[BLOG] From Zero to Hero; Road to NL400

[psrquack]

The mummy returns.🤣

[VikingsAF]

For who's not following on the stream... I won the tourney and made 250 euro profit :) Gonna withdraw at least 150 so I won't play it away in 1, 2, 3 :D

If you want to see some hands, then I maybe got some interesting (or fun ones)

Edit: After exams I'm going to restart my challenge with some changes and upgraded "rules"

[VikingsAF]

Hi guys,

I'm really sorry about the inconsistency of my updates, and I think this will stay the same for the future. But since I like writing, I will try to give updates whenever I can (or feel like)

What will this post be about? 

1. Small update for the last 2 months (with a teaser for my blog post about UO London) first spoiler tag
2. What's up for the future? (some suggestions?) second spoiler tag

 

January

I maybe posted once or twice durning this month, and thats maybe because nothing really happened. I had exams so poker really needed to get to the second place. I played some freerolls mostly and that 2-3 times a week. Tried some cashgames aswell, but lost a lot there due too my focus being miles away from me.

Luckily it all turned around in the end, where I had the brilliant idea to just try to go for one of the daily tourneys. I bought in for one euro in the lowest satellite, and played the following sattelites all in the same day. Ended up registering for the daily hexagon, and the rest can be read in the previous posts (SPOILER. I won 250 euro aka 25.000% ROI :p)

Some minor highlights

• Played the ante turbo bounty (10euro) twice and finished one in the money (without any bounties tough :p) and the other one I bubbled (but here I got a few bounties, which covered for the buy-in more than enough :D
• Got offered a room for the UO by @jonny2192 and @AndreiBN, which I am still verry gratefull for.
• Went skiing... Oh and I played a small poker game (0 euro buy-in :p) with my friends there (just to make it fit in this blog :p)
• Passed more exams than I expected, which made me convince my parents that I could go to this UO

February

School had to restart, which made everything a lot busier, which, once again, didn't really give me an oportunity to play. I was actually a bit fed up with playing poker online, because I felt like it took a bit too much of me. Not that anything else suffered from it, but I felt that downswings influenced me more than they should :) The problem with my focus was a point I needed to work on before starting again.

Now I read a bit about it and talk with some close people to see what they tought could help (it's not only focus in poker). But that's for the beginning of march (later in this post).

So I didn't get to play much online poker in february either, but february brought ofcourse some live games at the UO :) But that's all for a later post :) For now I can say that I loved being there in London, and that social-wise, this was a better experience than Bucharest (more players from the community, and other cool guys)

For february I can't really do a highlights section, since there weren't any (that aren't mentioned above)

March (untill today)

We are four days deep in march, and I feel refreshed. I really have a lot of schoolwork which gets priority over poker now, which helps me to not get affected by the "Runbad". When I feel getting tilted I just close the poker client and I go do some work. On the other hand I'm sporting a lot more again, which gives me an awesome feeling overall. So all I can say for now is that I'm doing good :p I deposited 10 euros on the first and played a bit of everything.

Did sng's for the challenges. Played 9 for 1 euro and think I maybe got 12 euro back from it or so. But I played those on my phone while laying in my bed before breakfast :p just to get it over with.

Played one MTT only. A 2 euro bounty omaha, to prepare for the community leagues :D Finished 6th for about 2.5 euro and got about 4.5 euro in bounties aswell I think :) So that went okay for my first real Omaha MTT.

Then I played some NL4 aswell. I limited myself to sessions of up to 50 flops on 2 tables (so average 25 flops per table). This I did to keep myself from tilting, since I'm pretty sensitive to that I think :(. I can play more sessions per day, but I defenitly need to make my breaks long enough.

And for now my bankroll is at 35 euros :D So my new mentality is paying of :)

 

 

March from now on (and further)

So for those who read the first spoiler know that I got a major change of mentality towards playing poker. And for that reason I feel a little bit more safe to continue playing poker :)

First of all I really want to join the community league in it's new format :D I'd love to play heads-up with my Idol @Hymn2Ninkasi
(tagging didn't work) for 1k :p (not that I will ever make it this far). You guys know I met him in London :o It was the best day of my life :p I mean... It's @Hymn2Ninkasi guys!!!

