP, not that bad after all!

New week full of flips and also Level 2 freeroll tonight again! Let's try to make something out of it if not - cash game all the way!

A little bit chilly and windy outside today, with wain forecast. I wanted to cut into pieces the remaining tree branches before the rain, but the wind is so annoying...

Beauty of the week 🥀

[HardGain]

putting in the work and cleared another cash ticket. Much better outcome this time 👍

Gamelab hand counter: 385.839
XP: 3.968

Almost 28k hands since I started this blog. I had more time to play last 8 weeks, will be interesting to see how much more can I squeeze until 10th of May. The whole family will be on vacation next week, so I can expect less volume, but back at it for the last sprint from 6th to 12th of May before I go back to work.

Quick peek at the balance as now i'm running out of tickets and will most probably spare the last 1400BP for Hexa's. 

I was down to 470€ or even more at some point a week ago. It's swing as hell, and it's only cash game, go figure other formats 🤯

Edited April 23 by HardGain
Balance update added