For what's coming I need a bit of your input to see what would suit me. I got a few options

• Cash games I restart some kind of challenge, but a lot more relaxed than the previous one. I had something in mind like this. I can go up when I have 25 buy ins of the next level, and need to go back when I have 15 or lower. It would look something like this (just put the high stakes in there because why not)
   
• SNG's I feel that I could be decent in SNG's so was thinking os some kind of challenge here aswell. I love heads-up sit'n go's, but 5-seated are maybe a bit less variance affected (but they take a lot longer). So here I got 2 options. The table would be like the one from the cash-games, so this would be a much longer grind in my opinion. Certainly if I would go for heads-up more. But I feel like quitting a session of sng's is easier than quitting a cash-game session. I would limit myself to a certain amount of sng's per session aswell. (Why you ask? Read the first spoiler :p About focus and stuff)
• MTT's This one is in here because I feel like running good in MTT's overall, but I'm a bit holding back, because one MTT requires a lot of time mostly. Since I am busy right now, I don't know how consistent I can be in playing them. Maybe I can mix up SNG's with MTT's. What do you guys think? I didn't really figure out how this would look like :)
• Sattelite MTT's and finals Here I got mainly the same things going as with above section, but I feel like Sattelites could make play a bit more consistent since these MTT's take a bit less time. So I can build up stacks of tickets and whenever I feel like I got enough time I can hop in a final. Here I would start with the Daily series since they have the least qualifying steps (and I had a good experience with those) and when I make a decent cash here (+ I still have a good stack of tickets) I can continue to the next series (probably Saturday stack). After the SS I then can start building for either the UO or UK... But this all sound really optimistic :D I really don't know how this would go, and what I would do with the remaining cash (Maybe I can combine this with either SNG's or cash)

 So what do you think?

Overall I won't be playing that much poker tough (once again... school), but I'm also going to china for 3 weeks... So no poker there either :o (I think I won't be able to connect to Unibet without cheating? Or am i?)

And I think that's all folks :p

I hope it wasn't to boring to read it trough? And stay tuned for my UO blogpost WITH PICTURES AND STUFF coming one of the following days.

Signing out

Vikings AS F*CK :p 

[whereisrivaldo]

Sounds good! I would stick with the MTTs and SNGs (they do mix up well together) just because of your earlier results and your focusing problems with cash games. But I guess short cash game sessions are fine, when you don't feel like playing a longer session. Anyway good luck with the challenges! 👍

Hoping to see that VikingsAF vs UhlenPoker match someday!😃

[MathrimC]

The combination of sattelites + SNGs is perfect, because the both require the same skillset: good push/fold ranges, ICM-knowledge, turbo experience. I could greatly recommend that. Also, the UK Tour has a great sattelite structure with overlays and a soft field at the €4 level.

When it comes to quiting a session, my experience is different than yours: I find it much easier to quit a cashgame session than to quit a SNG session. With cash you can just quit all tables at the same time when you don't feel like playing anymore, with SNGs you can't do that. Since I started playing SNGs my sessions have grown a lot longer. I also find it more exiting because things change so fast once you reach the high blind levels, so time goes by faster while playing.

[GamesDean]

---

Since I started playing SNGs my sessions have grown a lot longer. I also find it more exiting because things change so fast once you reach the high blind levels, so time goes by faster while playing.

/this. When I’m basically card dead in cashgames I tend to widen my range which results in playing too loose (obv) – in SNGs and MTTs there are so many different situations that you have to play so differently that it’s almost impossible to get bored. Sure – sometimes I’m complaining about my card distribution when there’s literally no chance for me getting extra chips but most of the time it’s quite exciting.

Unfortunately I don’t feel like having the stamina to play long-hour MTT grinds, so I stick to SNGs/cashgames.

[VikingsAF]

Soooo, I'm posting a bit faster now, since I want to let off some steam.

Decided that tourney's and Satellites would suit me best, and I will be playing SNG's now and then because of the promo. If it seems that they seem to be good fun, then I will continue ofcourse. Because for now, I am okay in SNG's, but I don't always feel like playing them.

What have I done since the last post?

I found out cash really isn't my thing for the long run, and lost 20 euro pretty fast. So I really should stay away from cash :o It's a pitty that you can't block yourself from cash-games only.

I know 10 euro to start with is really low, but I'll do fine. It's still all for fun, but I want to get a bit better tough.

I played some sng's yesterday which I didn't keep track off, but it wasn't extraordinary or so. Got a few wins and a few losses. Then I tried the 1 euro SS and afterwards the 1 euro SE.

In the SS one I made it ITM and got myself a 5 euro ticket. Won't be splitting this up, because I really want to start from 5. So if I make it to 25, then I will be splitting it up in tickets of 5 so the real fun can begin. Nothing spectacular happened, so no hands to post here.

I felt good and registered for the 1 euro SE (as mentioned above). After 4 hands this happened :(

Don't know if I should've done something else, but tought I was fine since only Ksxs had me beat. But yeah. Don't blaim the villain, since I would've done the same.

End of the day:

br: 9,75

SS: 5

Today

PLayed 2 sng's that weren't too spectacular. Won one and bubbled the other. So that's a win of 1 and a bit :D HURRAY

Afterwards I decided to scroll a bit trough the tournaments and bumped in to the Speed Hold'em. Bought in for 2 stack right before reg closed. 20k was at that moment 10BB :p So it was kind of a Banzai tourney. Could keep my stack sganating by bluffing a bit and finally was able to double up twice. Once with a flopped straight, the other time with 2 pair. But not extremely spectacular. When I got to NR1, the downfall begun. Kept getting bad cards untill this hand

Ofcourse this hands never wins :/

From here on I just blinded out, and got ITM for 3 and a bit, so only 1 euro profit.

For some reason the tournament suited me, so when I saw the Deep Crazy I immediatly joined (2€BI, 1 min levels and 30 for first)

Was dominating it the whole time. Always stayed above 10BB and never left top 3. Untill Unibet baited me (like he always does). See the following hand. (P.s. Here I have so few BB's because tourney was played hand for hand and with 1min levels you go easy from 10BB to 5 with the same stack)

I see now that all the rest was sitting out almost, and that it was maybe better to just play the "lame game", but okay :/

After this hand I ante'd out :( Got 5 euro and a bit (150+% profit), but I feel like deserving a top 3 spot at least :/

Then I decided to put my winnings of the day to work and joined a 4 euro turbo (100 GTD). Because of this hand I busted on the bubble :/

I really should try to learn how to play on the bubble (or just how to play when ITM) I think I could always do better than I'm doing, but still I fail to do so.

Normally that was all poker for the weekend, except for maybe another qualifier that seems to be interesting.

Hope you got a nice read.

BR: 11,3

SS: 5

[VikingsAF]

Another small adition to the "challenge"

If I end the day with anything behind the comma of my BR, then I will place a bet with it, or play "buster blackjack".

Today I played the 30 cents on BBJ and now I have 14 instead of 11,3 :D

[VikingsAF]

Hey guys, wanted to give a small update of the day before the evening starts :)

Yesterday evening I heard that my courses were canceled, so I had a morning without much to do and decided to play some poker. Played a few SNG's, without much succes. Played 4 times 5seated and 2 times heads-up. I think I ended up around break-even. I didn't really bust because of coolers and stuff, just the normal way. A bit lazy to actively find out how the others really play. Not exactly the attitude to play with :p

Then had one course only because there seems to be some kind of illness going around between the professors and after that course I decided to kill some time and hopped in to the Daily deepstack bounty 1 euro (or whatever its called). 

Played for one and a half hour with waves of really good hands (Had QQ, KK and AA in 4 hands, only TJs broke the combo) followed with waves of the worst. Took down some bounties but had to quit when I was on the final table. I had a meeting. Maybe could've sit-out, but decided to go all-in one last hand. Sadly enough that made me bust in 5th for about 3 euro. => Total profit 6 and a bit.

Later I was looking to play some qualifiers and just opted in the 1 euro multibuy for UO. Didn't really play it with the right mind-set and busted after doubling up twice :p Should've just played a bit tighter after I reached the healthy stack.

Finally I saw the late reg for the Deep Crazy (2euro) was <1 minute and hopped in. I feel like I played good and ended heads-up. Should've won IMO if I watch the 3 hands the Villain got back in the game with.

All 3 hands were all-in pre.

In the end I cashed for 16 euro, so that is nice.

Right now 

BR: 35,25

SS: 5

CL: 4 :p

Plans for later tonight

I'm gonna see how the Jackpot Hold'em tourney's go and maybe late reg em.

Then I'm gonna play the 5 euro SS to hopefully win a 25 euro ticket. 

And last but not least... The Community League!!! Really looking forward to this :)

[VikingsAF]

Hi guys, it's been a long time since I posted something here and that has 2 reasons.

Reason ONE, poker related

 

The day after last post was an amazing day in poker for me... I tough... I went up from 35 to 95 with only a few (2 or so) hours played. And then I did something I shouldn't have done.

My HU games were really strong, I was at a rate of 85% winning in 4 euro and played 2 10 euro ones which I won aswell (I know I shouldn't have gone to 10, but the day felt really good). I had bought-in to a few 1, 4 and 5 qualifiers (SE, SS and UO). And for finishing the day I tough, why not try a 25 euro HU where it all went wrong. (I won enough in the day, to just try it out. If I won I'd be pretty okay with that, and losing would've been fine for me aswell).

I remember as if it was yesterday. I had 1600, villain 400. I blessed my hand because I got QQ, which was one hell of a good hand at this moment. I was BB and villain called (if I'm correct it was in 50/100 level). I raised to all-in and he tought a long time and called. He shows me 5To... (Okay I was playing agressive, and he wasted a lot of chips by folding all the time, so his calling range is a bit higher I guess, BUT THIS?) My heartbeat started raising, because the win was in hands reach. The flop was clean for me, nothing to see there. But when the turn showed me a 5, I knew it was going to happens... The river was a T... Actually I was still in front in chips and got myself to relax and continue my good-play. I told myself to put on the brakes... But Unibet is like a printer. It smells your intentions and then thinks "Why not play a game with him" (Sidenote: I don't actually think this ;p )

That's when I got AA, I minraise. Villain reraises to 600 (75% of his stack), so I shove again. He obviously calls... What does he show me? 45o... And believe me or not... He got a Runner-Runner flush. After that I just tilted and couldn't recover... But the tilt went on, because I tried another 25 one. Which I lost pretty badly. At 45 euro I got myself to stop playing (I still had green numbers for the day, so it was fine).

Next days I couldn't get back in my game, for some reason that 25 HU loss kept going trough my mind. "Why does this happen always to me?" I tough. And so I ended up with nothing in my bankroll. I decided to go back to only play 1 or 2 freerolls a day and the remaining of the community leauges. 

Reason TWO, real-life related :p

Nothing special, but just a week after all the bad run described in reason one I left for China. A country with so many contradictories, and where poker is not allowed. To be precise. Nothing what has anything to do with gambling is... Only in Macau you can.

That's it for now.

I'm still a bit tired and don't want to think about whether I want to do any poker the coming weeks (I'll keep playing, but just the small fun stuff, no challenges I think)

Anyoone can get me updated on what happened in the community the past 3 weeks? :)

(News on UO, Promotions, challenges, the 10 euro community league ticket?)

[MathrimC]

Some community highlights of the past weeks:

• BroederTuck won the March community league, but lost the 1K HU match against Uhlen.
• This month's community league also involves a team competition and a betting competition between the mods.
• Davitsche took a first shot at 25NL in his twitch cashgame challenge, it didn't end well.
• MoreTBC and IanSimpson have a prop bet for the bounty badlands promo this month: whoever ends lower in the ranking has to wear a silly costume at the UK Tour in Glasgow.
• Hilarity ensued on Silly Thursday last week when someone tried to slowroll me in the final hand of the Davitsche Bounty Hunt while David was railing.
• UO Bucharest 2017 has been anounced.
• The Belgian Championship returns to Blankenberghe from Wednesday 30/08 to Sunday 03/09. Qualifiers have started, but you already know because you kicked me out of one yesterday :Cheeky: